Generally speaking, this game is more compact, with little to no wasted space, and it’s a bit less scary. That didn’t bother me, but it’s worth pointing out.

The majority of the Below Zero takes place underwater, so it makes sense that there would be a remixed vibe to your toolkit as well as some omissions like the hulking Cyclops submarine. The tool gets phased out once you have a large oxygen tank and a submersible Seatruck, but early on, I used it every chance I got. I kind of adore the Air Bladder, a sort of “oh shit I’m about to drown” emergency option that launches you toward the surface. In terms of pure helpfulness, the handheld Mineral Detector is a godsend when you know you’re in the right area for a resource but you can’t quite spot it. The sooner you figure out where each biome is and what makes it distinct, the sooner you can establish a more permanent pad and craft vehicles for longer expeditions.īelow Zero reuses many key items like the Scanner, Repair Tool, and Habitat Builder, and also adds a few new playthings like the Thumper, a device that will immediately make sense to Dune fans. That might sound obtuse in practice, it’s rewarding. In other words, once again, there’s no map. A big part of these games is learning your surroundings from memory. There’s a logic and consistency to this ecological world. That said, Robin speaks her mind she isn’t a silent protagonist.Ĭompared to other survival games that can get bogged down with boring resource fetching, I’ve always appreciated the way the Subnautica series makes these chores feel entertaining and, if you know where to look, fairly quick. Was it really negligence? That’s the official line from Alterra, anyway.Ĭompared to the first game, the story in Subnautica: Below Zero has less of a “lone survivor” feeling, although you won’t meet many characters face-to-face, and there are definitely still lengthy periods where you’ll soak in the chilled-out music and ambient wildlife noises rather than have full-on conversations or fire up audio logs. Before her accident, Sam had been working in an icy region known as Sector Zero. Ancient aliens, a nigh-unstoppable disease, and a power-hungry corporation all fit into the bigger picture. You play as Robin, a xenologist who sneaks onto Planet 4546B to learn the truth about her big sister Sam only to find out that this isn’t just some oceanic planet with freaky little cute penguins roaming around. The events of this space-faring story are once again set in motion with a crash landing, but this time, it was intentional - sort of.

Subnautica falling out of cyclops