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While crafting supplies are plentiful, Below Zero's craftable tools and items are not. Outside of exploration, most of Below Zero's gameplay revolves around harvesting plants or mining various metals such as titanium, copper, silver, and lead. New plant species sprout from the sea floor and run across megalithic cliffs some provide oxygen at greater depths and some provide new crafting materials for old items and gear. Some are dangerous, some are benign, but all are intriguing and unique. Icebergs sink into glacial waters for fathoms winding rock bridges clamber over underwater canyons phosphorescent florae ignite the depths with wondrous light and new variants of towering creepvine emit haunting shades of red from their bulbous clusters.Īmong the familiar fauna, such as bladderfish and eyeye, there are new species to find. Thankfully, the game's unique topography once again makes exploration a delight. To say it's immersion breaking would be pedantic and overdramatic, but to not acknowledge the impact of uncontrolled triggered events in a world built around such expansive freedom would be disingenuous.Ī Large World Made Small, But Not Less InterestingĪs it stands, Below Zero has only a few areas to explore. Instead, I mean to convey that Below Zero's quiet moments are more infrequent, with fewer beats triggered by the player interacting with elements in the game world. I don't want to imply that Below Zero is all talk and all story it does have its quiet moments, ones that harken back to the placid exploration of Subnautica. For the most part, progression was carried out at the player's pace, and the moments that triggered narrative progression were often subtle. In Subnautica, story progression was tranquil, often unhurried there was wreckage to explore and there were milestones to meet, but very few narrative beats were pressing. However, the greater emphasis on story comes at a price. In some ways, having someone to talk to is a welcomed change to the isolation of Subnautica exploring Below Zero's icy depths is now part of a larger, seemingly more cohesive narrative. The wrinkle this time is that they have the support of their sister orbiting 4546B in the space station above. Like Subnautica, players are once again alone on the planet's surface. Whereas a large portion of Subnautica's narrative was conveyed through in-game lore and radio transmissions, Below Zero takes a different approach by putting players in the boots of Robin Goodall, a researcher who's come to Planet 4546B a year after the events of the first game. Many of its new features work, but choppily, and those that remain from Subnautica are incomplete, even considering the game is still in early development.Ĭoming off of the success that was Subnautica, where Unknown Worlds leveraged the power of the survival-game community to create an indie classic, Below Zero feels very much like the expansion many thought it would be, not the full-fledged game it will (hopefully) become.
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Often, sequels occupy the muddy waters between what came before and what's to come.īut being in Early Access, Below Zero isn't finished, so that mixture is currently imperfect.
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From the surface, such a description seems obvious for what Unknown Worlds calls a sequel to 2018's Subnautica. Combining both old elements and new, Below Zero simultaneously clings to heritage while attempting to expand the boundaries of its predecessor.