Subnautica

I support the original game developers of Subnautica, but I do NOT support KRAFTON for their scummy actions, and I will NOT be buying Subnautica II or anything from those scumbags!
You fired the founders of Unknown Worlds, Charlie Cleveland and Max McGuire, as well as Chief Executive Officer Ted Gill and you are delaying Subnautica 2 just to avoid paying the bonus to the developers.

This game literally changed my life, it changed the way I view the worlds beauty and gave me a deeper interest in marine life. I'll never forget my first play-through. I can't recommend Subnautica enough, the world building and story telling are amazing, it really makes you feel like you're living on 4546b. The balance of wanting to beat the game and never wanting it to be over because you fall in love with the world is a feeling I don't think will ever be recreated for me quite the same way. I've been playing this game for years and it still hasn't lost it touch even after all this time. You'll enjoy this game for it's game play and mechanics, but you'll fall in love with it for it's rich story, amazing ecosystems, captivating wildlife, and deep world-building. I recommend playing this game not for the ending (though it is amazing) but for the journey there, take your time, explore every nook cranny and tiny cave, listen to the PDA entries, scan the wildlife and read about how they live, build not just a house or a base but a home, look for easter eggs, and dive into every wonder-filled biome no matter how deep and dark. You will be rewarded. It's unique charm is everywhere you look and it's worth every second and penny you spend on it. I could go on and on about how much I love this game but I think it's better you play it for yourself.
It isn't without a bug or flaw here and there, like sometimes the fauna and vehicles can clip through the floor, and I wish there was a way to customize the inside of the cyclops color or the outside of your bases more, and if you could dock your cyclops somehow so it didn't just sit next to your base without much of a true home I would love that, perhaps the sequel can add a larger moon bay. And I'd love more ways to make inventory management easier, like an expandable bag of some kind or simply the sea-glide only taking 4 slots would be great too. But those are really my only nit-picks, this game is amazing and I can't thank the devs enough for making it. I'm beyond excited for Subnautica 2 to release. This game competes with Minecraft, Breath of the wild, and Pokemon for the title of my favorite game. Yet when someone asks me what my favorite game is, Subnautica always comes to mind first. Just play it, it's a 10/10.

---{ Graphics }---
☐ You forget what reality is
☑ Beautiful
☐ Good
☐ Decent
☐ Bad
☐ Don‘t look too long at it
☐ MS-DOS
---{ Gameplay }---
☑ Very good
☐ Good
☐ It's just gameplay
☐ Mehh
☐ Watch paint dry instead
☐ Just don't
---{ Audio }---
☑ Eargasm
☐ Very good
☐ Good
☐ Not too bad
☐ Bad
☐ I'm now deaf
---{ Audience }---
☐ Kids
☑ Teens
☑ Adults
☐ Grandma
---{ PC Requirements }---
☐ Check if you can run paint
☐ Potato
☑ Decent
☐ Fast
☐ Rich kid
☐ Ask NASA if they have a spare computer
---{ Game Size }---
☐ Floppy Disk
☐ Old Fashioned
☑ Workable
☐ Big
☐ Will eat 15% of your 1TB hard drive
☐ You will want an entire hard drive to hold it
☐ You will need to invest in a black hole to hold all the data
---{ Difficulty }---
☐ Just press 'W'
☐ Easy
☑ Easy to learn / Hard to master
☐ Significant brain usage
☐ Difficult
☐ Dark Souls
---{ Grind }---
☐ Nothing to grind
☐ Only if u care about leaderboards/ranks
☐ Isn't necessary to progress
☑ Average grind level
☐ Too much grind
☐ You'll need a second life for grinding
---{ Story }---
☐ No Story
☐ Some lore
☐ Average
☐ Good
☐ Lovely
☑ It'll replace your life
---{ Game Time }---
☐ Long enough for a cup of coffee
☐ Short
☑ Average
☐ Long
☐ To infinity and beyond
---{ Price }---
☐ It's free!
☑ Worth the price
☐ If it's on sale
☐ If u have some spare money left
☐ Not recommended
☐ You could also just burn your money
---{ Bugs }---
☐ Never heard of
☑ Minor bugs
☐ Can get annoying
☐ ARK: Survival Evolved
☐ The game itself is a big terrarium for bugs
---{ ? / 10 }---
☐ 1
☐ 2
☐ 3
☐ 4
☐ 5
☐ 6
☐ 7
☐ 8
☐ 9
☑ 10

I've been playing this game for years, on a variety of platforms. I recently purchased it again on Steam, so it's about time I left a review.
This right here is one of the best survival games I've ever played, which is surprising, as I usually stray away from single player survival games because there is no social aspect involved for them to keep my attention.
However, in the case of Subnautica, the "lonely" and isolated aspects are part of the reason I love it so much. It is really immersive and illustrates the feeling of being stranded by yourself, in an alien planet, perfectly.
There is really no way to describe being at the bottom of the ocean, nothing but pitch black around you, and then seeing the silhouette of a giant sea creature in the distance. It really rattled my bones the first few times I had to make my way to the Aurora.
Graphics are great, considering that it is a game from 2018. Incredibly optimized, and I can run it with ease even on my Steam Deck.
On the other hand, something that really impressed me was the detail and attention that went into the sound design. The soundtrack and general eeriness of the underwater sounds make this one of the most immersive games I've ever played (headphones recommended).
The progression system is also extremely satisfying, and at no point did I feel that the crafting was too tedious or overwhelming.
You can literally play for hours and not get bored, only problem being that good things come to an end (expect 30-40 hours). I honestly wish that I could wipe my memory of this game, just so that I can experience it blindly once again!
Overall, this is definitely one of my favorite games of all time, with one of the most interesting concepts I've ever seen. I would give it a 9.5/10

*starts game*
*explores the pod*
*spends 5 minutes looking for an exit*
*finally leaves the pod*
*explores everything around*
*finds stone, breaks it and gets copper*
*sees big fish, tries to punch it*
*dead*
*discovers the use of fabricator*
*starts making things*
*makes mobile vehicle bay*
*builds a seamoth after 2 hours of gameplay*
*goes exploring*
*hears a terrifying roar*
*looks back*
*huge white thing with 4 mandibles(later i discovered the name was reaper) gets me in the seamoth*
*has a heart attack*
*seamoth is destroyed*
*quits game*
*still having a heart attack*
10/10 increased my fear of the sea lol

Few survival games have aged as gracefully—or left as lasting an impression—as Subnautica. Even in 2025, it remains one of the most immersive and emotionally resonant survival experiences ever crafted.
What starts as a serene oceanic adventure quickly evolves into a harrowing tale of isolation, discovery, and awe, set in one of gaming’s most beautifully realized alien worlds.
You crash-land on Planet 4546B, an ocean world with no dry land in sight. Your only lifeline is a damaged escape pod and the surrounding sea. You must scavenge, craft, and survive—but unlike many games in the genre, Subnautica doesn’t just make survival a grind. It makes it an adventure.
There are no zombies, no NPCs, no guns. Just you, the ocean, and what lies beneath.
And that ocean? It hides wonders. And horrors.
The ocean biomes are the heart and soul of Subnautica—from sunlit shallows filled with docile creatures to pitch-black trenches inhabited by massive, bone-chilling predators. Every zone feels handcrafted, layered with visual storytelling and unique ecosystems.
There’s a real arc of progression: you go from swimming with flippers and a snorkel to piloting deep-diving submarines through ancient alien ruins. And you always feel just a little bit too fragile, too exposed. It’s survival, but also discovery. Fear and fascination constantly dance.
What’s most impressive is how the game guides you without waypoints. Audio logs, signals, wreckage, and environmental cues pull you deeper, both literally and narratively.
Subnautica smartly trims the fat often seen in survival games. There's:
-Crafting tied to meaningful upgrades (vehicles, suits, tools)
-Resource gathering that rewards exploration instead of grinding
-Base-building that feels like personal expression and strategic necessity
-Food and water meters that add pressure without feeling tedious
-
Every item feels earned. Every dive has purpose.
And while it starts slow, the pace picks up once you begin customizing your base, building your Seamoth (your first submersible), and unlocking alien technologies.
Subnautica is not marketed as a horror game—but it might be one of the scariest games ever made for players with thalassophobia (fear of deep water).
Descending into unknown biomes, with only a flickering headlamp and the distant roar of an unseen leviathan, triggers primal fear. And the game knows it. It masterfully plays with sound design, lighting, and isolation, delivering dread without a single jump scare.
Your only defense? Awareness, speed, and running like hell when something bigger than your sub shows up.
There’s more to Subnautica than just survival. As you uncover the fate of other survivors and the secrets of the planet’s ancient alien structures, you realize you’re part of a much larger mystery.
Themes of quarantine, extinction, and unintended consequences echo eerily close to real-world concerns. And by the time you reach the climax, you feel like you’ve earned your escape—not just logistically, but emotionally.
While not graphically cutting-edge in 2025, Subnautica’s visuals hold up thanks to art direction. The glowing flora, surreal bioluminescence, and shifting ocean light are hypnotic.
But it’s the sound design that elevates it. From the relaxing hum of shallow reef zones to the terrifying roars in the abyss, every sound has purpose. The ambient soundtrack is subtle, haunting, and unforgettable.
Subnautica isn’t just a survival game—it’s a journey of vulnerability, discovery, and ultimately, escape. It taps into both our curiosity and our deepest fears with elegant pacing and environmental mastery.
Even years after its release, few games can replicate the emotional arc it creates: from helpless castaway to confident deep-sea explorer—alone, but never unengaged.
Pros:
-A rich, handcrafted underwater world full of wonder and danger
-Brilliantly atmospheric sound and visual design
-Smart, purpose-driven survival mechanics
-Gripping environmental storytelling and sci-fi mystery
-A genuinely emotional solo experience
Cons:
-Early-game pacing may feel slow to some
-No multiplayer (intentional, but occasionally requested)
-Navigation can be disorienting without a custom beacon system
Subnautica is not just one of the best survival games—it's one of the most memorable single-player adventures of the decade. Dive in. Just… don’t look down.
Rating: 10/10

Highly recommended, especially for people with deep-sea phobia, for playing at night.
Above all, at the beginning of the game, you should go to the front of the Aurora, where there is a lot of useful stuff.