Subnautica

This game is seriously addictive. First time my PS5 controller lost power. :eek:

Survival games are inherently annoying so I'm playing on the mode that has no hunger or thirst. I can't be arsed to babysit my character when I could just be getting on with the task at hand. I know that's the entire point but the tuning of hunger and thirst in games is rarely ever done well. In fact, the only ones that spring to mind that manage hunger and thirst meters reasonably are Red Dead Redemption 2 and Minecraft.

Subnautica is definitely more accessible than other survival games. Most are so bare-bones you end up googling everything and wondering how the devs ever expected the player to find that out. Whereas in Subnautica the tutorials/datapad updates is actually very useful to the point that if there is something I’m not sure of I trust that it will fill me in later.

The game also doesn’t feel so aimless. Every new discovery is genuinely rewarding and feels like you’re inching closer to the ultimate conclusion. I never get lost or short on resources for long as I’m always carrying beacons to mark where I’ve explored or if I’ve found a great place for farming.

Like Zero Cool, it took me a while to find the laser cutter fragment. They're actually everywhere but they’re very small and well hidden inside the cargo boxes. You need the laser cutter to progress so as a result of not having it for a long time I think did everything backwards. I got more advanced stuff like the Seamoth and the suit and oxygen upgrades well before exploring the Aurora just by answering radio calls and following the clues to other survivors’ locations. I was frustrated with the quick day/night cycle as it was often forcing me to farm in the dark with my flare in tow. This could have been avoided if I had acquired the plans for the bed earlier... which you get by exploring the Aurora. So yeah, get the laser cutter ASAP. Also, I forgot that I had crafted a propulsion canon earlier as well so now I need to return to the ship to explore areas blocked by debris.

It's certainly atmospheric for better and worse. I say “worse” because this game is downright scary at times. The sea monster thingy at the rear of the Aurora is terrifying and the creature decoy is useless seeing as the monster just spawns again once you get away so you need to have more than one ideally. It grabs the seamoth from the front and slowly damages it while staring down angrily at you. I fast ejected and frantically swam away with my seaglide only to watch in horror from a distance as the creature spitefully sent the remains of my seamoth to the bottom of the ocean. Thankfully seamoths are super easy to craft and my bases have plenty of materials and space.

My only negative is that the control scheme is all wrong. Making the craft/mine button the same as the discard button is a disaster waiting to happen. Holding L3 to run was painful; I remapped that ASAP. And triangle to jump? Dated.

Also, I don’t know if this is a bug or not but if you eject from the seamoth while it’s moving you sometimes die instantly… Does this happen to anyone else? I was literally seconds away from my base when I lost a module that enables storage in the seamoth this way.

Kiith wrote: »

Its not a bug. When you eject from the Seamoth, you eject in front of it. If said Seamoth is moving, you get knocked down by said Seamoth

Yeah, I read this elsewhere online but sometimes you eject behind the Seamoth which is what I think is supposed to happen yet occasionally you eject in front of it. I'll just make sure to stop before getting out then but shouldn't have to really.


Discovering a multi-purpose room was the worst thing that could have happened - I built a double bed and don't even need it.

Just to check, skerry, I'm assuming you're checking the survival guide in the datapad? It tells you the first things you need to do.