With the 1.0 release I find that even though I was trying to primarily focus on the story in order to deliver a review verdict I kept defaulting to a lovely, restful flow between three things: building up my habitat exploring different zones and pursuing the narrative.

I divided the time loosely between building an underwater base and exploring the world, letting the exploration loop back into the habitat crafting by using the trips to gather resources or pick up seeds from the local flora to create a little underwater garden. I spent around 70 hours in Subnautica a few years ago, before the story was really implemented. Hardcore gives you only one life and no oxygen warnings so is better for role-play. For instance, Creative mode strips out all the survival and the story, just letting you build and explore. Several game modes allow you to make that choice more explicit. How you choose to balance pursuit of the written narrative against whatever you fancy doing under the sea is left up to you, though. They might try to take a bite out of you but they prefer to play with the metal of wrecked craft.Īs you poke around you start to find (or be fed via radio broadcasts) suggestive snippets which hint at a story beyond your own survival exploits. You'll likely discover the stunning kelp forests early on, basking in their green splendour for a moment before spotting the accompanying eel/crocodile creatures.

Helpful markers ensure you can always locate your base.

Subnautica game screenshots