Subnautica

WATER, WATER EVERYWHERE…

- Martin Kitts

Surviving a crash landing on an unexplored water world could be considered a stroke of luck, but while a swift, fiery death was avoided, a slower demise from dehydration, starvation or drowning awaits. That’s if the planet’s aquatic residents don’t eat you first.

Emerging from the floating escape pod, the sole visual reference point in an endless ocean is the vast wreck of the spacecraft Aurora, lying atop a nearby reef. There’s a great deal of exploring and crafting to be done before you can get inside its radioactive hulk, and for the first few hours of the game, the cramped pod will be your only sanctuary. At the beginning, your diving ability is limited by a lack of breathing equipment, and you can’t get too far down before having to surface again for oxygen. Luckily the landing site is relatively shallow and littered with smaller pieces of wreckage that can be salvaged to fabricate the necessary equipment for probing the depths.

There are also creatures here. Mostly they’ll leave you alone, but the food in the escape pod won’t last long and you’ll have to stave off hunger somehow. Pretty soon you’ll need to craft a weapon and find out which of the more docile animals can be eaten and which ones will spray poison or explode if you try to touch them.

Beasts below