Subnautica finally left early access to overwhelmingly positive reviews on January 23. I’ve been following the game on Steam, and I personally think that it’s the prime example of what an early access game should look like. So today, I dive back into the terrifyingly beautiful planet of 4546B to find what exactly made it so vast and deep.

(Minor spoilers, nothing major)

Subnautica takes place in the late 22nd century, after Alterra (a large technology based corporation) launches the Aurora into unknown space to publicly build a teleporter. However, when orbiting around the planet 4546B, the Aurora is hit with an energy pulse and crashes. Your character wakes up in a damaged lifepod in the middle of the planet’s ocean filled with giant creatures as well as alien bacteria. Great.

The game’s developers have had a great connection with their player base since the early access. The devs, Unknown Worlds, made it clear and easy to talk with players, which they did by listening and incorporating ideas. The ghost leviathan for example was early concept art that wasn’t planned to be added, but players pushed for it and it was added in a suprise update. Not to mention, the devs went out of their way to avoid adding guns or weapons other than a knife, to encourage thinking outside the box.

The gameplay and art design work hand in hand. If it looks like it does something, it does exactly that with no smoke and mirrors like other gaming assets. Everything is designed to a function, even the sea creatures with different looks for vastly different functions. The story itself plays out the way you want it to, with a goal and a ton of ways to get to it. Each vehicle is vastly different and useful in its own way, like the Seamoth, which is fast and easily maneuverable, the Cyclops, which is large and good for storage, and the PRAWN suit, which allows for safe and deep resource mining.

The game has evolved so far from an early access sandbox, to a survival-adventure game. I can’t wait to see what the developers do with this title and in the future, although I hope that I will sea more from them later on.

-Ethan Clark

Ratings (Out of 10)

Graphics: 10

Music: 10

Cinematics: 10

Story: 10

Content: 10

Controls: 9

Gameplay: 10

Final Rating: 9.8 + Clark Seal of Masterpiece