Subnautica 2 Coming Soon to Early Access

Article by Angie Kibiloski

I am beyond excited that Subnautica 2 is finally coming out from Unknown Worlds, with an Early Access release on Steam in 2025. I’ve always been a little bummed that I missed the boat on the original Subnautica back in 2018, but have really enjoyed diving beneath the alien waves while watching my favorite game streamers play it. I was less disappointed for having also missed the comparatively lukewarm follow-up, Subnautica: Below Zero in 2021. This time, though, I’m eagerly anticipating donning a tactical wetsuit, grabbing a scanner and a trusty laser knife, and exploring the extraterrestrial depths myself.

There aren’t too many details about this new title yet, but from the Steam page and the trailer, the core game mechanics seem pretty close to the original. Subnautica 2 will be an open-world, underwater survival game, in which you’ll need to build a base for shelter and protection, scavenge for food and materials, investigate every corner of the map looking for secrets, and beware of the goliath beasties swimming all around, some of them quite deadly. Something new to this iteration will be a multiplayer option, so up to 3 of your friends can join your survival mission and help gather resources or hunt creatures. You could do this in the original Subnautica, but it required modding the game, so the addition of this in the standard game build will satisfy a lot of gamers. Fortunately for anti-social, solo gamers like myself, multiplayer is not a requirement.

Subnautica 2 introduces a new narrative, protagonist, and planet, unlike Subnautica: Below Zero, which was more of an appendix to the original game, set a little while later in the timeline of the same planet. This fresh start is exciting for me, as I never saw much point playing the original Subnautica myself, after having spent so many hours becoming familiar with the environments through other players. There will be a main story to follow, but also plenty to do outside of driving the plot forward, and I think I might be most looking forward to scanning everything to acquire new information and blueprints, and building out my aquatic base. The trailer already gave tasty hints on some of the new flora and fauna to discover, admire, consume, and flee from, and it appears that you may have to use some of them to evolve yourself, and become something more than human to survive this new alien realm.

As Subnautica 2 will release as an Early Access title, the game will have its limitations when it initially comes out, and will continue to expand as the 2 to 3 year final development phase progresses. For instance, you’ll only be able to explore a few of the biomes from a wider map, which promises to ultimately be much more extensive than in the original game. Similarly, you’ll only be able to progress a small way through the narrative, and the creatures that you see, along with blueprints for tools and base structures will be just a sampling of what’s to come. Each update will bring additions to each of these categories, along with any bug fixes or improvements that float to the surface.

The cool part about getting involved in the Early Access phase is that Unknown Worlds can take player feedback throughout this period and adapt the game in tandem with players to make the final version as close to perfect as possible. Players who dip their toes in early will also benefit from a lower game price than those who wait for the full release. Having said this, Early Access isn’t every player’s cup of tea, and if you don’t want to deal with environmental imperfections, inevitable bugs, and some mechanics being a bit glitchy, you might want to wait for the full release, when everything is polished and shipshape.

I personally cannot wait to immerse myself in Subnautica 2 next year, be part of the Early Access development process, and deliver a full review after splashing around on an alien world for awhile. Until then, check out the official Subnautica website for info on all 3 titles in the franchise, and watch the first-look trailer on the Steam page. Be sure to Wishlist the game if you want to be part of the Early Access process too, so you’ll know as soon as you can dive on in.