Gaming Subnautica & Subnautica Below Zero

Xyon

Puts the Fun in Dysfunctional
Administrator
Moderator
Orbiter Contributor
Addon Developer
Webmaster
GFX Staff
Beta Tester
Joined
Aug 9, 2009
Messages
6,922
Reaction score
789
Points
203
Location
10.0.0.1
Website
www.orbiter-radio.co.uk
Preferred Pronouns
she/her
Mentioned a few times, but without a thread all to call its very own, is the wonderful Early Access game Subnautica, a game all about being part of a futuristic sci-fi mission to do who-knows-what when you wind up crash landing onto an almost completely ocean planet and given some (admittedly very specific) tools and resources to try and forge a new life for yourself.



I will admit, I love this game - it's beautiful, there's stuff to do, I feel like there's a lot of challenge and mystery that I'm always brushing the surface of. There's also the active development, so if I leave playing for a month or so, chances are high that by the time I get back there's a new big-named update to entertain me and hook me right back in.

Anybody else liking this game? I'm hoping they add a few more details to it, like working airlocks, but I'm not sure if that'd be a good thing or not.
 

Notebook

Addon Developer
Addon Developer
News Reporter
Donator
Joined
Nov 20, 2007
Messages
11,813
Reaction score
640
Points
188
Been looking at it recently, spent up at the moment though!

N.
 

Xyon

Puts the Fun in Dysfunctional
Administrator
Moderator
Orbiter Contributor
Addon Developer
Webmaster
GFX Staff
Beta Tester
Joined
Aug 9, 2009
Messages
6,922
Reaction score
789
Points
203
Location
10.0.0.1
Website
www.orbiter-radio.co.uk
Preferred Pronouns
she/her
Been looking at it recently, spent up at the moment though!

N.

Do yourself a favour, it's like having a whole new game every month or two, while you get swamped with work it's changing in the background so it's almost all new when you come back. Well worth the price, IMHO (but it'll probably be on sale again soon, knowing steam).
 

jedidia

shoemaker without legs
Addon Developer
Joined
Mar 19, 2008
Messages
10,842
Reaction score
2,105
Points
203
Location
between the planets
I do like the game a lot, on the one hand because it's probably one of the best showcases of an early access model anywhere, but also because it's a great game all around.

The setting is unique and very intruiging, the building part is just light enough not to put me off yet complex enough to be quite interesting (he said after his base got flooded because he didn't think about the additional stress that the addition of the moonpool would add to it), hunger and thirst are harsh enough to drive you to explore early on, but not annoyingly permanent, and as mentioned, the game is quite beautiful, very eery at times and outright terrifying at others. A bit too terrifying for my tastes actually. I like a challenge, and having to think about what I do, but I don't like so much having the daylights stressed out of me while playing. I wish there was an option to keep all the aspects of survival mode but with creature agressivenes reduced a bit. I do prefer to explore a bit without having something constantly nibbling at various body parts.
 

Enjo

Mostly harmless
Addon Developer
Tutorial Publisher
Donator
Joined
Nov 25, 2007
Messages
1,665
Reaction score
13
Points
38
Location
Germany
Website
www.enderspace.de
Preferred Pronouns
Can't you smell my T levels?
I do prefer to explore a bit without having something constantly nibbling at various body parts.
Do you guys remember Subculture? This game allowed for almost stress-free exploration. At least at the beginning.
Ah the fun times.
 
Last edited:

jedidia

shoemaker without legs
Addon Developer
Joined
Mar 19, 2008
Messages
10,842
Reaction score
2,105
Points
203
Location
between the planets
Do you guys remember Subculture?

That one passed me by. Didn't have the hardware to run it, and it's in that void space of early 3d-graphics that makes it really hard to play after the fact. I tried, but I just couldn't bear it.
 

Urwumpe

Not funny anymore
Addon Developer
Donator
Joined
Feb 6, 2008
Messages
37,588
Reaction score
2,312
Points
203
Location
Wolfsburg
Preferred Pronouns
Sire
I will admit, I love this game

Same here, I have it in my Steam for some months now, and I never regretted this Early Access. The game is playable from day one and you always have the feeling that the developers follow a clear concept behind their game, which means even if you have to restart after a major update, you are not completely lost and facing completely new game mechanics.

I especially like the base building and the new research mechanism of the later updates.

Especially: The wildlife on the planet really shows some thought, compared to other games, it is not decoration, it is the star. Not fully realistic, but makes sense in its own world.

---------- Post added at 09:02 AM ---------- Previous post was at 09:01 AM ----------

Do you guys remember Subculture? This game allowed for almost stress-free exploration. At least at the beginning.
Ah the fun times.
Sub Culture walkthrough - YouTube

Still have it somewhere in my box full of old videogames. Had problems making it run with later windows versions. :(
 

Xyon

Puts the Fun in Dysfunctional
Administrator
Moderator
Orbiter Contributor
Addon Developer
Webmaster
GFX Staff
Beta Tester
Joined
Aug 9, 2009
Messages
6,922
Reaction score
789
Points
203
Location
10.0.0.1
Website
www.orbiter-radio.co.uk
Preferred Pronouns
she/her
Especially: The wildlife on the planet really shows some thought, compared to other games, it is not decoration, it is the star. Not fully realistic, but makes sense in its own world.

Yeah, I think that's key to the game - the immersion is top-notch. Not once have I been unconvinced by the wildlife, it feels vibrant and alive, and I could really believe that I'm on an alien world with the diversity and different characters of creatures portrayed in the game. There have been times I've been hiding, stuck in my seamoth as its battery runs down in the Jelly Shroom caves, tormented by ominious roaring from something I never saw but took 90% of my health away in one rather sudden hit. Times when I've been frantically chasing a peeper down for minutes at a time only to have it leap out of my hands at the last moment yet again. And times when I've crept up on a sleeping airsack and snatched it out of the water before it even had chance to realise I was there. It's such a believeable game for something set in such an improbable, futuristic situation.

I never regretted this Early Access.

Nor me, for a second. Without doubt, the best Early Access game I've ever played.
 

orb

O-F Administrator,
News Reporter
Joined
Oct 30, 2009
Messages
14,020
Reaction score
4
Points
0
but it'll probably be on sale again soon, knowing steam
I estimate on 95% the chance of it being discounted -40% off again in the Winter Sale (and on 5% of it being -50% off).

it's like having a whole new game every month or two
And even more often if you switch to Experimental branch. :p


I got it a year ago, though I played it maybe only for 2 hours since then (no time for any game lately). I've been receiving downloads of the updates more often than I got a chance to launch the game.
 

Urwumpe

Not funny anymore
Addon Developer
Donator
Joined
Feb 6, 2008
Messages
37,588
Reaction score
2,312
Points
203
Location
Wolfsburg
Preferred Pronouns
Sire
It's such a believeable game for something set in such an improbable, futuristic situation.

Especially, its epic to just have a large window and look at the colors and lights at night. And the sound design of the game is epic, it sounds right.

I know the world is not randomly generated or procedural or large... but it is also never boring.
 

Xyon

Puts the Fun in Dysfunctional
Administrator
Moderator
Orbiter Contributor
Addon Developer
Webmaster
GFX Staff
Beta Tester
Joined
Aug 9, 2009
Messages
6,922
Reaction score
789
Points
203
Location
10.0.0.1
Website
www.orbiter-radio.co.uk
Preferred Pronouns
she/her
And even more often if you switch to Experimental branch. :p

Well, I put it on experimental ages ago, I'm commenting more on my free time than the game's development pace :p

I got it a year ago, though I played it maybe only for 2 hours since then (no time for any game lately). I've been receiving downloads of the updates more often than I got a chance to launch the game.

Yes - oddly, though the updates are frequently quite small (200-500MiB), they take a long time (and a lot of disk I/O) to patch into the game itself. And it's constantly updating itself, but likewise, I don't get opportunity to play it that often :p

Especially, its epic to just have a large window and look at the colors and lights at night. And the sound design of the game is epic, it sounds right.

I know the world is not randomly generated or procedural or large... but it is also never boring.

Yes - the sound of the reefbacks especially is brilliantly done. I started getting attacked by something living on one last night - not encountered that before!
 

Urwumpe

Not funny anymore
Addon Developer
Donator
Joined
Feb 6, 2008
Messages
37,588
Reaction score
2,312
Points
203
Location
Wolfsburg
Preferred Pronouns
Sire
Yes - the sound of the reefbacks especially is brilliantly done. I started getting attacked by something living on one last night - not encountered that before!

Yes, its pretty sure you will get attacked. :lol:

That is the only bad thing I see about the wildlife. It is mostly carnivorous and aggressive. There are too few preys. Also the carnivores too rarely seek out preys, but instead look for the player... Maybe nice for gaming, but disturbs a bit the idyllic sight.
 

C3PO

Addon Developer
Addon Developer
Donator
Joined
Feb 11, 2008
Messages
2,604
Reaction score
17
Points
53
The teleporting ones was the thing that "broke" the immersion for me. I haven't played it for some time, but I tend to wander quite a bit when it comes to games.
 

Xyon

Puts the Fun in Dysfunctional
Administrator
Moderator
Orbiter Contributor
Addon Developer
Webmaster
GFX Staff
Beta Tester
Joined
Aug 9, 2009
Messages
6,922
Reaction score
789
Points
203
Location
10.0.0.1
Website
www.orbiter-radio.co.uk
Preferred Pronouns
she/her
Yes, its pretty sure you will get attacked. :lol:

That is the only bad thing I see about the wildlife. It is mostly carnivorous and aggressive. There are too few preys. Also the carnivores too rarely seek out preys, but instead look for the player... Maybe nice for gaming, but disturbs a bit the idyllic sight.

That put me in mind of the first tangle I had with a stalker, in my first time playing - I was happily cultivating some kelp samples when I heard the thing roaring, looked around too late and it caught me from underneath; cue frantic backpedal swimming as I turned tail and scarpered, and of course it gave chase, winding up for another strike, when it got distracted by a rabbitray and went for that instead, in a cloud of red. I made good my escape and sat in the lifepod until my heart rate returned to normal.

A pity, from my POV, is that generally I can out-swim the aggressive wildlife. Of course, from a gaming perspective, the advantage helps, but for the purposes of realism, there really should be some things that are faster than me.
 

Urwumpe

Not funny anymore
Addon Developer
Donator
Joined
Feb 6, 2008
Messages
37,588
Reaction score
2,312
Points
203
Location
Wolfsburg
Preferred Pronouns
Sire
That put me in mind of the first tangle I had with a stalker, in my first time playing - I was happily cultivating some kelp samples when I heard the thing roaring, looked around too late and it caught me from underneath; cue frantic backpedal swimming as I turned tail and scarpered, and of course it gave chase, winding up for another strike, when it got distracted by a rabbitray and went for that instead, in a cloud of red. I made good my escape and sat in the lifepod until my heart rate returned to normal.

Too rarely happens to me. I always have to fight or flee... and then have an angry Stalker swimming around the base. The worst was getting into three Stalkers at once, I had a hard time finding a way out, but survived badly ruined. Luckily the other aggressive animals rarely come in groups.
 

Xyon

Puts the Fun in Dysfunctional
Administrator
Moderator
Orbiter Contributor
Addon Developer
Webmaster
GFX Staff
Beta Tester
Joined
Aug 9, 2009
Messages
6,922
Reaction score
789
Points
203
Location
10.0.0.1
Website
www.orbiter-radio.co.uk
Preferred Pronouns
she/her
Yes, that's the real threat of the Stalker - the other one. Kind of like a nautical velociraptor.
 

Urwumpe

Not funny anymore
Addon Developer
Donator
Joined
Feb 6, 2008
Messages
37,588
Reaction score
2,312
Points
203
Location
Wolfsburg
Preferred Pronouns
Sire
Yes, that's the real threat of the Stalker - the other one. Kind of like a nautical velociraptor.

Yeah, but it makes it interesting. :)

Its like finding lots of scrap metal along the Kelp ... new players celebrate, experienced players get nervous and look for the Stalker.
 

APDAF

Well-known member
Joined
Sep 30, 2010
Messages
1,541
Reaction score
399
Points
98
Do they still have that giant NOPE fish?
 

Notebook

Addon Developer
Addon Developer
News Reporter
Donator
Joined
Nov 20, 2007
Messages
11,813
Reaction score
640
Points
188
Well, I went for it.
I am now trapped in a chamber with a fire-extinguisher and an I-Pad telling me to find a tool...
I knew it wold be complicated, I'm going back to Banished!

N.
 
Top