Ultimately, while many of these things can be considered hard improvements to the original game’s formula, Below Zero doesn’t make Subnautica obsolete. The Snowfox is also entirely new, and this land-only vehicle helps players quickly traverse snowy tundra, a necessity given the increased amount of on-land exploration required for progress, with severe penalties for exposure to cold or getting stuck in Below Zero’s new dangerous weather patterns. The Seatruck feels like a slightly snappier, more mobile replacement for Subnautica’s Seamoth, and can be upgraded for versatility. Traversal has been overhauled along the same lines.

Related: Subnautica: Below Zero Is A Horror Game For People With Thalassophobia This is also partly due to Below Zero featuring a smaller map-it’s still big enough to feel scary, wondrous, and explorable, but it makes more efficient use of space, with far fewer empty stretches.

Resources are abundant in the starting area, and it isn’t long before craftable blueprints are made available, allowing for mechanics like Subnautica's vehicle tinkering and base-building to become relevant without as much travel and exploration. It also means that Subnautica: Below Zero pushes more story elements more quickly, preferring player motivation to the slow burn of Subnautica’s gradual narrative.īelow Zero also offers players the chance to get up and running more quickly. There’s a more fully-formed sense that people with their own motivations lived on 4546B, not just crash survivors or corporate colonists. This concrete personality allows her to make comments about the world as she moves through it, and the added context and perspective makes Below Zero’s immediate story elements feel far more imperative.

Players now control Robin Ayou as their avatar, rather than the voiceless stand-in of the first game, and she has a personal motivation for coming to 4546B: seeking to discover the true fate of her sister. This emphasis on personality extends to the main character as well.

Subnautica game too dark