The trade-off is Sector Zero feels better to traverse (mostly) the the Crater. Once again the world is hand-crafted, but it’s smaller. In many ways Subnautica: Below Zero further refines these idea. Players still needed to craft food and water to stay alive, and free-form exploration remained a key tenet, but Subnautica made it simple for players to grasp the basics of survival. Rather than rely solely on the will to survive to push engagement, the team decided to tell an engaging story with a definitive ending. Instead of using a procedurally generated map, Unknown Worlds opted to meticulously shape their underwater world. The first Subnautica was a bit of an outlier within the survival genre when it debuted in Early Access back in 2014. Does Subnautica: Below Zero feel like a tired repeat of already established tricks, or is it capable of fabricating new thrills? Subnautica: Below Zero is equal parts refinement and experiment. That first venture outside the Safe Shallows and into the waiting maw of a hungry Reaper leviathan was an eye-opening shock, one that’s difficult to replicate.

Below Zero has some tough fins to fill, since part of the first Subnautica’s magnetic charm was arguably created by how little we knew about the world we found ourselves in of not knowing what illuminating or terrifying discovery awaited us.

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