Bracingly moist open world survival game Subnautica 2 is embarking on the “voyage to early access 2.0” – this being developer Unknown Worlds’ excitable term for the next round of updates, which will include a new region, creature, and Tadpole chassis, plus some tweaks for biomods and creature behaviour.
I like Subnautica 2 and am happy that Unknown Worlds appear to be enjoying some stability, after all the firings and ChatGPT-abetted lawyer-wrestling over publisher earn-outs, but I really hate “early access 2.0”. I know other teams use nomenclature like this, but seriously, what even is time any more? You can’t make a sequel to something you haven’t finished! It’s 8.30 in the morning, Unknown Worlds, and I already have a migraine. Let’s hurry on to the talk of spooky new regions.
In the first of a new vlog series, creative director Anthony Gallegos calls the next big Subnautica 2 patch “the most substantial update we’ve done since release”. The new region is said to be “one of our scariest regions we’ve ever done – it’s dark, it’s threatening, and it’s really beautiful, all at the same time. It’s an odd juxtaposition.” I find a lot of existing Subnautica 2 dark, beautiful and threatening, so I’m interested to see how they’re upping the ante.
The new region will accompany fresh helpings of Plot for both the human colonists and the other beings. They’re also adding a couple more biomods, the game’s plug-in special abilities, together with a new round room for bases, so that you can rejoice in the feeling of being equidistant from every wall. And then there’s the new Tadpole chassis, the Frog – a cousin of the original game’s Prawn Suit, which gives your dinky submersible arms and legs.
As for what they’re tweaking, the highlight is that you’ll be able to dash while wearing fins, rather than having to equip a dash biomod. They’re also giving the Collector Leviathan (now a Dave the Diver guest star) some new tricks. Given that the Collector is sort of an octopus, I’d love it if the beast could squidge up small enough to fit through hand-sized gaps, limited only by the size of its beak. Actually, I would not love this, I would not love it all.
Unknown Worlds haven’t shared dates for any of this. Are you still playing? And what is your least favourite marketing buzzword for a game development thingy?
