Subnautica Below Zero review: a well of hours with the difficult task of improving the unbeatable

Anyone who has passed through its underwater world knows that Subnautica is very much Subnautica . Subnautica: Below Zero, on the other hand, is like the echo of a collection of fantastic ideas that we have already lived in one way or another.

The sequel to the success of Unknown Worlds is one more excuse to lose ourselves in this fantastic universe in the hands of new vehicles, biomes and surprises, but it is inevitable to have the feeling that it tastes more like 1.5 than 2.0.

The idea of making a series of mechanics profitable for much more is not far-fetched, even despite having put hundreds of hours into the first installment, but in the search for that something else that justifies the return, in Subnautica: Below Zero have encountered their worst enemy: their self from the past.

Towards a more conventional game

With a new frozen planet and a new story to reveal based on messages thrown around, Subnautica: Below Zero brings us back to that mix of adventure and survival that gave such good results in 2018 (even before if we count the good times that we gave in accompanying the team in its Early Access).

The main asset here is that, if that was a survival game with narrative overtones that were revealed to us based on exploring and following clues, this time the story takes control of the planet to accompany us, not hand in hand but with a much more generous and orchestrated guide, from one event to another.

With a plot that ends up bifurcating in three and that gives way to good moments and surprises – despite leaving wanting a much crazier twist in different outcomes – Subnautica: Below Zero introduces us to a protagonist and secondary characters who will have space to conversations, ramblings and a much more elaborate plot.

It is up to everyone to decide if a greater weight in history is just what they were looking for. In my case, the semi-emergent narrative of the first Subnautica that made its way from location to location seemed like a much more original and successful approach, but I can understand that giving more weight to the story requires a much more marked and ordered path.

A well of hours

Beyond that, the keys to this Below Zero are practically the same as we have seen in the past. An underwater survival game in which you collect rocks and feed on alien fish that, material by material, will help you move with greater speed and effectiveness through its addictive open world.

With different biomes with their own species and materials, in the exploration of each one and the new objects that you accumulate in your inventory there is the endless cycle that turns it into a well of hours. Get X material to build X object that will help me find X material more easily and quickly.

A loop that grabs you from the start and keeps you glued to the screen from the time you make your first fins until you shape an insane submarine base powered by Martian potatoes. There is so much to build and discover that no matter how many hours you have invested, you will continue to discover new things.

As in the case of the first, it is probably one of the best paced survival games that have ever passed through my hands. Mount Olympus that the rest of the games of the genre look at from below and feeling tiny.

Touching down

Among the few but striking differences between Subnautica: Below Zero and the first installment, one of the ones that gains the most weight is the importance that the latter gives to putting your feet on the ground. If landing on Subnautica was one of its biggest surprises, here you will start with it and step on it again every two by three.

Hand in hand with large biomes and bases, walking on the mainland is far from being the main premise of this new installment, but it does give it much more importance than we would like to have experienced.

At times it has been like going from flying to walking barefoot, turning key points in the story into tedious round trips that fail to contribute anything beyond being able to say that there is a great change in their approach.

The idea was good, I have no doubt, but you come from offering total mobility in which the only limits are set by how far you dare to descend despite the fear of running out of oxygen, and the change when stepping on land is limited to a follow Go ahead and at most collect animal hair from a cave to protect yourself from the cold.

Missing Subnautica

Moving to another terrain is not the only stumbling block in Subnautica: Below Zero . If there is one that has especially surprised me, it is the vehicles. It is difficult for me to imagine a more alarming step back, and that is that the new Seatruck has nothing to do with the Seamoth or the Cyclops of the first installment.

With the idea of creating a truck that grows based on modules , as we collect new types of containers we will be able to attach them to the main vehicle to create a kind of train with everything we may need on a long journey.

On paper it is fantastic, there is no doubt, but in practice the difference is abysmal compared to classic vehicles and, in fact, they contribute very little at the playable level beyond the curiosity of ordering the modules as you find most comfortable.

The Prawn does return, this time with a storage module already incorporated and a greater weight in the plot and the collection of materials. In addition, the addition of a snowmobile is appreciated that will help to liven up the land trips a bit. Nothing, in short, that invites you to collect materials like a madman in search of that new jewel in the crown.

Below Zero also knows how to shine more than Subnautica

The lime (or sand, I never know which is good) is complemented by the usual suspects in the saga. On the one hand there is the formidable construction of biomes that Unknown Worlds masters to perfection.

On the other hand, all that collection of novelties in the form of new recipes that go one step further when it comes to offering juicy changes and improvements. Some fins that recharge the object that you keep in your hands when you move? Where to sign.

Finally there are its new structures, this time with huge rooms that will allow to modify old acquaintances such as the aquarium to shape new solutions for energy and structural efficiency. That and a zillion cucamonadas in the form of decoration, of course.

They are great pillars that worked like a shot in the past and, this time, they get even better with the arrival of Subnautica Below Zero . It is without a doubt where it is most noticeable that Unknown Worlds have enjoyed creating the sequel.

If you like survival games, you will love Subnautica Below Zero , yes. But if you loved Subnautica , the only thing that is going to prevent you from fully enjoying this second installment is having the first one constantly waving in the rearview mirror.

The challenge was extremely complicated, all said, but we would have appreciated that Unknown Worlds opted for something more ambitious beyond trying to replicate the success with a handful of changes that will hardly satisfy everyone equally. It will be necessary to continue diving between its secrets to finish smoothing rough edges but, in any case, that a Subnautica fan collides head-on with Below Zero actually says more about the first than the second.