Subnautica 2 is just as beautiful and expansive as its predecessors, with no early access cobwebs to be seen

The opening of Subnautica 2 gave me a real feeling of dread. In a good way, I think. An alien planet that’s mostly water is one of the most inhospitable places I could think of, and that’s before I consider the possibility that other things out there already call this place home. Also, I couldn’t see the bottom when I peered over the edge of my lifepod.

Subnautica 2 is a first-person survival game with a heavy dose of crafting – the human form isn’t enough to venture more than a few meters from my base at the beginning, so constructing equipment and a habitable space is my main aim. The initial dip of my head below the waterline reveals another world, similar to many of our Earth’s oceans, but decidedly more dangerous.

A feast for the eyes doesn’t really come close to what I’ve experienced in Subnautica 2. It’s an assault of color and movement and possibility, and while I’d like to say my approach to exploration was clinical, I just picked a direction and went as far as I could before getting too scared and scurrying back home. That never really changed, and yet it never got boring.

There is a true sense of exploration to Subnautica 2, and the setting makes it perhaps the most alien landscape that I’ve ever experienced. I’m never truly in charge of my surroundings, and I can’t survive on my own. I need to build pieces of equipment and forge ahead, looking for new technology to stand a chance at seeing another day. I cannot breathe the air, and I cannot explore freely. I’m at odds with the planet’s very existence, just as it is at odds with mine.

In the beginning, I’m given a very modest lifepod with the tech I need to establish myself. A fabricator (used to create items and equipment) and a storage container. From here, I’m on my own. Subnautica 2 doesn’t hold my hand, and it doesn’t tell me what to do next – I have to wander, poke around, and look for signs of humanity amongst the teeming alien life.

Fragments of the story can be picked up from audio recordings dotted around the coral-filled landscape. I learned that the spaceship I was originally on was possibly the last bastion of humanity, and from there, I’m told that, since I’m alone, I might be the last human in the universe. It’s heavy stuff, and that’s before it gets into the human-replication software and its potential slave labor-esque applications. There’s also a tree that might be poisoning everything. Not great.

The general loop for me so far has been one of incremental gains: pushing my limits with each jaunt outside, finding a new recording, perhaps a new blueprint, then recuperating at my base until it’s time to go out again. Each time going a bit further, a bit deeper. It’s proper frontier stuff, and it’s more compelling than I thought it would be before setting foot outside my lifepod.

Subnautica 2 is currently in early access, and according to the developer, quite a lengthy one. It took around ten hours for the in-progress messaging to perk up, and during that time, I set up several bases, had my own little submersible, and became more or less self-sufficient. I’ve seen things that I didn’t quite understand, and some that I did; huge structures, beautiful networks of coral, leviathan-esque creatures that sit just beyond my vision in the deep black. I feel like I haven’t touched the sides just yet.

It’s a beautiful game and a rewarding experience, with the early access tag not impacting me much. I found an area with a big red border and a message saying it was under construction, but with a giant beast staring at me from the abyss, I would have probably given that a wide berth anyway. Fans of the original and newcomers to the series will find a lot to dig into here, and with plenty of additions to come over the next few years, Subnautica 2 is well worth the price of entry right now.