Subnautica is an underwater survival game about crash landing on an alien planet and becoming best mates with its fish. It surfaced from early access this week and John and Brendan have both been for a dip. Here they share their thoughts on leaky bases, scary whales and the urgency of an alien flu. Note: Spoilers to follow. >

John: Here s a thing. I think it s impossible to discuss Subnautica – the Official Best Survival Game Ever Made – without spoiling it. Like, if we say anything beyond, You crash on a watery planet, and there are some fishies nearby, then we take away from the reader the experience we both had approaching it. So what I say is: if you haven t played Subnautica but want to, bloody well go play it and stop reading this nonsense. For everyone else who has, or needs convincing, we ll say some other stuff.

Brendan: I agree with all of the things this man is saying. If you don’t care about spoilers, read on. (more…)

Darling it s better, down where it s wetter, take it from me – a Subnautica player.>

Underwater survival game Subnautica is finally out and we like it. So we spoke to director Charlie Cleveland about the terror of the deep and safety of the shallows. Earlier this week we heard that they intend to make a paid expansion and an Arctic biome (even if those plans are not finalised). But we talked about much more, so here s a special podcast of the full interview and some of Cleveland’s thoughts scribbled out, old-school. For example, why does he thinks it s a terror game rather than a horror one? And why are there no guns?

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The best survival games are about conquering fear. Last year, when I first splashed about in Subnautica s alien ocean, I was wary of leaving the shallow reef in which you first crash land. I eyed the hazy green water of the nearby kelp forests with fear, knowing it was full of Stalkers, an aggressive fish whose body is mostly one long croc-like jaw. Today, I swim among these beasts, collecting vines and seed pods as they impotently pursue me through the weeds. I ve become a proficient scavenger, making the journey from trouserless idiot to Tom Hanks in Castaway s third act. But even now there are places I do not like to go. (more…)

Subnautica, the underwater survival game about being a space castaway, is crawling out of its early access shell and into a shinier full release shell tomorrow. It s been in development for four years and it is pretty close to done , says Charlie Cleveland, director of Unknown Worlds Entertainment. But there are plans for post-release additions, including the possibility of an icy biome with new creatures and frosty hazards. These plans aren t final, said Cleveland in an interview with us, but he also says they are 80-90 percent sure they re going to make a paid expansion of some kind or another. Read on for more details and essential context that I, a dastardly journalist, cannot communicate in an intro. (more…)

The alien undersea explore-o-survival sandbox Subnautica will properly launch on January 23rd, after three years in early access. I enjoyed a dip way back when, splashing about in the shallows, but since then have been waiting for a full launch. Seeing the sea sights over the past few years, from Pip’s volcano base to ghost rays flocking around a tree in an undersea river of brine, have made it difficult to stay away. I’m glad to have managed that, as an alien ocean I barely know is waiting for me and I’ll get to be delighted and terrified for the first time by the full experience. (more…)

I’ve been meaning to sink some proper time and energy into Subnautica, Unknown Worlds’ game of submarine exploration and underwater survival, but looking at the latest update suggests I might be best waiting until I get my shiny new PC. That’s because the Eye Candy update makes the game (visually) better, down where it’s wetter. Rub your eyeballs all over the update trailer within or take a peek at the full update notes here.

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A reader sent me some links to really well-done Subnautica Lego pitches on the Lego Ideas forum so I wanted to share them! Here’s Survivors of the Degasi and Exploring the Safe Shallows. The Lego Ideas forum lets people pitch ideas for sets that they want Lego to convert into real products. You need 10,000 supporters for a set to qualify for review and these are nowhere near. They’re also based on a third-party IP – from the T&Cs I don’t think it immediately precludes a set from eligibility but it would complicate matters. ANYWAY! I just really liked how well the projects seemed to get the sense of Subnautica (look at the peeper fish!) PLUS because the submissions can use only existing Lego pieces you could build them/bits of them anyway. The shallows terrain segment gave me some ideas for building my own reef – not Subnautica-themed – using my young relatives’ Lego collection!

Hello! It’s your unofficial underwater correspondent, Pip! I’m here to discuss the latest dance music fish trailer and update info for Subnautica [official site]. There’s a thing called a Cuddle Fish and you can feed it snacks!

Also, do you have any idea how many notification systems I have for news about this game? And if any of them fail I have also apparently trained friends to alert me to news as well. (more…)

When I get emails with the subject “Ghost Update” it is usually Alice pointing out something important from the latest issue of our favourite ghost magazine – the angel who was also potentially a surfer dude or the couple who kept having little arguments with each other and past life regression revealed that they had been a trapeze act where one had dropped the other one to their death meaning this life was a bit socially awkward for them.

Confusingly, Ghost Update is also the name of the latest Subnautica [official site] update – no passive-aggressive dead trapeze artists BUT there’s a spot of new content (POTENTIAL SPOILER WARNING), more final plant art (!!!), a new biome called the Mesas, and… detailed models of poop? (more…)

Subnautica‘s [official site] Voice of the Deep update might be the thing that tips me over into playing that game for hours again and properly exploring the narrative/lore side of things. I’d set the game aside to come back to after early access BUT! Tom Jubert (who did narrative work on The Talos Principle and The Swapper and now Subnautica) noted on Twitter: “Today is the day that Subnautic gets its endgame! Finally, something awaits you at the bottom of the ocean.”

THAT SOMETHING HAS ENORMOUS TENTACLES. I’m so into this. … [visit site to read more]