Subnautica, one of the best games set under the sea, has just received a meaty graphics overhaul. The Eye Candy update adds a wave of new graphics options to the Early Access exploration game including bloom, motion blur and depth of field, as well as a 'Filmic Mode' that makes the game look more cinematic.
You might want to fiddle around with the settings when you first dive in because while turning them all on makes the game prettier it also appears, from the screenshots and the trailer above, to make it much more blurry. Now, that makes a bit of sense given the underwater setting but it could prove distracting for some. By playing with the new settings for a bit you should be able to get a new look that you're happy with.
Alongside visual changes, the update adds new voice-overs for abandoned bases and changes the way that some items work. The dive-reel, which is designed to let you retrace your steps, now guides you with balls of light rather than just a cord, and the prawn (a mining machine) will now place items you mine directly into your inventory so you don't have to go scrabbling around for them. Scanner Rooms are now easier to use, too, and won't show you items that you've already picked up.
The update also ships more than 250 bug fixes, including the perennial problem of your surface lifepod inexplicably drifting miles from its starting point, and a visual glitch that made stars shine through the moon.
Click here for the full update notes.
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.
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!
Ever made friends with a fish? Didn't think so. They're generally not amenable to humans, and fair enough too: we eat them. But the good thing about video games is that we can do things otherwise impossible, and thanks to Unknown Worlds, we can now be friends with a "Cuddle Fish" in Subnautica.
"The Cuddle Fish is an adorable companion creature," the update reads. "You may find Cuddle Fish eggs hidden around the world. Those eggs can be incubated in an Alien Containment module, and will eventually hatch into a Cuddle Fish."
So is the fish an alien then? Apparently so, but never mind, because its alien-ness is what imbues it with the ability to follow you everywhere, and to stay in a specific place if you command it to. There aren't really any other benefits to having a Cuddle Fish, but there doesn't need to be any other damned reasons to have a Cuddle Fish.
The video below shows off the Cuddle Fish in action. The update is available now.
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…)