Subnautica Critique - Survival Game Standout

This is a re-upload of the video I made on a previous channel, originally uploaded on August 3, 2021. Timestamps and corrections are below.
This is an in-depth review of Subnautica, discussing it's gameplay, exploration, and story, among other things. This game offers a unique experience that's unlike any survival game I've played, and it's worth playing if you want to walk away with something memorable.
Twitter - / vgmatthew_
Chapters
0:00 - Introduction
1:27 - Early Game
5:58 - The World & Exploration
13:18 - Resource & Item Management
16:23 - Vehicles
23:38 - End Game
30:16 - The Story
35:43 - Final Thoughts
Corrections
23:12 - I said the Prawn Drill Arm is probably the most important upgrade in terms of progression, but didn't really elaborate and instead said how it's not super useful in the endgame. It's important strictly for progression because it's the most reliable way to farm Kyanite - I didn't actually know Kyanite even came in single crystals until long after I had gotten it in resource deposits. In that sense the Drill Arm is important for progression since Kyanite is essential for the Escape Rocket. It just doesn't have as much diverse use outside of that.
27:41 - I said that you need one Blue Tablet to unlock the full Primary Containment Facility. I talk about this in more detail pretty soon after but you actually need two - one for the entrance, and one to access the aquarium.
28:53 - I said that you'll have to leave the Lava Lakes/ILZ with a Prawn or Cyclops. This isn't always true since there are lots of fast travel portals in the containment facility which can bring you back to the surface faster. It does help with the monotony a bit and I should have considered it more when criticizing this part of the game, but the portals also don't lead you to the most convenient places so I don't quite think it's a good enough solution.

[@MallyMcAlli]

The reason that trek for the Blue Tablet feels weird and lengthy is bc you're supposed to navigate your Cyclops down there and you should, by all right, have a fabricator in there haha

[@thefauxfox3577]

There were also portals you could use to get back to the surface (it even gives you an ion cube)

[@Passos_art]

Also the 4 portals in the containment facility takes you to all 4 ingredients for the hatching enzymes, literally no need to go back and forth

[@ethank14]

Haha yeah my poor cyclops was relegated to the bottom of the world once I found the last facility and realized there were portals back up! I kind of had to double take when he was saying he had to go all the way back to the top for the nearest fabricator. I guess I can't imagine not having a fabricator and mod station on the cyclops, but to each their own!

[@gabrielbarron7667]

​@@ethank14 yeah in my playthrough I built the cyclops but literally never used it because it was just too big and I just brought the prawn everywhere

[@adamdavis1737]

I have never beat this game, but I have put a ton of hours into it I'm not a fan of survival games but there are a couple that manage to be unique enough to hook me. No man's sky is one of them, I know that certainly had its share of issues but it is now a truly unique experience And Subnautica. No Man's sky kind of started out with this sense of being alone in a never-ending void, making you feel incredibly small and insignificant These days the game is filled with other people and you feel like you're not discovering anything on your own for the first time Subnautica however literally drops you alone into the void, everything you find there is always first discovered by you, at least on your first couple playthroughs And of course it's over talked about it at this point, but there's the fact that this game is an unintentional horror masterpiece The Dread that you feel when you get deeper and deeper into less and less visibly lit areas of the ocean is unmatchable Especially if you already have a fear of deep sea and the unfathomable giants that live there I think this game is a masterpiece and it's unfortunate that below zero was so middle of the road

[@erusean8492]

Fun fact, the crashfish are the single most deadly animal in subnautica. No other animal, except for the sea dragon, has an attack that can instantly kill you at 100% health, and even the Sea Dragon will usually swat you away if you swim next to it rather than doing the instant kill bite.

[@gabrielbarron7667]

Wait crash fish can insta kill you? They always deal like tiny damage that is purely an annoyance to me

[@erusean8492]

@@gabrielbarron7667 if they explode on you they can deal over 100% damage.

[@the_blue_rogue5125]

What about the Drooping Stingers?

[@alduinfr]

@@the_blue_rogue5125 i barely encountered dropping stingers in the game and the only one that annoys me the most is the ones at one of the degasi base. while i encountered crashfishes many times and almost killed me many times. also it works almost the same way as gasopod's pods

[@joshuasgameplays9850]

@@the_blue_rogue5125 Those don't kill you instantly, just really fast. It's entirely possible to survive if you just graze them.

[@matiastripaldi406]

btw, while i do feel like getting the required plants for the hatching enzymes is a fetch quest, the devs actually made it easy to complete: you know how there are 6 side doors in the primary containment facility? 4 of those lead to teleporters which lead to the biomes that harbor the plants. so getting a specific plant just requires you to go from the PCF through the portal and back, no need to backtrack the entire way

[@gabrielbarron7667]

And the final one is found in the sea emperors tank so it's not even difficult either

[@TheGlenn8]

Funny you mention not liking the Prawn suit. I loved that thing. I loved it so much that I didn't even bother to build the Cyclops on my second playthrough because I wanted to go everywhere in the Prawn suit. The movement of using the grapplinghook and jets effectively to build up to speed felt really involved. Like an entertaining movement challenge.

[@oldcowbb]

i only start to love that thing after the jet upgrade, before that it is just constant fear of getting the suit stuck a cave too deep to jump back out

[@ACE_M_D]

Me too it was the best thing in the game other than the world itself

[@LeShawnDeWalrus]

Personally i hated it, only used it in jellyshroom cave as i thought magnetite was only in big chunks, learned theres no ore that is. And then the 2 lava zones so in total 3 trips with it, the other 2 were through the portals. Mostly just used seamoth.

[@1987jaffa]

Once you get the hang of it, it's faster than the seamoth. And it's practically indestructible. My only gripe with it is that the upgrades don't come with the prawn blueprint

[@user-pv5ep7ed5z]

Same I hunt leviathans with it

[@bradleylagrow5521]

Ah yes, a channel of quality and culture. A good find. Looking forward to seeing more from you!

[@duk2458]

I’m sure others have said this, but the teleporters at the containment facility make the endgame a lot less tedious once you notice them.

[@MallyMcAlli]

I know this video is old and you've likely played more of the game and found all this out, but for passersby: Humans weren't aware of the Kharaa bacteria bc it hadn't managed to reach any planet they visited yet. The Aurora is on a mission to built a new phasegate to push interplanetary travel so it would have been only a matter of time, however, the Aurora had a secondary mission to see if they could find the Degassi which went missing /somewhere around there/ and coming too close to 4246B got them shot down. As for the Quarantine Enforcement platform not only was it not visible to human scanners until it was too late, but the Precursor race had not been encountered and therefore their technology is completely foreign, there was no way for humans to know /what/ the hell that was until they were already being shot at. Also yes it's implied that the Sea Emperor has been holding on by a thread to see her young hatched and therefore finally gives up when they are free.

[@LockheedC-130HerculesOfficial]

How was she holding on by a thread tho

[@miwamy]

@@LockheedC-130HerculesOfficial hope 🌈 lol

[@ConroyMatheson]

Octopus die when they have their young. I can't imagine what she's based on. She's also psychic and an alien. So you know, future math, space time DNA. She wants children to be free that doesn't mean she's had those eggs there for a thousand years. Probably just as soon as she realizes she can get someone to actually help her.

[@thegardenofeatin5965]

The game does give you enough purple tablets that you don't have to craft any--if you explore sufficiently, but yes you do have to craft a blue tablet. I think they expect you to have driven a Cyclops down here, and to have installed a fabricator in it. I think the fetch quest at the end to make the hatching enzymes should have actually been a bigger, more interesting quest. An idea I keep having is, you should have to find five kinds of plants from the surface, but the crash of the Aurora wiped out an entire biome and killed them all. But Bart Torgal took a sample of it, and you can find it growing at one (or all) of the Degasi seabases, like in exterior growbeds. That way, there's a payoff to the Degasi story, and Bart gets to have a hand in saving the day, which I think would give an uplifting note to his otherwise grim fate.

[@plasmatize8494]

Great critique! One small correction: while I agree the overall endgame can get too tedious/fetchy, the blue tablet actually doesn't require leaving the Lava Zone. Since you can build a fabricator and tons of lockers inside your cyclops, it's meant to function sort of like a mobile base. The developers probably hoped most players would thus decide to bring it, with a docked prawn suit, on those long expeditions through the Lost River/Lava Zone. So when you get the recipe for the blue tablet, you can just mine the Ion Cube deposit, along with nearby kyanite, and craft it right there in your Cyclops.

[@thegood_soup]

And also for the plants at the end that you need to get are ash if you use the portals in the pcf

[@ConroyMatheson]

I knew immediately when I got the tablet and then the recipe I was gonna have to at least make one more.

[@cancerouscorndog6425]

Really you could just bringthe habitat builder with bioreacter and fabricater parts

[@user-bt8xr5si9y]

The Primary Containment facility has teleporters all around that will bring you back up without having to navigate the entire lava zone and lost river. Not the best way of handling it but it's better then what was described here. Another thing is that actually one ofthe plants needed for the Hatching Enzymes can be found in the Aquarium itself and the other 4 are each at the end of each of the 4 teleporters within the Primary Containment Facility so you can basically immediately get them. Just wanted to get that out great video :D

[@geashd777]

Honestly I really enjoyed navigating with the prawn suit, but youre definitely right about it relying on the upgrades. Honestly makes me think it should’ve just came stock with the grapple arm, learning to launch yourself across the sea floor is a blast

[@UltraMicroBudget]

I felt just like the op when I first created the prawn suit. However, I caught myself traveling between bases to recharge and realized the prawn suit actually has excellent mobility once the jump boost is applied. I used grappling hook for a while but not as much endgame.

[@rikuaotsuki6353]

Been contemplating getting the game for myself after watching a few Let's Plays of it and seeing that it was very recently updated, and I gotta say I really like your way of presenting your thoughts. That said, I think your critique of the story itself around 35:00 is a bit too harsh; The humans weren't aware of the virus because it was (relatively) contained to a civilization they had no contact with. The Degasi and Aurora weren't attempting to land, either; they were both attempting to use the planet to perform a gravity slingshot(probably intending to skirt the atmosphere to get close enough to boost their velocity, or using the atmosphere as a brake to reduce it) and got too close, triggering the quarantine enforcement platform. As far as the sea emperor leviathan dying goes, I don't think there's any real explanation, but I think it's pretty fair to assume that she spent a long time essentially hibernating to prolong her life long enough to make sure her babies could hatch. If that's acceptably reasonable, it'd follow that the Aurora crashing cause enough of a disturbance to wake her. That all said... if she WAS awake the whole time, I commend her for lasting for centuries in that tinyass tank without giving up, and by the time her young hatched she was probably just too plain tired to do anything but die on the spot. -shrug-

[@AuGrrr]

I think the reason the laviathan dies at the end was she was holding onto life to make sure her young can hatch and survive. With her goal reached she finally let go

[@pvpeet9374]

I loved that game! But I disagree with the ending fetch quest - there were portals which pretty much brought you directly to every single one of the resources right in the facility you meet the emperor in, so it’s about a couple of minutes when you use them. If you walked to every single one of them, sure, it’s monotony, but there was a good solution provided. I think you needed 5 energy cubes, but I always had stacks of vital things at hand so it wasn’t a problem for me.

[@KekkonenInJapan]

I really wish I could play this game, it seems like so much fun. But it is just too scary for me, I just can't handle the scares deep down in the sea.

[@VGMatthew]

It is fun but it is frightening, and it really plays to those sorts of fears so I don't blame you, haha.

[@jerrodshack7610]

This was genuinely an issue for me. I feel like my experience with the game was dampened a lot because I had to look things up to be confident enough to explore

[@silencewench7284]

I’m late, but once you die to a Leviathan a few times it gets a lot less scary, coming from someone with quite a bad case of thallasaphopia.

[@rogerphone481]

i think a large part of the game for me was learning to overcome that fear. there's just something so real about the scary parts of subnautica and it takes a couple hours to start building up confidence, only for it to be shattered when you try to go to the aurora and catch glimpse of a reaper's tail for the first time. fastforward another 10 hours and you get sad after acidentally killing casper the ghost leviathan

[@oldcowbb]

i have thalassophobia in real life but the game was never scary to me, except for the fear of being lost in a underwater cave. You have so many technologies by your hand (mech suit, unbreakable sub, self sustaining habitat) it feels more like conquering nature than anything

[@SchmidtDiggley]

Dude, love the stuff you’ve been putting out. Found you from your great Sekiro critique, and started scouring previous vids. Keep it up! Btw, didn’t make it to the end of subnautica, so I dont know the story context, but I think there are a handful of aquatic animals that die after giving birth, so big momma’s death at the end could be a reference to some aquatic creature’s lifecycle. Seems more reasonable when you consider that male seahorses give birth to their offspring by shooting babies out of their stomaches, so I’d say the story writers may have some basis for what may come across as a random death. Food for thought, but regardless, hope to see more great content out of you!

[@VGMatthew]

Thank you very much! I will say that this is the first video that I put more serious effort into - everything before Subnautica was pretty experimental so I don't think they're _that_ high quality, but I appreciate you checking out my stuff in any event, haha. I never new about marine animals dying after giving birth, that's a cool tidbit of trivia. If it is a nod to some real-life biology that'd be pretty interesting, though her offspring in this game hatch from eggs so I dunno. There may be a piece of lore about it buried in the game somewhere.

[@SchmidtDiggley]

Good point! Didn’t realize that she laid eggs externally, so I’d be more inclined to agree with you on that moment being/coming across as contrived. I actually went through all of your older stuff, and while I do prefer your long form dissections, you don’t have a single video that wasn’t solid all around. Consistently great communication of your opinions, great attention to detail while being able to cut out unnecessary fluff, and you do a great job of pacing your videos so they remain interesting throughout their run time. And because you brought up audio quality in one of your vids, I think you’ve done a good job, but if you ever have any audio/music related stuff I’d be happy to lend a hand! Keep it up dude!

[@pedroferreira8033]

@@VGMatthew it's said in the PDAs that the alien capture the Sea Empress 1000 years ago and at that time she was already 1600 years old and my theory about her death is that some animals, especial dogs, hang on on death by sheer will.

[@ChimpPeensRevunge]

I agree that the Prawn suit is clunky and underwhelming to begin with, but once you deck it out with upgrades it becomes apparent why it needs to have a learning curve. A jump jet prawn suit with grappling and drill arms is OP once you know how to use it; it makes the end game biomes super fun to traverse, since there's basically always a wall or ceiling to grapple onto and fling yourself. I've always been a sucker for grappling hooks in games though, so I am probably biased towards a mech suit that uses one. 😎

[@pranaviyer8178]

Really nice review man, watched your elden ring and sekiro critique, was very happy to find out that you also made a review on my other favorite game :D. I think the only real gripe i have with this video is that you sorta understated how much the thallasophobic nature of the game really adds to the experience. Just peering down into the blank expanse and feeling that feeling that you feel. Its absolutely priceless imo. Ive never felt so insignificant. The sound and visual design perfectly complement the fear of the unknown. Masterpiece game.

[@Rambl3On]

Great job! I can’t believe this doesn’t have more views! I’m sure your channel will be growing and growing.

[@Soundwave1900]

About the story: Humans weren't aware of kharaa because they're only just starting to explore the part of the galaxy it was widely spread over, and every planet it was spread to have been put under quarantine, its not a self-spreading virus, it only got as far as the infected aliens did. "Were they not capable of viewing the planet from space and finding out about the quarantine platform" - no. The previous ship was a private ship of a corpo executive that took a detour to this planet out of curiosity or something and got immediately shot down. Our ship was tasked to create warp gates on one of the nearby planets "in a far frontier of human-explored part of the galaxy", so it was a place not many ships have been to so far, and after we were done with that we took off to complete the additional task of checking what happened to the previous ship. As humans were yet to discover another inteligent species it simply didn't occure to them their ship might get shut down by an ion cannon that can bend its ray around the entire planet if it wants to (yes, that's an actual thing). So even if they would find an alien skyscraper-looking thing it would still be a stratch to assume that's a cannon and that it can hit things on the other side of the planet. The leviathan didn't exactly instantly die after her babies were born, if you look closer she still sits there and breathes even if you get to the surface and come back. And the important thing is, she's way over her species average lifespan and apparently still haven't died only because of sheer will, her species survival depends on her not dying after all. I know that sounds corny but that's the official explanation if I remember correctly. All the info above is from the PDA by the way.

[@dillonahrens8112]

It may hurt immersion for some but it also alleviates fear; turning the engine off in the cyclops makes any hostile creature lose interest and also makes the sub completely invulnerable to damage of any kind.

[@1God1Fury]

Tell that to ampells, they would constantly bash and shock my cyclops if I parked near them

[@Jo-Heike]

Creature decoys complete the picture. I personally had a wall locker filled with just creature decoys. Didn't end up using more than like 6, or 9 of them.

[@majorkeybro]

Great review! Cant wait to watch below zero review! I love this game. Quick correction tho is that the Aurora never meant to land on 4546B. One of the PDA’s revealed that it went to do a gravitational slingshot around the planet in order to travel somewhere else. They then got close enough to the planet to get shot.

[@jerrodshack7610]

Absolute banger

[@LockheedC-130HerculesOfficial]

I didn't really find the "needing to go in and out thru the lava zone to craft more tablets" an issue since I brought my Cyclops into the lava zone so going to my nearest fabricator took 30 second

[@koroplays3200]

You could also just build a put stop base in a safe area.

[@ozzyp97]

@@koroplays3200 You could, but decking out the cyclops for my final trip down was one of my favourite parts. With the right plants and the thermal energy upgrade it becomes 100% self-sustainable within the lava zones.

[@annieabsorbsaqua5793]

Wow, this is a wildly different experience from my own. Storage has at no point bothered me whatsoever. I never had to use the swimming lockers, and I have no trouble keeping track of items in my storage. I just remember which locker has what purpose. Also the prawn suit? Yeah it's kinda janky (not very unique in this game), but it is by far the fastest vehicle in the game, not to mention the absolute best movement of any game I've played! How does zooming around like a rocket not leave an impression on you?

[@PutitinDaramen]

fun fact about the aurora's model detail. The idea to make it a reachable location was an afterthought. it used to be a static skybox feature. early access players were disappointed by the fact that you couldn't save the environment or explore the wreck so the devs made it a poi.

[@PutitinDaramen]

same with the story. Also an afterthought. The game originally would have no story but play testers thought it would be good so the devs added it. Subnautica had a really interesting development technique. _every_ decision about the game was public and there was even place where you could see real time development of features. The devs went to great strides to listen to the community.

[@amaro6603]

I was building the Neptune as I was progressing, so I never had to go on a massive grind, it was more spread out and building it made landmarks of my progress. So being able to leave in it at the end felt nice. I also think Subnautica IS a horror game. I don't get scared easily and I'm a huge horror fan. Subnautica is the only game that ever scared me. (that and the original slander man when I was 12)

[@njsteere]

After the first play through it also turns into the PERFECT “podcast game”. I love playing this on switch while listening to something or even watching a movie.

[@nobleman9076]

I just stumbled upon this video and absolutely loved the content. I can somewhat explain a number of the reasons you were unable to come up with as far as plot holes and story devices. If i remember correctly, The Khaara virus originated on this planet and them being super smart aliens, they realized right away that they were infected and set up the research quarantine, never letting it off planet. The reason the Aurora was shot down and didnt know about the laser cannon was because it was only flying by the planet on its route to its true destination, and got shot down in the process, hence the poor scan of the planet, resulting in not knowing about the laser, and the sea emperor leviathan only held on to life for as long as she did to see the birth of her young and ensure they lived to hatch. Due to other plot devices and demonstrated powers of the sea emperor, I don't think this is an unreasonable explanation. Even when you see her for the first time she definitely seems to be out of her prime and decaying. Not sure if you'll see this since its so far past the posting date, but I hope i answered some questions you had.

[@dommguard]

I'm honestly baffled that the fact there are 4 portals near the aquarium leading to 4 out of 5 material needed for the enzyme eluded you. There are other portals too for the sake of travel. After playing severl hundred hours, I have to say, Subnautica is one of my favourite games. I love the world and the atmosphere, just want to get lost in it.

[@rathelmmc3194]

It's too bad the sequel missed the mark by so much.

[@LeShawnDeWalrus]

@@rathelmmc3194 yeah, its very different from the first, a bit too linear, i still enjoyed it, for different reasons tho, mostly Roberto the inventory pengling.

[@ChairJustChair]

I love this game but what it really needed was more side objectives and missions, this world was so vast and cool so when I beat the game after hitting all the hard to find alien facilities it felt like a waste of an amazing world (I loved colonizing the ocean but after I beat the game the only thing holding up my motivation to play the game was my own wanting to expand my bases) Plus it kinda feels oddly baren in some parts like how Gold had so many uses and Copper unlock a bunch of new crafting possibilities while Blood oil has a SINGLE use 😔 and kyanite is used in 2 upgrades and the eacape Rocket

[@budlikycz2445]

This is one of the survival games I really love. There is but one big single problem that keeps it even from being higher on my list and thats the performance that never got patched or fixed. Thats why my favourite survival game is still The Long Dark. Great critique, instantly subscribed and going to binge your other reviews. Love the critiques that are long. And seeing you have Sekiro thats 3 hours man I am so happy I found another of these channels. Just bought Subnautica Below Zero which has lots of improvents everywhere and looking forward to playing more of it.

[@martine5604]

I like this review for the most part, but highly disagree with your points against the story. The Sea Emperor had exceeded her natural life span by a shit ton, holding on not just with hope of freeing her young, but also to keep the planet from succumbing entirely to the bacteria. When her goal was finally fulfilled, she allowed herself to let go. A thousand years of isolation, but her task was finally complete. As for the ships not knowing about the bacteria and alien tech, the planet is not well mapped out and they hadn't expected to see any alien tech since they had never met space-faring aliens before. It's also a story about corporate greed and how that leads to cutting corners (like safety procedures).

[@joshuasgameplays9850]

I think the problems with the blue tablet and the hatching enzymes are caused by the devs assuming that plays will bring their Cyclops into the Lava Zone. You'll be able to get ion cubes in the PCF and you will likely have already grabbed some kyanite on your way down. As for the enzymes, you can get the sea crown inside of the aquarium itself and the other four plants are found in the portals that're connected to the central room. In either case, if you brought a Cyclops loaded with a fabricator into the Lava Zone, you'll be able to get it done in a matter of minutes. The major issue here is that the game does not communicate to the player that they should bring a Cyclops to the PCF, in fact they're actively discouraged from doing so since the Cyclops is much more vulnerable to the Sea Dragons and Lava Larvae than than the Prawn Suit is.

[@thedudeabides3138]

This was a great essay, thank you. I think you made a good case for the part of me that wouldn’t get off the fence 😜

[@MichaelJones-wj4mo]

I loved using the grappling hooks, far more than I enjoyed the sea moth. The base prawn is pathetic but the grappling hook made for one of the best experiences I had in the game, by getting really good at it and flying around because of that skill. Just a different perspective! Also the story bits, The kharaa wiped everything out where it was and humanity is just getting to this part of the cosmos so it makes sense they wouldn’t have seen it yet, if the aurora had completed its mission you can imagine a world in which humanity finds the kharaa on a dead architect or something and never get the enzyme and are wiped out. The emperor chooses to die at the end, she only hung on so long for the desperate hope of seeing her kids live. One of the pda’s mention how she had exceeded the normal lifespan of her species by hundreds of years. It’s a tragic but deep story about this mother’s battle with time and enduring a prison so that her family and her world can go on The story holds up better than you’re giving it credit for. Below zero’s story is an absolute mess tho

[@RealityCheck6969]

I love the Cyclops a lot. I consider it a unique experience to pilot it. It is a mobile base so you always have everything you need.

[@1God1Fury]

except for energy generators, battery recharging (since if you will be using cyclops own energy), water filtration system, moonpool upgrades modification and can't have prawn and seamoth at same time

[@savona35]

Looking forward to hear your opinion on Subnautica 2

[@will_of_europa]

Subnaughtyboi 2 is an big suck.

[@Senryu__]

Pro tip for anyone that sees this: if you missed crafting a second blue tablet and you’re in the primary containment facility, take the teleporter that leads you to the mushroom zone. The Mushroom Zone is roughly 900-1,000m away from the life pod you landed in and it’s much faster than taking your prawn all the way back to the your base if you didn’t bring your cyclops down into the lava zone.

[@Poferman21]

Maybe pushing Ruffs with subs to honor the jimbo man. And congrats with the 1k! I would have subed before but I didn't know you had a channel, only knew about you becouse of jimbo 😅, and also saw you in Twitter (or x if you are a psychopath) once

[@Lesalledebains]

I don't see anyone talking about it so I will. The reason the sea emperor falls over and dies right away is mentioned in the story as well as implied by body language. A scan you received of her tells you she is well past the elder age of her species. She is holding on by a thread and once she first detects you on the planet she is given hope. She is old and tired but she uses the rest of her energy to play with her kids once they hatch, the species lives on and she can finally rest after waiting and holding on for so long. It makes sense that'd she'd be able to live much longer than her species should since she is in a habitat built to keep her safe and alive, but old age still takes hold.

[@whinegummi6329]

God u could get to be one of m my fav creators. love listening to ur content. Videos are just a to short for me for the most part. Still u are up there with Mandalore and Salt.

[@miwamy]

I can agree with your graphics comment on the Aurora. I always laugh whenever I see the backside of the ship from the island cause it just looks like a giant toy lol also agree with the prawn suit, I only ever used it for the lava zone and the containment chambers. during many first playthoughs I would just fall through the map with my prawn from just walking so I just said no

[@siljorfag]

Great review! I first watched your Below Zero's critique and yeah, I can see why you said your Subnautica 1 critique came out as mostly negative, while in BZ's you praised the game a lot. I totally agree the game's great at making you, the unnamed "Ryley Robinson", the protagonist: after making the essencials, I tasked myself on finding survivors and after exhausting all lifepods, I went to the rendezvous point for Aurora's crew in the Floating Island: there I discovered that Yuu and Keen survived but died trying to reach the ship. So the task died there but a new one started: the Degasi storyline: scanned everyting and took the PDA's and started the hunt to uncover what happened to them (Note: in the middle here I've received the code to get the Neptune's blueprint so I explored the Aurora). After knowing their demise, the only other lead I had was the log entry of facilities location on the planet (after the Sunbeam storyline), one was 800mts down in a cave system, then a thermal plant at 1200mts and a primary containment facility at 1400mts: so that was my new task. The rest was history: did the prep work for the deeper zones, reached all facilities, cured myself, built the rocket and left the planet. It was an absolutely fantastic experience, I know so much about the game itself that I was able to beat it, but the drawback: there are zones I just wasn't able to bring myself down to explore: The Dunes, The Mountains, The Crash Zone and the Bulb Zone (only to get to Lifepod 12) - since it's right in between the Mountains and The Crash Zone and the reaper on the front of the Aurora is closest to the Bulb zone than to the Aurora itself - in resume: my biggest fear in Subnautica was the Reaper Leviathan and I avoided them at all cost, making the biomes they're in totally off-limits for me. At first I expected them to jump at me at every second, then you realize they're in their territory and if you stay far away from them, they won't bother you at all. Beat the game three times already and only once I was brave enough to stasis rifle a Reaper and scan it (without headphones). So yeah - if you got this far after all that text, thank you! Really enjoyed this critique man, keep it up! Cheers.

[@myself8354]

I personally think the Blueprint system in the game is very good. It acts as a soft restriction for new areas. You can still explore them if you want, but taking the time to aquire blueprints from earlier areas will make exploring them easier. For example the sea glide makes it much easier to explore the grassy plateaus in order to then scan sea moth fragments which then allows you to travel further and deeper for even more blue prints. But none of that is mandatory. It just makes life easier. The Blueprint system also adds a sense of progression in the game as you can feel how far along you are by what kind of stuff you have access to. I define early game as being from start until you get your 1st sea moth. Mid game until you aquire a prawn suit. And end game when you finally have a cyclops.

[@belphy205]

I did play and finish this. Loved it immensely,and normally I’m not a fan but having played it I absolutely loved it.

[@Jo-Heike]

When it comes to the Prawn I had two setups, dual drill arms, and dual grappling arms, one made mining quick, and the other made traversal quite fun and easy for when I needed to go somewhere and explore.

[@demonicdreams598]

I loved this Game even though I had some issues of my own. I never created the cyclops and reached the end game with just 2 vehicle which I thoroughly enjoyed. Yes the prawn suit was very different but I loved the new addition personally, even though it was hard to control. The only thing I had issue with was I was unable to fabricate the escape ship because I was missing a module which I searched everywhere but couldn't find, I believe it was related to the cyclops. So I assumed my own ending where the hero died in this water planet but not before getting rid of the virus and paved way for the future astronauts to explore the planet without any danger. And that is enough for me.

[@tHe_bAgeL]

To get that module you need to make the cyclops and use the upgrade fabricator inside it

[@sick0abc123]

I was in disbilief when you ate a hoverfish. There is 1 rule in subnautica: we.dont.eat.the.hoverfish

[@LucBlocker]

where does that rule came from. Fish is fish The only thing I could say is that Peepers and Reginalds are the best

[@vaibhavshakya190]

I left subnautica mid game after building the cyclops .... But after this video I have this urge to complete the campaign

[@Soma-md1mf]

"i cant think of any game where managing your inventory is fun" resident evil 4 (atleast for me)

[@Jo-Heike]

Personally I made a moonpool almost as soon as I could and built lockers. Then I built a cyclops and filled it with lockers on almost every wall surface. From there I made a moonpool with a vehicle terminal away from the shallows and only used it to upgrade my vehicles, storing everything and doing all crafting in my cyclops (and it all got very easy when I got my Prawn with dual drill arms).

[@ACE_M_D]

Brug the prawn suit is the best, the fact that it gives you a chance to finally fight back and makes adventuring safer is all it needs really to be the best, i didn't run into any glitches, it was the vehicle of choice for me when diving deeper as the sea moth cant handle the depth and the cyclops is so big and clunky to go there. Also for the tablets there are portals man so it's not that much of a drag, and i think they did to make use of them

[@ianaaji]

It surprises me that you felt the tablets would be an issue. You made a point of stating that the Cyclops is intended to be a mobile base, so I feel that the animation of swimming all the way up to the surface is disingenuous; most people at this point would have a Cyclops nearby, or at least a base much closer than the surface. I also find it puzzling that you say there's no way of knowing that you need the tablets. You find the purple table on the ground mere feet away from the quarantine enforcement platform, you use it to gain access, and they have no other purpose. By the time you go down to the lava zone you should be explicitly searching for those alien bases; it's entirely logical that you would bring the tablets with you because it's clear that they give you access to the alien facilities. Other than that, I enjoyed seeing the analysis of the game and I agree that the early game draws you in and is well designed and that the late game falls a bit flat. Personally however, I found the story fascinating. There are aliens, aliens which no one in this galaxy spanning civilization knows about; that drew me in.

[@JoeEnderman]

One critique of your critique: humans have been aware of Kharaa for some time in this universe. But there wasn't a known cure. Or at least the disease was a major player in the first two games they made which were both FPS.

[@Electrodoc1968]

Many players fill their inventory with large items like the sea glide when they're using the seamoth. No real need to. Essentials to do with exploration should be in the seamoth storage.. A beacon or two, pathfinder, medical kit, food bar, battery and 2 large waters. Frees up much of the inventory.. Free storage module found during a good rummage around the Aurora.

[@liamqueally9074]

I greatly enjoy this review but in the part where you need the plants there are 4 teleporters which bring you to the plants

[@PutitinDaramen]

i liked the prawn. While it was slow and clunky it could tank. the prawn suit always spearheaded my adventures because I knew I could kill a leviathan with it. It was slow, powerful but somehow it made you feel small again. you effectively have the ability to fly in subnautica. the prawn grounds you and it makes the caves all the more grand. the prawn suit was also the second vehicle I made. and it was the vehicle I could go the deepest with. Hence why I used it so much.

[@justaspoon9827]

i wish i could play this game. my friend got it for me a few years back and i’ve tried to play multiple times but i get stuck because i’m too scared to go into many areas. watching videos on it is as close as i’ll get. i played the second one and loved it so i’ll just say i love the franchise even though i haven’t played it all

[@absolutehuman951]

34:55 Really? It has to be the weakest point of the essay... It's pretty clear that humans were never interested in this planet and the only reason it was even discovered is the gun shooting all the spaceships. The haraa was mostly extinct with the aliens themselves. As for the Emperor, it was made abundantly clear that she has enough control on her lifespan that she can just die when there's nothing for her to do anymore. And she doesn't even drop dead, just fall asleep.

[@thecodeson99]

Man if they actually did the single cell biome they were thinking about I still think that would of added another layer of horror to the alian planet.

[@amintron]

really good video!! now i'm curious to see what you think of the sequel. if you have played it that is.

[@VGMatthew]

Thank you! Below Zero critique is currently on the way.

[@amintron]

@@VGMatthew awesome can't wait

[@will_of_europa]

Subnaughtyboi 2 is an big suck.

[@CorDharel]

In my opinion Subnautica has the "most realistic" feeling virtual world in any video game. I truly loved explore the world. Oh and I totally forgot: I absolutely love your game reviews!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! (extra exclamation marks to underline my compliment)

[@elmolovesfire]

Nice video! Just got a few notes about your criticisms of the story. 1. Alterra and the rest of thw universe are aware if the khara bacterium, as in the data log it says it is responsible for the deaths of 163 billion individuals. 2. No. Humanity cannot get close enough to analyze 4546B due to the quarantine enforcement platform probably shooting them down. 3. The babies have to be hatched in order to get the enzyme as the adult sea emporer is too old to produce the enzyme herself. Therefore, the only way to get the enzyme is to hatch the sea emporers babies. Btw it is said that this is the last sea emporer in the world. 4. This one comes from the subnautica wiki, but it says that the sea emporer dies there because it has used up the last of its energy to play with it's babies. Its a blink and youll miss it moment in the game, but its there. Other than that i loved this review!

[@LeShawnDeWalrus]

I only died once while playing the game, That was the first time going in the jellyshroom cave as i ran out of breath, cause i didnt have any vechile yet. In my opinion, the game is well oaced, but the lava zones felt way too quick as it was just 1 trip to get kyanite from inactive lava zone and then a few more trips to do the active lava zone stuff which was like 3 trips, so the endgame areas felt a bit too quick, even lost river felt a bit quick, but that was still fine.

[@chengong388]

Just bought and beat this amazing game, 8 years after I first saw it on Steam. there is something that's truly useless though, the air pump and tubes

[@palpaladin315]

I replayed it recently on XBOX. My only criticism in an otherwise seemless experience is that, they could have added more discoverable narratives with 2.0. I know that most players (apparently 87%) will never encounter some of the existing sub-narratives. - but there is something to be said in pandering to the enthusiast when its under the right circumstances, too. Hardcore really is about pushing it. - There's actually no primary directive to get off the planet; and in fact cleverly leaves it at your discretion.. Which you can interpret reasons according to your imagination. - For example, mine own was enveloped in "what a marvelous opportunity this is!". So, I think Subnautica 2.0 was fertile ground to knit it together with Below Zero. - With a mere two years between the two games storylines; the urgency of an impending glacial event could be an obvious motivator. Rather than time limited, the subtle onset of such a rapidly massing climate event (colder, disappearing resources, longer days than nights, etc..) - It'd be curious to see how people respond, or even acknowledge whats happening to them, and the world. - No prompts, no clues, its just happening to you gradually ..but inexorably. Pushing it to a point where your preperations to leave might not actually grant you that capability anymore. Your first play through is going to be almost exclusively absorbed by learning where things are, what to do, and how to cope. You are gonna miss a lot things already in the game. I say up the ante for the avid. I can't blame anyone for wanting to crush on this game; any more than the millions who crushed on Waverace, on the Gamecube. I say show a little initiative and capture that. It'd be good to be able to launch Below Zero from the main menu too. - You get off the planet with one character, a short cutscene you get picked up. Then machete to a prologue scene fir Below Zero. Seemless transition, ongoing narrative. Sidestep the fact that different people will live on the planet, for different lengths of time. 👍

[@projectnoattack2085]

Where can I watch your subnautica playthrough?

[@tinyt102]

I feel like despite you reading a lot of the PDA entries, you missed a lot of the deeper story that isn’t so obvious, not because it’s bad but rather because it adds to the mystery and intrigue of the game.

[@morrigannibairseach1211]

I left my cyclops in the lost river and had a fabricator there. So.... I didnt need to go all the way to the safe shallows to my first base. I even had a base in the lost river.

[@liquidsaint2215]

the sea emporor used its last bit of energy to play with its young then died, and the enforcment platform is the only one on the planet

[@marijandesin8226]

The Cyclops battery was a huge issue for me so I went farming for crystals for a long time to upgrade the batteries just to not need them in the end because the game ended and I needed the same resources for both

[@1God1Fury]

yeah, the Ion batteries comes to you too late in the game to make use of them.

[@weltenman]

There has been a lost of critique of your critique already, but as others have eluded the Prawn suit if used properly is very good. You can use it as part of the Cyclops and a way to easily get to areas where you can mine resources and store it in storage within the Cyclops, easy peasy. Makes the comment about finding titanium and copper weird as well if you use the two together when you are moving down the levels. Having to move between your base and the facilities for tablets, yeah it is irritating but just making things easy for you because you are at the end game seems a little nitpicky. Do you expect it to be easy just because you are 15 hours into the game?

[@sauceinmyface9302]

One thing that feels odd still is how inventory management feels so primitive considering the setting is supposed to be sci-fi. Managing large inventories can be therapeutic to some people but for most, I think it's really tedious. I'd probably like for it to be closer to terraria. Pretty cheap storage, lots of stacking, and you can easily store stuff from your inventory once you've set up the storage correctly.

[@mattc4472]

You missed out on a fun experience with the falling through the world glitch, when you get deep enough it actually loops you back around the surface. Or at least it did to me. Wouldn't have been helpful, but it's funny.

[@kylehagertybanana]

I watch tons of subnautica speedruns and like half the criticisms are reasons why speedrunning the game is so fun.

[@alpal4245]

You can just bring your sunmarine into the lava zone to avoid the very long backtrack

[@jacobjoshenson7031]

I’m on my third subnautica play through and every time I get sick of getting titanium and usually just spend 2 hours or more filling multiple shelves with hundreds of titanium for the rest of the game

[@palerider2132]

I could never beat the game I got to the point where I got the submarine(the massive one) and just couldn't go on. I'm like... irrationally fearful of the ocean. Shits crazy man

[@McDanklestank]

The best part is, all the major bugs that impacted the game negatively have been mostly patched with the Living Large update that was just released for both this and below zero.

[@Otokichi786]

"Subnautica": An Experience masquerading as a mere game.

[@martinedberg5944]

15:43 I can think one a game were managing inventory is fun; Resident Evil 4

[@mike18911222]

13:50 you mention lack of titanium... but titanium can be gotten from the debris fragments scattered throughout the game

[@paulgibbon5991]

Indeed, and the crash zone is absolutely littered with them.

[@ryandane8113]

I understand the frustration from the individual item slot when dealing material stacking should've been added to the game from day 1. Myself being a Lover of Base Building has spent thru 20k of Titanium to build my underwater base and build the over 70 large storages to hold the numerous materials I have stored in them. Since I 1st started playing subnautica on Xbox1 a year ago. Built my base by Lifepod 13 Mushroom biodome by the wall that Is connected to CreepVine Biodome and both them connected to Red Grass desert biodome. Thats including building all 3 vehicles in subnautica and building the indoor/outdoor growbeds of needed plants.

[@thesuperpunmaster6369]

whenever I want to do basebuilding I just turn nocost on, makes the experience far less miserable

[@MadMan-7978]

„You can get a good 25 hours out of it“ *looks at steam numbers*: 210 hours. Oops

[@togil1151]

Dont understand your distaste for the prawn suit. Traversing the world is actually really fast if you have the jumping upgrade. I'm always faster with the prawn, than with the seamoth. And you can hit Leviathans in the face, which is a big plus in my book, haha

[@VGMatthew]

It has grown on me a bit more since this video, but I just prefer how smooth and natural the Seamoth/Cyclops felt in comparison. True though, the Drill Arm is a fun weapon.

[@AdaTheWatcher]

If I where the survivor I'd just cure myself and not disable the planet guarding weapon. Because why go back to the dystopian hellscape?

[@bloodkelp]

Sock my dig

[@Plopjes]

It is stubid that the game doesn't tell you, but in the primary containment facility there are portals leading to the ingredients needed for the hatching enzyme. I don't exactly know if you know this, but if you didn't, yeah.

[@Wraithspartan]

While I thought your video raised a couple of interesting points, it comes across as though you were too uninterested in the game to work parts of it out logically. Others have commented regarding a number of issues you raised that were fairly easily worked around ingame. Mind you, the game certainly has its flaws; that said, you seem to have not paid too much attention to the lore provided, because it answers most of your narrative questions and argues against a couple of your points - for example, the marriage point is unlikely the norm, with the PDA entry for 'autonomous relationships' having the air of a philosophy essay pitching the idea.

[@thomascoates309]

Am I trippin or Is this Joseph Anderson

[@ComarkiBnL]

The Lava Zone should have been made way more dangerous, given the prawn suit's increased health compared to the other vehicles. Unless you have left your repair tool back at your base, it's pretty hard to get the prawn suit destroyed. Having the area as more dangerous would have also made resource gathering more interruptible, giving sense to the small recipe requirements for kyanite and nickel. I kept expecting to be attacked by multiple otherwordly, unknown creatures whilst drilling kyanite - only to spot a derpy looking dinosaur dragon flying through the cave walls. I think the game builds up your expectations of the deepest parts to be the most dangerous and terrifying, which is a shame because it leaves the endgame feeling hollow when really it should have been the climax. When it comes to the endgame it's clear that the devs lacked time, didn't care to flesh it out or have very short-sighted and ignorant game designers. Mostly the latter, given the direction they took Below Zero 🤦

[@will_of_europa]

I love this game, but your criticisms are correct. I would say this game is more of an accidental quality rather than good because it was designed to be.

[@OrionEJ]

Subnautica with mods.

[@Tburt-mx5kg]

this is a really weird critique. the prawn suit controlled like a clunky non streamlined vehicle.......because thats what it is. not having enough materials to build an item when the ingredients are listed with the item is your fault. you can label the non wall lockers. there are portals that take you directly to the fetch quest items.

[@Tburt-mx5kg]

and not bringing your cyclops with a fabricator into the lava zone is just more bad decision making

[@aleatheltrashcan478]

Agree completely besides that the game is all that hard. Most levitations can be ignored and even when they do attack, if you have the prawn suit you are unkillable. The only hard part of the game is conquering your fear and how tedious it can be to collect resources.

[@ieatdirtwasntavailable]

Are crashfish having a terrifying noise just an inside joke or is it's noise being super unthreatening and cute just a me thing?

[@greenhubberto9462]

I think it’s pretty scary 😂

[@michaelpettigrew2465]

Pretty sure the sea emporer leviathan dying is because squids and octopi die after giving birth

[@LockheedC-130HerculesOfficial]

It's because she was hanging on just by a little bit to see her species continue, and when she did her time was finally up and she could rest

[@tylenol6875]

Sorry you didn't realize this, but you are the tool for the organization of your supplies, so it's not a lack of game development it's a personal issue

[@cflame14]

"I hate that the game made me play the game". "I hate the way I personally played the game so the game is bad of flawed" Not to rag on you but man some of that stuff is your own fault. The back and forth thing and locker thing wasn't ever an issue for me. I had maybe 2 or 3 lockers max when I played because it's so easy to just base build a simple tube and have EVERYTHING you need in maybe 2 or 3 tubes. I just get a locker for every material and go out and find that 1 material till I fill it up and do that for every material. It's not hard to do considering you can just have 4 range extender mods for the scanner room and find most materials with just 1 scanner room. What's the point in building any more than that? And in the end game you can just use the portals and cyclops. Like why didn't you have a fabricator in your Cyclops? Personally I found getting food the worst part of the game but that's fixed the moment you get the gravity trap or the grow beds. Like it's so easy to find things without the lifepods if you just explore in the 4 general directions of your starting point (lifepod 5). Towards and away from the Aurora, and then the opposite directions.

[@marijandesin8226]

Autoras low res textures convinced me there is nothing to do on it and I strained away from looking for the door 🚪 Horrible peart of the design and so easy to fix Big big oversight! I was sure that if the texture was so low it was meant to be viewed only from afar and if the player reached it the resolution would have sharpened for you like its common games to do so