The underwater survival game, Subnautica, developed by Unknown Worlds Entertainment, has finally exited the early access program on Steam, after around three years of tweaking with public feedback, and five years in development in total. The game has been released following a launch livestream yesterday on PC and VR, with an XBox One release date to follow. In this stream, the indie developers talked about how they set out with the game and what they ended up creating. If you wish to watch it, you can do so below, but start at around the two-hour mark. It is clear that this is not a usual affair for them, as technical issues abound, but they took that in stride, making light of the situation better than the professional hosts. The fact they set it up in an aquarium was also a very nice touch.

You start the game as a survivor of a spaceship that crashed onto the ocean planet. The lifepod is damaged, and you have to get to gathering food and water in order to survive, mind you that you're in an ocean, and you need fresh water, which is gathered from native wildlife. Speaking of which, there are many species lurking in the depths, from small and friendly fish, to huge predators, called Leviathans, and everything in between. There is also lush plantlife that populate the ocean floor, or the backs of large creatures, akin to whales. The large biodiversity can grant you a sense of calmness in the shallows, but venture into the deep, and who knows what you'll find?

But to do so, tools are needed, such as a proper diving suit and oxygen tanks, but these can only get you so far. Thus, more and more ingredients and minerals need to be gathered from around the meticulously crafted world in order to build submersibles, from a hand-held one to aid with speed, to a small craft that can help you get down to a couple of hundred meters, to a mech-suit that walks across the ocean floor and is able to mine larger deposits, up to a full blown submarine that can help you explore the abyss. On top of this, you can can build underwater bases, that can range from the utilitarian, to the cozy, where you can grow the local wildlife and enjoy a 360 degree view of the world.

As you can see from the gameplay trailer above, the graphics are gorgeous, even if it's not quite the latest and greatest in terms of technology, as the game uses the tried and tested, but admittedly aging Unity engine. The atmosphere is very lush and clean, aiding the calming feeling withing the starting shallow area, but unleashes in the dark depths with the roars of unknown creatures. Speaking of the unknown, the character you play knows most nothing of the world, thus one would be careful of thinking of themselves as anything other than prey, especially since the only lethal weapon in the game is a small survival knife. But exploration yields data pads of other escapees that failed to survive on the water world, but also cues on how to survive in the beautiful, but harsh environment.

The gameplay trailer teases at this a bit, but finding and following the bread crumbs also takes you to two small islands, where you can find the reason your ship was in the area, and later on, what caused it to crash. If you dare follow more, you'll uncover more as the weird story of this world unfolds. This story was the main focus of the game in the latter part of development, as well as fleshing out locations of interest to the player. Such locations offer knowledge, which you gain by scanning objects and wildlife, but also finding datapads that further the story, but also provide blueprints for more advanced tools, unavailable at the beginning (also gained by scanning and datapads). A deeper glimpse into this, though still a teaser, can be gained by watching the cinematic story trailer below.

But story wasn't the only thing the team has been working on. A couple of weeks ago, they also sneakily released a bug-fixing update, but did not mention so on their Steam page. This was odd, as they used to release a small video showcasing the updates in the past, but in reading around on their official website, I found they stated that this was so, because it did not feature any major content and were focusing more on the launch event.

My final thoughts on the game are that it is a wonderful experience, weirdly it is calming, but also very tense in places. I'm also looking forward to exploring the new additions to the world and finally get to witness the full story, as I have tried to only play in the shallows before, so as not to get spoiled when all the content did hit, but now that it is complete, I'm free to do so. I am enjoying it alot, and if a survival game whose strengths involve a story where not everything is procedurally generated, and manages to be beautifully calming and horrifying at the same time, then Subnautica is for you! If so, you can find it on Steam, where it is 10% off until January, 30th (regular price being 22.99 euros or your regional equivalent).