The underwater exploration game Subnautica 2 promises to take players on an adventure of a lifetime through the waters of an uncharted planet. Like its predecessors, the sequel will combine elements of horror and survival, asking players to rely on their wits and hone their foraging and crafting skills to make it in the wet wilderness. As they explore, players will discover more of the planet's oceans and the horrors that lurk within their depths.

Subnautica developer Unknown Worlds Entertainment announced last month that the sequel would be heading to Early Access soon, with a 2025 release on the horizon. Although the game will likely be playable as a standalone for newcomers since it will feature a new planet and brand new marine environments to discover, it will also continue the story started in the original Subnautica. So if you're intrigued by Subnautica 2 but have never played the first title in the franchise, now's the perfect time to do so.

How Subnautica Does Horror Right

The Horrors Of The Watery Abyss Await You

Imagine being stranded in the middle of the ocean, with nothing but a floating life pod and a small knife in hand. In the distance, you can see smoke rising out of the wreckage of a downed spaceship, and a distress call is incessantly pinging from somewhere in the distance. You're low on food and water, but the further you get from your home base, the more aware you become that something lurks in the depths beneath you, just waiting for the chance to turn you into a snack.

This is the premise of Subnautica, the 2018 game that started the series and is still well worth a playthrough, especially with a sequel in the works. The game plays out like many other horror survival titles, requiring players to gather resources and construct shelter. But the title's marine setting is what tips the scales even more firmly into the "horror" part of the genre.

Unknown Worlds Entertainment did an amazing job of building a sense of dread that grows the further you get from the surface and your aquatic home base. The game requires you to balance finding the necessary resources to progress, staying out of sight of any creature that might want to take a bite out of you, and just ing to breathe.

The depths of the ocean are already terrifying and alien, but placing the action on a different planet stretches the idea of the great unknown beneath you. The further players explore and the more they learn about the game's underlying story, the more sure they will become that some things are better left buried at the bottom of the ocean. Throughout the game, players also follow an undercurrent of a story that slowly unravels what's happening in this world, and why you find your own body starting to behave strangely.

It's Not Too Late To Experience The 2018 Hit

Now's The Perfect Time To Get The First Game

With Subnautica 2 on the horizon, this is your chance to give the 2018 hit a try and discover what's hidden in the murky waters. The sequel will maintain much of what made the first game so thrilling and terrifying, continuing to pit players against the great, moist unknown with no weapons to defend themselves.

The game will follow a similar structure, requiring players to craft rations, tools, vehicles, and base structures to help them survive in a new planet's marine environment. The devs promise a large range of new lifeforms and underwater biomes to uncover, from underwater mountains to sprawling coral reefs, all beautifully rendered using Unreal Engine 5. This time, players will be able to work together with up to three friends through online co-op, a new addition to the series.

The new game is coming to Early Access soon, but no specific release date has been revealed yet. Once it's available in Early Access, the devs will be relying on player to form it into the best version of itself before it officially launches on the PC and Xbox Series X|S. That makes this the perfect time to experience Subnautica for the first time, or dive back into it to refresh your memory of how terrifying Leviathan monsters are and how upsetting it is to out moments from the surface because you keep forgetting you're a human who needs to breathe.