Plotīelow Zero has a new map in the Arctic region, different characters, and its own story, but this is the same planet 4546B, on which the events of the main part took place. After the original game’s success and long early access, an offshoot was released – Subnautica: Below Zero, which will be discussed in the review. The only problem with Subnautica is that you can easily get lost in the interweaving of deep-sea caves if you are not good at navigating the terrain. And all this takes place in a very mesmerizing place inhabited by amazing creatures. There is an interesting story in which alien civilizations are involved. At the same time, it is not very difficult to keep track of vital signs here. Its creators managed to competently combine the genres of survival and exploration, screwing the plot to them and placing it all in the underwater world. In some areas, there's basically nothing you can do to stop getting attacked by a leviathan, as they will come at you from any distance, and you can't hide.Subnautica is a unique project.With absolutely no idea where to go, I ended up looking at a walkthrough, which pointed me to somewhere I'd already been and missed something I reached a point where I'd visited all the markers and explored everything I was aware of, and was still missing a plot item.Getting around with lots of modules is a huge chore without that so I ended up just travelling with the Seatruck cabin I never found the second part of the upgrade.Below Zero has got rid of the orange/purple tablets, but has the same problem where it takes you an hour to get somewhere, only to realise you're missing one key item and have to go all the way back to base and come back to continue progressing.I'd like 10 to use my keyboard so I don't have to keep swapping inventory items to slots There are still only 5 hotbar slots (presumably to accommodate consoles).It feels like everything is interesting and there for a reason, and there are very few big flat sections with nothing in them That's a con, but the map itself is way more detailed than the first game. The maximum depth is significantly less than Subnautica and in general the map feels much smaller.The Prawn suit has a 'forward thrust' jet instead of only upwards, making it MUCH more useful for getting around.Enamelled glass doesn't need RNG shark's teeth anymore.Things like gold/silver/lead now have their own nodes instead of being random drop chances from the same node, so you don't have to break ones you don't need.The Seaglide now has dedicated controls for turning the map and light on/off independently instead of toggling through multiple settings with one button.The air bladder doesn't just propel you up, it can also be used to extend your oxygen supply once per dive.This makes it WAY easier to get an immediate feel for where things are around you Icons now appear at the sides of the screen instead of only when they're onscreen (like nav beacons and your vehicle).Things like how long until food rots, or how much oxygen is left in a tank Items with durability or a countdown now show that in a line next to their icon in the inventory.You can run with the flashlight, without putting it away (minor, but it was annoying in the first game).And when it's hailing heavily, you can see the stones plopping into the water and sinking slightly if you're just under the surface Blizzards, fog, hail etc all make the world feel more alive. You can see further, and there's practically no texture pop-in anymore The view distance/mechanics have been much improved.You can pin recipes so you don't have to keep them in a text file to remind yourself.There's also a lot more cave systems, which make the map view of the Seaglide invaluable The surface of the water now has ice in some places, so you can't just swim upwards all the time.Reflections on glass surfaces are really well done They really wobble around now rather than just moving around in the water. Creatures like the Peeper and Bladderfish are back again, look way better and have really nice animations.
Higher res textures, more detail, more animations, better lighting. Hugely improved graphics in every way.Everything is crisper text, menus, resolution of the PDA, graphics etc.The main character is voiced, and there are loads more voiced PDA entries.The main counter in the bottom left that was always oxygen before now switches between oxygen and temperature, depending on situation.