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Just finished Subnautica: Below Zero, which is basically "more of the same" for Subnautica.
Or, maybe... less of the same? The area to explore is a lot smaller, and overall the game world feels more compacted. There are less underwater areas to explore, in favor of more (frozen, glacial) islands. There are technically the same number of vehicles, but one of them is a land-only hover-bike sort of thing that I hardly ever used. The Seamoth and the Cyclops submarine from the first game are gone, essentially replaced and combined into the new Seatruck. The initial Seatruck is essentially the same as the Seamoth, but you can find blueprints for extra modules that you can build and attach to it, eventually giving it the kind of the same versatility (and the same lumbering, unwieldy movement) of the Cyclops. The Prawn mech suit from the first game is back in this one, essentially unchanged.
On the whole, though, it's still mostly the same gameplay. Early hours of scrambling around your immediate area trying to find basic components to build basic air tanks and fins and a knife and such, then later on, building the above mentioned vehicles and upgrades and going ever deeper, while uncovering more of the story.
Rather than playing as a nameless, faceless, voiceless cypher the way you did in the first game, in this one you are playing as Robin Ayou, a black woman who has come to 4546B (the planet from the first game) to find out what has happened to her sister Sam, who was reported killed by Alterra (the company from the first game and for whom Sam worked). And, that's basically it, as far as motivation goes. They even lampshade it early on when Robin muses that she's probably going to spend as much time or more simply exploring as she will looking for Sam. There is another, semi-related plotline that comes into play later on, though.
Lastly, I'm not sure what it is about this game that has apparently gotten all the alt-right/Trumpanzee/Irredeemably Toxic Shithole types up in arms against it, though. Apparently, it's too "woke"? I'm not sure what's so "woke" about it. The whole "giant corporations are bad" thing was present in the first game, too, and I don't recall it being described as "woke." Maybe it's the "researching a deadly disease for potential bio-weapon reasons is bad" thing? But then, that seems more like common fucking sense than "wokeness" to me. Or maybe something something LGBTQ+ (I don't recall encountering anything related to that in the game, even though that's what a lot of these mouthbreathing neckbeards are complaining about)? Or maybe it's the simple fact that you're playing as a female POC that strokes the rage nerve of these (probably white and male) fuckwits. I don't know. I don't get it. The story was fine, for the most part, even if it felt a bit barebones and only partially complete.
All in all, if you played the first Subnautica and liked it, then this one will scratch that same itch. Just don't come in expecting it to be as expansive as the first one, because it's not. It's still pretty good, though.
Or, maybe... less of the same? The area to explore is a lot smaller, and overall the game world feels more compacted. There are less underwater areas to explore, in favor of more (frozen, glacial) islands. There are technically the same number of vehicles, but one of them is a land-only hover-bike sort of thing that I hardly ever used. The Seamoth and the Cyclops submarine from the first game are gone, essentially replaced and combined into the new Seatruck. The initial Seatruck is essentially the same as the Seamoth, but you can find blueprints for extra modules that you can build and attach to it, eventually giving it the kind of the same versatility (and the same lumbering, unwieldy movement) of the Cyclops. The Prawn mech suit from the first game is back in this one, essentially unchanged.
On the whole, though, it's still mostly the same gameplay. Early hours of scrambling around your immediate area trying to find basic components to build basic air tanks and fins and a knife and such, then later on, building the above mentioned vehicles and upgrades and going ever deeper, while uncovering more of the story.
Rather than playing as a nameless, faceless, voiceless cypher the way you did in the first game, in this one you are playing as Robin Ayou, a black woman who has come to 4546B (the planet from the first game) to find out what has happened to her sister Sam, who was reported killed by Alterra (the company from the first game and for whom Sam worked). And, that's basically it, as far as motivation goes. They even lampshade it early on when Robin muses that she's probably going to spend as much time or more simply exploring as she will looking for Sam. There is another, semi-related plotline that comes into play later on, though.
Lastly, I'm not sure what it is about this game that has apparently gotten all the alt-right/Trumpanzee/Irredeemably Toxic Shithole types up in arms against it, though. Apparently, it's too "woke"? I'm not sure what's so "woke" about it. The whole "giant corporations are bad" thing was present in the first game, too, and I don't recall it being described as "woke." Maybe it's the "researching a deadly disease for potential bio-weapon reasons is bad" thing? But then, that seems more like common fucking sense than "wokeness" to me. Or maybe something something LGBTQ+ (I don't recall encountering anything related to that in the game, even though that's what a lot of these mouthbreathing neckbeards are complaining about)? Or maybe it's the simple fact that you're playing as a female POC that strokes the rage nerve of these (probably white and male) fuckwits. I don't know. I don't get it. The story was fine, for the most part, even if it felt a bit barebones and only partially complete.
All in all, if you played the first Subnautica and liked it, then this one will scratch that same itch. Just don't come in expecting it to be as expansive as the first one, because it's not. It's still pretty good, though.
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Date: 2021-10-23 06:18 am (UTC)From: