Look! Up in the sky! It’s a bird! It’s a plane! Not today, folks. Today it’s me ridin’ a god damn meteor into a planet so a corrupt ass mega-corporation can’t track me! Yee-haw! Grab your wetsuits and follow me, ’cause we are about to ride this meteor straight into some four-eyed, head-jawed, weird as hell penguin-things! I get it, this seems weird, but you’ll understand it later. Trust me, it’s worth it.

When getting ready for a sequel there’s always doubt. Whether it’s a movie, a book, or a video game, all too often there’s that feeling that you just can’t beat the first one. Well, clearly the legends at Unknown Worlds Entertainment missed the memo, because “Subnautica: Below Zero” is just as incredible as its predecessor. “Subnautica” set every open-world survival lovers’ blood pumping when it released in 2018, with its engaging story, beautiful open-world landscape, and great crafting, building, and survival elements, topped off with edges of suspense and excitement. Three years on and they’ve hit the mark again, with Below Zero being just as thrilling.

Subnautica: Below Zero is an adventure-survival game that allows you to travel the endless underwater world of Planet 4546B, affectionately known as… well, Planet 4546B. We’ll work on that, I swear. Below Zero takes place a year or so after the original Subnautica, and we return to the freezing waterworld as scientist Robin, looking for answers around her sister Sam’s mysterious demise, and what appears to be a subsequent cover-up by the, obviously evil, corporation she was working for; Alterra.

Now, this may leave you worried you missed out on a lot in the original Subnautica, but fear not, my frozen companions, as the first thing you get when you land is a list of correspondence from Sam which gives you a brief yet solid background. I really appreciated this connection between the games, and as a first-timer, I loved the way they did it.

Run, jump, swim, survive! Hunger, cold, thirst, ice-spitting fish, all things you must deal with on this strange and beautiful planet, and don’t even get me STARTED on those little sea otters or “rascals” (since I can’t use the words I was yelling while playing) that are clearly based on otters and keep trying to steal all my stuff!!! I’m not angry, you’re angry.

Anyways, you’ll need to conquer your fear of the unknown while you dive deep, never knowing if you’ll have enough oxygen, never being sure there’s not a bigger fish just around the corner, and there’s always a bigger fish, and I don’t know HOW this game is so tense and scary, yet it makes my heart beat so hard I can feel it in my fingertips.

An incredible feeling that puts the survival feeling at the top of this adventure. In order to survive this freezing hellhole (again, stunningly beautiful though) you’ll need to scan the ocean for fauna and flora that will increase your blueprints and allow you to craft better items. Below Zero brings the game to land this time around as well, letting you adventure across the ice caps. You’ll need to be sure to balance your oxygen and temperature needs, whilst you build bases and begin exploring the landscape. Also, I advise you to get used to hearing “OXYGEN” shouted at you every minute or so when you’re underwater, but have fun!

It’s hard to explain how good this game feels to play. While it hasn’t gone for a super-realistic feel to the graphics, the landscapes under the water are astonishing. The creatures and the plant life blend into an artwork of colour and movement. I could put it on in the background of an art gallery and people would stare at it for days before realising it was a video game.

If I have any issues with Subnautica: Below Zero it rests in its lack of guidance at the beginning of the game. Don’t get me wrong, a lot of survival games tend to lean this way, or go completely overboard, guiding you every step for the first ten hours of gameplay, so it’s not a unique issue, and even “issue” is overstating it. I am merely…irked. Nothing a cheeky google search doesn’t help me get through.

Overall, it looks like Subnautica: Below Zero is the perfect sequel to a game. It’s got enough new content to lure the old Subnautica fans back, whilst being an incredibly deep and exciting game for new players. It’s thrilling yet stunning, with just enough grind element to let me lose myself for hours. What more could you ask for in a game? With the exception of those damn sea monkeys, LEAVE MY STUFF ALONE!!, I highly recommend giving it a go.

Written by: HadesTheHobo