Subnautica
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| Subnautica | |
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| Developer(s) | Unknown Worlds Entertainment |
| Director(s) | Charlie Cleveland |
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| Composer(s) | Simon Chylinski[2] |
| Engine | Unity |
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| Release | Microsoft Windows, OS X
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| Genre(s) | Adventure, survival, open world, underwater |
| Mode(s) | Single-player |
Subnautica is an open world survival game in development by Unknown Worlds Entertainment. Subnautica allows the player to explore an aquatic alien planet by scuba diving and traveling in submersibles, while collecting resources and food to survive.[3][4] It was released on Steam Early Access on December 16, 2014,[5] and is currently in development for Xbox One.[6] Full V1.0 release is planned for May 2017.[7]
Gameplay
The player controls in first-person view the lone survivor of a crashed ship the "Aurora" on an aquatic planet. The main objective of the player is to explore the open world environment and survive the dangers of the planet. Subnautica allows the player to collect resources, construct tools, bases, and submersibles, and interact with the planet's wildlife.[8]Players must keep themselves adequately hydrated and fed, and must also maintain their oxygen supply while traversing underwater (Survival Mode). The game includes a day and night cycle. The game also includes three other modes: Freedom mode, in which only hunger and thirst are disabled; Hardcore mode, which is the same as Survival, except that if the player dies, the player will no longer be able to respawn; and Creative mode, in which the hunger, thirst, health, and oxygen features are all disabled, all the crafting blueprints are acquired, but items need resources to be crafted and the submersibles do need energy and can be damaged. The game is mainly set underwater, but there are two fully explorable islands.
Plot
 | This article's plot summary may be too long or excessively detailed. (January 2017) |
The game takes place in the late 22nd century, when humanity begins to colonize planets in space. Alterra Corporation, a huge company across the galaxy, sends the Capital-class star ship Aurora to Ariadne Arm to construct a phase gate. However, during its gravitational slingshot maneuver around planet 4546b, an unknown energy pulse strikes the vessel, critically damaging the hull, making the ship crash-land into the planet's ocean. During the crash-landing sequence, several life pods were launched. One of these life pods contains the player. During the life pod's impact with the water, the player is knocked unconscious for three hours until waking up to see a fire inside the life pod. The player rushes to pick up the fire extinguisher and puts the flames out.
There are at least 16 other life pods, most of which landed successfully. However, while the player was unconscious, the other life pods experienced fatal situations. This leaves the player as the only Aurora survivor.
After about three in-game days, the Aurora explodes due to instability on one of the drive cores and releases massive amounts of radiation into the ocean. The vessel's blown out front opens several passages to the ship's reactor room, which the player can access with a radiation suit. After fixing the reactors, radiation levels around the Aurora crash site begins to decrease. Through the Data Terminals found in the Aurora, its secret second mission of finding the lost ship Degasi and its survivors is revealed.
While progressing through the game, a radio message is sent to the communications relay, which explains that a passing cargo ship, called the Sunbeam, has picked up their distress signal and are coming to help, telling the player that they are going to land on a nearby island to rescue them. When the player arrives, the Sunbeam's captain, Avery Quinn, tells them that they are in orbit. However, an alien super weapon dubbed the "Precursor Ground-to-Air Weapon System", destroys the Sunbeam.
Later in the game, the player discovers information about the planet's native intelligent species, known as the Precursors, and the lethal bacteria, the Carar, by following the blast origin coordinates from the Aurora Black box Data. The Precursors put a massive energy cannon in place to prevent any alien life from entering the planet and potentially spread the Carar to other planets, which could have untold consequences. The Precursors are revealed to have constructed four bases on the planet over one thousand years ago, the "Precursor Ground-to-Air Weapon System", the large energy cannon that shot down the Aurora, Degasi, and the Sunbeam. The "Secondary Bio-Research Facility", which was a testing facility for creatures infected with the Carar, however, this base was destroyed by an escaped creature, an event that unleashed the Carar onto the planet. The "Precursor Thermal Power Generator", which powers the other bases as well as the Warpers, a bio-mechanical life form developed by the Precursors in order to stop the spread of the Carar. The Primary Research Facility, which is located in the planet's deepest biome, which currently houses the largest creature in the game, the Sea Emperor, which is the last of its kind due to the Carar. Due to the severity of the Carar, the Precursors made the Warpers, who are meant to kill any creature infected with the bacteria, as a means of destroying it. It is later revealed that the player is infected, and the Warpers will hunt the player as well.
The player will end the game by collecting Ion Crystals from Precursor bases and locating a cure for the Carar that the player becomes infected with. Once the player is cured, they will have the ability to shut down the "Precursor Ground-to-Air Weapon System" and build an escape rocket with these said crystals. The player will then have completed the game and survived Planet 4546b. As of currently this is however impossible.
Development
Subnautica was first announced by Unknown Worlds Entertainment on December 17, 2013,[3] with Charlie Cleveland as the game director and lead gameplay programmer, and Hugh Jeremy as the producer.[1]
The development team opted to use the Unity engine rather than Spark, the engine used for the company's previous game, Natural Selection 2. Subnautica producer Hugh Jeremy justified this decision because of the different demands that the game places on the engine, and "because [the team] does not include people working on Spark, it's not appropriate for Subnautica to use Spark. By using Unity for Subnautica, Spark can continue to develop in certain directions, while Subnautica develops in others. To use Spark for Subnautica would be like trying to fit a square peg in a round hole."[9]
The development team also opted against the inclusion of lethal weapons in the game. Charlie Cleveland, the game's director, described Subnautica as "one vote towards a world with less guns," and had felt inspired by real life gun violence, including the Sandy Hook shooting, to encourage players to think about "non-violent and more creative solutions to solve our problems."[10]
Subnautica was released on Steam Early Access on December 16, 2014,[5] and is currently in "early access" development. It was released on Xbox One Preview (like Early Access) on May 17, 2016.[6]
Full V1.0 release is planned for early 2017; version 1.0 is currently slated for release in mid-May 2017.
Reception
Ian Birnbaum of PC Gamer described Subnautica as an "underwater Minecraft", remarking that "with an experienced developer at the helm and a limitless variety of the oceans to play with, it’s going to take a lot for Subnautica to go badly wrong. As the toolbox gets deeper and the shape of the end-game gets set, Subnautica will be a unique example of the ways survival can be tense, rewarding, and fun."[4] Marsh Davies of Rock, Paper, Shotgun praised the rewarding nature of exploring the world of Subnautica, but criticized the "arbitrariness" and lack of intuition in some of the in-game recipes.[11]
References
- ^ a b c d Jeremy, Hugh (December 17, 2013). "The Crew of Subnautica". Unknown Worlds Entertainment. Retrieved April 9, 2016.
- ^ "About Unknown Worlds". Unknown Worlds Entertainment. Retrieved April 11, 2016.
- ^ a b Carlson, Patrick (December 17, 2013). "Natural Selection 2 developer Unknown Worlds announces ocean-based Subnautica". PC Gamer. Retrieved January 20, 2016.
- ^ a b Birnbaum, Ian (January 9, 2015). "Subnautica: Early impressions of Minecraft under the sea". PC Gamer. Retrieved January 20, 2016.
- ^ a b Matulef, Jeffrey (December 17, 2014). "Natural Selection 2 dev's Subnautica is out now on Steam Early Access". Eurogamer. Retrieved January 20, 2016.
- ^ a b Santangelo, Nick (December 23, 2015). "Subnautica is now in development for Xbox One". XBLA Fans. Retrieved March 20, 2016.
- ^ "Subnautica development roadmap". trello.com. Retrieved March 29, 2016.
- ^ Jeremy, Hugh (December 2013). "Subnautica: Descend into the Depths". Unknown Worlds Entertainment. Retrieved March 31, 2016.
- ^ Jeremy, Hugh (December 18, 2013). "Why is Subnautica using Unity, and not the Spark Engine?". Unknown Worlds Entertainment. Retrieved April 11, 2016.
- ^ MacLeod, Riley (April 4, 2016). "Subnautica Developer Explains Why He Won't Add Guns To The Game". Kotaku. Retrieved April 11, 2016.
- ^ Davies, Marsh (January 5, 2015). "Premature Evaluation: Subnautica". Rock, Paper, Shotgun. Retrieved March 31, 2016.