A filthy casual with a big mouth, I love bringing fringe knowledge into the light. Immersion, design, community, I love it all. Not so bothered by high scores, although even a stopped clock will brag twice a day.
The only really good thing about below zero is the creature design (not including the zero version of the reaper which just looks like a childs drawing)
I played both... first one was perfect, the second one i kept telling myself "it's gonna get good, it's gonna get good, the first one was good..." and abandoned it before finishing. I don't know why, but it didn't feel right for some reason. The biomes felt smaller or cluttered, i didn't feel like an explorer on an unknown planet anymore. Wasn't the fact i knew the planet already, because replaying the first one felt better than "discovering" below zero
*see's the burn in on your screen from the Subnautica HUD* 200+ hours! Impressive like no other. I had around 80 hours and thought that was impressive. You got a solid sub from me. After playing the 2nd one I've been tempted to do a replay to the OG Subnautica. Such a gem of a game.
41:22 I mean, asking Twitter for things is never going to end up well. It seems to me that Unknown Worlds Entertainment is more of a one-hit wonder than a successful studio.
Below zero is still an interesting game, compared to the copy+paste crap that’s being pumped by other studios. But yeah, Robin as a character makes no sense. She launches into an asteroid rain, without any prepping or equipment, and leaves the wreck happy and lighthearted. Like?? She also accepts the alien after some seconds of shock and the alien itself starts sounding super human.
A good sequel would do what all sequels do: take a look at what made the first great and double down on those things. It generally isn't until the third installment one expects major shifts in vision because you can't double down again unless your community is just explicitly asking for that very thing.
If birds are gonna be a bigger focus, I want a switchup. Skynautica. A planet of scarce floating islands with a sea of clouds. It's a climate that I rarely see any kind of media cover even though it's such a cool concept. It could bring back the isolationist vibes since I think acrophobia could be just as terrifying as thalassophobia. Gliding and building planes/hover devices instead of ships and swimming would be cool, and could bring back more varied biomes if there are different islands to visit. And just imaging a sky leviathan billowing up from a cloud bank already kinda scares me
Having to craft a landspeeder in a game called Subnautica left a bad taste in my mouth. I found myself on multiple playthroughs stuck with no real idea how to progress the story in Sub Zero - I'm kind of dumb about seeing games through in one fell swoop, so some handholding wouldn't have been out of the question. Bring me back to the story so I don't literally lose the plot. They had an opportunity to make a more immersive submarine, and add AI bots to help with mechanics or something, but instead they just ripped it out of the game entirely. The huge Cyclops submarine was one of the best parts about Subnautica 1.
Subnautica is nearly like Minecraft, fire in the pan and nearly perfect, unending fun. Its hard to duplicate, they couldnt do it, but its still a great sequal.
Honestly my feelings on the two games can be summed up very easily In Subnautica, I grew fond of managing my base, doing simple chores around my new home, and I played it start to finish in one stretch, only pausing for work, sleep, and food. In Below Zero... I uh, didn't finish it, I don't even know if I got to a third biome.
I went into subnautica fairly recently compared to most others. I watched let's plays of it back in its earlier phases - jacksepticeye's, specifically. Clips of the game on tiktok then lead me to buying it, and my first time ACTUALLY facing a reaper was by the aurora. I don't remember what I'd been looking for, but I'd gotten lost on the way back. I found myself towards the front of the ship, and as I lowered my seamoth a bit to try and get my bearings, the shadow of the reaper phased in above me. I've never shit my pants so hard.
Below Zero is definitely still a good game thanks to the common traits it shares with Subnautica, and I would still say the damn ice worm from Below Zero strikes more anxiety and fear into me than anything from original Subnautica. But Below Zero had a really lacking story despite how extensive the story actually was. This had a lot to do with how the story was presented to you. In Subnautica, the story was never really thrust upon except in tiny snippets that loosely guided you towards a specific area. You had to go looking for the story, and that's where gold was found. You reacted to everything on your own, and you were left to do the thinking about where/what to do next. Below Zero put the story right up in your face, and having a voiced character was one of the first bad choices for Below Zero. While it served as a way to conveniently convey information to the player, it was too easy and the fact that your main character was saying whatever they wanted really put some distance between the player and the character you play as. In Subnautica, you were the one braving the odds, fearing the reaper, and learning about the world in your own way. In Below Zero, you were just kinda controlling another character and triggering key points of their script by getting them to the right location. It was a mistake for them to try to hold our hand more and guide us along through the game on a rope because it devalued the surprise. They also revealed a member of the precursor race which I also think was a mistake, especially because the precursor was voiced and would just talk with the player character. It wasn't bad dialogue, but the concept just didn't fit the game. In summary, Below Zero kept trying to hold your hand when we really wanted to walk alone like we did in the first game. In the first game, you really were the only person in the world. The second game's story did not follow that same idea, and that made the story feel boring and even annoying at times. That's why Subnautica is my favorite game of all time, and Below Zero is just another survival game in my steam list.
I was really looking forward to Below Zero, i played it all the way through early access and i was completely disappointed, the Levithan designs were completely underwhelming, the voiced protagonist was a really bad move.
Speaking on the Terror vs horror aspect: I remember commenting to someone about Subnautica that it wasn't the Reapers you could hear and see that should scare you but the ones you don't. Steve the Reaper got me in a similar way as you, except I was in my newly built Seamoth and screaming "SHIT SHIT SHIT SHIT!" as I tried to get away.
they quite litteraly made the map smaller and reduced the players swim speed and that of the seaglide. that alone is a large downgrade that has to be counterbalanced with something great to be worth the tradeoff.
I really didn't like the addition of that alien that talks to you. Two characters in one body is an already played out trope that's never been done, as well as Shadow Warrior. His entire existence is seemingly just to ruin any and all mystique the aliens had. Also, fun fact, I beat the story but never actually saw the ending because I played it a month before the game released without realizing it. I literally got to the portal at the end with the alien waiting for me and then got a text prompt telling me something like, "congrats, you've beat the story but the ending cutscene hasn't been added yet". I needed to make space on my PC, so I just deleted it, and my internet was crappy so I never bothered to redownload it. I haven't even bothered to look it up because I was just so bored of it's story
I think the best thing for the next game would basically just ne OG subnautica, but bigger in map sise, and creature scale. Something like a crab leviathan would be a welcome addition, but it would require massive caves to explore, without anything like the movement hindering crystals.
The game is great. I play a lot of strategy games and I am on a second playthrough. I didn’t find it to be too hard outside of a few pivotal fights but there are definitely some fights that really test you.
Below Zero in my head is filler content as Subnautica 2 is the NEXT game so hopefully that is more like the original and then there are like side stories within the universe.
Sutherland did an amazing job and I don’t care what anyone says, he’s portraying an older Big Boss and obviously the older Venom Snake. It wouldn’t make sense to have Hayter as the older version because his voice just doesn’t match up in my opinion
Personally, I didnt really enjoy playing Below Zero at all. It felt empty and just like u had to go there and here and there just like questing. But in Subnautica it felt different. There it was like you constantly were trying to survive, like you had to becareful of everything around you. The map felt better even though the graphics wasnt as advanced. The PDA Voice was nicer. The ships were a lot cooler and more fun and the way you progressed through the Equipment too. Below Zero did have some nice added features tho with being able to go on Land and things like that but generally it didnt have the magic the first game had. I'm sorry if my comment doesnt make any sense 😭
you nailed it with this. Subnautica is in my top 5 favorite games of all time, but below zero always felt so flat. also my first reaper encounter was also behind the aurora. luckily i was in a seamoth. Literally seconds before im attacked, i tell my girlfriend "this game isnt scary!" boy was i wrong. haha
I will never take anyone seriously who thinks that the 2013 reboot games where TOMB RAIDER games, they where not, they where uncharted games with a female protagonist. A shamefull shell copy of what the Original games actually inspired.
Would you have preferred it if Lara still moved around a grid and had tank controls? I mean Uncharted was inspired by Tomb Raider after all - can you think of any game that is more in line with the classic Tomb Raider vision? Having gone back and played the originals recently, I would say that puzzle solving is an important aspect, however I thought it was so clever how the created these individual brain teaser segments based on ancient puzzle designs that could be discovered, hidden away within the environment for those who explored.
As much as the 1.0 was pretty forgettable, I HATED the alpha version, I don't know if you ever had the chance to play it but they did literal fetch quests while you were constantly on the radio with your sister in orbit, someone was ALWAYS talking to you, telling you to gather stuff, bring it back to the rocket, send it up, retrieve supplys they dropped, etc. It felt even further removed from the original than the later versions ended up, and I think half of the revised versions issues are they tried to include as much of what they made for that early story/terrible gameplay loop as possible. They clearly didn't understand at that point what people loved about the original game and barely came partially around after the huge amounts of feedback they got from that version. I wouldn't be surprised them having to take so many cuts elsewhere is due to all the work they had to scrap and redo.
You see it all the time in Hollywood too. A movie is massively popular and they decide to make a sequel, but they obviously had no idea what people actually liked about the first game, so you end up with something that iterates upon the least desired aspects. I really hope they listened to the Below Zero feedback, and Subnautica 2 is considerably more like the first game.
Right when I saw heard the black female short haired lesbian I knew the game was doomed. Well, sure enough it was. KEEP THE GOD DAMN F'ING POLITICS OUT OF YOUR GOD DAMN GAMES! I want ESCAPE not to be reminded of LGBTQ when I play a game!
Honestly I didn’t play it because it felt like I’d already done it all before. Same exact game and gameplay loop, but a different map and new voice lines. That’s just not fun, or worth me spending the price of a brand new game on. Should’ve just been a subnautica dlc for half the price it released at.
Subnautica is an experience moreso than a video game. Below Zero is a video game moreso than an experience. Video games are fun ways to spend your time while experiences stay with you forever.
I followed Below 0 with interest, after playing Subnautica, but no co op .. never bought it .. I felt a base building game for solo was a bit mehhhh, it needed co op, definatly didn't need PvP
