I love Subnautica. Or I wish I could. I wish I could I give it five stars, but I gave it precisely what it deserves. I beat it for PS4 amid maybe more frustration than I've ever had with a game I actually liked, but trying a second a playthrough on Switch was INTOLERABLE. It wasn't due to the mechanics of the game or the plot, but a significant lack of polish and unaddressed bugs and glitches. I swear, there aren't many moments more awe-inspiring than when you take that first plunge into the shallows of 4546B. I ADORE the survival aspect of Subnautica. It's simultaneously the most stressful and the most relaxing time-sink I can think of diving into after work. But what. a. busted. hunk. of. shit. this is.
I love Metroidvanias and Resident Evil and Dark Souls. I don't mind slightly obtuse video game logic. It lends itself well to puzzle-solving. I don't mind backtracking and I don't mind difficulty. So, when I tell you that Subnautica exceeds every bit of patience I have in every one of those categories, BELIEVE ME. It's not a -hard- game, by any means, but the ponderous pace of the vehicles and the large, open areas do NOT lend themselves well to the tedious amount of travel time you'll have to commit to in order to track down whatever materials you need for progression. I got SO sick of it. It'd be one thing if the areas were exceedingly gorgeous, but they AREN'T. I've never seen a modern title with so much pop-in and texture absences.
I'm sitting here and honestly trying to come up with reasons to sell this game to you, but I feel like I can't in good conscience. The graphics aren't great, combat is more dated-feeling than Skyrim, animations are herky-jerky, base-building is unintuitive and clunky. Sure, there are moments of marvel and of paralyzing fear. I was inspired by some of the creativity of the organisms and their respective biomes. The story is mysterious and captivating and I love the way it unfolds. I sank a lot of time into this AND I truly did have fun. It's extremely satisfying to fulfill whatever goals you set for yourself, but it is a constant uphill climb to do so and it's mostly because of poor design. You know I'm telling you the truth when there's an option in the pause menu called 'Unstuck' that is solely there to pry you out of whatever piece of the environment you accidentally trap yourself in for the hundredth time. And the 'leave feedback' option froze on me too. What a fucking joke.
I wish I could say I'm willing to run out and buy Unknown Worlds' next game, but I can't bear the disappointment again. If you want a more refined indie game experience with a small, committed team of devs, buy Hollow Knight or Guacamelee or Blasphemous or Cuphead.
If you're a vet and wanna know why I bailed on my second playthrough:
-minor spoilers-
As you head into the final area, basically an even shittier Lost Izalith with a shitty fetch quest tacked on, you come to an area called the Alien Thermal Plant. There's a teleporter that is supposed to be convenient, but all it did was load my Prawn into the fucking floor where it was permanently lodged. (multiple Reddit threads with the same problem. I actually think it happened on my PS4 copy too). I stripped what I could from it and moved on to the next area, which requires a duplicate key for no real reason (so backtracking) and the Drill Arm of the Prawn I just lost. So, my options are: to use the Seaglide to go all the way back across the map and track down 8-9 ion cubes -or- spend an hour or so recollecting resources to completely rebuild the Prawn. So stupid and so inconvenient. Such a let-down. I looked up methods to just CHEAT and spawn a new Prawn so I could at least finish my run, but apparently that feature was patched out. Idk if that's their fault or not, but it is 100% their fault that I was prepared to resort to that. Busted-ass shit, man. God, I'm so disappointed.
I love Metroidvanias and Resident Evil and Dark Souls. I don't mind slightly obtuse video game logic. It lends itself well to puzzle-solving. I don't mind backtracking and I don't mind difficulty. So, when I tell you that Subnautica exceeds every bit of patience I have in every one of those categories, BELIEVE ME. It's not a -hard- game, by any means, but the ponderous pace of the vehicles and the large, open areas do NOT lend themselves well to the tedious amount of travel time you'll have to commit to in order to track down whatever materials you need for progression. I got SO sick of it. It'd be one thing if the areas were exceedingly gorgeous, but they AREN'T. I've never seen a modern title with so much pop-in and texture absences.
I'm sitting here and honestly trying to come up with reasons to sell this game to you, but I feel like I can't in good conscience. The graphics aren't great, combat is more dated-feeling than Skyrim, animations are herky-jerky, base-building is unintuitive and clunky. Sure, there are moments of marvel and of paralyzing fear. I was inspired by some of the creativity of the organisms and their respective biomes. The story is mysterious and captivating and I love the way it unfolds. I sank a lot of time into this AND I truly did have fun. It's extremely satisfying to fulfill whatever goals you set for yourself, but it is a constant uphill climb to do so and it's mostly because of poor design. You know I'm telling you the truth when there's an option in the pause menu called 'Unstuck' that is solely there to pry you out of whatever piece of the environment you accidentally trap yourself in for the hundredth time. And the 'leave feedback' option froze on me too. What a fucking joke.
I wish I could say I'm willing to run out and buy Unknown Worlds' next game, but I can't bear the disappointment again. If you want a more refined indie game experience with a small, committed team of devs, buy Hollow Knight or Guacamelee or Blasphemous or Cuphead.
If you're a vet and wanna know why I bailed on my second playthrough:
-minor spoilers-
As you head into the final area, basically an even shittier Lost Izalith with a shitty fetch quest tacked on, you come to an area called the Alien Thermal Plant. There's a teleporter that is supposed to be convenient, but all it did was load my Prawn into the fucking floor where it was permanently lodged. (multiple Reddit threads with the same problem. I actually think it happened on my PS4 copy too). I stripped what I could from it and moved on to the next area, which requires a duplicate key for no real reason (so backtracking) and the Drill Arm of the Prawn I just lost. So, my options are: to use the Seaglide to go all the way back across the map and track down 8-9 ion cubes -or- spend an hour or so recollecting resources to completely rebuild the Prawn. So stupid and so inconvenient. Such a let-down. I looked up methods to just CHEAT and spawn a new Prawn so I could at least finish my run, but apparently that feature was patched out. Idk if that's their fault or not, but it is 100% their fault that I was prepared to resort to that. Busted-ass shit, man. God, I'm so disappointed.