In the mid to late 2010's, it felt like you couldn't swing a dead cat without hitting a survival, crafting, resource collecting game. There was Rust, The Forest, ARK, Raft, Don't Starve, and the king of them all, Terraria and Minecraft. After being sorely disappointed by The Forest and getting bored with its story and gameplay, I wrote off almost all survival, crafting games as both a waste of time and a derivative genre in general. This was a shame because around the same time I started seeing trailers and gameplay for Subnautica and had already made up my mind on what I thought about "those" games. I never gave it a chance after its initial release and moved onto other games and genres. How could this game be any better than the 100 other popular survival, crafting games?

Boy was I wrong. A couple years later and a few months into COVID, I gave Subnautica a playthrough and this game blew me away. From the addicting progression system to the interesting and fresh plot, Subnautica is an amazing game from the moment you step out of your crashed lifepod. The creatures are unique and the environments are so incredibly detailed that you can explore for hours and still have plenty to see. I love the fact that the game has a beginning, a middle, and an end. There is a cohesive plot through all of Subnautica that gives you motivation to keep playing. Resources feel fair and balanced and the game finds the perfect balance between giving you easier access and still having it feel substantial when you go out to collect things. For each benefit you get with the new things that you develop, there's two more mountains that stand in your way for you to tackle and the reward once you get there is incredibly satisfying.

If you haven't played this game or you are considering getting it, do it. However. you should be prepared not only to sink about 25 hours into the game per playthrough, but also how much of your life this game will consume for a brief period of time. You'll be at the grocery store and think that you could be playing Subnautica. You'll be at your girlfriends apartment and think that you could be collecting titanium to build your second outpost. You'll be at your uncle's funeral service and think about how close you are to unlocking the Cyclops.

I'm working on my second playthrough of this game and I love it. I think it's not only one of the best survival, crafting games that rivals the big boys of Minecraft and Terraria, but one of the best games of the 2010s alongside AAA titles like Skyrim, The Witcher 3, and Breath of the Wild. Yeah, it's that good. Just play it already.