What made this game so special for you? I have this on my wishlist and would like to get into it someday as well. What exactly is the genre here and can you tell me what games you could compare this a bit with or so?
Explaining it would, I'm afraid, actually remove a lot of the experience from playing it the first time.
Trust that going in blind, no guide, no wiki would be an amazing journey in this game. I replay it once every 6 months just to relive 10% of the joy I experienced when I played for the first time. I cannot get the other 90% back ever again, so it's kind of bittersweet.
Think it's this immense feeling of being alone and having a beautiful world to explore. The mysteries are just awe inspiring the first time. The frustration and then understanding is addictive. I would give anything to play again for the first time. After that, it's just a whole new way to play and really try new things on other play throughs. I love starting a new game and making different choices.
It's often called a survival game but I typically don't like those and Subnautica is in my top 5 of all time. It takes elements of open world exploration, survival, horror, and metroidvania and puts them together into something special. When I describe the story to people I just say there's a moment where you find out what the game really is and it's beautiful. Don't let anyone spoil it.
The inventory management, even with unlimited mods, completely ruined the game for me. On my first playthrough I had no mods and the enjoyment fell off a cliff. One hour I was enjoying the game and the next, the thought of returning to base once again to sort ingredients and components one more time...hit like a brick. I was desperate to continue exploring the game but couldn't bring myself to sort or search a gem or recipe one more second. Never had a game drop off so suddenly for me.
I tried a second playthrough years later, this time with mods, and it only allowed me to delay by maybe a dozen hours that moment where the prospect of embarking on yet another sorting quest was as appealing as a trip to the dentist while doing my own taxes. Shame that dynamic doesn't have an organic evolution toward a point where sorting and organizing is 100% automatic.
Eh, I actually enjoy the inventory challenge. That's something about the game that keeps things interesting. If everything was unlimited and automatic, then it would be too easy. It makes you think and really plan for you trip and how you set up your base. It's helps make the game more realistic. It would be nice to have more inventory stacking but I still appreciate the challenge.
Don't entirely agree with you there. You'll never get the sphincter-puckering you have 1st time round; but there are a number of different ways to play the game.
Tbh after about 5 or so playtroughs you cant really find or experience more new things anymore, but you can play in a few different ways or come back every now and then
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u/FiversWarren Jul 22 '26
Subnautica. I am on my 5th playthrough.
https://giphy.com/gifs/qRh1kSATCtzHkz0ZUJ