Subnautica: Below Zero | Cheerful Ghost

Subnautica and Below Zero Review (No Spoilers!)

Azurephile gives this an astounding "Must Play" on the Ghost Scale

This achieves something special, and it would be a shame to miss it.

Azurephile gives this a "Must Play" on the Ghost Scale

This achieves something special, and it would be a shame to miss it.

I noticed that I didn’t write a review for Subnautica. Since I just finished Subnautica: Below Zero (BZ), I thought I’d give both of them a review here.

If you haven't played Subnautica, it may interest you if you like games that include survival, crafting, and exploring (probably the kind of game that has most interested me for quite awhile now). While you can craft things like base pieces and tools, you obtain these recipes by finding the items or fragments of them in the game and scanning them with your scanner tool.

There is a bit of a scary element, too, as there are huge creatures called Leviathans that are definitely scary as they will attack you and your... Read All I noticed that I didn’t write a review for Subnautica. Since I just finished Subnautica: Below Zero (BZ), I thought I’d give both of them a review here.

If you haven't played Subnautica, it may interest you if you like games that include survival, crafting, and exploring (probably the kind of game that has most interested me for quite awhile now). While you can craft things like base pieces and tools, you obtain these recipes by finding the items or fragments of them in the game and scanning them with your scanner tool.

There is a bit of a scary element, too, as there are huge creatures called Leviathans that are definitely scary as they will attack you and your vehicles. These games take place in an underwater environment, the planets are mostly made of an ocean with very little landmass. So, you’ll spend your time mostly underwater and you have to be aware of your oxygen level (along with food, thirst, and temperature, since BZ has frozen areas). There are different game modes, so these things are optional.

If you liked Subnautica, you'll probably like BZ. I bought BZ pretty much as soon as it was released into Early Access on Steam. I stopped playing it after a while as I decided to wait until the completed version was released. BZ is essentially Subnautica, just with more of an Arctic-like setting. Just like Subnautica, you’ll find there are different biomes, so it’s not all wintry. It also has some new things such as a Sea Truck and Spy Penglings, among others. At first, I didn’t like the Sea Truck. I liked the Sea Moth and Cyclops submarine in Subnautica, so initially (during Early Access) I was disappointed that these were missing. However, the Sea Truck has modules you can craft, connect, and disconnect easily. I found all of them useful, except the Sleeper module, which I didn’t build. It was frustrating in Subnautica when using the Cyclops and bumping into things, just like it is in BZ with the Sea Truck, although you can repair them easily with a repair tool (which was made easier in BZ). I also didn’t enjoy having to try to be quiet in certain areas with the Cyclops as it could attract Leviathans. That’s not the case in BZ, but if they see or get near you, they will attack. However, you can get an upgrade for the Sea Truck that lets you shock them, which will greatly reduce the amount of damage received. This will make them stop targeting you for a little while. I did find ways of killing a Leviathan (one of which is no longer valid as the tool used was removed), but they do respawn.

BZ also has a different story, though it's kind of related.

Subnautica received a lot of really good reviews and since BZ doesn’t stray very far from that game, I imagine that it will also get positive reviews. Already on Steam, the reviews are “Very Positive.”

I did restart my game a few times (something I frequently do in games once I start playing them). If you don't want to lose items when you die, then take my advice and save your game often, so that you can quit and reload to prevent that.

The game is short. I do wish it were longer, but I did enjoy it. At some point, you may want to look at a walk through to help you advance. I did this once I reached a certain point, because the game doesn’t always hold your hand and tell you what to do or where to go next. Also, it can be difficult to find some things on your own, though the game does give you some markers of places to visit. You can turn these beacons on or off in your main screen (PDA) and even choose a few colors for them. You can hit F1 to bring up a screen that tells you a lot of info, including coordinates. You can find coordinates of where things are on the game’s wiki page. If I remember correctly, the first number relates to East/West, the second is depth, and the third is North/South. You may want to consult a quick video on how this works, so you can find things easier and not get as lost (though you still may find yourself getting lost). You can also craft beacons to place so you can find your way back to an area easily. You may want to revisit an area for things that you may have missed or to gather more resources. Speaking of resources, it seems they do not respawn, though I seem to recall that the wildlife does (at least in Subnautica). There are plenty of resources, though, so this isn’t really something to worry about.

I recommend checking out Subnautica and then checking out BZ, especially if you liked Subnautica. I think Subnautica helps get you started and gives you a good understanding of the game in general. Plus, as I mentioned, the stories in both games are kind of related. Subnautica starts you off with you crash landing on an alien planet covered in a large ocean with little landmass. BZ, however, has you playing a character who wants to investigate the death of her sister on a frozen alien planet. Though it is interesting to note that you can freeze on land, but once you get into the ocean, temperature is no longer relevant (unless you get into a thermal vent).

If you’ve played one or both games, let me know what you think. Also, let me know if you think this is something you may be interested in.

You can check out my other BZ (spoiler-free) post here: https://cheerfulghost.com/GregoPeck/posts/4629/subnautica-below-zero-cinematic-trailer-and-release-date

Subnautica: Below Zero Cinematic Trailer and Release Date

Subnautica: Below Zero joined Early Access on Steam about two years ago. They've recently released a cinematic trailer for it and announced it's release date of 5/14/21 for multiple platforms. If you liked Subnautica, you might like this. I thought the trailer was really interesting and funny. It follows a brief time of a guy living on the planet dealing with some of it's creatures, though they didn't show off any of the very large ones nor did they give much details in the way of the game's story.

S:BZ is much like Subnautica, but this time it takes place on an icy planet, so if you go to the surface, you'll see plenty of snow and some of the water you can swim under... Read All Subnautica: Below Zero joined Early Access on Steam about two years ago. They've recently released a cinematic trailer for it and announced it's release date of 5/14/21 for multiple platforms. If you liked Subnautica, you might like this. I thought the trailer was really interesting and funny. It follows a brief time of a guy living on the planet dealing with some of it's creatures, though they didn't show off any of the very large ones nor did they give much details in the way of the game's story.

S:BZ is much like Subnautica, but this time it takes place on an icy planet, so if you go to the surface, you'll see plenty of snow and some of the water you can swim under is covered in ice. There are new creatures, tools, and of course a new story. The story has changed since it's launch into Early Access. I played and followed the development early on briefly before they decided to rewrite the script and hire new voice actors. I got it right away, pretty much, because I very much loved Subnautica. Now that I'm looking at the Cheerful Ghost game database, I see no one's written about it. I'm surprised I didn't write about it, since I really enjoyed it (more than I thought I would). If you're unfamiliar with Subnautica, it's a crafting, survival, and exploration game, but takes place in the vast ocean of an alien planet after your space ship has crashed. You're left with an escape pod, which has some basic survival things you'll need. One of the greatest tools in the pod is a fabricator. There's a good variety of fish you can catch with your hands. They can be fast, so you'll want to craft your first major piece of technology, which is something you hold onto that can propel you forward. You can take fish to the fabricator and turn them into food or water. Different fish are better for satisfying your hunger, but some are much better for your thirst. You can breach the ocean's surface to get some air, but there are also plants that often pump out bubbles of oxygen you can breathe underwater. However, you're going to need to go much deeper, luckily you can craft some submersibles. In the end you'll have your own submarine. You can craft things with many of the planet's resources like copper, which is good for batteries, or quartz, which is good for glass. You'll find pieces of technology scattered on the floor of the ocean. Scanning these will give you progress towards being able to craft it. Beware though there are many dangers. There is a monster that can latch onto your submersible, which performs a really good "jump scare," but it's not the only thing down there to worry about. There are also a good amount of different biomes you'll find. While exploring, you'll find the logs of other survivors. You'll also find a very small island where you can find some useful things, like garden plots to scan and plants you can collect to create your very own self sustaining garden. You can build underwater housing, too, but if you build too many pieces (like glass windows), you'll need to support them by also building some reinforcement pieces or the pressure will break your habitat, which will flood. You can use a tool to repair leaks and also to add more reinforcement, so just because your habitat gets inundated, all hope is not lost as it can be fixed and the water can be drained. There are also a few different game modes, so if you want to play without the survival requirements (like food and water), you can do that.

Let me know what you think about the trailer and the game. Also let me know if you've played Subnautica. If you like games like Terraria, Minecraft, and Ark: Survival Evolved, I think it's a game you might like. If you want to watch some good videos on YouTube of someone playing Subnautica, I recommend looking at the channels of Paul Soares, Jr. and Sl!pg8r.

Azurephile Super Member Post Author wrote on 05/15/2021 at 06:29am

I found an article stating that Subnautica, "was recently made free on PlayStation consoles through Sony's Play at Home initiative." It also states that people, "can upgrade their copy to the PlayStation 5 or Xbox Series X|S version at no additional cost." If that is available to you, I think you should jump on it! It'd be a shame to pass up a great game for free.

Subnautica: Below Zero was released yesterday along with a new trailer, which is quite unlike the one embedded in this post. The new one contains a bit of story, basically the beginning parts, so no real spoilers. The game is much like the original, in that it's story driven (though you can ignore it), but this one is based in a bit more of an Arctic-like setting. There's building, crafting, exploring, and resource collecting, along with hunger and thirst, just like the original game, but with some new things. There are, however, different game modes, so you could, for instance, ignore hunger and thirst requirements. In the article (posted in the links below), it says that GameSpot gave Subnautica a "9/10". Their review says, "Subnautica's story, scares, and beautifully rendered underwater setting make it one of the most fascinating survival games around." I regret that I did not write my own review of the game, it deserves a "Must Play" Cheerful Ghost rating.

I was an early adopter of Below Zero, since I enjoyed Subnautica so much. I paid for Below Zero when it was released for Early Access on Steam and I played through it a bit in the beginning, but decided to stop and wait for development to finish. I am kind of disappointed that they decided to recast some characters and change the script, but I don't think the new cast or script is so far disappointing.

Check out the article I found here: https://www.gamespot.com/articles/subnautica-below-zero-and-free-subnautica-update-out-now/1100-6491531/?utm_source=gamefaqs&utm_medium=partner&utm_content=news_module&utm_campaign=homepage

Also, you can check out the trailer (which is included in the article) here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2ZrjL1SzGvM

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