Steam users can play Subnautica at no cost until April 6, courtesy of a recently launched free weekend promotion. The ongoing offer marks the first time Subnautica has been free to play on Steam.
This unique window of opportunity arrives years after Subnautica established itself as one of the better-known survival games on Steam. Developed by San Francisco-based Unknown Worlds Entertainment, it was originally launched in January 2018 following just over three years’ worth of early access. Since then, it has amassed nearly 175,000 Steam reviews with a 96.03% favorable rating, which Valve classifies as “Overwhelmingly Positive.”
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A couple of months after the eighth anniversary of its 1.0 release, Subnautica went free to play on Steam, but only temporarily. The iconic survival game can be experienced at no cost until Monday, April 6, at 10 a.m. PT / 1 p.m. ET / 7 p.m. CET. The limited-time offer is intended to promote Unknown Worlds’ recently launched Subnautica franchise sale on Steam, which is running in parallel.
Subnautica itself is discounted by 75% during the promotional period, bringing its price to $7.49, the equivalent of $22.50 in savings. Though the free weekend ends on April 6, the sale itself will run for three days longer. The Sub-Sonic Edition of the game, which bundles Subnautica with its original soundtrack, has also received a flat 75% discount as part of the ongoing sale and can currently be picked up for $8.98. The same price cut has been applied to Subnautica sequel Below Zero, which is now available for $7.49.
The free weekend serves as a great opportunity for anyone who has not yet played Subnautica to see what made it such a phenomenon. The game is widely regarded as one of the defining entries in the survival-crafting genre, not least because it debuted in a crowded 2018 market and still managed to make its tried-and-true formula feel fresh. Rather than leaning primarily on incessant scavenging or brute-force combat, Subnautica drops players into a vast alien ocean where vulnerability, curiosity, and fear shape the experience from start to finish. Reviewers praised the way it blended awe with terror, using an underwater world that could shift from serene, brightly colored reefs to panic-inducing deep-sea encounters in an instant. Looking at Steam’s entire catalog of games with immersive and rewarding exploration, few titles can match Subnautica‘s moment-to-moment gameplay.
Rearrange the covers into the correct US release order.
Rearrange the covers into the correct US release order.
Easy (5)Medium (7)Hard (10)
Subnautica 2 Is Coming Soon
In related news, Subnautica 2 is finally due to enter early access in 2026. Unknown Worlds originally said the delay from 2025 would allow the team to respond to playtest feedback and expand the launch build, but the postponement later became part of a broader legal dispute between publisher Krafton and former studio leadership. In the latest twist in that legal drama, a Delaware Court of Chancery judge ordered Krafton to reinstate former CEO Ted Gill and restore his full authority over the game’s early-access release in March 2026. Krafton had previously alleged that Gill, along with game director Charlie Cleveland and studio co-founder Max McGuire, neglected their responsibilities on the project, citing that as the reason for their dismissal. The ousted executives disputed that claim and sued, arguing that the publisher removed them to avoid paying a $250 million bonus tied to performance targets agreed as part of Krafton’s 2021 acquisition of Unknown Worlds.
