Subnautica 2 developer Unknown Worlds has outlined all the ways its looking to improve on its wildly popular underwater-survival game in the near future, but don’t expect to be able to fight or kill hostile alien creatures.
In a new blog post, Unknown Worlds addressed key areas of feedback it’s received since Subnautica 2’s early-access launch on May 14. One of the key complaints its heard revolves around predator encounters coming off as “more frustrating than tense or exciting,” with the game’s current tools not doing enough to give players a reliable way out.
That will be changing in the near future, Unknown Worlds said. In addition to adjustments to creature aggression and aggro range, improvements will also be coming to items like the flare and survival tool to give players better options when it comes to surviving encounters. The changes will be rolled out in a series of upcoming patches, Unknown Worlds said.
Going hand-in-hand with those changes is feedback Unknown World received about wanting to be able to fight hostile creatures or even kill them. While Unknown Worlds said it’s understandable some players feel that way given the game’s existing survival tools don’t seem sufficient for handling threats, it emphasized Subnautica is not about combat.
“Subnautica has always been built around vulnerability, exploration, and survival rather than traditional weapon-based combat,” Unknown Worlds said. “We believe this is part of what makes the game unique. However, that design only works if creature encounters feel fair, readable, and engaging. Right now, we know we have more work to do to achieve that.”
In addition to outlining the above changes, Unknown Worlds apologized for how it communicated with the community following the early-access launch, and said it knows that recent comments from members of the development team made some in the community feel ignored or dismissed. The studio later in the blog post outlined that it views early access as a collaboration between the game’s community, and while it might not make every change players ask for, it has a “responsibility” to listen and explain its decisions.
“Early access should be a conversation with our players, not a one-way explanation from the development team,” Unknown Worlds said.
The game’s early-access launch comes amidst an ongoing legal battle between Unknown Worlds and its parent company and publisher Krafton, the latter of which allegedly ousted members of Unknown World’s leadership team based on advice from ChatGPT in an effort to not pay them previously agreed bonuses related to Subnautica 2 sales goals.
Unknown Worlds filed a lawsuit as a result, and a judge ruled in favor of the studio back in March, ordering CEO Ted Gill reinstated and extending the timeframe for the studio’s potential $250 million bonus to September. Considering how Unknown Worlds announced Subnautica 2 sold more than 2 million copies in its first 12 hours, it seems like that bonus check will be on the way soon.
Subnautica 2 is currently available on PC and Xbox Series X|S. For more on how to survive Unknown World’s alien ocean survival sim, check out our Subnautica 2 guides hub.
