Subnautica: Nothing but wet

The Future is Shite is a general overview of upcoming  unreleased or early access games, discussing everything from current features and playability to developer reputation to speculating on future development. 

Underwater levels: some of the most hated and horrible levels out there. From Sonic to Zelda to Rayman, nearly every major game has featured these dastardly challenges at some point in their series.

Maybe its having to manage oxygen, maybe its the murky water, maybe its the unbearably slow movement: whatever the reason, submersed players have nearly always hated the experience.

So you can imagine that it is very brave that Unknown Worlds Entertainment has decided to make an entire game based around being under the sea.

To my great surprise, it actually works.

Still in Early Access, Subnautica presents the player with a challenge: stranded on an ocean planet with your gigantic spaceship exploding in the background, you must survive alien sharks, starvation and suffocation on a daily basis.

The survival mechanics are what you would expect: catch and cook fish to stave off hunger, disinfect water to make it drinkable, return to the surface (or one of your seabases) to recover oxygen. No faults here, though the early game does require a lot of returns to the surface which does get a little tedious.

The graphics are gorgeous, and I have always loved a game that goes with a particular art style. Photorealism doesn’t do it for me, because it will look like crap in a few years time. Subnautica has a bright and colourful palette, the animations are solid and each biome has a distinct graphical flavour about it that paints exploration into an art tour.

Still a little lacking in content, Subnautica in its current state is certainly playable, but always remember with early access that you are NOT buying a game! You are supporting to developers. With that in mind, be sure to consider supporting Unknown Worlds Entertainment. They have a solid idea, with good execution so far, and seem to be relatively involved with their community.

Check out some more on Subnautica on Steam or on their website here.

For more discussion on future games, browse through our selection of The Future is Shite articles.

Do you like fish? Do you like water? Do you like getting chased by terrifying alien sharks? Let us know your experiences with Subnautica or underwater levels in general in the comments below.