Subnautica was something truly special. The first time you dove into its world, it felt completely alien. No maps, no hand-holding, just you, the ocean, and the weird stuff living in it. Below Zero had its moments, but it missed the mark in a few key areas. With Subnautica 2 on the horizon, here’s what I need to see if it’s going to live up to the original.

5 Bring back the fear factor

At least in the deeper biomes

The original Subnautica wasn’t a horror game, but let’s be real, it was absolutely terrifying at times. The occasional roars from leviathans as you explore new areas, the constant sound of your oxygen levels depleting, your hull starting to creak when you dive too deep, or just the utter silence that surrounds you on the sea floor. When Subnautica: Below Zero released, the game was filled with vibrant biomes, colorful creatures, and just breathtaking designs in general. But this oversaturation also removed the feeling of the unknown from the original.

Exploring new areas or biomes in the original game was awe-inspiring and absolutely terrifying all at once. Every time you leave your submersible, you'll grow eyes on the back of your head and become ever-conscious of your surroundings. The biomes were much larger, giving the game a sense of scale, and the leviathans were equally enormous. Subnautica 2 would benefit from striking a balance between its two game styles. Vibrant and colorful in the shallows, then let it get darker the deeper you go.

4 Less landmass and bigger biomes

Focus more on the underwater environments

Subnautica: Below Zero had way too much land in it for a game about surviving underwater. In the original game, there were only two places you could find land. The Mountain Island and the Floating Island, the only other out-of-water experiences you had, were on the Alterra ship, Alien Ruins, or in your base. The land sections in both Subnautica games aren’t bad by any means. But your character’s movements were designed for swimming underwater, and you can feel this anytime you're on land in either game. It feels like you have no friction, no weight, and this makes the on-land exploration of the game feel very clunky.

I loved exploring the islands in the original; it was a nice change of pace. I also enjoyed landing on the ice caps in Below Zero. Keeping an eye on body temperature was a nice touch. But Below Zero took it a little too far. They made most of the underwater biomes smaller and added a lot more land areas. Subnautica is a game about exploring underwater oceans on distant alien planets, and that's what most people want to do. Adding more land areas adds diversity to the game, but adding too much can detract from the core identity of the game.

3 Tools, vehicles, and base-building

Subnautica 2 doesn't have to reinvent the wheel

There were a lot of changes to tools, vehicles, and bases when Subnautica: Below Zero launched. This also appears to be the case for Subnautica 2. We’ve already seen a slimmed-down version of the scanner and a new model submersible that resembles the Seatruck more than the Seamoth. However, if Subnautica 2 truly wants to match or surpass the original, it needs to stop trying to reinvent the wheel.

The Seamoth was great; they didn't need to replace it with the Seatruck in Below Zero or change it again in Subnautica 2. It would have been easy to have kept both. The Seamoth could have been a more powerful and faster submersible meant for combat, and the Seatruck could have been a recon submersible for collecting resources or starting new bases. They would fill different roles and give players more ways to play. That’s a win-win in my book.

2 Reward players for returning to areas

Improve the replayability of the game

Exploring new biomes is the best part of Subnautica. Every time you dive into a new area, you’re met with new creatures, weird plants, and rare resources. And there’s a sense of wonder or dread, depending on which biome you're in. But once you're past that initial "whoa" moment, too many of these areas start to feel a bit… empty. Both Subnautica and Below Zero suffered from this issue. Some of the late-game biomes look incredible, but outside of a few blueprint scans or a rare resource, they don’t give you much reason to come back.

The original tried to lock certain resources to specific biomes to encourage backtracking, but even then, a single trip was often enough to stockpile everything you needed. Worse, late-game areas usually didn’t include basic resources, so you’d have to travel back to the shallows just to grab titanium, copper, or quartz. Subnautica 2 needs to rethink this. Give biomes a real purpose beyond sightseeing. Mix common and rare resources across zones, tie some creatures or crafting mechanics to specific areas, or even make certain biomes evolve over time. Just give us a reason to keep coming back.

1 Make the world more interactive

With more involved mechanics

In the shallow areas of the original Subnautica, sea creatures had a lot of utility to them. A Crashfish exploding will leave you with cave sulfur (as well as high blood pressure). If you bring Stalkers scrap metal to chew on, they’ll drop stalker teeth, and Gasopods drop gas pods as a defense mechanism when the player gets near them.

These types of interactions make the world feel alive, where you have to physically interact with the creatures in the biomes to harvest the resources you need. But sadly, these are some of the only sea creatures with these unique mechanics. There are some incredibly unique designs in Subnautica, but their mechanics get shallower the deeper you go. Subnautica 2 could benefit from more interactions with fauna and flora in the game to enhance immersion in its biomes.

Subnautica 2 looks to be a return to roots

Subnautica worked because it made you feel small. It makes you respect the ocean. Every trip into the depths was a risk, and every return to your base felt like a win. Below Zero forgot that a little, but Subnautica 2 has a real chance to bring it back, so make sure you wishlist the game on Steam and get ready for an early access release.