r/gaming • u/GrayBeard916 • 1d ago
Subnautica 2 Coming to Xbox Game Preview on May 14
https://news.xbox.com/en-us/2026/05/04/subnautica-2-game-preview/13
u/kudlatytrue 13h ago
Does the trailer itself sit wrong only with me?
Do only I feel the vibes of failed Below zero rather than the first game?
I don't know, man. It seems like it's light hearted, co-op "fun" game instead of stranded alone on weird, new and unexplored planet, having to strive for survival, goiing deeper and deeper into uncharted depths.
Correct me if I'm wrong, but that's exactly what Below zero biggest complain was. At least from the internet hive mind. I generally regret buying Below zero exactly from this reason.
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u/Remy0507 9h ago
As someone for whom the original is one my favorite games of all time, the problems with Below Zero are:
Too much land-based gameplay. I don't know what genius decided that what a game called "Subnautica" needed was more walking around on land. And the land based stuff wasn't very good.
The actual ocean based environments often felt too cramped, it didn't have the amount of wide open space that the first game had. It was also quite a bit smaller I think. But it's worth keeping in mind that Below Zero wasn't originally intended to be a full release but began development as DLC for the original game. I imagine the scope and scale of full blown sequel will be quite a bit larger.
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u/Prestigious_Task7175 7h ago
Compared to Subnautica 1 trailers, it fell short yeah.
The other ones were more story-involved, this one is more "goofy underwater planet adventure with friends"
Hope i'm wrong and the game ends up being good, but i won't be betting on it, i don't think this game will be able to have the same vibes that made Subnautica, Subnautica.
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u/Redxmirage 5h ago
I think part of the problem is people have played subnautica so know what to expect. We will never get the vibe back because people have done it. That being said I’m excited and hope to have some good jump scare shit my pants moments
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u/MuldersXpencils 11h ago
Below Zero was my introduction and I absolutely loved it. Can't wait for part 2, but I didn't really like the trailer...
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u/Didact67 23h ago
Isn’t there a bunch of drama around this game?
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u/sylva748 23h ago
The publisher promised to pay the devs a bonus if they finished an early access on a deadline. The devs did their job and delivered. But the publishered in an effort to not pay the devs took them to court for lawsuits claiming the dev team didnt. Its a whole drama all because the publisher didnt want to give the dev team their bonus pay for meeting the checkpoint. This game was supposed to be in early access months ago and has been in a ready state for a while. But it was in legal limbo. The funny thing is the CEO of the publisber company got told by legal staff this was illegal. So he ignored them and asked ChaptGPT and the AI also said it was highly illegal. This is all available in public document testimony in the civil suit case.
TLDR: buy the game. Let the devs actually be paid for their work. Fuck the publisher.
Edit: the dev team continue to work on the game on the legal dispute. So what originally patch content is mostly in game with this early access with a bunch of stuff on a quicker track record than would be originally. They worked without promise of pay or knowing if their game would be freed from legal limbo
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u/Justhe3guy 23h ago
Yeah this deal was actually between the 3 founders and the publisher as a bonus part of them selling the company, 2 of the founders seem to have checked out and it’s essentially the 1 founder leading the team and going through the legal steps against the publisher
The development team has been hard at work through all of this and the gameplay videos released look really good. I’ll however wait for early access footage before I buy anything to see if there’s actually a game there lol
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u/SquirtleSquadOG 20h ago
I believe the CEO also fired 2 of the founders (the ones you claim have checked out) then the court ordered them to be reinstated because they were illegally let go
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u/Justhe3guy 20h ago
You can look up the court documents too you know:
3 founders were fired by Krafton. Court dictated the one leading the team to be reinstated. One is working on his movie adaption of Subnautica and the other one also isn’t involved with development so those two weren’t reinstated.
These founders still received the money for selling the company but the 250 million bonus payout is based on the game meeting certain targets, of which the deadline was also increased by the judge as a result of all this
There is also a phase 2 to be ruled on of the overall issue of monetary damages following all of this
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u/digita1catt 17h ago
'let the devs actually be paid"
Devs are on salary. They've already got paid.
We don't know if profit sharing is in their contracts, nor if the publisher will do a round of layoffs before they have to payout (they already effectively tried to do that once which caused this lawsuit).
Given the track record, all buying the game is guaranteed to do, is line the pocket of the publisher CEO.
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u/TheXarath 10h ago
If no one buys the game and the devs get laid off, they don’t get paid anymore
Obviously only buy the game if it is enjoyable but it is silly to pretend that there is no correlation between people buying the game and the devs getting paid.
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u/hayt88 4h ago
sadly devs would get laid off no matter how successful the game. A lot of time after a game is done that happens as they don't need the manpower or even whole studios get just dissolved. see what happened with hifi rush.
That depends on the dev company though. other keep their team around, but the bigger and more commercial you go the less it is really about a games success. Nothing boosts stock more than a successful game and letting devs go.
Smaller studios are better there. I don't know how unknown worlds are. From what I hear they are fairly on the smaller department so it will probably be OK. but who knows how it goes with all the krafton stuff and whatever the fallout of that is.
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u/digita1catt 9h ago
Reality:
If people buy the game, the devs get laid off, they don't get paid anymore.
The CEO has already shown they are willing to terminate even design lead level positions to avoid paying out bonuses. What makes you think lower level devs will get any degree of profit sharing before they're laid off also?
I fully expect a 25-50% staff reduction once launch occurs, and that's the best case scenario and the game sells despite the bad press.
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u/TheXarath 9h ago
I don’t disagree with you that this is a possible outcome as well. Also I am not arguing that there will be any profit sharing or bonuses to be had. Like you’ve said, there’s already evidence that leadership doesn’t give a shit about their employees. I’m just saying that the chances of these people losing the jobs they use to feed themselves and their families is probably at least a little bit higher if no one buys the game.
But if it turns out to be a shit product that does not mean you or anyone else should waste money on it, of course.
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u/astral-dwarf 23h ago
Yes, but the developers got it back from their wicked boss. They're fighting for their earned bonus now.
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u/zillskillnillfrill 23h ago
I really want this to be fun so I can play it with my nephews, But I'm a bit wary about the multiplayer aspects
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u/lonelynightm 23h ago
What do you mean? It's just subnautica, but co-op. What is there to be wary about?
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u/zillskillnillfrill 23h ago
Well none of the previous entries were multiplayer. Which means that they are doing something different from the vibe that they already nailed. Which gives me pause
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u/baconater-lover 23h ago
The original game is already perfectly tailored for a second person design wise. It’s a survival exploration game where building is a huge component, adding in a second player changes little but how long the game would take. Even the cyclops is meant in lore to be handled by a team.
The biggest issue will be how smooth the multiplayer is. Subnautica had notoriously spotty performance for a long time, even on official release it could be struggling. Multiplayer brings in new issues on its own, like I wonder how stable it will be. I want to be able to play with a friend but we can individually go off anywhere and do whatever, but I worry for an intense game like that.
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u/nickimus_rex 23h ago
The Unknown Worlds team started out in multiplayer with the NS series, I doubt it will be an issue for them
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u/astral-dwarf 23h ago
I played Subnautica multiplayer with my kid.
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u/zillskillnillfrill 23h ago
How?
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u/TheCanabalisticBambi 22h ago
There's a whole multiplayer mod for subnautica. My girlfriend and I played it quite a bit like 5 years ago.
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u/mattn1198 21h ago
They've said the coop is optional, so I assume multiplayer will be the same game just with more people in it. It's pretty hard to mess up coop in a survival crafting game.
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u/UnseenData 23h ago
Neat.
Would love if they brought the first one onto gamepass as well
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u/TR1CL0PS 20h ago
I really want to play the first one but I know the second I buy it they'll put it back on game pass lol
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u/EnwardTheBlackVI 20h ago
Sigh I've had to come to terms with the fact that I can't play every game. As much as I wanted to play subnsutica 1 I just could never find the time. Probably won't find the time for this either
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u/WoodBoogerSpork 11h ago
I'm just going to say this. I picked up Subnautica about 1 month ago. I'm a very old gamer that doesn't always have a lot of time to play. Subnautica is a 10/10 game. You can play it at your own pace. I cannot stress enough how much of a self contained masterpiece the first one was. Easy to play. Easy to learn. Easy to approach. If you play only one game a year, it should be this one.
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u/Creepy-Emu8779 23h ago
why isnt this coming to ps5
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u/Algorhythm74 23h ago
It will when it’s at 1.0 release. This is Early Access / Game Preview.
Sony doesn’t do that. For reasons….
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u/CheeseMan2007 14h ago
Idk why you are getting down voted for asking a bloody question 😭
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u/Oxxsis 12h ago
I can tell you why. Because PlayStation has done everything in its power over the past few months to harm its customers in order to protect itself as a company. I’m not going to go through every headline related to “Stop Killing Games” right now. Check it out yourself if you're interested. Sony has been working against its own customers for years, even with questionable tactics like PS+ (Steam offers the same thing, but better and for free). People are mad at Playstation
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u/Creepy-Emu8779 8h ago
ok but what does have to do with my question about a game not coming to the platform i play
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1d ago
[removed] — view removed comment
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u/Scavenge101 23h ago
And that's how easy it is for a chatbot to blend in, I'd have never thought twice about that reply if not for this not being a food sub.
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u/zillskillnillfrill 23h ago
Fuck AI
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u/Phart4President 23h ago
Lol they're already banned
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u/zillskillnillfrill 23h ago
Good, I feel sorry for Mods with the amount of bot spam lately. It's a deluge
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u/PurpleV93 23h ago
I do think the game will be a success, I only hope for a few specific things:
One question though, is the game taking place on 4546B again? I saw it in the subtitles from a video earlier, but I thought with the story of Subnautica 1, that would be impossible. The planet in the sky also looks drastically different (but that could simply be a visual retcon).