izigame.me

Positives
+ Gorgeous, varied alien sea planet that is teeming with life and great to explore.
+ Tons of alien creatures and fauna with data entries explaining life on the planet.
+ Large map with lots of different biomes to explore and places to find.
+ All of the vehicles work really well and have their own distinct purpose. They’re all great, but the Prawn Suit in particular is absolutely badass and a mech done great.
+ A lot of puzzle solving. Feels like a great achievement to beat the game.
+ Ranges from fun tropical paradise, to mysterious and alien, to murky horror.
+ The music can really amplify the mood of each area.
+ Resource-gathering gameplay works well and never feels too grindy.
+ Lots of tools at your disposal with different purposes.
+ Lots you can build and do with your habitat home. If you like base-building, there's a lot for you to play around with here.
+ Really good story despite a silent protagonist and lack of characters and dialogue.
+ Very immersive and gripping in general.
Negatives
- In some parts my vehicle, in particular the Prawn Suit, could get stuck on parts of the terrain. Worth noting I only had to reload once from this (Sea Moth got stuck on part of the Aurora and couldn't be moved) and it was primarily with the Prawn Suit on land sections which are rare anyway.
- I think a craftable tool to allow for mapping out your surroundings for reference would have helped greatly rather than relying on memory and beacons constantly for waypoints. This is very subjective however, I'm sure some others would say adding that in would have taken away from the exploration and experience of getting familiar with your environment. For me, I would have felt less of a draw to look up guides if I could see where I had been plotted out and start marking off where I had been and where I wanted to go next.
Conclusion
Subnautica is a very unique experience and one I would highly recommend. I think the part that hit me most is when I realised I was actually nearing being able to escape the planet, and I realised how immersed I was in the world, having been stuck in the seas and gradually built up a base that had actually become somewhat homely and familiar and realising it was all going to be left behind. The fact the game made me feel that way shows how immersive it had all been. There’s nothing quite like Subnautica, it’s a fantastic deep sea exploration game. I will admit I used a guide to direct me around in parts which I would advise against for others, I just personally find the deep sea pretty spooky e.g. coming out over the edge of a cliff and there’s just murky nothingness stretching out around you in all directions and the potential for a looming shape off in the depths that you are powerless against. On the flip side, that should speak volumes for how immersive the game is and how it can be pretty scary in parts depending on how much the deep sea spooks you out.