Recent reviews by tomless

As someone who adored the original Subnautica, Below Zero felt like a letdown. Not because it’s a bad game, but because it never quite lived up to the atmosphere, mystery, or emotional weight of its predecessor. It reuses a lot from the first game but doesn’t push things forward in meaningful ways.

Where the first Subnautica dropped you into a vast, alien ocean with little more than curiosity and fear to guide you, Below Zero feels more boxed-in—both literally and figuratively. The world is smaller, more segmented, and more guided, which robs it of that same sense of scale and discovery. Instead of charting unknown depths, I felt like I was checking off objectives on a to-do list. Wash, rinse, repeat. It got tedious and rather boring quite fast.

Surface exploration also didn’t do it for me. The cold mechanic felt more like busywork than an engaging survival challenge, and trekking around on land never matched the joy (or dread) of deep-sea diving. Naturally, since the majority of the game takes place underwater, the land mechanics aren't as developed and that’s understandable. But they’re also extremely janky. The Seatruck was an interesting idea; a modular blend of the Cyclops and Seamoth, but like many things in this game, it just didn’t work for me. A lot of the gameplay systems—scanning, crafting, base-building—feel copy-pasted from the first game. There’s not much innovation here if you were hoping for a new twist on the formula.

The creature design feels like a big step down from the first game. There are fewer truly dangerous predators, and the ones that are there just don’t hit the same. The Shadow Leviathan is creepy, but it's confined to a specific zone. The Chelicerate looks cool, but it’s relatively easy to avoid and smaller and less threatening than the Reaper Leviathan. Nothing compares to the tension of hearing a Reaper’s roar from the dark. Most fauna here is more passive or scripted, and the ecosystems don’t feel as alive. Even the Ice Worm (heavily featured in marketing!) feels more like a scripted gimmick than a real threat.

Biomes feel cramped yet empty at the same time. Transitions between them are abrupt and lack the natural, immersive flow of the original. Exploration rarely rewards you with true discovery just more objectives and the occasional lore crumb. Scarce incentive to actually go out and explore beyond doing what the game tells you.

The game tries to expand the Subnautica universe with a heavier narrative focus, but in doing so, it loses much of what made the first game so compelling. The quiet loneliness and environmental storytelling are replaced with constant exposition, mostly between Robin and AL-AN, that leaves little to the imagination. AL-AN questions human behavior, Robin gives a one-liner defense, AL-AN shrugs and says he doesn't understand. Rinse and repeat. There’s so much potential between them, but their conversations never go deeper than surface-level musings. The pacing also suffers from odd bottlenecks or unclear objectives. Sometimes I felt lost with no sense of what to do next and other times I felt like the game was holding my hand. The smooth, natural progression from shallow to deep that the original nailed just isn’t here.

Robin’s main motivation, finding out what happened to her sister Sam, should have been the emotional core of the story, but it falls flat. You mostly get scattered logs and secondhand accounts, with little personal connection. Alterra claims Sam died of her own negligence, Robin insists she didn’t...and then it turns out Sam did exactly that. There's no catharsis, confrontation, or emotional payoff. Even the fear of Alterra abusing the Kharaa bacterium ends up being a red herring they weren't even planning to weaponize it. Also, Sam can apparently find a cure for Kharaa by herself but an entire civilisation of hyper-logical aliens could not, and apparently Enzyme 42 from the first game is nonexistent?

The Architect lore is interesting in theory, but undercooked in execution. AL-AN gives you scattered nuggets of information, but nothing gets explored in depth. Robin as a protagonist also falls flat as she has no real arc or development. A voiced protagonist isn't a bad thing either, but it's when they're a flat character like her, it misses the shot. Her constant interjections about the environment really undermine the peril she's in. Even Maida’s return, which could have been impactful, feels like shallow fanservice. Realistically, she shouldn’t have survived the Kharaa infection this long, and her appearance feels more like a checkbox for fans than a narrative choice.

That said, not everything is a miss. The expanded base-building tools are a welcome addition. Some biome ideas show potential, and the environmental and visual design is generally excellent. The soundtrack and sound design while stylistically different from the original still hit the right notes and build atmosphere well. The QoL improvements are a welcome addition, and the game's finer mechanics feel overall more polished.

I really wish I enjoyed this game more than I did. Again, this isn't to say the game is awful, but it simply doesn't live up to the original and feels empty when it's supposed to be full.

gucci

I've had this game in my library for a while now, and I very much enjoy playing it. While compared to predecessors like Fallout 3 or Fallout: New Vegas, it's significantly less of an RPG (though, still maintains some elements of it), but that doesn't stop me from having fun. Combat, graphics, and the settlement systems are nice (the latter may be a tad overused, though). Storyline is a bit lackluster. Overall though, it's a very fun game and definitely something to add to your library.

It might be worth mentioning the multitude of mods available for this game. I highly encourage people to mod this game and the modding community is definitely one of the reasons why I have so many hours in this game.

This has quickly become one of my all-time favorite games, and I can see why this has been cited as one of the best games ever created. This is one of the best RPGs that have been ever developed. This runs beautifully on my PC, with no issues aside from the occasional technical one. The soundtrack is outstanding (Night of the Long Fangs & Titans of Infamy are my personal favorites). While the narrative makes a bit more sense if you've read the book series prior, it's nonetheless an exciting journey for Geralt in the final chapter of his story. Interesting characters such as Yennefer, Triss, Dandelion, Zoltan, and Ciri also make this game significantly worthwhile. The expansions Hearts of Stone and Blood and Wine also add so much to this already amazing game and encourage anyone to get them.

10/10, HIGHLY recommend

oh, and the sex scenes are great too i guess

An absolutely phenomenal game, truly a masterpiece of its time. I'd be genuinely shocked if this doesn't receive GOTY or some sort of award for its complexity. Colonel Sanders is exceptionally captured in this game and a gripping storyline to boot. Well rounded characters with their own backstories and personalities, the occasion chicken pun, an amazing soundtrack, choices that feel like they matter, and Aeshleigh's heavenly thighs. This game does NOT disappoint! Dare I say it's finger-lickin' good. 10/10

good god Aeshleigh's thighs

todd howard is making me do this

Great game. It'd be more fun if I had friends to play with, sadly I don't have any. Anyways, good game.

Is gucci

Pros:
Easy to learn
Great art style, soundtrack and creativity
Replayability
Pretty relaxing after a long day
Fun to play with friends

Cons: (Although most of these I feel will be fixed since this IS early access)
(Although I feel this is more or less a personal preference) The Shark is quite annoying, I find it just too much of a risk to go out and get supplies because the shark will always stay in a radius around you, and attacking your raft as frequently as it does does get quite annoying and frustrating.

Multiplayer is extremely buggy. Two players is alright, but any more and the game will bug out frequently.

Aside from the shark, food and water, there aren't too many challenges.

Aside from those, a really amazing game! Loads of fun and I highly recommend buying it!

Amazing 10/10 is fun