Game profile
Subnautica: Below Zero
A researcher is stranded in the icy waters of an alien planet and must survive through base building, resource gathering and exploration. The open underwater world combines survival mechanics with a personal story about a sister's death.
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What kind of game this is
At its core this is Survival / Adventure, set in a science fiction world. Visually it is going for realism, and the overall tone stays somewhere between light and heavy. The world is open, so wandering off and ignoring the main path is part of the deal. It rewards long uninterrupted stretches more than quick check-ins.
The difficulty is moderate and fair, demanding attention without punishing you for it. The story matters and gives the mechanics a frame, without taking over. It is a single player experience from start to finish. It is available broadly, on 4 platforms. It sits in the mid price bracket.
What stands out
- Open icy underwater world
- Base building and resource gathering
- Personal emotional story
This fits you if
- exploring for its own sake is the point for you
- you actually want to be scared
- you can sit down for a proper long stretch without interruptions
- you like getting lost and ignoring the main objective for hours
- you play alone and want a complete experience without other people
Look elsewhere if
- you only ever get short bursts of play time
- you want to play it side by side with someone
- you prefer a stylised look over realism
- you want either a pure challenge or pure relaxation, not the middle
How long is Subnautica: Below Zero?
About 22 hours in total. At three evenings a week and two hours each, you will be busy for roughly 4 weeks, or 11 sessions.
How the rating ranks
Critics settled on 85 out of 100, which puts it above 59 percent of the 1276 games here and at rank 509 overall. That is mid-table for this database. Not a standout at the top, but solidly rated.
For comparison, Survival averages 80 points across the database, so this one sits 5 points above its own genre. The figure rests on 148 collected ratings.
Released in 2021, so it has 5 years behind it. Usually cheap by now and the rough edges are long fixed.
The facts
- Release year
- 2021
- Genres
- Survival, Adventure
- Playtime
- approx. 22 hrs.
- Difficulty
- Moderate, fair
- Story weight
- Present and relevant
- Play with
- Solo
- Setting
- Sci-fi
- Visual style
- Realistic
- Price bracket
- Mid price
- Platforms
- PC, PlayStation, Xbox, Switch
- Critic rating
- 85 / 100
Direct comparison
| Genres | Release year | Playtime | Critic rating | Price bracket |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Subnautica: Below Zero | 2021 | approx. 22 hrs. | 85 | Mid price |
| Subnautica 2 | 2026 | approx. 45 hrs. | 80 | Full price |
| Subnautica | 2018 | approx. 30 hrs. | 84 | Mid price |
| Rain World | 2017 | approx. 20 hrs. | 62 | Budget |
If you liked this, try these
- 80/100 Subnautica 2 Shared: Survival, Adventure, Sci-fi, longer
- 84/100 Subnautica Shared: Survival, Adventure, Sci-fi
- 62/100 Rain World Shared: Survival, Adventure, Sci-fi
- 76/100 The Sinking City 2 Shared: Survival, Adventure
- 78/100 Routine Shared: Survival, Adventure, Sci-fi, shorter
- n/a Voidtrain Shared: Survival, Adventure, Sci-fi, longer