Fans of the Subnautica series can finally look forward to diving into the early access launch of Subnautica 2 in just a couple of weeks.
Subnautica 2 goes into early access on may 14
Subnautica has been the premier ocean exploration series since it began in 2018. After the first game achieved critical praise and grew a sizable following, developer and publisher Unknown Worlds Entertainment followed up with a spin-off in 2021 with Subnautica: Below Zero. Two years later, it announced it’s working on a full sequel to the first game, Subnautica 2.
This time around, Unknown Worlds is now a subsidiary of South Korean game publisher Krafton, known for helping release The Callisto Protocol and saving the former Xbox Game Studios team behind Hi-Fi Rush, Tango Gameworks, from shutdown in 2024. However, there has been some tension between Unknown Worlds and Krafton after the latter removed Unknown Worlds’ senior leadership, inciting a legal brawl that’s recently culminated in Krafton mysteriously disappearing from Subnautica 2‘s Steam page. Subnautica 2 creative leads insist the removal was an accidental Steam page hiccup that was simply blown out of proportion, reassuring that Krafton is still the game’s co-publisher.
Subnautica 2 early access will last several years
Despite the turmoil between its developer and publisher, Subnautica 2 is finally ready to roll out into early access next month, on May 14. The early version of the game will be available to PC and Xbox gamers, and will cost $30, though the price of the game will increase once the full 1.0 version is released. In the game’s Steam page description, Unknown Worlds confirmed that this early access phase of Subnautica 2 is expected to last two or three years before the game’s full release, which has been the standard amount of time that both previous games in the series have spent in early access.
Unknown Worlds is planning a host of Subnautica 2 updates it’ll roll out during its early access period, but players can expect a solid amount of content when the game goes live next month. Subnautica 2‘s co-op multiplayer will be live from the start, giving players the option to bring in up to three other explorers on their underwater expeditions. “Several biomes” will be available to explore, and Unknown Worlds confirmed that the experience will contain some narrative elements, though fans shouldn’t be expecting the game’s fully fleshed out story to be there at the start of early access. Much of the narrative in the Subnautica games is typically delivered through exploration, making it impossible for the game’s full story to be told when only a few areas of the planned game are available in its early access state.
In the coming years as Subnautica 2 undergoes updates and changes on the road to its 1.0 release, it’ll be interesting to see whether the ongoing tensions between Krafton and Unknown Worlds will be resolved. In the meantime, fans of underwater exploration will have a lot to dive into once Subnautica 2 goes live next month.
Subnautica 2 enters early access on May 14 for Xbox and PC.
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