And some of the identities are easily discerned as well. Cause of death? Those are usually pretty obvious. Through these piecemeal conversations and context clues, you must determine three pieces of information for each member of the crew: Their name, how they died, and who (if anyone) killed them. Each is frozen in time, a still-life that you can walk around-and usually a few snippets of dialogue to go with it. An entire new ecosystem awaits, this one slightly more threatening, the supplies scarcer, the ocean’s depths darker and more treacherous.Īnd that’s before you even stumble upon the actual secrets hidden beneath Subnautica’s sea.

You roam further afield, swim out away from your base or maybe a bit deeper under the waves-and then it all starts to look alien again. You start to recognize the alien fish on-sight, even stockpiling a healthy supply in case of disaster. Soon you start to feel comfortable though, and the ocean feels less foreign. Like any survival game, your first order of business is collecting enough food and water to live. You crash-land on an alien planet, adrift in what seems like a world-encompassing ocean.

The early hours are pure frantic survivalism. It’s one of the few games to properly balance between guided experience and sandbox, between story and survival. That’s ultimately what lands it on our best-of list. Subnautica ($25 on Humble) understands the allure of the unknown.

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