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I'll focus on that area exploration itch and environment manipulation you've mentioned, not strictly survival per se.
Breathedge (handcrafted world) has its charm, but it differs in atmosphere.
Kenshi has a similar sense of biome exploration (handcrafted world). The game itself sucks, though.
Dwarf Fortress, if you can turn sprites into 3d visuals in your head and focus on minisculae, instead of building a megalopolis.
Minecraft with a twist. Homerule that you can't mine stone without iron tools. It would force you to explore to get surface iron. Also, add Thaumcraft 4 and Mystcraft for... Minecraft 1.10 or 1.12, IIRC.
There's a game called The Long Dark. I think it's very good but the problem with it is that not only story mode is unfinished, it also sucks shit and they gone woke with it (hence high seas advised in case of trying). But the main, survival mode is awesome.
I finished the first game and am a while into Below Zero at the moment.
Greatly enjoyed Subnautica overall, though it's definitely a greater than the sum of its parts thing for me. The things I enjoyed the most was the exploration and progression. It has a nice "horror without being a horror game vibe" going (at least if one is freaked out by the deep ocean and creatures living in it). I also felt like the game constantly teased me to go slightly further than I was comfortable with and then I was rewarded. And while I typically don't like survival/crafting games at all, the stuff you build in this feel rewarding and cool.
I also enjoyed the way the story was told, though maybe not the actual story in itself that much. Even though it's very much "find journals" type of stuff, it fits the setting and gameplay well. It's addicting to uncover more info.
While the game is definitely pretty in its way, I don't like a lot of the design overall. It's creepy as fuck when you see something new in the distance, on the edge of vision. But once you get a good look at things, they don't look particularly interesting to me. I also don't like the way UI looks and feels.
I had a lot of glitches in my game, had to reload more than once due to getting stuck in geometry. And the various fishes and stuff constantly derped out which also kind affects the feel of it all. The pop-in is also *bad*. Not usually someone who's usually bothered by that much by bugs if the game is good but I think it rather hurt the overall experience here.
Below Zero is not grabbing me at all in the same way. It also feels like they shifted focus in how they tell the story. More voiceacted stuff, more characters. I didn't like the few characters in the first game that you listen to via the logs and I really don't enjoy them here either, nor do I like the main character or the way she's written.
But the first game was very enjoyable overall, even for its faults. Very memorable.
I had a lot of glitches in my game, had to reload more than once due to getting stuck in geometry. And the various fishes and stuff constantly derped out which also kind affects the feel of it all. The pop-in is also *bad*. Not usually someone who's usually bothered by that much by bugs if the game is good but I think it rather hurt the overall experience here.
I was playing this during a great chunk of its Early Access-era. If you think these things are bad in the final version, be grateful you didn't play the older builds.
Project M, as it's called in Krafton's FY2021 financial report, is "a turn-based strategy game set in a sci-fi world" that's being developed for PC and mobile platforms. Unknown Worlds is aiming for an early access release later this year, and is pursuing an "'easy-to-learn, hard-to-master' formula ... that is fun to watch others play," presumably suggesting the studio is hoping to leverage the influence of streamers.
The pop-in is also *bad*. Not usually someone who's usually bothered by that much by bugs if the game is good but I think it rather hurt the overall experience here.
The ocean floor is an expanse, at times rather desolate, so seaweed and shit appearing out of nowhere along a perimeter in the middle distance is a real problem, not just a nuisance.
There's a whole story behind this. They used the Unity engine, because of course they did. In today's computer gaming environment, obviously the first thing you ought to scrimp on is computer programmers. Just use a Frankenstein catch-all development kit! Think of the savings!
They realized their mistake later on in development, and right around the time I was playing during the bug-testing beta, they tried to find ways to fix it. There were none, because all of their scripts, assets, and processes were interdependent and ultimately dependent on Unity. Using a house as a metaphor, they needed to replace the foundation, but there's no way to do that without first removing the roof, walls, floors, framing, insulation, etc. Furthermore, none of them were proper carpenters or engineers.
So yeah, Unity is a lot cheaper than getting real programmers; but if your game does become a huge hit, you are from that point forward very technically limited, hitched irreversibly to the Unity wagon in lieu of a near-total rebuild.
I should add that there is, of course, a way to replace the foundation of a house in reality. You jack up the entire house, and then replace the foundation. This is conceptually somewhat similar to coastal underwater construction, where you simply build a huge water wall and then remove all of the water (in the case of a foundation rebuild, you simply remove all of the gravity).
I don't think there's a direct software equivalent, other than the obvious point that you can certainly reuse your raw art, animation, sound, and text assets. The main issue is time, little details such as save file compatibility, and naturally you end up paying your programmers anyway—possibly more than you would have to begin with—which is what 100% of people who use prefab development kits hoped to avoid in the first place.
Still in my "first" playtrough - second one, but the 1st save (from 2019) got corrupted (farthest I had gone was a forest of mushroom like trees), which put me off but eventually I started a new save last year
Resumed my save last friday - before that the last I had played was at the end of summer I think (was at about 12 hours)
I now have clocked around 23 hours
I have built the cycopls (with drill arm), an entire multipurpose room + 2 X compartements filled with Lockers, a bioreactor (20 days and still total power from just 3 gary fishes), a moonpool, the neptune gantry, 4 scanner rooms (north, east, south, west - all 200 meters from the lifeboat - plan to make 4 range upgrades for each, since they stack), statsis rifle, and I've also got the 2nd seamoth depth upgrade and the alien tablets
The furthest places I have now reached are a cave with pink mushrooms (where giant snakes lurk inside) and a biome at 200 meters with giant glowing blue balls (anchored by vines), with some volcanic chimneys nearby
So my question is - I am doing good progress? I am near the endgame?
Because given the fact that my Prawn suit, without any depth upgrades can already drop down to 900 meters, I feel like I am just past the "tip of iceberg" here...
Still in my "first" playtrough - second one, but the 1st save (from 2019) got corrupted (farthest I had gone was a forest of mushroom like trees), which put me off but eventually I started a new save last year
Resumed my save last friday - before that the last I had played was at the end of summer I think (was at about 12 hours)
I now have clocked around 23 hours
I have built the cycopls (with drill arm), an entire multipurpose room + 2 X compartements filled with Lockers, a bioreactor (20 days and still total power from just 3 gary fishes), a moonpool, the neptune gantry, 4 scanner rooms (north, east, south, west - all 200 meters from the lifeboat - plan to make 4 range upgrades for each, since they stack), statsis rifle, and I've also got the 2nd seamoth depth upgrade and the alien tablets
The furthest places I have now reached are a cave with pink mushrooms (where giant snakes lurk inside) and a biome at 200 meters with giant glowing blue balls (anchored by vines), with some volcanic chimneys nearby
So my question is - I am doing good progress? I am near the endgame?
Because given the fact that my Prawn suit, without any depth upgrades can already drop down to 900 meters, I feel like I am just past the "tip of iceberg" here...
The second half of the game moves more quickly than the first, but it sounds like you’re probably progressing more slowly than the average player. Nothing wrong with that though! The big draw of the game is exploration so taking a leisurely approach to it is perfectly valid.
Heh yeah. I was crazy prepared before starting to move really down at all. The large sub with prawn suit, 50+ batteries, food for 50 days, enough raw materials to build a whole city down there, etc, and I needed... jack.
Had to reload a save once tho, blew up when my sub got caught in a twig and started twerking until at least 3 glowing reapers came to join the dance. Still funny tho.
TBF, I played the game wronk. You are "supposed" to advance by building new bases on your way down. I only built one, in the shallow waters, then used the sub as a mobile base.
Nah, not really. You're suppose to build 1 base and a cyclop/prawn at least, the rest is entirely optional.
I wish you were supposed to build new bases by the way, would be cool. I like this game a lot but I wish it had more actual survival mechanics, less casualised in general. Even on hardcore you practically might die only to a reaper and even that only due to simple texture dropping.
Finally got around playing "Below Zero" after completely forgetting about it, and I have to say I was left pretty disappointed.
The main story about your sister is apparently entirely optional, and feels like an unfinished after thought. What happened to the scientists? After a handful of voice logs they get put on a bus and never talked about again. Why did the MC even travel to that empty planet with no means to leave again? IIRC in the original EA story the MC was pretty much the sister, that version would have been a lot better. A shame really, I liked the Bioshock style audio logs when exploring the bases, but... it just stops before it starts.
And the real main story is almost missable. I thought the distress signal was just forshading like the lobster queen's telepathy in the first game. Nope, I was supposed to understand that as "dive down 200m right here!". A little info would have been nice. Especially as they conviniently placed the oxygen plants on your path, so you can actually do it with just a seaglide and a basic tank.
But the biggest disappointment was the loss of tension and scary monsters. In the first game you had to sneak past them and keep your distance. Here, you just zip past everything in your seatruck, waving towards them as their pursuit is futile.
Also
what was the point of the cranky old lady? I already knew what little info she gave me from exploring the bases, as the MC tells you to, long before you can meet her. A complete waste of time.
The sequel has a lot of good ideas, but the execution is so meh, lackluster and/or underused, like the spy pengwings or the snowfox. I used the prawn instead and wasn't much slower, and I didn't have to deal with getting thrown around by snowfurries, who chase you forever.
The only thing I took from this game is the urge to play the first game again, as it was a much better game. Sad.
Well, that's how I understood the first game anyway. As the map was much larger and the Cyclops was slow and pretty much endgame equipment, I thought the idea was to build new outposts, Degasi style. That's what all those reactors were for. In the shallow waters solar panels were enough, but deep down you needed bio/nukular/thermal.
And in the sequel, everything is within 5 mins of Seatruck distance anyway. I didn't even bother with modules (aside from the prawn carrier) because it just makes you slower. The only downside was, the Seatruck doesn't have a cargo hold, making it worse than the old Seamoth. Had to abuse the Prawn with cargo upgrades to haul stuff.
Well, that's how I understood the first game anyway. As the map was much larger and the Cyclops was slow and pretty much endgame equipment, I thought the idea was to build new outposts, Degasi style.
It was probably the idea somewhere early yeah but ultimately, the game's mechanics do not support it at all. Like, there's 0 real reason to build reactors. And instead of building a new base you can just take with you a few extra batteries for Cyclop to be safe. They casualitized the survival aspect too much. Should've at least bother to meddle with the difficulty levels more than just slap on eat&drink/ironmen.
The Cyclops was too OP anyway. Since you could build planters with marblemelons in it, you could stay in it indefintely.
Not that you need to. In both games the devs litter every base or story location with lots of food/water, as they apparently assumed that the average players just does everything YOLO, without bringing anything on the trip.
I always ended up not touching it, as my inventory space was reserved for aquiring more minerals.
Btw: lead seems to be the most precious of them all in SZ. Diamonds and rubys grew on trees and fell of the sky, but needing lead for something always made me cry in desperation.
The more I read about Below Zero the more I think that Subnautica was "lightning in a bottle" type of a game and that devs themselves dont understand what made the game so good.
Heh, I just found out the seamonkeys are actually your unpaid mineral collection workforce.
I thought they would just bring you random stuff as a gimmick, but no, they bring you the stuff needed for your pinned recipe.
"Oh noes, I need diamonds to build a depth upgrade and continue, where would I find those...". Just pin it and those adorable buggers conjure diamonds out of thin air water for you.
Wish I had known that before, I wasted hours on lead hunting.
Narrative designer positions are mostly filled with women these days (coz you need them representacións and female coders are in short supply) and then you end up with unfocused, long-winded, mushy stories like Below Zero or Shadow of the Tomb Raider - incidentally both written by this chick, who replaced a dude who wrote FTL and Subnautica 1.
In the book business it's been known for decades vast majority of readers of female-written novels are women. Most men have no interest in female writing.
Now what happens if they are forced to consume it? Vast majority of core videogames are written by women nowadays but played by men. An interesting experiment.
