Subnautica Reviews

Subnautica is ranked in the 93rd percentile of games scored on OpenCritic.
7 / 10.0
Mar 1, 2018

Subnautica is an underwater survival game with a compelling narrative, although some design choices, oversights, and bugs hampered my enjoyment of the title.

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9 / 10.0
May 17, 2018

Subnautica is a beautiful game, only occasionally marred by sluggishness and the odd, errant bug.

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9 / 10.0
Dec 4, 2018

If you couldn't tell, I was blown away by Subnautica. What initially appeared to be a knee-high kiddie pool worth of depth, suddenly gives way to a literal ocean of gameplay opportunities. And while it has certain technical limitations, these are certainly not going to discourage the non-critic audience from at least dipping a toe in. It's easily one of the coolest, engaging, and most gratifying experiences I've had with a game in 2018. Come on in! The water's fine.

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87 / 100
Dec 5, 2018

Subnautica turns out to be a true hit, only the occasional grind cuts the groud under its feet a little bit.

Review in German | Read full review

Dec 14, 2018

Subnautica is something different in the survival genre, with a well-crafted underwater world providing some variety to its hunter-gatherer gameplay.

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8.2 / 10.0
Dec 24, 2018

Subnautica is a very solid example of the best survival games in recent years.

Review in Spanish | Read full review

8 / 10.0
Jan 24, 2018

Subnautica harnesses feelings and fears we experience in reality and uses them to drive us to want to survive in this alien world and find our way back home. It is simply you versus the vast, unknown expanse of the ocean.

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8 / 10
Feb 2, 2018

Probably one of the best survival open world so far. A beautiful adventure with a true scenario and a very original game's mechanics. Diving into Subnautica ocean is a true pleasure and the only problem of the game is the lack of explanation in the scenario, which can be annoying because we sometimes go around in circles without finding a solution.

Review in French | Read full review

Unscored
Jan 9, 2020
Why Subnautica Is The Only Survival Game I've Enjoyed (Review) video thumbnail
Nintendo Life
PJ O'Reilly
Top Critic
9 / 10
May 13, 2021

When Unknown Worlds announced they were bringing this one to Switch we were hugely excited, this is one of our all-time favourite games after all, but it was excitement tempered with a degree of scepticism as to how on earth they'd manage to cram the entire experience onto Switch in a properly playable manner. As it turns out, we needn't have worried as this is a super solid port that - besides a few loading stutters here and there and some scenery pop-in that's present in every other version of the game - successfully delivers one of the very best survival experiences on any platform to Nintendo's hybrid console.

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8.5 / 10.0
Dec 4, 2018

Subnautica is a survival game worthy of competing with the most noble titles of the same genre. The PS4 version has a bunch of technical issues (loading times and frame rate above all), but nothing that can undermine the gaming experience.

Review in Italian | Read full review

8 / 10
Dec 17, 2018

Subnautica sees you submerged in a vast and utterly breathtaking underwater world, teeming with secrets and polished off with an unsettling atmosphere that instigates a real sense of thrill as you play.

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8.5 / 10.0
Dec 6, 2018

A survival game that manages to balance a driving plot without sacrificing player agency. Constantly balanced on the knife edge of life and watery death. Subnautica is a game with hidden depths, both literally and figuratively.

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9 / 10.0
Jan 9, 2019

Aside from a few technical issues, Subnautica is one of the best survival games out there. Not only is the world to explore beautiful but the narrative will keep pulling you along,

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Dec 22, 2018

If you're into resource gathering, crafting and exploring, then Subnautica is simply a title that you have to play.

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GameMAG
Top Critic
7 / 10
Mar 2, 2019

Subnautica is able to grab your attention and draw into the depths of the alien world, but many errors, lack of a map and often incomprehensible tasks, along with a failed final part of the game, cause disappointment.

Review in Russian | Read full review

8.5 / 10.0
Feb 3, 2018

Subnautica is one of the best survival games released in recent years, and one of the best indie games released in the beginning of 2018. With an interesting story, a variety of play modes that can tone down and completely remove survival elements and plenty of freedom in how to proceed, Subnautica is a game that can also be enjoyed by those who aren't particularly fond of the genre.

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9.5 / 10.0
Feb 5, 2018

In terms of settings, gameplay dynamics and sheer fascination, Subnautica is the best single-player survival game out there. It's full of bright discoveries, a great sci-fi experience, and at the same time a cruel and unforgiving survival horror. James Cameron would absolutely love it.

Review in Italian | Read full review

7 / 10.0
May 20, 2021

While Subnautica remains a brilliantly immersive and addictive survival adventure, the PS5 upgrade delivers less than we expected. Technically, the game is very similar to its successor, Subnautica: Below Zero, and yet falls short on both performance and visual quality in comparison. A free upgrade is always welcome, but perhaps Subnautica PS5 has automatically been made redundant by its superior sequel. Existing Subnautica players with a PS5 get a nice facelift, but there's little to justify this edition for newcomers.

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Dec 10, 2018

Despite the performance issues, Subnautica is definitely a title that you shouldn't sleep on. The open world exploration and survival mechanics are on point, and the world is massive, deep, and rich in detail; it's just a shame that it's being held back a little bit by problems with how it runs.

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