Subnautica 2 was released to the public in its early access version today on 14. May 2026. We played around 4 hours so far and want to share the experience with you. You’ll find yourself gathering data from different locations around the map while collecting materials and slowly expanding your base.

The Good

Let’s begin with the obvious: the progression through mechanics and upgrades feels very natural and you pretty much intuitively know what to do next or where to go. This is due to an AI companion you can speak to which gives you the next location to search for clues. The story is exciting and draws you in pretty fast which is why I won’t spoil too much of it.

The progression is also pushed by a central need for speed and more efficiency because you get tired pretty quickly of the small inventory or swimming to the ocean surface for air every few seconds. Resources required for this do feel pretty rare at the beginning which makes it even more rewarding finding them. More Resources and blueprints are unlocked by scanning objects. Plant Resources do respawn after a bit of time so you don’t need to travel far to get them.

Exploration is rewarded in this game. Either with natural resources like ores or with small chest scattered around the ocean floor. Sometimes you might even find remnants of a prior bases with valuable information or upgrades. The different biomes in the game have different plants, different animals or enemies and a whole different atmosphere. You can go from the starting biome into a much darker biome with aggressive sharks which adds a layer of suspense to the exploring. Adding to this, the music and sound effects make you actually feel like you’re underwater. You’ll hear the breathing of your character, the muffled noises of your mates board computer inside a vehicle or the cry of an animal near you.

The small vehicle, named the Tadpole, we’ve acquired feels smooth to drive in and is a lot of fun. Especially the feature to hang on to it is very useful to transport you and your mates to a resource gathering trip.

The Bad

We didn’t find any bugs in this early release version so far and the whole gameplay was pretty smooth sailing but there were a few inconveniences I want to mention. Nothing major though.

Storage possibilities at the beginning of the game are pretty limited and we found ourselfs dumping stuff on the floor inside the starter base you get which quickly makes a mess.

Most of the animals are pretty kind hearted as long as you don’t attack them but some shark-live species has the goal to get on your nerves while swimming through a certain biome. This was quite annoying, especially as we didn’t find any way to get rid of them or defend ourselves. You’ll easily make your way through there without loosing to much health, its just annoying rather than actually hurting your progress.

One more thing. If you meet your maker (which will eventually happen if you don’t manage your oxygen supply well enough) you drop a certain percentage of your inventory at that location. You don’t get a marker on the map like for all the other locations but will have to search for that glowing box of yours in the ocean. Which, you won’t believe it, is pretty hard when everything around you looks somewhat the same. Some would say thats a skill issue on my part ;).

Conclusion

So, should you buy the game right now?

Based on the experience I’ve had so far I would recommend the game. If you played Subnautica 1 you’ll recognize the base building system and basic mechanics pretty fast but it’s also well made for a beginner. The Devlogs (Game-Development Updates) by the Unknown Worlds Entertainment Developers on Youtube lead me to believe that this game is made with a lot of passion and will continue to improve even further. Furthermore, if you did think about picking up the Subnautica before, maybe take a look at the complete bundle on Steam which is currently on sale and include Subnautica 1, Subnautica Below Zero and the new Subnautica 2.

Below you find all the links to the content and purchase option mentioned in the article.

Surviving in space is hard

In the survival game Life Not Supported you start on a small piece which was once part of the space station orbiting the earth like planet. Apparently you are the only person that has survived the destruction of the spacecraft. You now need to survive in the harsh environment by collecting small pieces of basic material that you can find in the orbit around you. This concept is quite similar to another popular game named Raft which basically works the same way but the setting is on an ocean. While you need to throw your hook in Raft, in Life Not Supported you simply float up to the objects and gather them.

But don’t be mislead by the seemingly more easy gathering because the spacesuit your character is wearing needs air bottles for fuel and for keeping you breathing. Moreover you need to keep track of the direction you are flying as it is quite is easy to get lost in the vast space. Thankfully the developer thought of that and build in a beacon that can be crafted and placed on your provisionary shelter. Should you now go on to longer trips away from you spacecraft you can see it from far away.

Duct tape to the rescue

At the moment the game has a really good amount of basic crafting blueprints to offer but as it is not even released yet so you can expect that to change in the near future to include even more elements. When you aren’t building something with the duct tape you are holding the general working tool of the game is a crowbar. Is this a reference to Half Life the mighty origin of all modern first person shooter games? Well to be honest we don’t know but it is quite a cool touch to the emergency situation the game plays in.

Stunning graphics

Graphic wise it already looks great for a game fresh out of development. It is quite clear that the developer took much time to set the texture bar high, resulting in an truly beautiful view on the planet you are orbiting. The textures of parts, tools and stuff the player interacts with are also well designed. In general the game builds not only on a concept that reminds of Raft but also the texture is quite similar with the cartoonish but realistic and utiliaristic look.

Bugs and Alpha Demos

Don’t get me wrong, a not even released game demo can’t really be judged for a few bugs and issues as this is totally normal with games in early development. But in most cases the amount and significance of bugs in pre release games can already indicate the time it will take for it to become really good. Regarding Life Not Supported this actually seems like not a big issue at all. I did only encounter small graphic bugs and a few physics bugs were my player would be repelled weirdly from parts floating around.

You will also get thrown around pretty badly from comet showers appearing randomly so make sure you have a protection against them as they definitely are not only graphic bugs but real dangers for you poor astronaut :). Furthermore the FPS performance of the game is also totally acceptable for a demo game with these kind of graphics but should be improved as it currently is quite heavy even on higher end hardware.

Conclusion

Get Life Not Supported here:

Should you be intersted in other space themed games, check out our review of Kerbal Space Program and Spaceflight Simulator.

Occupy Mars is a hardcore open-world sandbox survival game. It’s currently in early access and expected to be released on 10th of May this year, tomorrow. We interviewed our friend who had access to the earlier versions of the game and summarized his experiences in this quick first look article.

Game content

Starting out you receive a starter pack with some items needed to start your jouney. The landing animation on the planet is also very detailed and well-made.

Occupy Mars has a relatively rough visual appearance at the moment but this is expected to change with new updates. The game is running on the Unity engine. Although there’s room for improvement you can perceive some beautiful sunrises. The environment is based on real maps of the planet and you really recognize that red planet look from the pictures humanity has received so far from NASA’s rovers.

Your goal as a player is to survive on mars, fighting against changing weather conditions and the hostile environment. To build your base you need to collect materials. This grinding can get a bit repetitive as there a lack of content in the game at the moment but at the same time it’s exciting to get all of the different materials. As a player you can construct not only housing but also vehicles like rovers or jetpacks.

There are some minor bugs in the game version before the now releasing early access on steam but these are getting fixed fast as the devs at Pyramid Games have set up a community discord server for their games.

Development in the future

The diversity of gameplay and graphics will be improved. In addition to that a change to the user interface was announced and there are multiple vehicles and other structures expected to release soon. There are even plans for an online coop-mode. The developers are working on improving the day and will regularly release new updates as their roadmap suggests.

Conclusion

If you’re interested in survival games check out our review about the classic: Minecraft.

Get Occupy Mars here