Unknown Worlds, the studio behind Subnautica, has released a brand new developer vlog to discuss how base-building will work in the upcoming sequel, aptly titled Subnautica 2. The video, which you can check out below, comes in at four minutes in length, and features base design lead Kiel McDonald along with other developers offering a behind-the-scenes look at the base-building and customization options in the video. Among the developers in the vlog are senior gameplay engineer Milan Singh, senior engineer Carolyn Lu, lead hard surface artist Ben Henry.
“The most challenging thing that we worked on was actually the system itself,” explains McDonald. “This is a brand new system. I don’t think we’ve seen anything like this in any other survival game.”
Bases in Subnautica 2 are broken down into unique tiles that work alongside adjacent tiles in order to ensure that players have plenty of freedom in how they build out their structures without having to worry about terrain getting in the way. Lu describes the development of these new building mechanics as a “rule-heavy, logic heavy” system. The title’s systems largely moves away from the fixed pieces of Subnautica and Subnautica: Below Zero in favor of what has been described as a “much more sculptural, expressive system.”
According to Lu, the window system in Subnautica 2 has seen massive improvements, with players no longer being constrained to specific shapes. Rather, how windows look will be left entirely up to the player. Similarly, corridors have also been upgraded thanks to the new customization options available to players.
Future plans for the game include offering even more customization options, including colors and more decoration options. The title will also get fully-round rooms in the vein of the original Subnautica.
“I’m really excited just to see what you guys can do,” says Singh. “We’ve built something pretty flexible that will let players really run wild with their imagination. Even in the first two games, you already came up with such amazing ideas and concepts, and I think the whole team is super excited to see what you guys can do. In our minds, this is a collaboration between us and the players.”
The last developer vlog for Subnautica 2 was released back in February, and showed off the upcoming survival crafting game’s multiplayer capabilities, as well as how crossplay would work. While Unknown Worlds has noted that those who prefer the single-player experiences of past games can continue to enjoy it here as well, there will also be hop-in co-op available in Subnautica 2.
Along with this, the studio also spoke about how it has been working on optimizing the performance of Subnautica 2 to ensure that it runs well on a wide variety of hardware. Among these is Steam Deck, which the studio has noted enthusiasm about optimizing for.
Subnautica 2 is slated for release later this year, and will be coming to PC and Xbox Series X/S. While there is no word yet on a possible PS5 version, the studio has also confirmed that it will also be available through Game Pass on day one of release.
