subnautica: below zero first impressions

I played Subnautica 1 a very long time ago. In my distant memory, I remember it as a game where the lore, world-building, and exploration was excellent. I also remember the story, base-building, and survival crafting mechanics not being very good.

Below Zero is more or less just like the first game. There's only a few changes to the main gameplay, like the modular Seatruck and some sections where you spend some time out of the water. The game is paced quite well at the beginning, providing more of the same enjoyable experience. However, it quickly runs out of energy and I found myself wondering what to do.

At this point, I didn't have any modules for the Seatruck unlocked, I built the Prawn but had nowhere I wanted to use it, and I still had no idea where to find the last parallel processing unit I needed to progress the story. I had nothing to do, so all I could do was explore... but I found myself visiting the same places over and over again in a loop. I would get lost in places I had already visited many times. A lot.

Maybe it's the design of the spaces or maybe I just navigate spaces differently now than when I did when I played Subnautica 1 many years ago. In any case, I got frustrated enough that I looked up a guide. Normally, I only use them enough to unblock me enough to do the next thing. I ended up needing to consult the guide for pretty much the rest of the game because I had absolutely no idea what to do next. After learning where to go, the story unfolded itself rapidly and I suddenly completed the game.

I never used the Prawn at all and while I built as many of the modules as I could for the Seatruck (I never found the Seatruck fabricator module...), I usually found it much more convenient to leave the modules behind back at base. Other than seatruck depth and oxygen tank upgrades, I never found myself actively wanting to make any upgrades. Overall, it felt like the game failed to deliver the new experiences it was supposed to.