I’m so down for Subnautica’s standalone expansion

Below Zero is headed to Early Access in the ‘coming months’

Just last week, I was searching for an excuse to cover something, anything, about the upcoming Subnautica expansion. The survival game has been on my mind a lot lately, and while I’m too preoccupied with other stuff to want to replay it, I’d love to explore another underwater landscape.

Unknown Worlds has been posting work-in-progress odds and ends in recent months as part of its open development model, but nothing too substantial. Today, the studio spoke more about Subnautica: Below Zero, which will release as a standalone. It’s set on an icy new region of the same planet.

“The concept of Below Zero is still developing,” said the team. “We are keeping the core gameplay mechanics, such as base building and open-ended exploration. We are also exploring new ones, such as thermal management, and more voiced dialogue at the core of the plot. We’re still in early stages and nothing is set in ice. These features may change prior to, and during, Early Access.”

It’s worth pointing out that Subnautica is still coming to PlayStation 4 as previously announced. In fact, a different team is handling the console ports, so they’ll be unaffected by Below Zero.

If you’ve ever seen that “Frozen Seas” episode of Blue Planet, you know how eerie this will be.

Subnautica: Below Zero [Unknown Worlds]