If they make that exclusive to the Epic Store, maybe. But if they do that, you can probably get the popcorn out, because the Steam, Arc, etc owners of the game are probably not going to be happy about it.
Subnautica
- Thread starter Monk
- Start date
If they make that exclusive to the Epic Store, maybe. But if they do that, you can probably get the popcorn out, because the Steam, Arc, etc owners of the game are probably not going to be happy about it.
People who find out about it via the freebie don't need to buy it via the Epic Store, its an across the board increase.
True, just stipulating on how the Epic Store is trying to get traction so far. Locked exclusives and free giveaways. So if Subnautica is a freebie, it might make sense for the devs to join the movement and turn their DLC into a timed exclusive. Though maybe they are a bit more refined then some others, who even happily posted on Steam that they are moving shop.
Could be Epic do regular giveaways though, I got assassins creed sea shanty edition last year as a freebie from them IIRC.
IRL kelp forest. Magical. 
Very much. From my very positive experiences with the free (DRM free) give away Epic version of Subnautica i'd be 100% up for buying the new DLC, as long as it also came in a DRM free 'suit'. I don't do Steam for a reason (i like to own all my games and be able to play them when i want) so i hope the experience of the free Epic Subnautica is a sign of things to come in relation to giving the player the choice on how they want to play their games.
Some more info about Below Zero:
[video=youtube;E1BMjFToHKA]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=E1BMjFToHKA[/video]
[video=youtube;ezSeXlHsE1c]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ezSeXlHsE1c[/video]
[video=youtube;E1BMjFToHKA]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=E1BMjFToHKA[/video]
[video=youtube;ezSeXlHsE1c]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ezSeXlHsE1c[/video]
Those videos are very.. ehm.. spoilery-looking at a glance.
Is it safe to watch them?
One of the reasons why I enjoyed Subnautica so much was that I knew nothing about it before I started playing.
I generally don't mind some hype, speculation, feature discussions, etc. but especially in a game so dependent on exploration and the sense of wonder, I'm not sure how much should I watch prior to playing it.
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Agreed.
I haven't even finished Subnautica yet, because I'm still hoping to finish the game in VR with fully functional touch controllers, and I've been very careful about avoiding spoilers. I used to enjoy watching lets plays of it when it first came out, until I encountered a spoiler for something newly added to the game at the time.
Going in “cold” in permadeath mode was one of the most memorable 60 hours of gaming in my life.
Oh, yeah. I played "better" games prior and since, but Subnautica was definitely my strongest experience, overall. I really think they nailed the balance of open world exploration and storytelling and also the balance of terror and wonder. When I played for the first time the caves and "underground" was always incredibly stressful, but returning back "home" to the shallows and Kelp forest was the best thing ever. I had a huge base with everything, including personal quarters, office, power delivery "sector" of the base was separate so I wouldn't be bothered by the hum of the reactors,...
It was a holiday resort.
And I loved just swimming around, playing with the Cuddlefish (of course
) but man whenever I needed to go "down there", be it to gather resources or push the story a little forward, it was terrifying.I didn't play it on permadeath, though. Although I think I only ended up dying once during the first playthrough, well... it's still more than 0.
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I neglected to mention that I didn’t finish the game I got trapped under the deck of my starter base and was killed by manatee farts, then uninstalled the game and haven’t gone back since. I do intend to go back and finish eventually but it takes a few months for the sting of a late-game permadeath to wear off. But yeah that’s the mode I still plan on playing when I go back.Oh, yeah. I played "better" games prior and since, but Subnautica was definitely my strongest experience, overall. I really think they nailed the balance of open world exploration and storytelling and also the balance of terror and wonder. When I played for the first time the caves and "underground" was always incredibly stressful, but returning back "home" to the shallows and Kelp forest was the best thing ever. I had a huge base with everything, including personal quarters, office, power delivery "sector" of the base was separate so I wouldn't be bothered by the hum of the reactors,...
It was a holiday resort.
And I loved just swimming around, playing with the Cuddlefish (of course
I didn't play it on permadeath, though. Although I think I only ended up dying once during the first playthrough, well... it's still more than 0.
I've been going the "permadeath" route myself, to avoid late-game spoilers so it can still be fresh in VR. I died a few times due to mesmer-releated asphyxiation, a couple times to leviathans, but my most common source of death has been installing thermal generators. I get so fixated about maximizing their power output that I kind of forget I'm getting slowly boiled to death. :O
The question for me is, though - does it add to the game experience?
And the answer to that (for me, anyway) is sadly no.
I mean - I can see why permadeath is appealing. It really makes your every decision matter.
BUT
There are problems with that. First and foremost, it's a game. It's meant to entertain. And for me, permadeath is game-breaking, not entertaining. However open world, Subnautica is still a linear story-driven game. That means that death and starting over doesn't add anything to the game, other than having to do the same grind all over again. It Elite, it would make more sense (and one of my accounts IS an ironman, actually), because the progression is not linear and you can do whatever you fancy. In Subnautica, no. For the same reason I don't like rogue-like games and things like Souls games (having to repeat one thing over and over until you progress one step and then start over again), I don't like permadeath in Subnautica.
Secondly - Subnautica is sill a bit bug-riddled. The fact that you can die by no fault of your own but rather thanks to a failing of the game itself makes permadeath gameplay all the more pointless and potentially frustrating.
Again, that is from my point of view. I recognize there are people with masochistic tendencies who enjoy the added "challenge". I don't.
Fair enough. I personally like Roguelikes... as long as the start of the game is fun.
Subnautica is a game where I enjoy the start of the game. There’s just enough variation that each start feels unique, while familiar enough that each new survivor I play gets established faster than the one before. Unknown Worlds managed to make resource gathering challenging enough to be entertaining IMO, while keeping resource requirements low enough that it didn’t feel like a grind to me.
When I tried No Man’s Sky, I realized fairly quickly that there would be no replaying the start of that game. In fact, I got so tired of the grind to simply keep my life support working, that I quit and uninstalled after about a week IIRC. Given that I have 20 year old games that I like to start up and play until I feel like victory is inevitable, or survival is assured, that’s really saying something.
Subnautica is a game where I enjoy the start of the game. There’s just enough variation that each start feels unique, while familiar enough that each new survivor I play gets established faster than the one before. Unknown Worlds managed to make resource gathering challenging enough to be entertaining IMO, while keeping resource requirements low enough that it didn’t feel like a grind to me.
When I tried No Man’s Sky, I realized fairly quickly that there would be no replaying the start of that game. In fact, I got so tired of the grind to simply keep my life support working, that I quit and uninstalled after about a week IIRC. Given that I have 20 year old games that I like to start up and play until I feel like victory is inevitable, or survival is assured, that’s really saying something.
Funnily enough i'm not specifically a roguelike fan (in that i don't like super punishing games as part of my fun etc), but the bit i like best about NMS (since they added it) is the permideath survival mode. I do actually play that NMS start over and over, in that after i have got the ship of planet and maybe visited a few others (to search for wildlife and see what the general planetary system looks like overall) i tend to re-start a new game.
Once you understand how simple the survival mechanics are it can become the 'best' bit of the current NMS game. Granted you can be super unlucky and get a planet start that is super tough, but in general that is the exception to the norm. Find shelter (caves, carve a hole in a block of resource etc), use the plants/resources around (shield booster plant, craft basic stuff etc) and fix your ship. It is a fun game play loop.
Now the rest of the grind in the game (to build a base, get enough cash for best ships etc), well that kind of grind does seem to put me off. I have hundreds of hours of time played in NMS to date.
With maybe just about 20-30 hours in Subnautica so far (as comparison to NMS) my overall feeling is that it is just a better designed game (better balance, better crafting mechanics, better game-to-player communication of it's systems etc), so feels more 'natural' in general to play. It is a surprisingly good game imho, whereas NMS is more average (with the potential to be great).
Still it does show how subjective and specific each of our individual preferences over game play mechanics can be
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I love Roguelikes, but I’m not a fan of using “one death mode” in games which aren’t designed around it.
That said, there are some games which I find work very well when played in “roguelike mode” even though they aren’t true roguelikes. Minecraft is one. I have a main world I’ve been playing for many years now which I just keep building anew into where I can die over and over again, but I also occasionally start new hardcore worlds just for kicks. Minecraft’s start is always so completely unique and different that the game lends itself greatly to a hardcore mode, because the game start is always so different and interesting.
For myself, Subnautica’s start isn’t different enough every time to make hardcore mode worth it. The life pod locations are the same in every game. I know the devs experimented with a proc gen world for the game but eventually went with a hand crafted one instead, and while that did wonders for the game’s superb atmosphere it also lessened the appeal of Subnautica hardcore mode to me. It would be neat to have an alternative proc gen world in the game alongside the hand crafted one!
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