Subnautica: Below Zero started life as a DLC expansion, and while it’s blossomed into a standalone project, it’s not quite a full sequel. It seems that developer Unknown Worlds on to, well, unknown worlds after Below Zero wraps up its stay in Early Access, but the devs make it sound like a third Subnautica is basically inevitable. And that might be the point at which we finally see official multiplayer support.
“We knew right away that we weren’t doing multiplayer with Below Zero,” art director Cory Strader tells us in an interview. “It was initially going to be an expansion pack, it was a much shorter timeline. So we knew that was totally out of the scope.” Strader says that VR support was a similar casualty of the more focused approach in Below Zero – but, of course, there are mods for both of those things.
But in an official capacity, Strader says “I would imagine we would be rethinking those things, at least the multiplayer side of things, if we do future a Subnautica game.”
For now, the devs tell us that a secret new game is in the works, and that the whole studio is exploring concepts for fresh future games. The Below Zero team will be doing the same once the game hits 1.0, but they make it sound like another Subnautica is a question of ‘when’, not ‘if’.
For now, Subnautica: Below Zero is due to leave Early Access sometime this spring. Subnautica strikes a unique blend of survival games and story games, and Below Zero is looking to follow up that formula in terrific style.