January 29, 2019 Subnautica: Below Zero’s Early Access release date is here, and there’s a trailer to mark the occasion.
Subnautica: Below Zero is now available in Early Access. If you’ve missed the details so far, it’s a standalone expansion that takes you to a new set of uncharted, frozen waters – you can get a taste of what lurks there in the new launch trailer below. Or you can just buy it now across Steam, the Epic Games store, and Discord.
The expansion is set after the original game, during some sort of crisis at a research station on Planet 4546B. You’ll be faced with the same sort of crafting and scavenging challenges you’d expect from a Subnautica follow-up, though it’ll be much colder this time.
If Subnautica’s time as a free Epic Games store game had you fearing that this release would be secured to that platform, there’s no need to worry. The game launches across its three platforms at the same time for $19.99 / €16.79 / £15.49. The Early Access period is currently set to last “approximately one year, and potentially more.”
“Below Zero is not finished,” the developers write on the official site. “It is full of bugs. It lacks polish, runs poorly, and is missing features. We are offering Early Access not because we want your money, but because we want your feedback. We make better games when we make them with you.”
Below Zero was initially set to launch in some form or other last year, though it eventually slipped to 2019 – at least it didn’t slip far into the new year. If you can’t pick up the new content just yet, you can check out the impressive multiplayer mod Nitrox – or finish up the original game with our Subnautica guide.
Survive well: These are the best survival games on PC
Subnautica was uncommonly good when it joined the myriad ranks of Early Access survival games years ago, and it was near the peak of the genre by the time it actually launched in 2019. Here’s hoping Below Zero follows a similar trajectory.