It’s another day, another Subnautica 2 dev vlog, this time one with a big focus on multiplayer. This ability to play with, heaven forbid, other people is one that developer Unknown Worlds very much understands is not for everyone, given the first game’s big focus on isolation and ruffing it yourself. So, this vlog is all about explaining why you don’t need to worry if you like to go solo. And also to show off a dive elevator.
In the video, lead engineer Jon Bjarnason noted how the very first internal demos the studio held only a few weeks after development were multiplayer, and that “every single feature that we made since then has been multiplayer capable.” But, as design lead Anthony Gallegos explained, “The important distinction there is that any part of the game isn’t going to require cooperative play. If I want to come along and bring a friend, they can totally participate with me in every moment along the way. We never wanted to encroach on someone’s game that just is like, ‘I want to play solo.'”
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Essentially, co-op is entirely optional through every aspect of the game, it’s just that every aspect of the game also has co-op in mind. This stretches right through to things like animations too, as now other people can see your whole human body, so limbs and the like need to work properly, something that Brandt Beach, who I’m making sure to mention by name because it’s funny his name is Beach and he’s working on Subnautica, says is more work, but worthwhile.
There’s also that snazzy new dive elevator, which is as literal as it sounds, a fancy doohicky you hold onto to help you dive down deep into the depths. “The Dive Elevator just adds a lot to co-op in general,” lead gameplay engineer Adrian Lopez-Mobilia explains. “I realized that it would be really cool to be able to both go with friends on it, but also to be able to attach stuff to it. So, as we started developing the prototype we realised that that would make it even more meaningful. Be able to load it up and then shoot it down to the depths and then come back with all the stuff you collected down there.”
It also sounds like they’re trying to make playing with your friends as easy as possible, as you’ll have the option to invite folks to play either through your platform of choice’s friends list, or through an in-game one for cross-play functionality. A big emphasis was placed on being able to play the game anywhere too, as a whole team is apparently devoted just to optimising the game for handheld devices like the Steam Deck apparently.
It’s worth noting that Subnautica 2 is also a slightly contentious game at the moment, given that the ex-leads of the game are suing publisher Krafton after being ousted from the company, ultimately leading Unknown Worlds themselves to sue these former execs in kind. A tad messy! So throw an appropriate amount of caution to the wind here.
