


Thankfully, the underwater drop pod deployed in time, and that will be your initial home base from which you can start collecting resources, fabricating new items, and unraveling the mystery surrounding your sister’s disappearance. This isn’t a sanctioned rescue op you have no support and you’re pretty much on your own after your shuttle crashes. The story sets you up to go looking on an arctic alien planet for your missing sister. I’m starting to think I maybe only like the idea of survival games, and I often find that managing hunger and thirst is the least compelling part of the gameplay, so I decided to go with Freedom, although I appreciate that there’s multiple ways to play this one based on what the player finds appealing. I knew I wanted to check out the story, so that ruled out Creative. There are four difficulty levels to choose from. However, since the description led me to believe this is an expansion of the universe rather than a direct sequel, and since the game was available as part of XBox Game Pass, I decided I’d give Subnautica: Below Zero a chance to sell me on underwater exploration and base building. I still haven’t gotten around to playing the original Subnautica, although it’s been in my library since its inclusion in the Humble Freedom Bundle, back in February of 2017.

I seriously considered skipping over this one entirely.
