Subnautica 2 Dev Too Scared to Playtest Dark Parts

"I'm a little bit broken. Most things don't affect me. But there are still things that I play right now where it gets really dark and I'm like… Nah."

That's Anthony Gallegos, game design lead on Subnautica 2, during Unknown Worlds' two-hour Deep Dive stream that aired as part of the game's First Dive Showcase. Gallegos, the person who helped design the encounters and environments players will face when the sequel launches into early access on May 14, openly admitted that playtesting his own game's darker sections is "really quite a challenge." When the guy who built the haunted house won't walk through it with the lights off, you know something's working.

I love hearing this. The original Subnautica understood something most survival games don't: you don't need jump scares or gore to terrify someone. You just need depth, darkness, and the distant roar of something enormous that you can't see. The fact that Unknown Worlds is leaning harder into that tension rather than softening it for the co-op crowd is exactly what I wanted to hear. Too many sequels sand down the edges that made the first game special. This sounds like the opposite.

What We Know So Far

A new gameplay trailer dropped alongside the showcase, giving us a proper look at Subnautica 2's moment-to-moment gameplay. The loop will feel familiar to anyone who sank dozens of hours into the original: break down materials, craft better tools, harvest samples, analyze them in your lab. But the narrative hook this time centres on a massive, mysterious tree structure that your AI companion explicitly warns you to stay away from.

"Forget your debt. Forget NoA. Forget Alterra. Forget the life you imagined. It's all gone now," the voice in the trailer says. "You're going to die here. And that's alright. Pick the most interesting thing you can see, and explore. Wouldn't that set you free?" The writing has a fatalistic warmth to it that immediately sets a different tone from the first game's corporate survival mandate. You're not here to complete a mission. You're here because there's nowhere else to go.

The story premise, as outlined in the showcase, puts players aboard the colony ship CICADA. Driven from Earth by ongoing conflict, you and your fellow Pioneers are promised a new life by the Alterra corporation. Something goes wrong during transit, the ship's AI insists the mission should continue regardless, and you're left stranded on an alien ocean world with near-insurmountable odds. It's classic Subnautica setup, but the "ongoing conflict" framing and the ominous tree give it a layer the original didn't have.

The biggest structural change is co-op. Subnautica 2 supports up to four players online, and the trailer shows it off with vehicles that have additional seats and bars to hang off of. I'm curious how this affects the horror. Subnautica's dread was so effective partly because of isolation; when a Reaper Leviathan screamed in the distance, there was nobody to laugh it off with. Having three friends along could dilute that. But Gallegos' comments suggest Unknown Worlds has found ways to make the darkness oppressive regardless of party size. The entire game remains playable solo for anyone who wants the pure experience.

No AI, Day One Game Pass

One detail from the showcase that deserves attention: as confirmed to Eurogamer by creative media producer Scott MacDonald and Gallegos himself, no generative AI was used to create any aspect of Subnautica 2. This is particularly notable because the game's publisher, Krafton, has publicly stated its ambitions to become an "AI-first company." Unknown Worlds apparently drew a line, and I respect that. In a week where I've written about multiple studios making vague AI promises, here's one that gave a flat, specific denial.

Players who buy Subnautica 2 during its first week will receive a buildable in-game Reaper statue for their base, which is a fun nod to the creature that traumatised an entire generation of players. Unknown Worlds also confirmed the early access launch will include more biomes, creatures, and Leviathans than either of the previous games had at their respective early access launches.

Subnautica 2 enters Game Preview on May 14 for PC and Xbox Series X/S, available day one on Game Pass Ultimate and PC Game Pass across cloud, console, handheld, and PC. It's part of a stacked Game Pass week that also includes DOOM: The Dark Ages expanding its availability on the same day.