Sure, you could watch some movies on Netflix this weekend … or you could learn everything you ever wanted to know about the great Subnautica. Directed by Sean Dacanay, edited by Jeremy Smolik.
Around Ars we always knew Subnautica was special. The gaming world has been defeated with several spins on a survival game – from Minecraft no Do not die et al. – but reviewer Steven Strom put his finger on the important difference when reviewing the game in February 2018:
Unlike the other survival games I’ve tried, [Subnautica] has a beginning, middle and end. There’s a goal for the time spent by the player stranded on Planet 4546B. By putting an end to the means, survival does not just feel like satisfaction for its own sake – for my own self-control.
Of course, when we had the chance last year to get director Charlie Cleveland into a room to walk us through the backstory of this modern classic (err, War Story), we first dived into half of Deepsea. Cleveland ran us through his initial inspiration (a game that was not built around guns and combat), which has made the mystery of the game so effective (engaging is more important than being engaged) in combat), and how he manages to place this strange world below than above ground.
But really, for playing with the depth of Subnautica, 20 minutes are not nearly enough. So we finally made our entire 90-plus minute conversation with Cleveland available for your enjoyment. If you love Subnautica or are even just envious of it, this cut has much, much more detail than our initial War Story. Be sure to keep up to date with the last third of the interview in particular if you are interested in seeing some early versions of the game.
Image list by Sean Dacanay / Jeremy Smolik
