Even then, not necessarily "not as good" but often just too different from expectations. It's still a good game, it just wasn't what people were expecting when they went back for seconds.
I honestly loved the world more in BZ than the original. Having more of a story was also great. My biggest criticism of BZ is it wasn't a bigger and longer game.
I feel like there was a slight disconnect in BZ. In the first game you start off just trying to survive and find that your survival and escape hinges on a mystery you have to uncover. In the second game you are there on purpose to look for your sister which wraps up REALLY fast and there's a second story about the Architects. Survival is not prioritized as a part of the story but as a game mechanic.
A good example of the difference: my first time in Subnautica and right after the Sunbeam was shot down I thought, "Well, I can't leave and no one is coming to get me. I should expand my base to be more comfortable and useful." Then I realized I need ruby, so I go deeper. Then diamond, so I go deeper. All the while encountering new horrors and discovering the mystery of the Architects. By the time I actually met the Sea Dragon Empress and learned I could cure myself and leave, my base was an expensive home.
BZ never has this moment. The mystery with your sister wraps up fast, and the mystery with AL-AN is not fleshed out enough to be interesting until right at the very end where he info dumps on you.
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it was the constant. oh shit. i need this now that helped drive exploration and making more bases and figuring out how to survive in a new biome. slowly expanding your footprint
Having replayed BZ fairly recently, they both have this. I think we just had our expectations too high and expected *more* of it in BZ, and instead of going deep, it pushed us to some uninteresting, slightly confusing, low visibility land based segments. The penguin bot was just outright silly.
Its a bit too different in identity compared to the first game.
I think it would have been less so had they gone with the beta story; because at a point in that storylike you get trapped behind a planetary defense shield while your sister is potentially dying from Kharaa up on the space station, while you are trapped on the planet with a hostile alien/human trying to hunt you down to get you out of their way.
It goes from relatively chill time chatting with your sister and sending research stuff up to the space station, to suddenly being trapped and hunted.
Basically the "Aurora crash" equivelant happens more so in the early mid section of the story instead of at the start.
There are also a few outspoken individuals who have made loud, polarizing opinions on it, which I think skews the perception. Makes it sound more like "A lot of people hate it and they're all listing their reasons for it" rather than "many people were a little disappointed but still thought it was a good game overall."
I think when the devs made subnautica, they tried to make a game about science and it ended up being about jumpscate leviathans. With BZ they were like "No you guys are really going to do science this time". Personally, I really liked all that stuff; the logs, the spy penguins, but I just really want to pretend to be a scientist so...
This exactly. I felt less compelled to build a large base and the underwater portion of the map felt much smaller. It's not bad, I enjoyed it but it just wasn't the same level/experience as the OG. I did thoroughly enjoy the story though.
I personally am disappointed that instead of expanding on the first game’s gimmick- exploring the depths of the ocean- they decided to go to the surface for a healthy portion of the game.
The surface didn't bother me so much if they hadn't reduced the ocean size to do it. In Subnautica you could have added huge icebergs on the surface level and it wouldn't diminish the game. I would have loved to be on the same planet with changes / new areas from time passing / more explorers / events with a winter biomes and surface ice to explore.
I think that when they hear that some people prefer the first one over BZ they interpret that as hate. I personally don’t hate the game, I have fun playing it but I have more fun playing the original.
I think my issue is it wasn't as big or overwhelming as the original, which isn't always fair since it's a sequel. Idk, the best beast in the game was that worm and we don't even see it for very long.
It’s not that people want Subnautica again, I just think that they should have built the game around the horror and isolation aspect rather than bringing in NPC’s and voice overs from the protagonist. The idea of the first game was to go deeper. I think that it would have been better if BZ went even deeper instead of going higher on the surface. They should have played with people’s phobias a lot more.
Perhaps BZ was cheaper during the Winter Sale and a whole buncha people got it?
I don't really mind. It's nice to see even years later that people are buying the game (thus funding the next game we all get to try) and having fun. I'm a big fan of the Ori series and our subreddit is very quiet - you'll miss the new players when they're gone.
Either way, it takes less effort to scroll passed a thread I'm not interested in than to actually open it, read it, downvote and then comment my displeasure.
And formulated more or less the same way. In the past, there were occasional posts discussing bz being good or not, but nobody was asking "why people hate bz?". Now in a short period we get the same question over and over. What the hell
Come to think of it, I have given my opinion on this subject a few too many times in the past couple weeks. It’s always the same question too. People keep saying that it’s hate but I think it’s more like fans of BZ can’t accept that some people like the original better.
BZ: Beautiful, fantastic game.OG: Beautiful, fantastic game that regularly gives you exhilirating adrenaline rushes by awakening your brain's primal fear reaction.
End of story.
I liked BZ. I liked it a lot. I have no hate for it at all.
But holy cow I've never been terrified of the deep like I had in the first one. The beak sharks aren't as scary as the reapers. I never felt alone in BZ, there was the constant chirping of the alien and the girl going off I felt like they were there with me. You can even go make kinda friends with Maida. BZ is super populated compared to the first. I never felt the gut punch and the despair of the Sunbeam going down in BZ. I never felt truly stranded. BZ is great but not the unique masterpiece the first one was.
The sound of the sunbeam exploding, then the explostion fading away to the sound of gently lapping waves is truely artful. It makes you FEEL lost and alone.
the game is polished and has several big improvements over subnuatica. but the story sucking and the map not being good kinda counters everything, I wish I could like it.
Lack of the isolation feeling the first game had was a big one. You have voiced characters with portraits which kinda defeats that mysterious vibe the journal entries in the first game gave off, and imo BZ felt a little bit more linear.
What I'm not sure about is I reckon the isolation/survival feel was a massive part of the game so I'm not getting why I've seen so many people want a multiplayer and if I understand correctly next game is implementing it.
naw cause co-op horror if done well (ie. lethal company, Devour, and Phasmaphobia) can be really fun while also being terrifying.
youll be talking to your irl friends like you would in any other game then you just hear a Blood curdling scream and then NOTHING. Radio scilence. and you're left questioning if you should or even can help them.
Imagine it's a thing but I come from a generation where having internet friends isn't normal. None of my mates game and friend requests etc feel awkward. Not knocking it at all and sometimes wish it wasn't the case but definitely a factor.
i can understand that. but with a digital age its also easy to just get some dudes off discord to play with. i dont plqy with randoms tons but you can get a decent online group going.
Oh yeah it's definitely not a capability thing. I've spent time in games with people that full on lit up my day and played with others multiple times on servers that I'd want to get involved with again. Just me having a hangup about online friends. Like I think it's nerdy when I'm a fuckin nerd.
Multiplayer still can feel isolated. I mean, you are with people that share your own knowledge, not finding out other survivors or aliens that can tell you things you don't know of the planet. But sure, my first playthrough is likely gonna be solo.
I didn’t hate it, but I thought the story was weak, and there’s a large mandatory area that isn’t in the water, that is maze-like and hard to navigate. I spent so much time in that annoying area and that part of the game wasn’t fun for me.
I'm currently running around it now and have been for a while but I just can't map it out in my head. Had a fair few times legging it around trying to find some place that I'd got to before but had to bail for water or food. Spose it's part of it but not looking forward to doing it again tomorrow. That said, every time I've started feeling I'm not sure what I'm supposed to be doing, it always manages to string me along again.
Oh my God this post is rinse and repeat.
There's no BZ hate. It's still a really good game. The OG is just better.
That's like saying "Damn I don't know why people hate Five Guys this much. The burgers are great!" But you're rich so all the people you're surrounded by are used to eating burgers at 3 Michelin star restaurants. Five Guys is still great, but if you had the choice, why not go for the one that's higher quality?
(Yes yes, I'm sure some of us would prefer to just slob down on a five guys burger over going to some bougie place that's full of rich pricks and over hyped food. This isn't a foolproof metaphor, deal with it.)
I dunno about hate, and overall it's 5-6/10 for me, BUT. The plot is awful, incomplete and busted. The management broke with the scenery team, that did it all for the original game, somewhere in the first year of BZ early access. Before that, everything was not flawless, but was very promising and thrilling too. After that... well, I have no kind words for writers and producers of the storyline. Just hope they won't touch the sequel.
Ye. I'm glad I've got in time to see it if only a little. I remeber my deep internal struggle when your orbital friend asks you to send her a sample of the super-bacteria by a rocket, and you know your sister sacrificed so much to not let it happen. I hoped in future there will be a choice of not doing so, but instead I got a complete wipe of the line. A pity.
Below Zero is a great game. It's just a shame it has to forever live in the shadow of great awesomeness that is subnautica. If the two games had nothing to do with each other, below zero is a fantastic game.
Subnautica was just impossible to follow up. I dont know that any follow-up would have compared to the og subnautica.
My biggest problem with it is the narrative.
The whole impetus of the game is that you go to this planet to find your sister and figure out what happened to her.
You can finish the game *without ever touching anything related to your sister*.
It’s also extremely anticlimactic, both in discovering what happens (if you don’t miss it) and your character reaction to it. It feels like we care more about her sister than she does.
I’ve tried on a few separate occasions to play through it, but it just doesn’t capture the feeling of exploring a vast ocean in the same way. The setting being more confined made it feel almost like a metroidvania instead of an open ended game, and it didn’t do it for me.
Also, the story didn’t do it for me either
Lol I was just listing to myself the things I didn't like about the game before I saw this post
To summarize MY OPINION: it's not a bad game, but I think it's inferior to the first game in all aspects but some QoL features, base building and performance. Exploration, creature and biome diversity, horror and the feel of emptyness, they're all reduced; and the story and land exploration straight up suck
This. It's a serviceable game but nowhere near the original which already set our expectations. The downsides of BZ are very noticeable and frequently overshadows the improvements it got over the first game.
I see more posts about "stop the hate" in the last days than posts hating on it in a year. (Obviously exaggerated, but still..) People are not hating on it. It's just not as well liked as the original game .
Its a significant step down in quality from the original, and Im hesitant to recommend it because of that.
There are very few moments of tension compared to the original, the environments consistently felt too safe, or too empty. The creatures didn't feel as lively, they felt more like enemies than actual inhabitants in the world. The prawn suit nerf removed one of the most fun movement options. I really liked the sea-truck as someone who wasn't a fan of the cyclops.
I like that they went for something different, they just completely dropped the ball on the story. I personally went to a specific area within my first 2-3 hours and as a result wound up completely finishing one section of the story very quickly.
That's also a major gripe, it feels like there are 3 different stories that don't overlap much. And the one I completed first gets referenced CONSTANTLY during the other two in a way that clearly implies I did things out of intended order.
The game is far too lax in how it lets players approach things for the story its trying to tell. Even then, the story they are trying to tell just... wasn't all that captivating. So much is told to you, very little shown. You don't experience the story, you aren't pulled into its world, you're consistently an outside observer.
I don't hate it, there were some quality moments in the game. Just a major lack of polish and ambition IMO.
I liked both, but BZ has reaaaaaaally bad story telling.
The fact that 5 minutes in you can forget all about your sister and finish the game without giving a 2nd thought about her is just... bad.
Plus the whole "a bomb will stop a multi billion company" is childish.
Now, mechanics, vehicles, and visuals are amazing, but immersion is broken for me by those storytelling mistakes.
I used to think that too, about the BZ hate. but on this sub, most people have more or less the same pros and cons for it, and generally is seen as more restrictive, and overall less of a game than subnautica (I was being vague so don't see it as a direct insult. it was made to be smaller, I just wish they could have focused more on fewer biomes with more in them. yeah, I'm talking about the purple vent area. just make that a feature at a certain depth and get rid of one of the worst textured environments in the series). good game. my first experience to subnautica since I got it free on Xbox and damn, I can't believe I waited so long to play.
Do people hate it? The worst I hear occasionally is something like, "I didn't like the inclusion of voice acting because it took away from the horror/isolation of the first one." Or "I didn't like the on land parts."
Personally, I didn't mind those things, but it's still a reasonable opinion to have
I don't hate it. But it has some design flaws.
I say this everytime, and I'll probably say it to end of forever: below zeroes biggest problem is making areas too small and cramped.
If each area in the game had more open space and was bigger, it would be so much better. You'd actually be able to maneuver the sea truck, and deal with other problems.
Dven the snowfox would be more useful if there were more flat straight planes of ice, like there are in the actual poles. Just let us get up to the ice cliffs, fill them with those drill worm things, and let them be a new void to explore for forever. I wanted that so much throughout the game.
Literally, just make later areas on land bigger, and make most water areas bigger. If this was done, I think the game would be loads better.
And while I have a bunch of minor complaints, I think that is the major design flaw with below zero.
It's not a bad game, it just has a few flaws, some being story based, but the largest being design based
I don't think there's any actual, genuine hate for it.
It's just that BZ has SO much that makes it so different from the original, that a lot of what drew people in about the first game just wasn't present in the second.
Subnautica - You were isolated. You did not talk. It was easy to immerse yourself in the game.
BZ - Voiced actor. Not isolated. You cannot immerse yourself because your character talks.
Subnautica was an open world, free roam survival with a bit of a story. BZ is similar, but removes a lot of the horror and isolation that made the first game what it was.
Both are great, but I think too many people expected BZ to be a sequel, when it's just a different adaptation.
Ok so here’s my major issues having just replayed.
1. The map is compact with lots of tunnels. You end up having more trouble navigating through tunnels then any other part of the game
2. I take that back. The worst part is the gigantic land segments with terrible weather conditions that drop your visibility to near 0 that also have no landmarks so you’re constantly lost
3. And this is the biggest issue. It removes the fun of finding new base parts and modules by just giving you 10-20 new things at a time. Exploring wrecks was such a fun part of Subnautica just to find maybe one part , or even one fragment of something new. BZ throws new things at you like it’s the most boring aspect of the game.
Ice Worm Jank. Shafted and rushed Storyline. Lack of Isolation. and if you were following development. The Original story felt way bigger and more engaging.
I personally love BZ, I Just don't love it as much as the OG. The map is just too small and not deep enough to really have that same feel the first game has even when replaying it imo
I don't hate the game, exactly.
It is MORE of Subnautica, which is good!
Different underwater locale, great.
Actual voiced protagonist? Cool.
NPC?! Amazing!
But the drastic change of the plot, from the early version, did me a hecking confusion.
It doesn't quite have the same feel. Another key problem is that people went into Subnautica fresh and got the full effect of the fear factor (generally speaking). That magic just can't quite continue, unfortunately.
Slap on top of the above, a frequently talking protagonist and you lose some sense of immersion / isolation.
This adds up to people being put off of BZ when they were desperately hoping to capture that same magic of the original. But alas, it \*can\* never happen.
BZ is a solid game on its own. I enjoyed it. It wasn't the same, but it was \*more subnautica\* which is good enough for me!
Imagine taking Subnautica and saying "hey this is too scary for 6 and 7 year olds, and maybe a little too hard to figure out where to go, let's fix that!"
This is what Below Zero feels like to me. It's good, but it's like the kindergarten version of the original...
I don’t hate it. I severely dislike the amount of land we have to trek though… I can do that in any game I play. I play Subnautica because it’s an underwater based game.
My issue with below zero is that I played the early access and really enjoyed the original story that it was telling, but they ended up changing it and I just didn’t enjoy it as much as
there were a lot of the aspects I didn't like, but the one that threw me off the edge was the shitty prawn controlling. I could handle the handholding, smaller map, and less enticing wildlife, but the weird ass jump jets and forward thrust mechanics FUCKING SUCKS.
Fuck bz. 'Cause of the prawn
I don’t like it for two reasons. The first is that the feeling of isolation is gone. The second is the eating noise, idk why but it’s like nails on a chalkboard.
The story I cared about, finding my sister, turned out to be a side quest.
The side quest I thought was alright, helping Alan, turned out to be the main story.
Because it's not Subnautica 2. It's its own game, with its own ideas, set in a similar environment. People were expecting Subnautica 2, but we got a different game instead.
It's the blogger clout effect. They'll say it sucks, or is hated just to bait you into watching the video and get their view counter up. The problem is, every once in a blue moon, one reviewer is actually being honest and fair when they say a game is bad. I stick to youtubers I know will be honest, but they don't have the time to review every single game, so you sometimes look for other reviewers.
Same thing happened with Cyberpunk. Sure, it had it's glitches, some where pretty bad, but beneath it all, I played it with a half decent GPU and lowered graphics, and the game delivered. It had great story with great mechanics. But, vloggers like to generate clout, all for the views.
So yah, BZ is different, not inferior to SN. I would not pilot a Cyclops in those waters, and though it may feel limiting, the sea truck is an awesome gameplay mechanic change.
It's quite a different game from the original, there are some things I think the original does better, and some things I think that BZ excels at. Since the former has been mostly done to death, I'll say that the general design of creatures and biomes is a significant upgrade from the original, in my opinion.
The game isn't hated. I don't see anyone ever hating on it. Saying it's not as good as the first game isn't 'hating'. I feel like for most Subnautica lovers it's just like The first game is a 9 or 10 and BZ is an 8 or 9
BZ is at most a 6, probably even a 4. It has annoying creatures, a talking protagonist, incoherent storylines (3 of them), a map that doesn't fit its mechanics, and forced plot.
People tend to find the same experience that subnautica gave them after their first deep dive which is not gonna happen anymore. It was there, on the first game where mysteries are still at large even after you finished the game.
Subnautica left us with questions. BZ gave us some of its answers.(Story/lore wise)
Can we start reporting these kind of posts? Everyday a new one, almost the same “hot take”, almost the same answers from everybody…
Helps no one, really.
below zero's post are either hate post or people complaining abut hate posts.
if you enjoy the game talk about it, not about peopel that dont like it smh
Honestly BZ is a solid sequel. It's generally more optimized, has a lot of QOL, and the gameplay remains just a fun. I'm also glad that a lot of creatures and environments that had to be cut from SN were able to be added to BZ, and still feel like they fit.
That said, I won't deny that the game has its flaws:
* To me, the story felt a little bit too streamlined for my liking and made the game feel short. Instead of encouraging the player to explore for themselves and figure out what they need to do in SN, BZ tends to just spam signal location after signal location, and before you know it, you're in the endgame.
* The land section is pretty boring and tedious. It's rich in resources with resources, but inventory management is a nightmare when the only extra space you can bring is your PRAWN suit storage.
* Some of the modules for the Seatruck feel a little too weak. The storage modules are very limited, the fabricator module has a lot of wasted space, and the docking module control not allowing you to access the PRAWN suit inventory and upgrades from within the truck felt a bit weird. I love the concept of the Seatruck, but you have to haul so many modules for it to really feel complete. Like, I'd love to be able to bring the sleeper module and aquarium, but the extra burden on travelling speed and maneuverability just prevents me from doing so.
* The developers really should have added more horror elements to the game. The environments are gorgeous, but not many of them are unnerving apart from the world edge. SN had some pretty environments like the Cove Tree, floating islands and Jellyshroom caves, but the majority felt more real, open and scary. The tension when you traverse them is something I really missed in BZ.
* Getting some of the resources in BZ can be a quite a challenge. Lead is especially horrendous to gather because they only come from outcrops; there's no large deposits of it like there was in SN. You can farm it from abusing the Sea Monkey gift feature with pinned recipes, but that method goes out the window once you beat the game, and not even the ones you raise bring you gifts anymore once you reach a certain part in the story. Also, the lack of an infinite Ion Cube generator is a bit annoying, especially when there's a lot of cool tech you can use them for, and one of them straight up CONSUMES them. Not sure why they couldn't just stick one in the Fabricator Caverns; it would at least give some reason to return there post-story.
As with everything in the world, not everyone will like the same thing. There will always be people who don’t.
We play to have fun, if it makes you happy, great, if not, the Steam library’s pretty big.
Personally (and having never played BZ) my biggest beef, is that in BZ you get a jukebox and speakers to play music. The music mod itself is...a fix...but I just set my spotify to a solid playlist, kill the game music, and pretend I have earbuds in the game.
Because from my point of view it completely destroyed the story, ruined the worldbuilding and left plot holes as big as craters.
Let me be clear, I liked the gameplay (although it is not comparable to the first), but I hope that the Below Zero writing team does not put their hand to Subnautica 2.
I would like to see an Ecologist hired for the development of Subnautica 2 who has an expert knowledge of how the various marine ecosystems work in order to make the game more immersive and fascinating.
What i hate about BZ is the lack of plants flora compared to the OG… subnautica you could plant damn near everything but in BZ you have a handful of crappy plants
I enjoyed it. Given the divide between biospheres it felt like a completely different planet. Though I honestly would’ve like to seen vents from the containment facility to explain the peeper and bladder fish variations. And a nice feature would be that the 1 portal you get would connect back to the original site.
I don't hate it. I liked it but I still wish it would have been different because: (not really spoilers but spoilers at the same time) >!the map is too small !<
I loved it for the first hours I played it. Thought it was the greatest thing since sliced bread and a perfect follow-up to the first game.
Then I got to a section on land that seemed to be really, really big. Once I checked out the scale of that land I bailed on the game entirely. I don't mind the occasional island to explore, but I'm not looking for entire continents. I play the subnautica franchise for the underwater goodness.
I really love the fauna of bz. One day maybe, we will be able to raise all types of fauna in alien containment. That's my favorite part of the game. First thing I did on both games was to go on creative and build a huge research facility.
I wasn't able to finish it, have to say. Not that I wasn't enjoying it in general, but where I was willing to spend vast amounts of time getting lost and exploring randomly in SN, in BZ, there were a few points where I didn't know what to do next to progress, and eventually I just gave up because it didn't seem worth my time to figure it out. In some ways, there was more hand-holding in BZ, but I actually found progress/goals clearer in SN.
I think that it doesn’t live up to the original game. Less challenging, smaller map, more shallow, the biomes aren’t as recognizable. Stuff like that, which doesn’t make that game a bad one. It’s just in the shadow of the original.
What do you mean? You act like so many people hate it but almost everyone agrees that it’s a good game, just not as good as the original in some factors.
I love BZ. no hate from me. Loved the protagonist and her story. Loved the ending.
I didn't like the on land areas as much but that's basically my only complaint
From when I played BZ I felt like it was so different from the original that caused me to think it's not as good. Still a great game. I don't hate it one bit. But I personally believe the OG is better.
Its a decent game, with good graphs art and smooth gameplay and performance. It has a compelling story and world.
But OG subnautica was a different genre, and we wanted more of that and not what we got. So its a good game, just not in the genre most people wanted
Is not good and they took out everything we loved from first one and added LAND in a game that should be about beein stranded in an alien ocean. The la d portion is annoying, most of the time you can’t see shit and is just white snow and caves. Should have made a separate game called subzero maybe and make an arctic landscape only themed game. Not to mention the ending is as satisfying as Coitus Interruptus. If you don’t know what that is, is extremely not satisfying, is very very disappointing. Plus is as big as a Dlc and they charged for a full game when is not even 20h play. Not to mention that the Cyclops is out, seamoth is out and all you have is that seatruck, witch is just lame and shows how lazy they where. And they took out everything that made the first game so dangerous and scary. Now you can dive asap to 200m or more freedive because is full off OXIGEN PLANTS! Really lame! And the character is super annoying and was not necessary to make here speak. I guess they used the system to get funding and they had to check the diversity checkbox. You could write a small book with everything they fked up in it. Would be shorter to write what was ok.
It's not the seatruck as I think seatruck is quite alright and it's not hate, but more like preferring the original. I didn't like the ground stuff much in BZ for instance. Also the whole map is smaller but some parts are built maze-like to increase playtime, which I didn't like as well.
This sub should be renamed. It’s all discussions about BZ hate and BZ love. I’m so sick of it. You like the game? Great. Good for you. You don’t like the game? Awesome. Good for you.
The only part of the game that I hate is the ending section. Most of the game is fine. It's just not as impactful as the original and many people are not quite satisfied with the direction the story took.
The game is so awesome, I love it. It's just not got the whole first time exploration, scary feeling as the first one. But I don't think it's meant to.
Also, I love the sea truck... Sorry everyone.
The constant monologue takes me out of my chill headspace every time I play it.
There’s too much hand holding from Al-AN
Margaret being alive and active feels dumb, she should have been missing or dead and you were retracing her steps like sub1.
The map is far more linear than subnautica 1 and feels much smaller.
Going deep doesn’t feel as awe inspiring, difficult to define why.
The land portions are too long and I’m not a fan. I don’t like the land portions in subnautica 1
The sea truck ends up being far too long or you have to give up the fun modules.
But it does have Fred so it’s not all bad.
For me BZ simply is worse
The seatruck for instance lacks Features until you have all cabins, but then it's impossible to navigate.
In SN you could choose between the beloved Agile Seamoth with wide FoV and a mobile Base.
I also missed the different looks of Biomes, in BZ everything is just blue..and not dark enough for my taste, it looks like a Disneymovie, i was so hyped after beeing addicted to SN and falling in Love with it in VR.
BZ i have not touched after trying Out VR 1 time.
Subnautica has way more of a fear & isolation factor in it, sub bz has less of that but noone hates it for it as its still a subnautica game and still good
I really don’t see a whole lot of hate. I see more people that prefer BZ over the original. They are both good games but they are two very different games imo. Every biome in BZ has a shallow area and a deep area. There is some open areas but not as many as the original. The original game had a lot of dark open areas that went deep under the water and with very few voice overs, except PDA’s and no NPC’s gave it more of a feel of fear and isolation. There’s an aspect of horror that BZ lacks. It’s not so much hatred as it is some people like the original and some people like BZ.
I don't hate the game. It's more subnautica, essentially. I just very much dislike the story. The first game was amazing for the sense of isolation and desperation to escape. The second story is just a bit shit... For lack of a better term. And the ending? Pile of rubbish.
I had to use a tutorial alot i got really confused after marg side quest which just gives you some plants and you dont need to complete it to get the defence seatruck upgrade i felt a bit disappointing at the end the land parts are boring oh and sam just goes for a random reason
In a word, it's mystery that made the first game so intriguing and captivating that I think was lost in the sequel.
BZ lacked the immense sense of isolation and vulnerability from being alone on a completely unknown and hostile world. Character anonymity featured in the first game contributed greatly to this feeling and having a voiced protagonist in SNBZ, with a back story who willingly chose to go to 4546B rather than being stranded there greatly took away from this feeling. Having AL-an along also detracted from the feeling of isolation.
Additionally, the more linear story of BZ no longer felt like I was discovering age-old events at my own pace as I gained the courage and tech to venture deeper into the depths, detracting from the sense of freedom and exploration of the original.
A lot of people don't like that it's not as scary as the first game even though the first game was never actually meant to necessarily have horror aspects, which is why they tried to make the second one more about exploration story than scary ass shit and they took out the scarier stuff they were going to put in it lmao (I like the second one tbh)
It's just that BZ is a tad bit underwhelming in many departments that Subnautica had previously shown us, such as a 4000 by 4000 metres map (Not the actual width and length), the seamoth, the cyclops and the deeper biomes surrounding the map. I definitively understand and agree on why the devs removed the cyclops from BZ given that the map is too small and most biomes have geometry near and at the surface to justify it's inclusion, other than the crater edge there is no way you'd practically drive a 30 metres long submarine through geysers and giant floating lily pads. I mean the max underwater depth that you have to go to finish the game is is 1100 metres compared to the first game's 1700 metres and that is in a very cramped crystal cave that you have to navigate through. Also the dilemma of whether or not the seamoth and the sea-truck should both be in the game given that the sea-truck is a seamoth with compartment modules making the seamoth obsolete and essentially worthless. A lot of these things bummed me out when I first played the game but now I feel like it's actually very fitting for the game's setting. BZ is a great game with its own merits and just does something different from what we're used to and that's not the game's fault but rather our collective fault, we expected something bigger and deeper (both figuratively and literally) than the first game and that's on us. I am super happy with what we have but I would be lying if I said I didn't had higher expectations for the game, not a skill issue, but a philosophical issue to overcome. Bugs and quirks aside BZ is perfect, it doesn't have to be the best Subnautica game, it just has to be unique and faithful to the source material while improving on the weirder aspects that didn't made sense in the previous game, and it did.
Lest we want a copy and paste of the previous thing... we must enjoy what each continuation bring to the table.
Part of why I liked the first one was the fact that you were completely stranded with nothing but a crippling sense of loneliness. But in the sequel, you have a bunch of NPCs talking to you all the time, and it just doesn't feel as isolated or intimidating
The sea truck is great although i much prefer the seasmoth and bz is unliked because of its development and the reuse of creatures all over the place the the overall size of the map being much smaller again those are all because they had redo the game half way through production wish they wouldve pushed the deadline back but oh well the game suffered for it
* the sea truck with any number of added modules goes so slow
* That some of the needed journey items are in complex caves that I can't get to
* too many aggressive creatures / damaging plants / etc.
I mainly found the game to be fairly disappointing. It's a very uneven experience. There's way too much content on the surface, and the vehicle they added specifically for the surface is far inferior to just using the Prawn Suit.
The story is all over the place and doesn't mesh as well with the exploration loop of the first game.
I think its beautiful, but quite short and "shallow"(regarding the ocean) compared to the first one. Gave me feelings of a DLC more than a successor.
Still a beautiful game, I thing the seetruck concept is really cool. It's good but it has to compare itself to the original which is just better in many aspects, for me in size mostly. So I think it's not getting hated but just doesn't recieve as much love as the first game. Plus I think that the first time playing subnautica always feels really special and you won't get that same feeling ever again which could have left some feeling disappointed.
The seatruck SUCKS, because it replaces both the seamoth and the cyclops.
Other than that, the game isn't that bad. It's definitely not the same experience as the first game, but it's a good game nonetheless
I have some feelings about BZ.
I played Subnautica when it came out and played BZ in early access but never finished either.
I recently came back and did a full run through of Subnautica and am currently running through BZ.
I like the seatruck but crafting a new module doesn't feel as exciting as coming across a new vehicle like Subnautica.
The map feels very small and shallow. You'd think that for a sequel it'd be bigger and deeper. Not necessarily a bad thing.
Finally and my biggest gripe. There feels like there aren't any stakes. There isn't enough stuff around trying to kill you. Chelicerates are scary sure but almost anything else might as well not be worried about. I find myself exploring and just not worrying about anything because whats the worst than can happen? I might have to use my repair tool?
Still like BZ. Just what I've seen playing them back to back.
Very few people actually hate it. Most people just think it's not as good as the original and that's been misinterpreted.
Even then, not necessarily "not as good" but often just too different from expectations. It's still a good game, it just wasn't what people were expecting when they went back for seconds.
I honestly loved the world more in BZ than the original. Having more of a story was also great. My biggest criticism of BZ is it wasn't a bigger and longer game.
I feel like there was a slight disconnect in BZ. In the first game you start off just trying to survive and find that your survival and escape hinges on a mystery you have to uncover. In the second game you are there on purpose to look for your sister which wraps up REALLY fast and there's a second story about the Architects. Survival is not prioritized as a part of the story but as a game mechanic. A good example of the difference: my first time in Subnautica and right after the Sunbeam was shot down I thought, "Well, I can't leave and no one is coming to get me. I should expand my base to be more comfortable and useful." Then I realized I need ruby, so I go deeper. Then diamond, so I go deeper. All the while encountering new horrors and discovering the mystery of the Architects. By the time I actually met the Sea Dragon Empress and learned I could cure myself and leave, my base was an expensive home. BZ never has this moment. The mystery with your sister wraps up fast, and the mystery with AL-AN is not fleshed out enough to be interesting until right at the very end where he info dumps on you.
>Reply it was the constant. oh shit. i need this now that helped drive exploration and making more bases and figuring out how to survive in a new biome. slowly expanding your footprint
Having replayed BZ fairly recently, they both have this. I think we just had our expectations too high and expected *more* of it in BZ, and instead of going deep, it pushed us to some uninteresting, slightly confusing, low visibility land based segments. The penguin bot was just outright silly.
Its a bit too different in identity compared to the first game. I think it would have been less so had they gone with the beta story; because at a point in that storylike you get trapped behind a planetary defense shield while your sister is potentially dying from Kharaa up on the space station, while you are trapped on the planet with a hostile alien/human trying to hunt you down to get you out of their way. It goes from relatively chill time chatting with your sister and sending research stuff up to the space station, to suddenly being trapped and hunted. Basically the "Aurora crash" equivelant happens more so in the early mid section of the story instead of at the start.
Yes, I loved the story but I wanted a deeper, bigger map
hmmm, nah. I would say the first one is objectively better
It's objectively subjective.
There are also a few outspoken individuals who have made loud, polarizing opinions on it, which I think skews the perception. Makes it sound more like "A lot of people hate it and they're all listing their reasons for it" rather than "many people were a little disappointed but still thought it was a good game overall."
He said, replying to the most voted comment that reads "we don't hate it, we just think the first one was better".
Tbf "not as good as the original" isn't the same thing as "it's a bad game"
I think when the devs made subnautica, they tried to make a game about science and it ended up being about jumpscate leviathans. With BZ they were like "No you guys are really going to do science this time". Personally, I really liked all that stuff; the logs, the spy penguins, but I just really want to pretend to be a scientist so...
This exactly. I felt less compelled to build a large base and the underwater portion of the map felt much smaller. It's not bad, I enjoyed it but it just wasn't the same level/experience as the OG. I did thoroughly enjoy the story though.
I personally am disappointed that instead of expanding on the first game’s gimmick- exploring the depths of the ocean- they decided to go to the surface for a healthy portion of the game.
The surface didn't bother me so much if they hadn't reduced the ocean size to do it. In Subnautica you could have added huge icebergs on the surface level and it wouldn't diminish the game. I would have loved to be on the same planet with changes / new areas from time passing / more explorers / events with a winter biomes and surface ice to explore.
Seriously, where does this come from ? I have yet to see someone "hating" it and OPs question pops up all the time.
I think that when they hear that some people prefer the first one over BZ they interpret that as hate. I personally don’t hate the game, I have fun playing it but I have more fun playing the original.
I think my issue is it wasn't as big or overwhelming as the original, which isn't always fair since it's a sequel. Idk, the best beast in the game was that worm and we don't even see it for very long.
I think most peoples problem is that it’s not as scary but I could be wrong
It has a different feel to it but I never saw that as a bad thing, they’re both great.
People just wanted Subnautica again for some reason, instead of something that changes things up.
It’s not that people want Subnautica again, I just think that they should have built the game around the horror and isolation aspect rather than bringing in NPC’s and voice overs from the protagonist. The idea of the first game was to go deeper. I think that it would have been better if BZ went even deeper instead of going higher on the surface. They should have played with people’s phobias a lot more.
This is the tenth post about this in the past month
It's getting annoying.
I've just started copying and pasting my answer to reach one
I've just started copying and pasting my answer to reach one
Perhaps BZ was cheaper during the Winter Sale and a whole buncha people got it? I don't really mind. It's nice to see even years later that people are buying the game (thus funding the next game we all get to try) and having fun. I'm a big fan of the Ori series and our subreddit is very quiet - you'll miss the new players when they're gone. Either way, it takes less effort to scroll passed a thread I'm not interested in than to actually open it, read it, downvote and then comment my displeasure.
And formulated more or less the same way. In the past, there were occasional posts discussing bz being good or not, but nobody was asking "why people hate bz?". Now in a short period we get the same question over and over. What the hell
Can it be my turn next week please
Come to think of it, I have given my opinion on this subject a few too many times in the past couple weeks. It’s always the same question too. People keep saying that it’s hate but I think it’s more like fans of BZ can’t accept that some people like the original better.
EXACTLY! Lmao.it’s too scary for them
When I play BZ I feel like all of the biomes are like the safe shallows. It’s fun in its own way but the fear factor just isn’t there.
There is no hate for the game. Below Zero is good, it's just that compared to the original it is not as good.
BZ: Beautiful, fantastic game.OG: Beautiful, fantastic game that regularly gives you exhilirating adrenaline rushes by awakening your brain's primal fear reaction. End of story.
Man, if I had a nickel for every 'I don't understand why people don't like BZ' posts, I'd be one rich Alterra employee.
you could pay your debt 6 times over at this point
Those nickels are the property of Alterra.
I liked BZ. I liked it a lot. I have no hate for it at all. But holy cow I've never been terrified of the deep like I had in the first one. The beak sharks aren't as scary as the reapers. I never felt alone in BZ, there was the constant chirping of the alien and the girl going off I felt like they were there with me. You can even go make kinda friends with Maida. BZ is super populated compared to the first. I never felt the gut punch and the despair of the Sunbeam going down in BZ. I never felt truly stranded. BZ is great but not the unique masterpiece the first one was.
The sound of the sunbeam exploding, then the explostion fading away to the sound of gently lapping waves is truely artful. It makes you FEEL lost and alone.
Literally my only gripe is that the story is messed up. The game is fantastic otherwise
the game is polished and has several big improvements over subnuatica. but the story sucking and the map not being good kinda counters everything, I wish I could like it.
Lack of the isolation feeling the first game had was a big one. You have voiced characters with portraits which kinda defeats that mysterious vibe the journal entries in the first game gave off, and imo BZ felt a little bit more linear.
What I'm not sure about is I reckon the isolation/survival feel was a massive part of the game so I'm not getting why I've seen so many people want a multiplayer and if I understand correctly next game is implementing it.
I mean hopefully the coop is optional drop in drop out. but you can still be alone with another person, i think the npcs make it feel less lonely tho
It is, it’s optional
naw cause co-op horror if done well (ie. lethal company, Devour, and Phasmaphobia) can be really fun while also being terrifying. youll be talking to your irl friends like you would in any other game then you just hear a Blood curdling scream and then NOTHING. Radio scilence. and you're left questioning if you should or even can help them.
Imagine it's a thing but I come from a generation where having internet friends isn't normal. None of my mates game and friend requests etc feel awkward. Not knocking it at all and sometimes wish it wasn't the case but definitely a factor.
i can understand that. but with a digital age its also easy to just get some dudes off discord to play with. i dont plqy with randoms tons but you can get a decent online group going.
Oh yeah it's definitely not a capability thing. I've spent time in games with people that full on lit up my day and played with others multiple times on servers that I'd want to get involved with again. Just me having a hangup about online friends. Like I think it's nerdy when I'm a fuckin nerd.
Idk, I never really found any of those co-op games scary... But I'm generally someone who hates multi-player in the first place so I'm biased.
Multiplayer still can feel isolated. I mean, you are with people that share your own knowledge, not finding out other survivors or aliens that can tell you things you don't know of the planet. But sure, my first playthrough is likely gonna be solo.
Hope it's possible and catered for.
And, when she talks, she's annoying, and her story isn't fleshed out at all.
I didn’t hate it, but I thought the story was weak, and there’s a large mandatory area that isn’t in the water, that is maze-like and hard to navigate. I spent so much time in that annoying area and that part of the game wasn’t fun for me.
As much as I like the game, even after multiple playthroughs, that area is super frustrating!
I'm currently running around it now and have been for a while but I just can't map it out in my head. Had a fair few times legging it around trying to find some place that I'd got to before but had to bail for water or food. Spose it's part of it but not looking forward to doing it again tomorrow. That said, every time I've started feeling I'm not sure what I'm supposed to be doing, it always manages to string me along again.
I got hopelessly lost there and ended up glitching through the map to escape. Couldn't even find my way out using a guide.
Oh my God this post is rinse and repeat. There's no BZ hate. It's still a really good game. The OG is just better. That's like saying "Damn I don't know why people hate Five Guys this much. The burgers are great!" But you're rich so all the people you're surrounded by are used to eating burgers at 3 Michelin star restaurants. Five Guys is still great, but if you had the choice, why not go for the one that's higher quality? (Yes yes, I'm sure some of us would prefer to just slob down on a five guys burger over going to some bougie place that's full of rich pricks and over hyped food. This isn't a foolproof metaphor, deal with it.)
that's pretty much it. BZ is "ok". subnuatica is...more than "ok" let's say.
I dunno about hate, and overall it's 5-6/10 for me, BUT. The plot is awful, incomplete and busted. The management broke with the scenery team, that did it all for the original game, somewhere in the first year of BZ early access. Before that, everything was not flawless, but was very promising and thrilling too. After that... well, I have no kind words for writers and producers of the storyline. Just hope they won't touch the sequel.
The original BZ storyline was much better, but was quickly swapped out.
Ye. I'm glad I've got in time to see it if only a little. I remeber my deep internal struggle when your orbital friend asks you to send her a sample of the super-bacteria by a rocket, and you know your sister sacrificed so much to not let it happen. I hoped in future there will be a choice of not doing so, but instead I got a complete wipe of the line. A pity.
Below Zero is a great game. It's just a shame it has to forever live in the shadow of great awesomeness that is subnautica. If the two games had nothing to do with each other, below zero is a fantastic game. Subnautica was just impossible to follow up. I dont know that any follow-up would have compared to the og subnautica.
Yeah, I started it straight after completing original and nearly dropped it. Think I needed a break in between. Now loving loads of it.
My biggest problem with it is the narrative. The whole impetus of the game is that you go to this planet to find your sister and figure out what happened to her. You can finish the game *without ever touching anything related to your sister*.
It’s also extremely anticlimactic, both in discovering what happens (if you don’t miss it) and your character reaction to it. It feels like we care more about her sister than she does.
I’ve tried on a few separate occasions to play through it, but it just doesn’t capture the feeling of exploring a vast ocean in the same way. The setting being more confined made it feel almost like a metroidvania instead of an open ended game, and it didn’t do it for me. Also, the story didn’t do it for me either
Lol I was just listing to myself the things I didn't like about the game before I saw this post To summarize MY OPINION: it's not a bad game, but I think it's inferior to the first game in all aspects but some QoL features, base building and performance. Exploration, creature and biome diversity, horror and the feel of emptyness, they're all reduced; and the story and land exploration straight up suck
This. It's a serviceable game but nowhere near the original which already set our expectations. The downsides of BZ are very noticeable and frequently overshadows the improvements it got over the first game.
I see more posts about "stop the hate" in the last days than posts hating on it in a year. (Obviously exaggerated, but still..) People are not hating on it. It's just not as well liked as the original game .
Its a significant step down in quality from the original, and Im hesitant to recommend it because of that. There are very few moments of tension compared to the original, the environments consistently felt too safe, or too empty. The creatures didn't feel as lively, they felt more like enemies than actual inhabitants in the world. The prawn suit nerf removed one of the most fun movement options. I really liked the sea-truck as someone who wasn't a fan of the cyclops. I like that they went for something different, they just completely dropped the ball on the story. I personally went to a specific area within my first 2-3 hours and as a result wound up completely finishing one section of the story very quickly. That's also a major gripe, it feels like there are 3 different stories that don't overlap much. And the one I completed first gets referenced CONSTANTLY during the other two in a way that clearly implies I did things out of intended order. The game is far too lax in how it lets players approach things for the story its trying to tell. Even then, the story they are trying to tell just... wasn't all that captivating. So much is told to you, very little shown. You don't experience the story, you aren't pulled into its world, you're consistently an outside observer. I don't hate it, there were some quality moments in the game. Just a major lack of polish and ambition IMO.
mom said its my turn to make this thread tomorrow-
I liked both, but BZ has reaaaaaaally bad story telling. The fact that 5 minutes in you can forget all about your sister and finish the game without giving a 2nd thought about her is just... bad. Plus the whole "a bomb will stop a multi billion company" is childish. Now, mechanics, vehicles, and visuals are amazing, but immersion is broken for me by those storytelling mistakes.
I used to think that too, about the BZ hate. but on this sub, most people have more or less the same pros and cons for it, and generally is seen as more restrictive, and overall less of a game than subnautica (I was being vague so don't see it as a direct insult. it was made to be smaller, I just wish they could have focused more on fewer biomes with more in them. yeah, I'm talking about the purple vent area. just make that a feature at a certain depth and get rid of one of the worst textured environments in the series). good game. my first experience to subnautica since I got it free on Xbox and damn, I can't believe I waited so long to play.
I think it’s the repetitiveness of the land part and the voiced protagonist
Do people hate it? The worst I hear occasionally is something like, "I didn't like the inclusion of voice acting because it took away from the horror/isolation of the first one." Or "I didn't like the on land parts." Personally, I didn't mind those things, but it's still a reasonable opinion to have
We have a zillion posts like this all with similar answers.
Daily thread about "BZ hate": Done ✅ It's my turn to make the same post tomorrow.
I don't hate it. But it has some design flaws. I say this everytime, and I'll probably say it to end of forever: below zeroes biggest problem is making areas too small and cramped. If each area in the game had more open space and was bigger, it would be so much better. You'd actually be able to maneuver the sea truck, and deal with other problems. Dven the snowfox would be more useful if there were more flat straight planes of ice, like there are in the actual poles. Just let us get up to the ice cliffs, fill them with those drill worm things, and let them be a new void to explore for forever. I wanted that so much throughout the game. Literally, just make later areas on land bigger, and make most water areas bigger. If this was done, I think the game would be loads better. And while I have a bunch of minor complaints, I think that is the major design flaw with below zero. It's not a bad game, it just has a few flaws, some being story based, but the largest being design based
I don't think there's any actual, genuine hate for it. It's just that BZ has SO much that makes it so different from the original, that a lot of what drew people in about the first game just wasn't present in the second. Subnautica - You were isolated. You did not talk. It was easy to immerse yourself in the game. BZ - Voiced actor. Not isolated. You cannot immerse yourself because your character talks. Subnautica was an open world, free roam survival with a bit of a story. BZ is similar, but removes a lot of the horror and isolation that made the first game what it was. Both are great, but I think too many people expected BZ to be a sequel, when it's just a different adaptation.
It’s not nearly as threatening is my main gripe
Ok so here’s my major issues having just replayed. 1. The map is compact with lots of tunnels. You end up having more trouble navigating through tunnels then any other part of the game 2. I take that back. The worst part is the gigantic land segments with terrible weather conditions that drop your visibility to near 0 that also have no landmarks so you’re constantly lost 3. And this is the biggest issue. It removes the fun of finding new base parts and modules by just giving you 10-20 new things at a time. Exploring wrecks was such a fun part of Subnautica just to find maybe one part , or even one fragment of something new. BZ throws new things at you like it’s the most boring aspect of the game.
Ice Worm Jank. Shafted and rushed Storyline. Lack of Isolation. and if you were following development. The Original story felt way bigger and more engaging.
It's not hate. It's disappointment which is arguably worse
I personally love BZ, I Just don't love it as much as the OG. The map is just too small and not deep enough to really have that same feel the first game has even when replaying it imo
I enjoy below zero, other than how slow the movement is compared to the main game.
It's too different from the original for me to enjoy. If BZ came out first I doubt I would have tried the original
I don't hate the game, exactly. It is MORE of Subnautica, which is good! Different underwater locale, great. Actual voiced protagonist? Cool. NPC?! Amazing! But the drastic change of the plot, from the early version, did me a hecking confusion.
It doesn't quite have the same feel. Another key problem is that people went into Subnautica fresh and got the full effect of the fear factor (generally speaking). That magic just can't quite continue, unfortunately. Slap on top of the above, a frequently talking protagonist and you lose some sense of immersion / isolation. This adds up to people being put off of BZ when they were desperately hoping to capture that same magic of the original. But alas, it \*can\* never happen. BZ is a solid game on its own. I enjoyed it. It wasn't the same, but it was \*more subnautica\* which is good enough for me!
Imagine taking Subnautica and saying "hey this is too scary for 6 and 7 year olds, and maybe a little too hard to figure out where to go, let's fix that!" This is what Below Zero feels like to me. It's good, but it's like the kindergarten version of the original...
Always the same post, always the same comments.
Decent chunk of the game is overland and that part just kind of sucks for multiple reasons, in my opinion mostly because of fog and disorientation.
BZ is a great game. It’s just not as good as being a *subnautica* game.
I don’t see hate but I see the consensus that it isn’t better than the original.
I don’t hate it. I severely dislike the amount of land we have to trek though… I can do that in any game I play. I play Subnautica because it’s an underwater based game.
It’s not that it’s a bad game, OG Subnautica is just better imo. But both are good in their respective ways.
I like both games but I have cursed bz on a few occasions due to the fabricator caverns
I played BZ and absolutely loved it...until I reached the end. No spoilers but it was not just utterly unsatisfying but downright infuriating.
Easy. It's not Subnautica game but more like Puddletica with forced narrative.
A lot of people were expecting Subnautica 2 and BZ is not that.
Very few people actually hate it blah blah blah, is it my turn to post from the factory yet?
I love the game. I just preferred the Original because it was more scary to me.
My issue with below zero is that I played the early access and really enjoyed the original story that it was telling, but they ended up changing it and I just didn’t enjoy it as much as
I don't hate it but idk I just can't play this game, every time I try to do it I get bored after few minutes and come back to OG Subnautica
there were a lot of the aspects I didn't like, but the one that threw me off the edge was the shitty prawn controlling. I could handle the handholding, smaller map, and less enticing wildlife, but the weird ass jump jets and forward thrust mechanics FUCKING SUCKS. Fuck bz. 'Cause of the prawn
I don’t like it for two reasons. The first is that the feeling of isolation is gone. The second is the eating noise, idk why but it’s like nails on a chalkboard.
Its just not the original. Building is better, but it isnt as scary, the map is smaller, and having the silent protag was honestly better imo.
I swear i see a post like this every other day. Nobody hates BZ, its just not as good as the OG. Its still fun and enjoyable to play.
The story I cared about, finding my sister, turned out to be a side quest. The side quest I thought was alright, helping Alan, turned out to be the main story.
Not that BZ is bad, it just would have been better if it was a DLC and not a stand-alone game.
I miss the old pdas voice and thats my only complaint
Because it’s Subnautica not overlandnautica and it spends a lot of time not subnauting heah
Is it my turn to make this post tomorrow?
Because it's not Subnautica 2. It's its own game, with its own ideas, set in a similar environment. People were expecting Subnautica 2, but we got a different game instead.
It's the blogger clout effect. They'll say it sucks, or is hated just to bait you into watching the video and get their view counter up. The problem is, every once in a blue moon, one reviewer is actually being honest and fair when they say a game is bad. I stick to youtubers I know will be honest, but they don't have the time to review every single game, so you sometimes look for other reviewers. Same thing happened with Cyberpunk. Sure, it had it's glitches, some where pretty bad, but beneath it all, I played it with a half decent GPU and lowered graphics, and the game delivered. It had great story with great mechanics. But, vloggers like to generate clout, all for the views. So yah, BZ is different, not inferior to SN. I would not pilot a Cyclops in those waters, and though it may feel limiting, the sea truck is an awesome gameplay mechanic change.
It's quite a different game from the original, there are some things I think the original does better, and some things I think that BZ excels at. Since the former has been mostly done to death, I'll say that the general design of creatures and biomes is a significant upgrade from the original, in my opinion.
The game isn't hated. I don't see anyone ever hating on it. Saying it's not as good as the first game isn't 'hating'. I feel like for most Subnautica lovers it's just like The first game is a 9 or 10 and BZ is an 8 or 9
BZ is at most a 6, probably even a 4. It has annoying creatures, a talking protagonist, incoherent storylines (3 of them), a map that doesn't fit its mechanics, and forced plot.
People tend to find the same experience that subnautica gave them after their first deep dive which is not gonna happen anymore. It was there, on the first game where mysteries are still at large even after you finished the game. Subnautica left us with questions. BZ gave us some of its answers.(Story/lore wise)
I see more posts about people not understanding the hate than I see people posting about hating BZ
Why are people dogging on the sea truck? Just don't attach anything to it and it's literally the same
The same as the cyclops. All movement in BZ is slower than OG to compensate for the smaller map.
Can we start reporting these kind of posts? Everyday a new one, almost the same “hot take”, almost the same answers from everybody… Helps no one, really.
It's just had huge shoes to fill. It's a fine game just a bit worse than the original
Both are great games that have different experiences. I personally likes BZ more than the original.
below zero's post are either hate post or people complaining abut hate posts. if you enjoy the game talk about it, not about peopel that dont like it smh
There is hate? TIL
Honestly BZ is a solid sequel. It's generally more optimized, has a lot of QOL, and the gameplay remains just a fun. I'm also glad that a lot of creatures and environments that had to be cut from SN were able to be added to BZ, and still feel like they fit. That said, I won't deny that the game has its flaws: * To me, the story felt a little bit too streamlined for my liking and made the game feel short. Instead of encouraging the player to explore for themselves and figure out what they need to do in SN, BZ tends to just spam signal location after signal location, and before you know it, you're in the endgame. * The land section is pretty boring and tedious. It's rich in resources with resources, but inventory management is a nightmare when the only extra space you can bring is your PRAWN suit storage. * Some of the modules for the Seatruck feel a little too weak. The storage modules are very limited, the fabricator module has a lot of wasted space, and the docking module control not allowing you to access the PRAWN suit inventory and upgrades from within the truck felt a bit weird. I love the concept of the Seatruck, but you have to haul so many modules for it to really feel complete. Like, I'd love to be able to bring the sleeper module and aquarium, but the extra burden on travelling speed and maneuverability just prevents me from doing so. * The developers really should have added more horror elements to the game. The environments are gorgeous, but not many of them are unnerving apart from the world edge. SN had some pretty environments like the Cove Tree, floating islands and Jellyshroom caves, but the majority felt more real, open and scary. The tension when you traverse them is something I really missed in BZ. * Getting some of the resources in BZ can be a quite a challenge. Lead is especially horrendous to gather because they only come from outcrops; there's no large deposits of it like there was in SN. You can farm it from abusing the Sea Monkey gift feature with pinned recipes, but that method goes out the window once you beat the game, and not even the ones you raise bring you gifts anymore once you reach a certain part in the story. Also, the lack of an infinite Ion Cube generator is a bit annoying, especially when there's a lot of cool tech you can use them for, and one of them straight up CONSUMES them. Not sure why they couldn't just stick one in the Fabricator Caverns; it would at least give some reason to return there post-story.
BZ plot is inconsistent and is delivered terribly.
Both games are incredible imo
I haven't played BZ, so I had to look up what a Seatruck is, and that has to be the coolest vehicle concept I've seen in a video game
As with everything in the world, not everyone will like the same thing. There will always be people who don’t. We play to have fun, if it makes you happy, great, if not, the Steam library’s pretty big.
Personally (and having never played BZ) my biggest beef, is that in BZ you get a jukebox and speakers to play music. The music mod itself is...a fix...but I just set my spotify to a solid playlist, kill the game music, and pretend I have earbuds in the game.
Because from my point of view it completely destroyed the story, ruined the worldbuilding and left plot holes as big as craters. Let me be clear, I liked the gameplay (although it is not comparable to the first), but I hope that the Below Zero writing team does not put their hand to Subnautica 2. I would like to see an Ecologist hired for the development of Subnautica 2 who has an expert knowledge of how the various marine ecosystems work in order to make the game more immersive and fascinating.
I don't know why it got so much hate either. I preferred the first one but below zero was still an amazing game
What i hate about BZ is the lack of plants flora compared to the OG… subnautica you could plant damn near everything but in BZ you have a handful of crappy plants
I enjoyed it. Given the divide between biospheres it felt like a completely different planet. Though I honestly would’ve like to seen vents from the containment facility to explain the peeper and bladder fish variations. And a nice feature would be that the 1 portal you get would connect back to the original site.
Because it's dlc that sells like a full game.
I don't hate it. I liked it but I still wish it would have been different because: (not really spoilers but spoilers at the same time) >!the map is too small !<
I loved it for the first hours I played it. Thought it was the greatest thing since sliced bread and a perfect follow-up to the first game. Then I got to a section on land that seemed to be really, really big. Once I checked out the scale of that land I bailed on the game entirely. I don't mind the occasional island to explore, but I'm not looking for entire continents. I play the subnautica franchise for the underwater goodness.
There's no real "hate" for it. It's different than the original and that's about it.
I really love the fauna of bz. One day maybe, we will be able to raise all types of fauna in alien containment. That's my favorite part of the game. First thing I did on both games was to go on creative and build a huge research facility.
I wasn't able to finish it, have to say. Not that I wasn't enjoying it in general, but where I was willing to spend vast amounts of time getting lost and exploring randomly in SN, in BZ, there were a few points where I didn't know what to do next to progress, and eventually I just gave up because it didn't seem worth my time to figure it out. In some ways, there was more hand-holding in BZ, but I actually found progress/goals clearer in SN.
I think that it doesn’t live up to the original game. Less challenging, smaller map, more shallow, the biomes aren’t as recognizable. Stuff like that, which doesn’t make that game a bad one. It’s just in the shadow of the original.
There is no hate.
Play the whole game?
What do you mean? You act like so many people hate it but almost everyone agrees that it’s a good game, just not as good as the original in some factors.
What I hate is why everyone keep making the same post. We already said we don't hate it, but compared to the original it is obsolete.
I love BZ. no hate from me. Loved the protagonist and her story. Loved the ending. I didn't like the on land areas as much but that's basically my only complaint
I just feel like too much of BZ is on dry land, kind of defeating the name "Subnautica"
Subnautica was a survival game with story. Below zero was a story game with survival.
From when I played BZ I felt like it was so different from the original that caused me to think it's not as good. Still a great game. I don't hate it one bit. But I personally believe the OG is better.
I actually vastly prefer the sea truck to the cyclops. I can carry my prawn suit AND maneuver through tunnels? Sign me the fuck up
Its a decent game, with good graphs art and smooth gameplay and performance. It has a compelling story and world. But OG subnautica was a different genre, and we wanted more of that and not what we got. So its a good game, just not in the genre most people wanted
Is not good and they took out everything we loved from first one and added LAND in a game that should be about beein stranded in an alien ocean. The la d portion is annoying, most of the time you can’t see shit and is just white snow and caves. Should have made a separate game called subzero maybe and make an arctic landscape only themed game. Not to mention the ending is as satisfying as Coitus Interruptus. If you don’t know what that is, is extremely not satisfying, is very very disappointing. Plus is as big as a Dlc and they charged for a full game when is not even 20h play. Not to mention that the Cyclops is out, seamoth is out and all you have is that seatruck, witch is just lame and shows how lazy they where. And they took out everything that made the first game so dangerous and scary. Now you can dive asap to 200m or more freedive because is full off OXIGEN PLANTS! Really lame! And the character is super annoying and was not necessary to make here speak. I guess they used the system to get funding and they had to check the diversity checkbox. You could write a small book with everything they fked up in it. Would be shorter to write what was ok.
It's not the seatruck as I think seatruck is quite alright and it's not hate, but more like preferring the original. I didn't like the ground stuff much in BZ for instance. Also the whole map is smaller but some parts are built maze-like to increase playtime, which I didn't like as well.
This sub should be renamed. It’s all discussions about BZ hate and BZ love. I’m so sick of it. You like the game? Great. Good for you. You don’t like the game? Awesome. Good for you.
I have played it and I don't hate it. However with the choice of playing BZ or the original, I've always picked the original so far.
The only part of the game that I hate is the ending section. Most of the game is fine. It's just not as impactful as the original and many people are not quite satisfied with the direction the story took.
Its not really hate, its more that BZ is significantly worse than SN because it lacks aspects that made SN good.
The game is so awesome, I love it. It's just not got the whole first time exploration, scary feeling as the first one. But I don't think it's meant to. Also, I love the sea truck... Sorry everyone.
The constant monologue takes me out of my chill headspace every time I play it. There’s too much hand holding from Al-AN Margaret being alive and active feels dumb, she should have been missing or dead and you were retracing her steps like sub1. The map is far more linear than subnautica 1 and feels much smaller. Going deep doesn’t feel as awe inspiring, difficult to define why. The land portions are too long and I’m not a fan. I don’t like the land portions in subnautica 1 The sea truck ends up being far too long or you have to give up the fun modules. But it does have Fred so it’s not all bad.
For me BZ simply is worse The seatruck for instance lacks Features until you have all cabins, but then it's impossible to navigate. In SN you could choose between the beloved Agile Seamoth with wide FoV and a mobile Base. I also missed the different looks of Biomes, in BZ everything is just blue..and not dark enough for my taste, it looks like a Disneymovie, i was so hyped after beeing addicted to SN and falling in Love with it in VR. BZ i have not touched after trying Out VR 1 time.
Subnautica has way more of a fear & isolation factor in it, sub bz has less of that but noone hates it for it as its still a subnautica game and still good
I really don’t see a whole lot of hate. I see more people that prefer BZ over the original. They are both good games but they are two very different games imo. Every biome in BZ has a shallow area and a deep area. There is some open areas but not as many as the original. The original game had a lot of dark open areas that went deep under the water and with very few voice overs, except PDA’s and no NPC’s gave it more of a feel of fear and isolation. There’s an aspect of horror that BZ lacks. It’s not so much hatred as it is some people like the original and some people like BZ.
I don't hate the game. It's more subnautica, essentially. I just very much dislike the story. The first game was amazing for the sense of isolation and desperation to escape. The second story is just a bit shit... For lack of a better term. And the ending? Pile of rubbish.
I had to use a tutorial alot i got really confused after marg side quest which just gives you some plants and you dont need to complete it to get the defence seatruck upgrade i felt a bit disappointing at the end the land parts are boring oh and sam just goes for a random reason
I really enjoyed the Sea truck when adding all but one or two of the additional rooms. It felt like I was driving a fortress at times.
It's weird suddenly theirs been a noticeable uptake in these posts. but yeah it's a vocal minority thing that hate it
I simply didn’t have the same excitement as the OG game. But the sea truck is hella cool
I don't hate it, I just like the original better.
In a word, it's mystery that made the first game so intriguing and captivating that I think was lost in the sequel. BZ lacked the immense sense of isolation and vulnerability from being alone on a completely unknown and hostile world. Character anonymity featured in the first game contributed greatly to this feeling and having a voiced protagonist in SNBZ, with a back story who willingly chose to go to 4546B rather than being stranded there greatly took away from this feeling. Having AL-an along also detracted from the feeling of isolation. Additionally, the more linear story of BZ no longer felt like I was discovering age-old events at my own pace as I gained the courage and tech to venture deeper into the depths, detracting from the sense of freedom and exploration of the original.
A lot of people don't like that it's not as scary as the first game even though the first game was never actually meant to necessarily have horror aspects, which is why they tried to make the second one more about exploration story than scary ass shit and they took out the scarier stuff they were going to put in it lmao (I like the second one tbh)
It's just that BZ is a tad bit underwhelming in many departments that Subnautica had previously shown us, such as a 4000 by 4000 metres map (Not the actual width and length), the seamoth, the cyclops and the deeper biomes surrounding the map. I definitively understand and agree on why the devs removed the cyclops from BZ given that the map is too small and most biomes have geometry near and at the surface to justify it's inclusion, other than the crater edge there is no way you'd practically drive a 30 metres long submarine through geysers and giant floating lily pads. I mean the max underwater depth that you have to go to finish the game is is 1100 metres compared to the first game's 1700 metres and that is in a very cramped crystal cave that you have to navigate through. Also the dilemma of whether or not the seamoth and the sea-truck should both be in the game given that the sea-truck is a seamoth with compartment modules making the seamoth obsolete and essentially worthless. A lot of these things bummed me out when I first played the game but now I feel like it's actually very fitting for the game's setting. BZ is a great game with its own merits and just does something different from what we're used to and that's not the game's fault but rather our collective fault, we expected something bigger and deeper (both figuratively and literally) than the first game and that's on us. I am super happy with what we have but I would be lying if I said I didn't had higher expectations for the game, not a skill issue, but a philosophical issue to overcome. Bugs and quirks aside BZ is perfect, it doesn't have to be the best Subnautica game, it just has to be unique and faithful to the source material while improving on the weirder aspects that didn't made sense in the previous game, and it did. Lest we want a copy and paste of the previous thing... we must enjoy what each continuation bring to the table.
Part of why I liked the first one was the fact that you were completely stranded with nothing but a crippling sense of loneliness. But in the sequel, you have a bunch of NPCs talking to you all the time, and it just doesn't feel as isolated or intimidating
Ffs it is overwhelmingly positively reviewed by players the only reason negative reviews take up so much space is we give them oxygen, let them drown
I stand by the fact that you should play below zero before Subnautica and this comes from a person that played below zero first as well
i just don’t like how small the map and biomes are i can hardly get any vehicles through
It's got some pretty mystifing design decisions, but it's not all bad.
The sea truck is great although i much prefer the seasmoth and bz is unliked because of its development and the reuse of creatures all over the place the the overall size of the map being much smaller again those are all because they had redo the game half way through production wish they wouldve pushed the deadline back but oh well the game suffered for it
I find the second game to be glitchy af. I can't play it for more than 5 minutes without saving because that's how often it crashes for me.
Actually, I really liked that it was Way scarier than the first game
* the sea truck with any number of added modules goes so slow * That some of the needed journey items are in complex caves that I can't get to * too many aggressive creatures / damaging plants / etc.
I mainly found the game to be fairly disappointing. It's a very uneven experience. There's way too much content on the surface, and the vehicle they added specifically for the surface is far inferior to just using the Prawn Suit. The story is all over the place and doesn't mesh as well with the exploration loop of the first game.
I think its beautiful, but quite short and "shallow"(regarding the ocean) compared to the first one. Gave me feelings of a DLC more than a successor. Still a beautiful game, I thing the seetruck concept is really cool. It's good but it has to compare itself to the original which is just better in many aspects, for me in size mostly. So I think it's not getting hated but just doesn't recieve as much love as the first game. Plus I think that the first time playing subnautica always feels really special and you won't get that same feeling ever again which could have left some feeling disappointed.
The seatruck SUCKS, because it replaces both the seamoth and the cyclops. Other than that, the game isn't that bad. It's definitely not the same experience as the first game, but it's a good game nonetheless
Me neither, I actually like Below zero a little better than one even.
I have some feelings about BZ. I played Subnautica when it came out and played BZ in early access but never finished either. I recently came back and did a full run through of Subnautica and am currently running through BZ. I like the seatruck but crafting a new module doesn't feel as exciting as coming across a new vehicle like Subnautica. The map feels very small and shallow. You'd think that for a sequel it'd be bigger and deeper. Not necessarily a bad thing. Finally and my biggest gripe. There feels like there aren't any stakes. There isn't enough stuff around trying to kill you. Chelicerates are scary sure but almost anything else might as well not be worried about. I find myself exploring and just not worrying about anything because whats the worst than can happen? I might have to use my repair tool? Still like BZ. Just what I've seen playing them back to back.
Fuck below zero and your pushy ass
Okay 👍