play station official magazine

089

REVIEW

HOW TO... GET THE FIBRE MESH

There’s one item that

seems to be needed for

everything early on, but

isn’t anywhere to be

found, and that’s fibre

mesh. You need to make

the knife and then use it

on the Creepvine to get

Creepvine samples.

Then use the fabricator

to make the mesh. Easy.

THE FIRST FIVE HOURS...

1 We wake up to find the room’s on fire. Quick, put it out with a fire

extinguisher! 2 Hmm, people’s possessions are scattered all around the

debris of our spaceship. That’s pretty sad. 3 We’d better learn how to

catch, cook and eat fish before we starve. 4 These pipelines will help us

get oxygen underwater, and increase what we can build and ultimately

do. 5 We’ve placed our first foundation for a lab. Now it begins...

13245

IS IT BETTER THAN?

YES

The set environment

makes for a more

focused experience,

which proves a huge

difference.

NO

Fallout’s also got

construction and a

curated world, but

better production

values and combat.

YES

Abzû’s stylised

graphics make for a

striking game, but

Subnautica adds peril

and deep construction.

STAT PACK

Number of

minutes you have

to wait for a new

health pack to be

generated in

your pod.

Number of

players. You

dive alone. This

is the very

definition of a

solo adventure.

The century the

game is set in

• we’d better get
  cracking with
  our spaceship
  building, eh?

62 1 30 22

The number

of seconds it

takes to load the

game world

when you first

begin playing.

structures can suddenly load
in all around you, and diving
down can see the bottom
appear in big square chunks.
Texture variety and quality is
lacking in places, though the
game certainly has moments
of extreme beauty. Crucially,
you’ll alwayswantto believe in
its world, to see what it has in
store for you next.
The scanning mechanism is
a brilliant way to allow you to
learn about this alien world,
while also putting your fate
literally in your own hands as
you find broken items, learn
their blueprints, and replicate
them in your fabricator. The
sense of achievement and
table-turning on what at first
appeared to be insurmountable
odds is wonderful.

DROWN AND OUT
The game isn’t easy, and there’s
a period of a few hours where
your oxygen tank won’t be big
enough for what you’ll want
to do, which means you often

have just five to ten seconds

to explore the sea floor before

swimming up again to the

surface. There are ways around

that, but the frequent threat of

drowning may give you some

anxiety. Still, there is a danger-

free creation mode (and a

one-life survival mode if you’re

ultra-brave), and the main game

is generally well balanced, if a

touch on the difficult side.

Subnautica tackles several

genres all at once and somehow

delivers on all of them. Few

games take one premise and

execute it so impressively. So

take the plunge, avoid Google,

lock yourselfaway for the

month, and discover a world

you’ll never forget.

VERDICT

THE OPM BREAKDOWN

Right Some
sights, like this
cave, are truly
breathtaking,
while others
might scare you.

Below This
watery game’s
construction
system is simply
magnificent.

Above left Your PDA talks to you, and the script is full of subtle humour.

Subnautica’s lack of graphical

polish is excusable given the

ambition, scope, and versatility

of what you’re able to do. Few

games are this consistently

surprising, let alone this well

designed. Justin Towell

5% Laughing at

the names of the

marine life.

‘Bladder Fish’

shouldn’t be

funny, but...

25% Trying not

to drown. Or

starve. Or die of

dehydration.

20%Worrying

that the destroyed

pods you find are

similar to yours.

3%Resisting

the temptation to

Google how to do

something. Don’t.

Give. In.

WHAT YOU DO IN... SUBNAUTICA

30%

Exploring the sea

floor, hunting for

resources to

build and fix

things.

17% Scanning

everything,

including yourself

• hey, it’s fun.