Last week, Unknown Worlds made the announcement that they would be putting Subnautica: Below Zero up for Early Access today, and that with the release, there would be a livestream to show off the cinematic trailer for what to except in the upcoming DLC. They did not disappoint:
The trailer shows off a lot of the location, the monsters, and a really cool hoverbike. But having checked into the stream, it’s more than just information about a hoverbike and large fire-nosed pointy snake monster.
Players in the DLC will take on the role of a woman named Robin, who is a scientist sent to observe this icy land of Planet 4546B and the lady on that really cool hoverbike. And of course, she comes across some familiar technology from the main game. Though upon stumbling upon it, her communications are cut, and she’s left alone to figure things out.
That, up in the top right corner, is Hugh Jeremy, a developer for Unknown Worlds and the host of the livestream that showed off some of the details and plans of Subnautica: Below Zero. He didn’t want to get too far into the gameplay, as he stated there is currently only 1-2 hour available for story of the first act planned. Between tidbits of gameplay, Jeremy spoke with different developers who have been hard at work making Below Zero a playable game.
The first person he spoke to was Cory Strader, the creative director of the game, as well as the creative director of the cinematic trailer. Strader shows off some of the storyboard for the trailer, and talked about what his vision was for the trailer and how it came to life.
One of the things that Jeremy and Jess Damerst (another Unknown Worlds developer) spoke about was how in Subnautica, they had planned an entire arctic biome for the game. But due to making sure that the story and areas would have more focus, it was cut. Thus, they took all those designs from that original arctic biome and transferred it into its own game, and so Below Zero was in the works.
The last person that was interviewed was Production Lead David Kalina, who talked about some of their plans in the future going forward with the Early Access. One of the things that Kalina mentioned was that there would be an instant patch coming through that would fix and update things that they spotted before early access went live. He also brought up that in 4 weeks time they would be adding a new underwater vehicle called the “Sea Truck” to the game. He continues to talk about how he encourages players to give as much feedback as they can, even if it doesn’t seem like much.
While Subnautica: Below Zero is still unfinished and very much unpolished, early access for the game is currently live as of one hour ago, and can be purchased on Steam, the Epic Games store, or the Discord Store for $19.99 USD. The livestream can be rewatched here on the Subnautica YouTube channel if you missed it.