Best Of

Having recently finished Subnautica and started Below Zero, I have to say that there is one mechanic that really didn't translate well into the new game.

Running around looking for wrecked parts at the bottom of the ocean/caves.
Seriously, why do I have to scavenge for data that can be sent to me by the orbital station that I can literally see from the surface?

Now I get that it's a big, and very important, part of the progression. But the whole reason why it worked so well in the first game is that it was a narrative mechanic, it was literally a part of the story. In Below Zero, it's not only not a part of the story, it's working against the story.
Luckily, it can be swapped for another mechanic that not only fits the new plot, but also actively awards exploration.

Remember how the Alterra corp is the kind of douches that literally claim ownership of your salvage? Remember the poster in the original base that promised a reward if you found alien tech?
Would anyone be surprised if they demanded payment for transferring blueprints to a stranded employee?

It could be implemented with a research tree, or revealed recipes as the story progresses. Either way it's better that the current copy paste of a mechanic that doesn't translate well from one game to the other.

I believe pets could be expanded on making them more rewarding. For example you could have a pet that keep aggressive animals away from your home go to get though a passage you need a pet because the animal garding it is scare of them.

Also I think you should add more information about the Alterra group like a photo if where you came from and more information like that providing more of a pre story. You could also add information about your character like a news article describing what happens when he got back and what he did about the trillion dollar debt. Also I would like some more information about the precursors without loosing the mysterious vibe. It will be hard but you could add something like they live outside federation space conducting research and trying to eradicate the disease and they were on the subnautica planet because thats Where is originated from. You could do this in a data Download.

Subnautica was great, one of the best games ever and will below zero go on sale soon because i Have $20 on steam and I don’t want to add more money

AC_AwesomeCraft wrote: »

Shady_one wrote: »

bornstellar wrote: »

Cochonou wrote: »

As a small improvement, I would like to see animations for the base ladders. Those are the only instances during which you instantly "warp" in the game. Even the Cyclops ladder has animations ! And considering the speed at which the player climbs ladders, it does not have to be as long as this.

I see you point and I think they should be added in game, with a caveat. The animations should be toggleable. Seeing the animations the first ten times strengthens the player's sense of immersion. But after the 30th time it's annoying. They need to add a global toggle button to turn all animations off if the player wants too. I'm sure it would help with frames and resource consumption.

You forget about another thing - base ladders can be veeeeery long. Imagine animation of climbing a ladder that connects surface level with 2500+ depth?

There can be a length limit to the ladder, making it only run the animation under certain conditions.
If your ladder can only be three sections in length or shorter, otherwise it will automatically teleport you to the bottom.

I don't think it necessarily has to be either-or. Perhaps the game can animate the top and bottom sections of the ladder regardless of length, and any sections in between get a sort of fast camera sweep to show that some length of ladder is being climbed without every step on every rung being animated. So for example, you start climbing from the bottom, then the camera sweeps upward with some motion blur, and then you get to watch yourself climb the last ladder section.