There’s a reason that famous YouTubers like Markiplier have posted 70+ episode series of them playing Subnautica. Exploring the depths of an unknown planet while trying to survive in a foreign aquatic environment can be stressful but also immensely enjoyable.
One of the many things that people love about Subnautica is that it has minimal hand-holding, meaning that players have to work out for themselves how to survive. For those who want a bit of guidance, however, here are some tips players can use to be on top of their game, get the most out of Subnautica, and find success while exploring the watery depths.
18 Prioritize Oxygen Tank Upgrades
Unsurprisingly, the oxygen tank is one of the most important items in the underwater game Subnautica. Despite this, many people don’t upgrade their oxygen tank until they are hours into the game, either because they want to do other things first or they simply don’t know that they can.
Although it can be time-consuming at the start of the game when players are at their most excited to explore, it’s worth prioritizing oxygen tank upgrades as they will pay off in the long run due to letting players spend considerably longer underwater.
17 Carefully Consider Where To Put Your Base
Base-building is one of the best features of Subnautica. Along with being a well-developed gameplay mechanic, bases in Subnautica are similar to bonfires in Dark Souls in the sense that they give players a reassuring resting place from the dangers that surround them.
However, players should be very careful when placing their base, as putting it too close to where deadly leviathans like to roam could make the base inaccessible. As such, it’s important to fully scout the surrounding area before deciding on a spot for the base. Moreover, it’s time-consuming to build bases, so it’s worth picking a spot that’s positioned near important areas, as most players only build two or three bases throughout the campaign.
16 Never Travel To The Map’s Edge
Subnautica differentiates itself from most modern open-world games by not having a map. This is great for driving home the idea that players are truly stranded on a planet that they know very little about, and also ramps up the difficulty significantly.
When players reach the edge of the map, they will be greeted with the message “Warning. Entering ecological dead zone. The prospect for survival is fast approaching zero.” In real life, this is a sign to immediately U-turn and never come back. However, to gamers, this sounds like a sign that an important area is near.
Unfortunately, this couldn’t be further from the truth in Subnautica, as all that awaits players is a dark void consisting of constantly respawning Ghost Leviathans. The area is known as the World Edge and essentially acts as the scariest invisible wall in gaming history, designed purely to keep players on the map.
15 Sit Down To Stop Hunger And Hydration From Draining
For someone who hasn’t played a Subnautica game, this tip may seem redundant to the point of being bizarre. However, anyone familiar with the game’s mechanics will know just how valuable it can be to stop hunger and hydration from depleting. The two meters are constantly ticking down in Subnautica, and the player will die if either of them diminishes.
Once crafting a base, it’s worth having a chair to sit in when scrolling through the PDA, as it will pause the meter’s depletion.
14 Only Cook Fish When You’re Ready To Eat It
Following on from the previous point, catching and cooking fish is one of the most common ways to refill the hunger meter. Consequently, when preparing for a long trip, many players will cook a ton of fish, thinking that they’ll be consumable at any point like the bottled water. Unfortunately, this will teach an important lesson to players the hard way, as fish will turn rotten and be inedible after a frustratingly short amount of time.
13 Always Carry At Least Two Beacons
Unlike most open-world games, Subnautica doesn’t feature an in-game map. Unsurprisingly, this can make traversing Planet 4546B incredibly difficult, as the underwater biomes don’t exactly have landmarks or signposts.
Thankfully, there is a middle-ground solution, as players can craft beacons that will constantly display their location. Therefore, when players are about to travel to a new biome or location for the first time, they should take the time to craft at least two beacons to ensure that they can return to key areas.
12 Color Code Beacons
For players who take the previous tip into account, they will soon run into the issue of having so many beacons that they’re hard to differentiate. This can become a significant issue when needing to return to a base quickly, as a Reaper Leviathan isn’t going to give the player a chance to work out what direction to aim for when escaping.
Subnautica lets players color code their beacons, which doesn’t serve as a way to make pretty patterns but to be able to differentiate between beacons at a quick glance.
11 Craft The Prawn Suit’s Grappling Hook As Soon As Possible
The Prawn Suit is one of the most exciting creations that players can craft in Subnautica. The suit allows players to walk along the ocean floor and also makes them extremely difficult to kill, even from the intimidating Ghost and Reaper Leviathans.
Consequently, many players will dismiss the message that they receive when crafting the Prawn Suit, which states, “It is normal when first piloting a Prawn suit to feel a sense of limitless power. Prawn operators receive weeks of training to counteract this phenomenon. You will have to make do with self-discipline.” The player will soon realize the importance of this message when venturing too deep, as they can easily get stuck in a cave and be unable to leave due to the suit’s inability to float. So, to prevent any such issues, players should craft the Grappling Hook upgrade as soon as possible, which will let them Spider-Man their way out of sticky situations.
10 Save Frequently
Subnautica is absolutely a blast to play but having so much content leads to it having quite a few glitches. No one wants to be playing only to have a devastating glitch take their progress away. Seasoned players know to save their games often to avoid this happening. Besides, there’s no shame in save scumming if it makes the game more fun for players.
9 Plant Pots Are Better Than Growbeds
It’s easy to just start making Growbeds without thinking about efficiency, so casual players tend to miss how Plant Pots offer vastly more grow space. For example, players could fit a single grow bed in an Observatory, or they could fit ten Plant Pots. It might take more crafting time, but players that want to be efficient with their space should take note.
8 Taming Stalkers
Why go out and get supplies when the local fauna can do it? A lot of players miss out on the fact that it is possible to tame the Stalkers in the game. While the taming is only temporary, all players have to do is feed the Stalker any kind of catchable fish or give it metal salvage.
Once a Stalker is tamed, they will go out and bring gifts of metal salvage back to the player. As long as the player keeps them fed regularly, this can allow them to have a lot of salvaging done using fish-based labor. It can be a fantastic time saver!
7 Travel Light
The best players don’t bring along more equipment than they actually need when heading out of their base. The more equipment players carry, the slower they move. Players also swim slower when they have an item equipped in their hands. Especially since players will likely need to bring back salvage with them, they don’t want to already have their inventories almost full when setting out.
6 Get Unlimited Camera Drones
Not everyone likes using glitches to their advantage, but those that do will love the ability to have unlimited Camera Drones in the game. To do this, players need to build the Scanner Room and then take the Camera Drones out of their sockets. Once they do, they should deconstruct the Scanner Room, then rebuild it.
The new room will then have two new Camera Drones inside of it. All players have to do is rinse and repeat to have as many of these drones as their heart desires.
5 Cyclops Tricks And Tips
There are loads of ways to make the most out of the Cyclops once players build it, but not everyone catches a few curious mechanics the submarine has. Players that are about to be chased by aquatic creatures can simply turn off the engine which makes everything ignore the vessel.
Plus, the interior and exterior lights of the Cyclops do not drain power. This can be perfect for players that need an area to be a bit brighter that they are exploring without having to drain batteries on other light sources to do so.
4 Creatively Craft Batteries
Batteries are incredibly important to craft in Subnautica, but it can be a pain to get the resources to do so. However, there is an easier way to make batteries that most players miss. All they have to do is make a Repair Tool.
Repair Tools only take one each of Silicon Rubber, Cave Sulfur, and Titanium to create. Once they are made, players can simply take the battery out of it and use it for whatever else they wanted. It’s far more efficient and uses fewer resources than making batteries normally.
3 Crafting With Dead Batteries
Sure, players can make a battery charger, but there is an even more clever way to use dead batteries in the game. Anything that requires batteries for crafting does not require the battery to be charged to do so. It’s much better than throwing dead batteries onto the seafloor if they’re taking up space until that charger can be created.
2 Cooking With Thermal Vents
Everyone wants to get the Thermoblade as it’s incredibly useful for many things. One of those things is to be able to easily cook fish on the go. Players can’t get it right away, but there’s another way to cook fish on the go. Players can use the Propulsion Cannon to grab one and hold it over a thermal vent until it erupts. The fish will be made into cooked form and can be munched on right away.
1 Make Use Of The Wiki
Look, there’s no shame in admitting that we all need some help sometimes. There’s no way someone without encyclopedia-like knowledge has memorized everything possible in Subnautica. Fortunately, loads of experts have come together to put all that information out on the Subnautica Wiki. Don’t be afraid to look things up if they are hard to figure out in-game — it doesn’t make the game any less enjoyable.
Subnautica is out now on PC, Xbox One, Xbox Series X/S, PlayStation 4, PlayStation 5, Nintendo Switch
