Diving into the deep depths of an endless ocean full of killer creatures can make anyone want to defend themselves with lethal force, but the team behind Subnautica 2 are sticking to their guns on a no-kill rule for the survival-exploration game.
In a letter to the community, the developers at Unknown Worlds thanked players for feedback and acknowledged that predator encounters are unbalanced. However, they also confirmed that the ability to kill enemies won’t be added to the game, despite player frustration over dying to overpowered fishy foes.
Unknown Worlds confirms no-kill policy
Subnautica 2 has only been out for a handful of days, selling millions of copies in less than 24 hours and hitting a peak of 467,582 players on Steam, according to SteamDB. With all this attention on the highly anticipated title, any unbalanced gameplay (which is always likely in an early access game) is going to trigger a lot of complaining from the community.
The number one complaint so far has been the inability to kill enemy creatures during predator encounters due to ineffective escape mechanics. Unknown Worlds had previously stated that they don’t want to give players the ability to kill in the game, and a recent letter to the community has reaffirmed that position.
The developers wrote, “we have heard the strong request for more direct ways to deal with hostile creatures, including the ability to kill them. We understand where that request is coming from. When avoidance and mitigation tools do not feel effective, it is natural for players to want a more decisive solution.
Our current direction is not based on judging players who want combat, and it is not because we think those players are wrong. Subnautica has always been built around vulnerability, exploration, and survival rather than traditional weapon-based combat. We believe that this is part of what makes the game unique. However, that design only works if creature encounters feel fair, readable, and engaging. Right now, we know we have more work to do to achieve that.”
Updates and balances to Subnautica 2 are coming soon
However, the developers did acknowledge that, in its current state, the game feels unbalanced and it’s understandable that players would want more options for survival. To solve this, Unknown Worlds has promised to balance predator encounters, with upcoming changes to “creature aggression timing, aggro range, flare effectiveness, Survival Tool effectiveness, and creature interactions with vehicles and bases.” These patches and improvements will come out within the next few weeks, hopefully solving this specific player concern.
Finally, Unknown Worlds clarified that an early access game is a collaboration between its developers and its players, writing “we will not always be able to make every requested change, but we do have a responsibility to listen carefully, explain our decisions respectfully, and show through our actions that player feedback is shaping the game.”
While some fans might be disappointed in not having the ability to bring the fight to the fish, Subnautica 2’s developers have a clear vision for their game that does set it apart in the wildly popular survival-crafting subgenre. Hopefully the upcoming patches will improve the survival rate for predator encounters and make players feel better (though not entirely safe) exploring this strange new, watery world.
