You have crash-landed on an alien water world where you have to find food and resources. You also have the uncanny ability to craft very advanced and very large items, which takes you out of the survival-horror area and into the realm of an exploratory sandbox adventure.
Explore an underwater wilderness with Subnautica. Your primary aim is to survive, but there is a big emphasis on crafting. You have to survive a series of different tests, from attacks from nasty sea creatures to patching the holes in a sinking craft before you drown. The open-world element helps Subnautica stand apart from similar games since many other games have set levels with clear objectives.
Games Similar To Subnautica
The list below consists of games that have similar gaming elements to Subnautica. Subnautica is not all about swimming around shooting fish, there are already plenty of games on the market that are like that. The list below includes games with amusing fundamentals such as wilderness survival and various forms of item construction.
Stranded Deep
Scavenge, discover and survive. You are trapped on a dessert island after a plane crash and you have to survive a series of different scenarios in order to stay alive and hopefully get rescued.
Stranded Deep has far more in common with Subnautica than any of the others on this list. It is more like a primitive version of Subnautica. Instead of being stuck on an alien planet, you are stranded on an island. Instead of complex crafting tools, you have to cobble together a few sticks and stones to make spears. In Subnautica, you create highly advanced sea craft to help you explore further out to sea, whereas with Stranded Deep, you have to tie together a few logs to make a raft.
Stranded Deep also allows you to swim underwater, and you occasionally get attacked by something with more teeth that brain cells.
Rust
You are stuck in the wilderness with only your wits and a few hand tools to help you survive. The game has many similarities to MineCraft, especially during the earlier periods when you are hitting trees with an axe to get wood.
In Subnautica, you have to use what you have to slowly progress and make your life a little more livable. Rust doesn’t allow you to craft highly advanced craft, but it does allow you to better your survival chances by gathering things around you and building items that are more sophisticated.
Don’t Starve
Don’t Starve has many similar features to Rust. The way the game works, the way it is set up, and the way it is played is wildly different to Rust, but you do have to survive in a hostile environment, gather things, and craft things to help you live more comfortably. In Subnautica, you build advanced craft and tools, whereas things are kept far more simple with Don’t Starve.
H1Z1
Subnautica demands that you are resourceful as possible in order to survive. However, with Subnautica, the biggest threat is from your environment. If you want better stuff, then you have to take bigger risks.
H1Z1 forces you to be as resourceful as possible, but the threat is impending and constant. You are surrounded by the living dead, and you are in constant danger while you hunt for the very things you need to survive.
Terraria
You are tasked with surviving by collecting various items and using them to improve your odds of making it through the night. Just like Rust, H1Z1 and Don’t Starve, you have to survive by scavenging, but there is no underwater element as there is with Subnautica.
The Long Dark
The long dark is is an exploration-survival experience that challenges solo players to use independent thought. Some people do not care for the game because its far less action packed then your typical game, which is fine if you like a quiet, atmospheric game.
Dive: The Medes Islands Secret
Admittedly, this game is mostly only on this list because its an underwater game (to be fair there are few on the list). It is a Wii game where you use the remote to direct your swimmer around much like how Hungry Shark is played.
Endless Ocean
Endless Ocean is another Wii game, but the graphics are far better than the Medes Island Secret. Endless Ocean is a third-person over-the-shoulder game with a first-person option. It offers the chance of a relaxing swim around the muggy depths of the ocean, where your job is to collect and admire the marine life. It is a very laid-back game that has far less to do/complete/collect than Subnautica. With that said, if you enjoy the relaxing underwater elements in Subnautica, you may get a kick out of this Wii game. The developers have really pushed the “Relaxing” notion with Endless Ocean. There is even the option of sitting on the deck of your boat and watching the sea.
The Forest
You are the lone survivor of a plane crash where you have to use all your resourcefulness to hunt and protect yourself from cannibalistic mutants.
Astroneer
Colonize planets by creating structures and mining resources to help you build up your settlement.
7 Days to Die
It has a very strong gathering and crafting constituent that is reminiscent of what you do when playing Subnautica.
MineCraft
When playing Subnautica, you have to find things and craft new items and that is very vaguely similar to what you do in MineCraft.
