Subnautica 2: All the key details on the survival-crafting sequel's dive into the abyss

The journey to getting Subnautica 2 on our PCs was once just a typical wait between progress updates, and a welcome 2025 early access release date on the horizon.

However now, it's turned into a nasty saga of gutted senior leadership figures who are threatening to sue publisher Krafton in the wake of their surprise firing, and a controversial delay. So if you were just looking forward to some underwater base-building with a dash of thalassophobia thrown in this year—sorry. You'll have to return to the orginal to get your kicks instead.

Elsewhere in actual gameplay news, we have seen a slow and steady trickle of details on the next dive—teasers from showcases, Discord updates, and even screenshots hidden within time capsules in the original Subnautica. I've been scavenging the ocean floor for anything and everything new on the survival-crafting sequel, whether it be a shrimpy tidbit or a Leviathian-sized lore drop.

Is there a Subnautica 2 early access release date?

Subnautica 2 early access has been pushed back to sometime in 2026. Whenever we do make the dive, the sequel's early access period will be available on Steam, Epic Games, and the Windows Store. There's nothing more solid than that right now, but honestly, an exact release date is the least of the sequel's problems.

As you may have heard, Subnautica 2 was supposed to release into early access in 2025, but a 2026 delay was announced a few days after publisher Krafon gutted the senior leadship of developer Unknown Worlds; Designer and director Charlie Cleveland, CEO Ted Gill, and co-founder Max McGuire were all fired.

Things go even nastier when Krafton accused the former studio heads of effectively abandoning the project, which the publisher claims caused "repeated confusion in direction and significant delays in the overall project schedule." But a lot of people are suscpious since the delay just so happens to spare Krafton from paying Unknown Worlds a $250 million bonus for releasing before the end of 2025.

Then, former designer and director Charlie Cleveland confirmed that the trio were suing Krafton, reiterating that Subnautica 2 was in a state to release into early access.

So yeah, it's a whole thing. We still know a bit about Subnautica 2 from its earliest teases, but how much of it will stay the same remains a big unknown.

Subnautica 2 trailers and footage

YouTube

Watch On

The first Subnautica 2 teaser stirred up more hype for its big ol crabs, but the 2024 Xbox presentation didn't reveal any gameplay footage. This developer vlog dives a little deeper, offering a look at building in the new alien ocean and outlining the exploration game's early access plans.

Subnautica 2 gameplay and features

Is Subnautica 2 multiplayer?

Yes, Subnautica 2 has a multiplayer mode in the works, so those of us too terrified to gaze into the deep sea abyss alone can coordinate in groups of four. Co-op was one of those things everyone wanted in the first game, but only ever existed as a Subnautica mod.

There's a whole PC Gamer write-up recalling encounters with Leviathans in Subnautica as part of our Great Moments in PC Gaming series, and I can't tell you if my giddy terror emphatically agrees or disagrees. But what I can say is, it wouldn't have taken me days to conquer the beginning of Subnautica had I brought a friend to hide behind.

What else do we know about the Subnautica 2 early access?

There's not much out there about Subnautica 2, but we've gotten a few vague teases around what to expect in the sequel. Unknown Worlds confirmed it's off to greener pastures bluer oceans on a new alien world, and from how it sounds, there's no planet safe from a disastrously wrong AI:

"You are a pioneer traveling to a distant world, but something is amiss. The ship's AI insists you carry on the mission. This world is too dangerous for humans to survive… Unless you change what it means to be human. What creatures, intelligent or otherwise, await your arrival?"

With regards to the rest of that list, we know about a few more features Unknown Worlds has planned for the Subnautica 2 early access:

• Both co-op and singleplayer adventures
• An "overhauled" building system
• Additional vehicles and craftables
• More Leviathans, with one briefly teased in Subnautica 2's roadmap
• New creatures and biomes