First footage of Subnautica 2: co-op, bioluminescence and a new underwater world

The Unknown Worlds studio has revealed for the first time what Subnautica 2 will look like in-game. The video released by the developers not only gave a glimpse of an early build of the sequel to the popular underwater survival game, but also outlined key milestones on the way to an early access launch scheduled for late 2025.

Subnautica 2 will be the third game in the universe – following 2018’s original and the standalone add-on Below Zero, released in 2021. Although the project was officially announced back in 2022, until recently fans had only seen a cinematic trailer released last October. And now, the first real gameplay footage.

New world, co-op, and mysterious creatures

In a fresh video titled Road to Early Access Road to Early Access the project’s lead game designer Anthony Gallegos talked about the upcoming innovations and showed brief snippets of gameplay. Sections of the new world can be seen on screen, including the equivalent of the Safe Shallows starting zone from the first installment – now on a completely different planet. The camera also flies through an underground bioluminescent cave and shows off a few new underwater creatures.

A strange creature with a fan-shaped tail appears in the footage, clumsily moving across the seafloor, and a large fish bobbing on a rock. You can also see two-player co-op swimming and elements of base-building – confirmation that multiplayer will be an important part of the sequel.

The developers emphasize that this is still a very early version of the game: visual and gameplay elements will be refined and expanded. But you can already get a sense of the atmosphere and direction the project is taking.

The developers emphasize that it’s still very early in the game’s development.

Early Access: launching this year, development for years

Although an exact release date has yet to be announced, it is known that Subnautica 2 will launch in Early Access later in 2025 on PC (Steam and Epic Games Store) and Xbox Series X|S, and will also be part of the Game Pass catalog. Unknown Worlds says the initial version will include a co-op mode, multiple biomes, the rudiments of a storyline, a variety of creatures, and items for crafting.

Development will continue apace well after release, with the studio planning to develop the game in Early Access for two to three years. That means that with the release of the base version, the long road of expanding and polishing content will begin, just as it did with the original Subnautica.