Is Subnautica Multiplayer in 2023? Information Revealed
Updated Jun 22, 2023
Is Subnautica Multiplayer in 2023?
Subnautica does not have official multiplayer functionality. The developers made a deliberate decision to keep the game a single-player experience due to the intended atmosphere of exploration, discovery, and terror. Implementing multiplayer would have required significant time and resources, potentially delaying the game's release and compromising certain features.
The developers even mentioned that incorporating multiplayer would have necessitated a complete engine overhaul, making it unlikely for multiplayer functionality to be added in the future.
However, there is a mod called Nitrox that enables multiplayer capabilities in Subnautica. By installing the Nitrox mod and following the necessary steps, you can play Subnautica with your friends. The Nitrox mod is compatible with the Steam, Epic Games, and Windows versions of Subnautica.
To play Subnautica multiplayer with the Nitrox mod, you need to download and install it from the official Nitrox website. The website provides detailed instructions on how to install the mod and offers support through their Discord server. Console players, unfortunately, do not have access to the Nitrox mod, limiting multiplayer capabilities to the aforementioned platforms.
Installing Nitrox involves extracting the mod files using an unzipping tool, running the Nitrox Launcher as an administrator, and specifying the Subnautica installation location. Setting up a Nitrox server allows you to host games for your friends, and they can join by following the installation steps and connecting to your server using the IP address you provide.
While the Nitrox mod provides a solution for multiplayer gameplay, it is important to note that it is a third-party modification and not an official feature of Subnautica. As of my knowledge cutoff, the information provided should still be accurate, but it is always recommended to check for updates and official announcements regarding multiplayer support in Subnautica.
Subnautica Overview
Subnautica, developed and published by Unknown Worlds Entertainment, is an immersive action-adventure game that places players in the role of a non-essential systems maintenance chief, often referred to as the "janitor" within the Subnautica community. The game follows the protagonist, who becomes the sole survivor of a spaceship crash on a mysterious alien planet. The vast oceanic planet serves as the backdrop for the player's exploration and adventure, offering a captivating and perilous environment to navigate.
In Subnautica, players are tasked with various objectives, including scavenging for crucial resources, navigating the dangers posed by the diverse local flora and fauna, and ultimately finding a means of escape. The game incorporates elements of survival gameplay, requiring players to manage their resources wisely and make strategic decisions to ensure their survival in this unfamiliar and hostile world.
Subnautica initially entered early access for Windows in December 2014, followed by a release for macOS in June 2015 and Xbox One in May 2016. It transitioned out of early access in January 2018 for macOS and Windows, with subsequent releases for PlayStation 4 and Xbox One in December 2018. The physical console versions were published by Gearbox Publishing.
The game continued to expand its reach with the release of versions for Nintendo Switch, PlayStation 5, and Xbox Series X/S in May 2021. By January 2020, Subnautica had already sold over five million copies, showcasing its popularity among gamers. Additionally, a sequel titled Subnautica: Below Zero was released on May 14, 2021, further expanding the Subnautica universe.
Subnautica Gameplay
Subnautica is an immersive survival action-adventure game that takes place in a vast open world, allowing players to experience the thrilling challenges of being stranded on an alien planet. Playing from a first-person perspective, you assume the role of Ryley Robinson, the sole survivor of the crashed spacecraft Aurora, who finds himself marooned on the distant oceanic planet known as 4546B, located in the Andromeda Galaxy.
The primary objective of the game is to navigate and explore the treacherous depths of the ocean while ensuring your survival and progressing through the storyline. To achieve this, you must gather essential resources and discover valuable blueprints, which enable you to craft tools, construct bases, and even build submersible vehicles. Interacting with the diverse and often dangerous wildlife that inhabits the planet is also a crucial aspect of the game.
Subnautica presents a range of formidable threats to your survival, including aggressive creatures such as Crabsquids, Bone Sharks, Ampeels, Stalkers, and Crashfish, as well as colossal Leviathan-class organisms like the Reaper, Sea Dragon, and Ghost Leviathans.
While the majority of the gameplay takes place underwater, there are two hidden islands to explore, and the dynamic day-and-night cycle affects visibility, adding to the immersive experience. At the beginning of the game, players are offered a choice between four difficulty modes:
Survival mode challenges players to manage their declining health, hunger, thirst, and oxygen levels. If the player succumbs to these dangers, they will respawn, but some items will be lost from their inventory.
Freedom mode provides a similar experience to survival mode but removes the need to monitor hunger and thirst. Hardcore mode introduces permanent death, meaning that if the player dies, they cannot respawn, and their save file is permanently deleted. Additionally, there are no warnings about low oxygen levels, increasing the risk.
Creative mode offers an unrestricted experience, removing depleting aspects such as health and thirst. All blueprints are unlocked, and crafting does not require resources. Furthermore, the player is provided with additional equipment, including submersibles, a stasis rifle, a Seaglide, a mobile vehicle bay, and a propulsion cannon, all of which operate without needing an energy source.
Subnautica also supports virtual reality (VR) headsets like the HTC Vive and Oculus Rift, enhancing the immersive gameplay experience. Players have the option to use a keyboard and mouse or a game controller alongside their VR setup.
Subnautica Plot
In the late 22nd century, Subnautica's story unfolds in a future where space travel is common. The Alterra Corporation builds a massive spacecraft called the Aurora, which embarks on its maiden voyage to a distant system with the mission of constructing space travel infrastructure. However, the crew is unaware of an additional objective: to search for and potentially rescue the crew of the Degasi, a ship that crash-landed on planet 4546B a decade earlier.
As the Aurora performs a gravity slingshot maneuver around 4546B, it comes under attack from an unknown energy pulse and crashlands on the planet. While some crew members escape in escape pods, only the player character, Ryley Robinson, survives.
During the game, Ryley manages to repair his Life Pod's radio and receives messages from a trading ship called the Sunbeam, led by Captain Avery Quinn. Quinn communicates with Ryley and promises to take him home, planning to pick him up at a location called Mountain Island upon their arrival.
However, as the Sunbeam descends towards 4546B, it is targeted and destroyed by a colossal alien facility. If the player manages to disable the facility before the Sunbeam's arrival, Quinn informs Ryley that they are unable to land due to a debris field and will instead report the situation to the Alterra Corporation.
Ryley discovers records left behind by the Degasi's crew, revealing that initially, only three crew members survived the crash. However, later on, two of the survivors are confirmed to have died, leaving only one presumed dead. Ryley also learns about the existence of an ancient alien species called the Precursors, who arrived on 4546B approximately a thousand years ago in search of a cure for the highly infectious Kharaa Bacterium.
The Precursors inadvertently unleashed the Kharaa on the planet, resulting in the death of over 140 billion individuals due to a failure in quarantine procedures. Throughout their exploration of various planets, the Precursors eventually discovered the Sea Emperor Leviathan, a creature capable of producing an enzyme that could cure Kharaa. However, the lone living Sea Emperor was too old to produce the enzyme effectively, and the Precursors were unable to force the creature's eggs to hatch.
In their efforts to understand the egg-hatching process, the Precursors attempted to study the eggs of a related Leviathan species, the fire-breathing Sea Dragon. Unfortunately, the mother of the Sea Dragon destroyed a Precursor research facility and released Kharaa into the planet's ecosystem. In response, the Precursors activated a facility called the Quarantine Enforcement Platform, a powerful weapon that prevents ships from leaving or landing on the planet, including the Degasi, Aurora, and Sunbeam.
The Sea Emperor, who desires the freedom of her offspring, establishes a telepathic connection with Ryley and guides him towards the facility where she is being held captive. She provides Ryley with information on how to hatch her eggs, and he successfully accomplishes this, ultimately being cured by the enzyme produced by the young Sea Emperors.
Ryley then disables the Quarantine Enforcement Platform, a task that only someone unaffected by Kharaa can achieve, and constructs a rocket using blueprints acquired from the captain's quarters in the crashed Aurora. After escaping the planet, the Sea Emperor communicates with Ryley one final time, promising that they will "go together" despite their differences.
Subnautica System Requirements
Operating System
Windows Vista SP2 or newer, 64-bit
Processor
Intel Haswell 2 cores / 4 threads @ 2.5Ghz or equivalent
Memory
4 GB RAM
Graphics
Intel HD 4600 or equivalent
DirectX
Version 11
Storage
20 GB available space
VR Support
SteamVR. Keyboard or gamepad required
Requirement
Minimum Specifications
Is Subnautica Multiplayer in 2023? - FAQs
Subnautica does not have official multiplayer functionality.
Subnautica is an immersive action-adventure game developed and published by Unknown Worlds Entertainment. Players take on the role of a non-essential systems maintenance chief who becomes the sole survivor of a spaceship crash on an alien planet.
Yes, Subnautica incorporates elements of survival gameplay. Players need to manage their resources, monitor health, hunger, and oxygen levels, and make strategic decisions to ensure their survival in the challenging underwater environment.
Subnautica was initially released for Windows in December 2014 and later expanded to macOS, Xbox One, PlayStation 4, Nintendo Switch, PlayStation 5, and Xbox Series X/S. It has a wide availability across various gaming platforms.
The main objectives in Subnautica are to explore the oceanic planet, gather essential resources for survival, navigate the dangers posed by the local flora and fauna, and ultimately find a way to escape from the planet.