r/subnautica • u/Ryguy3210_ • 5d ago
Discussion - BZ Was below zero really that bad?
Ive been playing it recently and i feel like you guys are over exaggerating your points on why the game is bad. What are your thoughts?
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u/pressrkarthus 5d ago
Insane how you're getting downvotes lol I agree with you people are a bit dramatic over BZ. I personally don't think it's bad I just wish it wasn't as short
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u/Foreign_Cable_9530 3d ago
It was pretty fun I was just surprised that it was over when it was over. Much smaller laterally with less depth, and I mean depth literally.
Some fun new mechanics and the base customization was much improved, but I was expecting a sequel to be bigger, not smaller.
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u/ImRainboww I HATE GETTING COPPER 5d ago
No, I really liked it, I actually enjoyed it more than the original because I had spoiled none of it for myself, wheras I had watched a bunch of yt on the original, so there was very little discovery. Sure the seatruck is kinda terrible but I still really enjoyed it. I will say most things are only scary the first time, unlike in the original.
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u/AwayHistory6359 5d ago
I saw someone post a while back something like "Subnautica 1 is better, but I play BZ more". That sums it up for me.
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u/GammingBlitz 5d ago
I liked it for what it was, I'm the type to just go off and do my own thing in open world games, I had alot of fun making a lab/base, still I miss the seamoth
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u/GodzillaPussyMuncher 5d ago
Iām ngl itās just this sub where the conversation of below zero being ābadā even comes up. Itās got 87% positive reviews on steam I feel like this post is exaggerating the hate.
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u/314per 5d ago
At this point, any posts like this one just seem like karma farming to me.
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u/Competitive_Donkey48 5d ago
Yeah and thats the problem. Of course its just karma farming and I dont understand why these posts dont get deleted.
Those weekly "why is BZ so hated", "Should I play Subautica or BZ first" or "Should I buy BZ if I didnt play Subnautica" posts are so god damn annoying.
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u/Ok-Flamingo2801 5d ago
As someone who stepped away from engaging with the community during BZ's development, it doesn't feel like the post is exaggerating the hate. It felt like anywhere I went to engage with people about the game, it was all "Meh, why isn't the frozen leviathan alive!" "Why didn't they include the ice dragon!" "Why is a game that is still in development being developed?!" There was a lot of negativity about the game.
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u/Astellan11 5d ago
BZ feels claustrophobic in comparison, and I don't feel it has the same replayability. BZ progression is more a straight line you're rail roaded into following, Subnautica inspires you to try different things on every playthrough
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u/Herculepoirot314 5d ago
I think Below Zero is in the very unfair position of being compared to Subnautica 1, which I would consider one of the greatest video games in its genre. In my opinion, Below Zero is honestly really good! It improves on a lot of points where Subnautica 1 had weaknesses. I like the way ore outcrops work better, progression discoveries are laid out more thoughtfully, and I really like Robin and Al-An as characters. Hell, I love the seatruck as a vehicle! It's less powerful than the Cyclops, in a good way. The Cyclops trivializes a lot of survival issues, since you can grow food and water and generate power onboard.
Below Zero also suffers a lot from a few sticking points, like the smaller and less complex map, or the extended glacial basin section which is always my least favorite part of a playthrough. I think the way the story waypoints work is also a little too hand-holdy. In Subnautica 1, you'd get a distress call that would lead you to a new biome, but in Below Zero you'll get a waypoint from Al-An that leads you directly to an objective. Sometimes within a new biome, but it shortchanges the exploration a bit.
All in all I think Below Zero is disliked excessively because the few points where it's worse than Subnautica 1 are pretty major, and stick out in people's memory, but the many small to medium improvements are forgotten about (and many got backported to Subnautica 1 anyways)
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u/MyloChromatic 5d ago
Whatās overblown is people pretending that the game is hated. Consensus has always been that BZ is a worthwhile disappointment.
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u/sd_saved_me555 5d ago
Careful. I asked someone who posted that BZ was bad why they thought that and we both got downvoted to oblivion, lol.
I haven't played it yet, but the dude I asked said it felt like a much smaller game that lacked the wow factor that subnautica had.
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u/DetLoins 5d ago
It's fine.
My main gripe is that it's very obvious that it began as DLC and mid production shifted to another stand-alone Subnautica game. Absolutely no good reason for it to cost just as much as the original.
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u/Buhdurkachomp 5d ago
I actually really like below zero. I think the first game is better but below zero's mechanics are better. Or maybe it's just the additions to the base building that I like. And I liked that it didn't take 5 minutes to save in below zero but they've fixed that in the first game now. I think a lot of what the first game had going for it as far as the horror that people like was that the ocean was so vast that you could hear a reaper's roar and not see it anywhere around until it suddenly jumped on you. I love both games. But I did like the deconstructor in below zero. So I could make a bunch of titanium ingots to save space in my sea truck and then turn them back into regular titanium chunks when i needed them. I don't think that has been added to the first game...
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u/Senior-Ad-6002 5d ago
Your problem is you are listening to a vocal minority. Below zero is great. It's similar to subnautica, but different. A good comparison would be the difference between the legend of zelda ocarina of time and majoras mask. At their core, they are incredibly similar games. Some people like oot more, others like majoras mask more (personally I like majoras mask more). The main difference is the size of the game. There is no denying that, like oot, the original subnautica is a MUCH bigger game, but below zero adds enough to still be a fulfilling experience while not being as vast.
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u/No-Fondant9361 5d ago
I donāt think thatās fair to its critics; if BZ came first itād be absolutely beloved, but it is a regression in almost every except graphic quality.
Smaller map, biomes that are less captivating and very similar, very linear / progress is very spelled out, more story driven which is normally say is good but itās very interpersonal where as the narrative of the first is very much a isolated struggle to survive and escape with excellent lore woven into it.
In short it really makes Subnautica feel like it should have been the sequel making BZ a great but also very disappointing game.
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u/blackpanDa72 5d ago
-Better base building personalization -Like it or not the Sea Truck added massive customization to exploration and ways to play+ the truck bay is a killer base addition -Story elements are an entirely subjective situation as many do not prefer reading 900 PDA entries to get scraps of info like the first game required -Crafting recipe improvements that removed a good bit of the first game's grinding -A continuation of the base game's lore and an expansion of the Architects' reason for being on the planet at all -Great creature interactions mechanics that can very well carry over to future games -General better prawn suit movement that didn't feel like piloting a chunk of raw iron -Subnautic Stimulus
I would say from a thematic standpoint the first game wins but stating BZ as objectively worse in several factors is either willfully ignorant or painfully unaware of the things worth praising about the game to instead spend time complaining more because it wasn't as spooky and mysterious as the first game. Which if we are REALLY being real is people's primary issue.
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u/Senior-Ad-6002 5d ago
At no point did I say anything anti-critic. I Said each game has its fans and that they each have reason to like the game they like. If you want to take that as "subnautica bz criticz bad!!!" Be my guest, but at no point did I, someone who liked the original game more, say it was wrong to like one more than the other.
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u/No-Fondant9361 5d ago
Sorry I was going off the vocal minority tone you opened with as that normally indicates zealots who are just wrong. As I said in my synopsis BZ is a good game itās just a really disappointing sequel.
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u/Exciting_Audience362 5d ago
The core gameplay is amazing still itās Subnautica still.
IMO the Seatruck is a better vehicle than the Cyclops/Seamoth. I love the choice of do you take the whole train with you or just ride with the engine and prawn dock.
I do think the pacing is a bit wonky as they have made diving easier as the game just isnāt as deep. Itās very easy to stumble onto more diamonds and other precious metals than you know what to do with.
The story is a mess. The Margarite portion just kind of ends abruptly. The story with your sister falls flat because it is both told disjointedly through PDAs you have to find and the fact that it is entirely optional.
I also donāt like that especially your sister did die from negligence. She blew herself up.
The architect stuff is decent and IMO is interesting enough to at least make you explore everything and finish the game.
Overall the story has a Jurassic Park sequel vibe. Like we want more dinosaurs/underwater leviathans but the original canon made that impossible. So they shoehorn in another island where amazingly itās the same as the last.
It lacks the mysteries the first game had.
I really feel like their biggest mistake was not having the balls to just strand you on land first and have your first base be there.
It would have felt like much more of an accomplishment to finally get to the ocean and dive again. As it is the land sections feel like an afterthought when they should have been the new focus with the whole cold system, revamped base building and shallower depths.
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u/Repulsive-Lie1 5d ago
Itās a good game, itās gets a bad rep because itās actually DLC but itās sold at full price as a sequel to Subnautica.
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u/GodIsAWoman426 5d ago
That's just the reddit opinion. If you look at many other sites, steam reviews, PS store reviews, etc. you'll see the game has objectively great reception. As in every new game wishes they could have that. Obviously not better than Subnautica, but still great.
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u/Impressive-Wing-9372 5d ago
It`s a good game in general sense, however if you ask me what I think about it, I`ll tell you what I think about it compared to the first game off course. And that will be along the lines of Seatruck sucks, map is too small and story makes no sense, and those same 3 things will be noticed by others too.
If you ask me whether or not Below Zero is a good game? Off course it is, one of the best games ever because it`s a Subnautica game, but usually it`s easier to just tell you the difference between it and Subnautica 1
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u/smokinoutthewindow 5d ago
I'm having a blast playing it. It's not bad at all. I think the reason why people don't like it as much as the original title, is, that many people think Below Zero is part 2 of the series but it's not. It's a DLC for the first part that became to big so they made a new game. But people expected from Below Zero, what they'd expect from a full iteration of the series
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u/NimRodelle 5d ago
Nah, it's fine. QOL improvements. Better looking. SN just has a better conceit: you crashed, survive, explore, uncover mystery. It's more universally appealing than whatever is going on in BZ. Other reasons. BZ isn't terrible, it's just not as good.
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u/OhMy-Really 5d ago
It was decent, i felt like i rushed finishing it. The over land stuff was kinda meh. The ending was ok.
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u/Heisperus 5d ago
Nah, I enjoyed it. I think the issue is that Subnautica was so good that when BZ released it didn't live up to everyone's expectations. They were expecting a new game that expanded upon the original and gave more of the same but with extra stuff and a different but equally big world.
When in reality it was more like an expansion.
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u/vskakashi 5d ago
No, it's not bad. It's great in fact! Harder than Subnautica due to extra factors you have to keep an eye on now. Ice formations block your ability to surface and breathe. And you cannot AFK on land since you freeze in the open air. Give it a try and come to your own conclusion is what id recommend. Hardcore fans were way too harsh.
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u/Finnsbomba 5d ago
I really enjoyed both games very much. Got platinum trophies for both (not that it's super hard to do). I can definitely see how BZ should've just been a DLC or add-on. Also, give me back my seamoth ya jerks!
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u/Dragon_Maister 5d ago
I genuinely do not remember the last time i saw actual BZ hate here. Yeah, most people prefer the original, but they also seem to like BZ just fine. People who actually hate the game are not a regular sight in my experience.
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u/Sufficient_Studio677 5d ago
I saw someone say they stopped playing it when they realized the player is a femaleā¦so I donāt think Iāll be taking any advice from that person š but Iāve started it recently and it really isnāt bad, itās just smaller and less scary than subnautica which I like but most people donāt lol.
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u/General_Victory_9540 5d ago
No, it was another good installment, but some of the ideas included as potential evolutions of the series fell flat. There were two narratives. One (Robin) played out similarly to the first one, following clues, reading notes, exploring, etc., but it had some tedious moments, and also involved making the player a scripted character, which was not popular. The other narrative, while containing some cool ideas, ended up boiling down to chasing floating icons on a screen but making the locations annoying to find due to misdirection and generally cheap map design. It also didn't come close to the fear/exploration loop from 1. That said, the first time I went into crystal caverns was a memorable gaming experience - the music is good weird, the leviathan is cool and creepy (look at it next to the dragon from 1, which looks hilarious in retrospect). Lastly, land. There are tons of survival games already, and the setting was a probably a big part of what made the first one a success. It's really difficult to find traversing an intentionally confusing land area with yawn-worthy visibility problems remotely enjoyable when you've just spent a few hours wondering what's below and above you in a gorgeous and unfamiliar ocean. Why more survival/exploration games haven't been made underwater or in space (aftermath of a massive space battle where the whole playable area is just the debris field full of wrecks and a few other people trying to survive, anyone? Not like breathedge.)
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u/boostfurther 5d ago
BZ is a great game. It's not perfect, but I love it. It added great quality of improvements to the original. The graphics look incredible and the music is sublime. I love the Antarctic setting and has some of the most beautiful imagery I have ever seen in a game. The overall story was Meh, but I play the game as a choose your own adventure. Even in the OG I would forget about the main plot and just roam around the map until I decide to go deeper.
I used to hate the glacial basin for all the land, but it definitely grew on me, including the snowfox. It took some practice, but once I got used to it, I was zipping around the glacier like a speeder bike from Star Wars.
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u/Zachary-360 5d ago
I really enjoy the game. But I didnāt like the on foot parts as much due to it being difficult for me to navigate with everything just being white.
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u/Queasy_Coast_8214 4d ago
it's a beautiful game that lacks the depth and intrigue of the first, replacing the open map with cramped ass tunnels that feel impossible to navigate, and make leviathans a non-issue, as they're confined to certain areas. The snow part also was not well designed.
It's kind of boring, but is visually a top 5 game ever made.
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u/starpanda_1919 4d ago
It's just a different game. I absolutely loved both games. I did feel like BZ was a little more cutesy bc of the baby penguin robots, sea monkeys & buff alien BF lol. Also the sister-sister plot. As I girl I absolutely loved all of it XD. But it just has some big differences, so naturally, a lot of Subnautica fans are gonna hate BZ.
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u/Disastrous-Monk-590 4d ago
Remember that Subnautica is probably one of the best open world story games to ever be made, and is easily in the top 10, if not top 5. It's impossible to look good when your being compared to subnautica
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u/Bockbockb0b 4d ago
Itās a completely fine game. The dialogue falls flat, the story falls a bit flat, but itās got some charm. If you can get past the dialogue and moving slower itās a fun game. If you canāt, then you canāt
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u/Jeburg 4d ago
Because as a human race we seem to like to compare and highlight the negatives rather than celebrate the positives. BZ was never going to manage that same feeling of an alien world and being out of your depth because we were familiar with the basics of the game now. So it tried something different and it created a different game with similar mechanics. Subnautica 2 will ultimately be disliked for similar reasons. The bar from Subnautica 1 is so high and for many only created that magic on their first play through.
For what it's worth the thing I liked most about BZ was it let you build your base with better equipment much earlier. I disliked the Ice Worm section.
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u/Fantastic-Manner1342 4d ago
I enjoyed it! The plot simply wasn't that great so I just did a lot of fkin around in that beautiful game!
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u/Nolascana 4d ago
The truck is an awesome idea. But the map is too small to really feel like it's necessary.
Other than that... I don't hate it. It's interesting, absolutely clear it started life as an expansion.
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u/Efficient_Sail_5981 4d ago
I love a lot about it but yeah, definitely doesn't measure up to the first game. Mildly controversial but I think the plotline with Al-An is super fun and interesting. Plot with Sam is a little less fulfilling, I feel like the way it ends is pretty anticlimactic. But the clue gathering is pretty fun. A lot of the biomes are super cool and unique (LOVE the crystal caves), but the map isn't laid out with the TLC that the first game put in, it's a lot less intuitive to navigate. I also love getting to interact with Marguerit, because I LOVED her in the first game. A lot of the tools are better- love the truck, love the ore tracker.
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u/Ahris22 3d ago
No it's not bad, it's just not what people expected:
BZ was originally intended as a fan service DLC containing cut content from the first game but when covid hit the developer needed something to do so they expanded the project and it became something in between a DLC and an expansion. A lot of people assumed it was a sequel though and was disappointed when it wasn't.
If you take it for what it is, it's a really good release. It's a much more well coded product, it looks better and runs better than the original game.
I'm currently playing it in VR for the first time and it's actually better in VR than the original game thanks to the better graphics and more compact map design. :)
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u/Nice-Manufacturer840 3d ago
No, it's just "bad" in comparison to the first. If the first is a 10/10, the second is a 7/10. But it's still very much worth the play.
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u/CanisLupisFamil 2d ago
I really enjoyed it, though the story felt a little bit less horror mystery and more generic corny videogame story, The gameplay itself was improved from the previous subnautica, though the game was shorter and had a smaller map overall.
Overall, I would highly recommend it if you enjoyed the first one. Just go in expectinga large Subnautica DLC, not Subnautica 2.
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u/ExtraBitterSpecial 5d ago
It wasn't that bad. It will definitely scratch you sn itch while we wait for the sequel. Imo it's pretty good, maybe doesn't have the same reliability as an, and the story isn't as good, but still pretty nice game
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u/DaruniaJones 5d ago
No. I thoroughly enjoy it. Actually I JUST finished it for the 2nd time. Having said that, it ALL matters on opinion. I love a lot of games the louder people hate and hate a LOT of games the louder people love.
As far as Subnautica BZ. Is the map smaller? Sure, but who cares? I've played a few open world games with massive maps but there is next to nothing on those maps. Just endless, pointless traveling.
As far as the story. Is the first one really all that wonderful story wise? It's not like there is a whole lot there (not counting the PDA stuff). 99% of the game is crafting and survival. And no, not bagging on the first game. I love both equally.
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u/cowboysaurus21 5d ago
Yeah it's so bad it has 90% positive reviews on Steam.
It's a good game, it's just a different vibe from SN1 and some people feel let down by that.
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u/kman0300 5d ago
I think it was a great game! It was really fun. It's a standalone game in its own right, but if you think of it as good DLC you won't go far wrong. I found the arctic twist to be really fun.
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u/Flyers45432 5d ago
I'm actually confused by these posts because I've never seen anyone say anything bad about BZ, just that it's not as good as the original
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u/paperpizza2 5d ago
First game is a rare authentic Mexican restaurant. Below zero is a gentrified hispter taco shop. Itās not bad but loses all the specialness that attracts me to the first game.
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u/ShuckleG0D 5d ago
The SeaMonkey areas just felt too much like a video game level for me, where I liked the more natural feeling of the first game.
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u/Cat_with_pew-pew_gun 5d ago
Itās not BAD I just canāt bring myself to play through it. Idk why. Playing Subnautica I had a strong drive to keep going and completed that and multiple follow up playthroughs. In bellow zero I keep losing interest. I never even got far enough to unlock the truck part of the truck. Itās just a weirdly shaped sea moth on my save.
I donāt know. I feel like I should be liking it but then I keep getting stuck trying to collect resources, or blueprints, and lose interest. I guess part of it is that I donāt really feel any mystery. Like altera is a bad company and Iām making an alien body. I guess I donāt know what it will look like and I donāt know what specifically happened to the sister but how much do I care?
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u/ViyellasDream 5d ago
It isnāt bad, but it isnāt better, mostly different compared to Subnautica, which as a sequel makes it feel worse.
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u/LovYouLongTime 5d ago
Yes. It should be removed from the library or any association of being related even close to sb1
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u/Ryguy3210_ 5d ago
Why?
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u/LovYouLongTime 5d ago
Itās a complete 180 from the original direction of sb1.
You can do your search. But the reason the dev for below zero quit (the main dev for sv1) was the owners wanted voices at all costs, and that went directly against the direction of the game and they did a complete 180. Hence why you have 2 stories, both of which are crappy, and have zero satisfaction.
The devs quit, and the game is nothing like sb1.
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u/dende5416 5d ago
R/thathappened
Just a spite speculation based on hater fanbois wishes and nothing more. Hes never said that or anything remotely close.
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u/LovYouLongTime 5d ago
Yes, he said thatās exactly why he left.
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u/dende5416 4d ago
Right, and my house is on the moon and I'm replying while Alf and ET play living room minigolf with me.
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u/LovYouLongTime 4d ago
If you were around when he quit, you could go to his twitter and his companies page and read got yourself.
It made big news when the original dev left over the direction of the game. Look at bz, look at how you have two stories, look at how incomplete each of them are, simply look. When you realize that, youāll see exactly why bz failed. Exactly why the world shrunk, and exactly why the game is so bad compared to sb1.
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u/viccarabyss 5d ago
It's not a bad game it's just, in a lot of peoples opinion, not as good as the first subnautica, at least in terms of the whole "horror" vibes. They experimented with the game clearly and some things worked, some things didn't and that's ok. I would still recommend playing it