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 [[link]] 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 . 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 was announced a few days after publisher Krafon of developer Unknown Worlds; Designer and director Charlie Cleveland, CEO Ted Gill, and co-founder Max McGuire were all fired.
Things got even nastier when 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 suspicious 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 , reiterating that Subnautica 2 was in a state to release into early access.
Since then, a leaked (negative) internal review of the game , the previous senior leadership figures are now being sued by the game's developer (Unknown Worlds) too , and Krafton on whether or not the state of the game was a factor in the firing of the former leadership figures.
So yeah, it's a whole thing, and we don't think the mudslinging is going to end anytime soon.
Subnautica 2 trailers and footage
The 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 .
There's a whole PC Gamer write-up recalling 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 [[link]] 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
- New creatures and biomes
- More Leviathans, with one briefly teased in Subnautica 2's roadmap, and another [[link]] teased via
a dev blog