I'll be waiting until more is there. To me subnautica 1 is sooooooooooo close to being not just a great game, but a nearly perfect one, but I don't think they'll fix the problems I have, and there...
I'll be waiting until more is there. To me subnautica 1 is sooooooooooo close to being not just a great game, but a nearly perfect one, but I don't think they'll fix the problems I have, and there were a few neat idea in Below Zero (among a loooot of poor ideas).
To ramble a bit, subnautica is a metroid game with survival mechanics.
There are regions that are locked off until you explore the world to find better equipment to unlock them. Clever use of equipment and game mechanics can allow the skipping of equipment or entire sections of the game, both in thematic or abusing the mechanics style ways.
And coincidentally, also features a mostly silent protagonist stranded somewhere trying to deal with a problem to escape using forgotten alien technology.
With that in mind, I see a lot of the same problems, and potential solutions, for the genre.
Problems:
Problem 1: The game isn't actually that hard/interesting past a point.
The initial felling of the game is WONDERFUL as you explore and learn the mechanics, but you quickly begin to realize there's not a lot of real threats, or even roadblocks depending on how quickly you "get" it.
Problem 2: A LOT of the equipment is interesting but unneeded.
The two that come to memory as an easy example are the air pump + pipe system and the tractor beam fish trap.
Problem 3: Unfinished content/complexity decline in the end game
This is a common issue with any game but it hits hard in subnautica. Entire biomes that are pointless to explore and the end game tech paths are much less interesting/well balanced compared to the early game ones. Entire resources that feel extraneous except for 1 item, rather than becoming a part of your pipeline so you have a reason to try and get them.
Solutions (imo)
KEEP THE BASE GAME AS IS.
People loved it, only edge case nuts like me care. If dev time has to go towards something, it should go towards recreating the original vibe/feel/experience. I would however LOVE to see the stuff I proposed as content for DLC/expansions.
Have a hard mode/difficulty customization.
Everyone has different tolerances, and I don't think "just grind 1000 more copper is interesting" but enemies doing more damage, resources being more rare, tech being harder to get, and just the fish you eat swimming faster would change so much (and some more creative inventory limitations). If you're mostly struggling for food or having trouble doing long expeditions because the filling fish are too fast to catch, getting the gravity fish catcher could suddenly change your entire run because now you can quickly catch enough food to do deeper dives and not just be limited by oxygen.
Likewise tools like the in place lights and air pumps could suddenly be a lot more useful if tolerances on early battery power/air are tweaked.
It's tricky to find the sweet spot for these things, which is why it might be interesting to just open it up with a menu over a json file to let players tweak and find different settings.
The three tiers of randomization (but not full on proc/seed gen).
Tiers:
A. Randomize tech. I assume most people know about randomizer runs so i won't go much into this. Moving the tech around and watching players come up with unique solutions would be great. Doubly so if you know there should be tech in each biome, but the location can move a bit (ideally meaningful movement. Lower depth, different blockers, whatever. Not just 50 meters right or left.)
B. Randomize biome internals. An easy example here was the interesting, but too generous, oxygen plants/fish in Below Zero. They're always in the same spot, but having some randomization on where they are or aren't could massively change your route through a game.
C. Randomzing biome connections/layout. THIS is the one that would have to be planned for early on, but could be really really cool to help bring the game more life but keep its feel. I don't think a fully proc gen map works nearly as well, but if you know that there's always 2 connections from the starting layer to other biomes, but you don't know WHICH biomes it's connecting too this run until you get there, that would do wonders for replay. Even more so if you can have "bonus" connections that aren't always there where suddenly a cave system you know is usually a dead end now connects to a 3rd biome you wouldn't expect.
Overall
The whole goal is to KEEP that level of exploration that your initial run thrived on, and I felt that with some proper planning at the design stage of the code and the world, this would all be achievable.
I do however think it's also a pipe dream because it's not an insignificant problem to make your map biomes quasi modular and do a lot of this stuff, and they've clearly focused their efforst elsewhere like co-op (neat) and plot (i don't get it....silent protag and mostly environmental storytelling was so much better than standard evil corp stuff)
I found base building to be incredibly tedious due to the vast amounts of materials required for even the simplest of setups. Instead of feeling like I could get into the flow of designing and...
I found base building to be incredibly tedious due to the vast amounts of materials required for even the simplest of setups. Instead of feeling like I could get into the flow of designing and building something, like I get with Satisfactory, it felt like I constantly ran out and had to grind for more mats.
I think it really depends on how early in the game you want to start building a base, and how serious you are about base building. I found similar annoyances when trying to make a base in the...
I think it really depends on how early in the game you want to start building a base, and how serious you are about base building.
I found similar annoyances when trying to make a base in the early game, having to go back out to schlep home enough titanium and quartz to make a pretty modest base was rough. But I think once you have enough technology unlocked it gets a lot easier. Mass gathering resources becomes far less tedious after a few of the unlocks. If you want a big base though, it can still be a little frustrating to have to stop what you're doing and go hunt down a few veins, but that's kinda just the nature of the beast for survival games.
I mostly didn't have a problem? In detail: I generally liked that resources felt like "eh i can just go get it" in subnautica rather than "oh god i better grab everything I can/see so that i can...
I mostly didn't have a problem? In detail:
I generally liked that resources felt like "eh i can just go get it" in subnautica rather than "oh god i better grab everything I can/see so that i can build up a stockpile because i'll need it later". It was usually resource trips tops to do whatever I wanted with some light scavenging on a return trip of easy opportunity stuff.
I didn't find the resource requirements for base building that bad because it usually wasn't a big deal to say that this next expedition was to help build more of the base so i'm just hoovering up copper/titanium/whatever.
I also didn't build huge/too many bases though because I didn't see much a point. I still made "real" bases in that they weren't just gameplay functional and i'd do aesthetic or neat addons, but I usually didn't mind a resource run or prawn trip because again it often only took 1 or 2 and actually traversing the world was fun.
That said in my ideal world I think you make those things tweakable to begin with, and while I left it out i would've liked base building to interact with the environment better. The bones are there (fish damage your base, sections can flood) but there's not really a gameplay incentive to "deal" with that because you mostly can't, and being realistic that's a huge development undertaking so turning it more casual on the aesthetic level would be cool.
Complete tangent: Part of why I love The Long Dark is because of the utterly brutal survival difficulty options. Easy mode is basically a walking sim in that game, but harder difficulties have you...
Complete tangent: Part of why I love The Long Dark is because of the utterly brutal survival difficulty options.
Easy mode is basically a walking sim in that game, but harder difficulties have you debating if it's really worth risking a match.
With regard to problem 2, I think that's a side effect of emergent gameplay. I was relying on those air pumps to get down into the jellycrab caves, and it was a really immersive experience laying...
With regard to problem 2, I think that's a side effect of emergent gameplay. I was relying on those air pumps to get down into the jellycrab caves, and it was a really immersive experience laying them down bit by bit, getting a little closer each time until I could finally go in and see- oh my god what is that it's terrifying
By contrast I never found the thermal suit, so I was totally dependant on the Cyclops and the Prawn suit in volcanic levels
I've been holding off, but will definitely want to check it out once it's finished. I'm crossing my fingers they kept the one item I absolutely loved from the first game: the jukebox! For anyone...
I've been holding off, but will definitely want to check it out once it's finished.
I'm crossing my fingers they kept the one item I absolutely loved from the first game: the jukebox! For anyone who didn't try it, you can copy local music files into a folder and then play them through the jukebox in your base/vehicle. Turning your playlist into a diegetic experience is such a clever little trick that makes your base feel so much more real. I haven't seen any other games pull this trick, and it's probably a bit niche (especially with how few people keep local music libraries), but it was super cool.
Voices of the Void has a radio item that does this, and they go even further by offering a TV item that can play local video files! I had no idea Subnautica had this feature. I'm going to have to...
I haven't seen any other games pull this trick
Voices of the Void has a radio item that does this, and they go even further by offering a TV item that can play local video files!
I had no idea Subnautica had this feature. I'm going to have to load up my save and try it out.
I have maybe 18 hours in it so far! I'm quite enjoying it, though it's most certainly early access and there are a few things that I'm missing that were in the first game. I have not played...
I have maybe 18 hours in it so far! I'm quite enjoying it, though it's most certainly early access and there are a few things that I'm missing that were in the first game. I have not played through Below Zero.
Where it is now, it feels like Subnautica 1, but with updated graphics and on another planet, with another story to uncover through the exact same game-play as in the first. Not that I'm complaining.
Yeah, at least so far there isn't a ton to differentiate the two games outside of the visuals and some mechanics. It's a huge step up in terms of how things look and feel, kinda like Hades 1 to...
Yeah, at least so far there isn't a ton to differentiate the two games outside of the visuals and some mechanics.
It's a huge step up in terms of how things look and feel, kinda like Hades 1 to Hades 2, but it hasn't done anything that completely blew my mind... yet anyway.
I'm on the fence about preordering it. I have subnautica 1 on PSN but the S1, S:BZ and S2 bundle on Steam is very tempting. S1 is a top game for me all time and Id love to replay it on my desktop...
I'm on the fence about preordering it. I have subnautica 1 on PSN but the S1, S:BZ and S2 bundle on Steam is very tempting. S1 is a top game for me all time and Id love to replay it on my desktop and I know the price is probably only going to go up unless I'm very patient
I've bought it (mostly to spite Krafton) but I'm currently sitting on it for a while to let all the Early Access hiccups get ironed out. Just finished another playthrough of Subnautica 1 yesterday...
I've bought it (mostly to spite Krafton) but I'm currently sitting on it for a while to let all the Early Access hiccups get ironed out. Just finished another playthrough of Subnautica 1 yesterday and I'm considering starting Below Zero again, though I've not actually completed that game. I bought BZ on day 1 and played through it before they massively changed the plot (I think you could only progress to finding the island base and then the game went "yep this is all we've got so far") and when I came back a few months later the plot was entirely different and for some reason that kind of dissuaded me from playing more. I really should give it another shot.
I'm additionally hesitant to actually start playing Subnautica 2 until they finalize things legally with Krafton. I'm sure 90% of the EULA is not legally enforceable, even in the states where "consumer protections" is the punchline to a joke rather than anything actually protective. However, I'm also not keen on risking losing my access to all my Subnautica games because I use a VPN and play on multiple devices. The EULA seems to me to be another blatantly obvious attempt to dissuade people from buying the game, all so Krafton doesn't have to pay the devs what they're owed. Fingers all the way crossed, in a year or two Unknown Worlds will be out from under Krafton's control and they'll retain ownership of the subnautica IP.
EULAs generally are user hostile joke. There is zero chance 99%+ customers fully read and understand even majority of the EULAs they technically agree to and expecting that is unrealistic and also...
EULAs generally are user hostile joke. There is zero chance 99%+ customers fully read and understand even majority of the EULAs they technically agree to and expecting that is unrealistic and also not desirable in my opinion.
These kinds of contracts really should be governed by template, understandable language and legal jargon walls of text forbidden and fined in addition to fines for any unenforceable clauses.
The EULA for Subnautica 2 is uncommonly user hostile. No VPN usage is allowed, if you play the game on multiple devices you're required to buy multiple licenses to the game, no streaming or video...
The EULA for Subnautica 2 is uncommonly user hostile. No VPN usage is allowed, if you play the game on multiple devices you're required to buy multiple licenses to the game, no streaming or video capture is allowed to be broadcast without an explicit disclaimer that Krafton does not approve, any streaming material belongs to Krafton, simply buying the game prohibits you openly speaking negatively about Krafton on top of all the usual "you own nothing and we can take it away for any reason with no warning" crap. Also if you breach the Subnautica 2 EULA Krafton reserves the right to remove your access to all Krafton games. At one point I think they even try to imply they will delete your Steam account if you refuse to follow the EULA, which isn't even something they're capable of doing.
I think all of the user hostile language is just intended to convince as many people as possible to avoid buying the game. Krafton's CEO doesn't want to pay the bonus to Unknown Worlds because he's an idiot so he's doing whatever he can to tank the game's sales thus not triggering the bonus. If someone does anything that might breach the EULA, they could risk losing everything. (If they erroneously believe the EULA is actually legally binding)
All the above information was what I was able to glean from other people's reviews and comments; I actually bothered to scan the EULA a little bit and it seems less user hostile than everyone made...
All the above information was what I was able to glean from other people's reviews and comments; I actually bothered to scan the EULA a little bit and it seems less user hostile than everyone made it sound.
Notable differences between the popular story and reality:
-Multiple licenses are needed for playing the game on different devices AT THE SAME TIME (which is standard across all Steam games already)
-VPNs are not allowed for bypassing regional game restrictions (much less hostile than "no VPNs at all)
There's an additional forced arbitration clause, but again that seems fairly standard in EULAs anymore.
I played a couple hours but it feels exactly like the first game, which I'm sure is great for fans, but I expected some new mechanics at least and so far that's not the case. I played the first...
I played a couple hours but it feels exactly like the first game, which I'm sure is great for fans, but I expected some new mechanics at least and so far that's not the case. I played the first game for several hours but never did finish it, so I can't see myself finishing this one either.
The genetic modifications system is both narratively and mechanically unlike the first game, but I agree that the feel of playing it is nigh-identical.
The genetic modifications system is both narratively and mechanically unlike the first game, but I agree that the feel of playing it is nigh-identical.
I just finished the current story content yesterday (in about 12 hours, though I was playing with someone else, which probably helped), and really enjoyed it! It's quite linear right now, which I...
I just finished the current story content yesterday (in about 12 hours, though I was playing with someone else, which probably helped), and really enjoyed it! It's quite linear right now, which I don't love, but that's probably just a result of it still being under development - I assume the map will open up more as early access progresses. It's a lot closer to the original than Below Zero, which I'm happy about. It has a more engaging story than the first game, but delivers it in a way that feels natural. I'm interested to see where it goes.
More game design critique (including gameplay spoilers for late-game).
The progression does feel perhaps a little strange right now. After leaving the first region to cross over to the second, there's little reason to ever go back beyond getting the last few biomods (and most of the biomods are of little use, I've found - especially the additional active ones, since the dash is so useful I don't want to get rid of it). All major resources can be found in the second region, albeit occasionally in lesser quantities, like with fibrous pulp. Crossing the trench between the two regions is a bit of a gamble, due to the Collector Leviathan, so since everything needed for late-game crafting is present in the second region I never saw much of a reason to take that risk. This is also something that feels like an artifact of the game being in early access, though, so it's possible it'll change as the map expands.
The game is also maybe a little too easy. There are plenty of predators, but the vast majority of them don't do enough damage to be more than a nuisance. Even the new Leviathan can only be found in a couple places, the second of which you only need to visit briefly (the metal farms, or whatever that biome is called; you only need to go there to get troilite, and enough of it to repair the power plant can be found on the edge of the biome, outside of the Collector's range). For the most part, I felt completely safe while exploring, which I hope changes later in the game. Funnily enough, the biggest dangers in the game are probably hunger and thirst, which increase quite quickly and can be a chore to take care of. I would appreciate something like the water filtration machine from the first game, so I don't have to keep manually collecting water slugs / fibrous pulp all the time.
I'll be waiting until more is there. To me subnautica 1 is sooooooooooo close to being not just a great game, but a nearly perfect one, but I don't think they'll fix the problems I have, and there were a few neat idea in Below Zero (among a loooot of poor ideas).
To ramble a bit, subnautica is a metroid game with survival mechanics.
There are regions that are locked off until you explore the world to find better equipment to unlock them. Clever use of equipment and game mechanics can allow the skipping of equipment or entire sections of the game, both in thematic or abusing the mechanics style ways.
And coincidentally, also features a mostly silent protagonist stranded somewhere trying to deal with a problem to escape using forgotten alien technology.
With that in mind, I see a lot of the same problems, and potential solutions, for the genre.
Problems:
Problem 1: The game isn't actually that hard/interesting past a point.
The initial felling of the game is WONDERFUL as you explore and learn the mechanics, but you quickly begin to realize there's not a lot of real threats, or even roadblocks depending on how quickly you "get" it.
Problem 2: A LOT of the equipment is interesting but unneeded.
The two that come to memory as an easy example are the air pump + pipe system and the tractor beam fish trap.
Problem 3: Unfinished content/complexity decline in the end game
This is a common issue with any game but it hits hard in subnautica. Entire biomes that are pointless to explore and the end game tech paths are much less interesting/well balanced compared to the early game ones. Entire resources that feel extraneous except for 1 item, rather than becoming a part of your pipeline so you have a reason to try and get them.
Solutions (imo)
People loved it, only edge case nuts like me care. If dev time has to go towards something, it should go towards recreating the original vibe/feel/experience. I would however LOVE to see the stuff I proposed as content for DLC/expansions.
Everyone has different tolerances, and I don't think "just grind 1000 more copper is interesting" but enemies doing more damage, resources being more rare, tech being harder to get, and just the fish you eat swimming faster would change so much (and some more creative inventory limitations). If you're mostly struggling for food or having trouble doing long expeditions because the filling fish are too fast to catch, getting the gravity fish catcher could suddenly change your entire run because now you can quickly catch enough food to do deeper dives and not just be limited by oxygen.
Likewise tools like the in place lights and air pumps could suddenly be a lot more useful if tolerances on early battery power/air are tweaked.
It's tricky to find the sweet spot for these things, which is why it might be interesting to just open it up with a menu over a json file to let players tweak and find different settings.
Tiers:
A. Randomize tech. I assume most people know about randomizer runs so i won't go much into this. Moving the tech around and watching players come up with unique solutions would be great. Doubly so if you know there should be tech in each biome, but the location can move a bit (ideally meaningful movement. Lower depth, different blockers, whatever. Not just 50 meters right or left.)
B. Randomize biome internals. An easy example here was the interesting, but too generous, oxygen plants/fish in Below Zero. They're always in the same spot, but having some randomization on where they are or aren't could massively change your route through a game.
C. Randomzing biome connections/layout. THIS is the one that would have to be planned for early on, but could be really really cool to help bring the game more life but keep its feel. I don't think a fully proc gen map works nearly as well, but if you know that there's always 2 connections from the starting layer to other biomes, but you don't know WHICH biomes it's connecting too this run until you get there, that would do wonders for replay. Even more so if you can have "bonus" connections that aren't always there where suddenly a cave system you know is usually a dead end now connects to a 3rd biome you wouldn't expect.
Overall
The whole goal is to KEEP that level of exploration that your initial run thrived on, and I felt that with some proper planning at the design stage of the code and the world, this would all be achievable.
I do however think it's also a pipe dream because it's not an insignificant problem to make your map biomes quasi modular and do a lot of this stuff, and they've clearly focused their efforst elsewhere like co-op (neat) and plot (i don't get it....silent protag and mostly environmental storytelling was so much better than standard evil corp stuff)
I found base building to be incredibly tedious due to the vast amounts of materials required for even the simplest of setups. Instead of feeling like I could get into the flow of designing and building something, like I get with Satisfactory, it felt like I constantly ran out and had to grind for more mats.
What was your experience with that?
I think it really depends on how early in the game you want to start building a base, and how serious you are about base building.
I found similar annoyances when trying to make a base in the early game, having to go back out to schlep home enough titanium and quartz to make a pretty modest base was rough. But I think once you have enough technology unlocked it gets a lot easier. Mass gathering resources becomes far less tedious after a few of the unlocks. If you want a big base though, it can still be a little frustrating to have to stop what you're doing and go hunt down a few veins, but that's kinda just the nature of the beast for survival games.
I mostly didn't have a problem? In detail:
I generally liked that resources felt like "eh i can just go get it" in subnautica rather than "oh god i better grab everything I can/see so that i can build up a stockpile because i'll need it later". It was usually resource trips tops to do whatever I wanted with some light scavenging on a return trip of easy opportunity stuff.
I didn't find the resource requirements for base building that bad because it usually wasn't a big deal to say that this next expedition was to help build more of the base so i'm just hoovering up copper/titanium/whatever.
I also didn't build huge/too many bases though because I didn't see much a point. I still made "real" bases in that they weren't just gameplay functional and i'd do aesthetic or neat addons, but I usually didn't mind a resource run or prawn trip because again it often only took 1 or 2 and actually traversing the world was fun.
That said in my ideal world I think you make those things tweakable to begin with, and while I left it out i would've liked base building to interact with the environment better. The bones are there (fish damage your base, sections can flood) but there's not really a gameplay incentive to "deal" with that because you mostly can't, and being realistic that's a huge development undertaking so turning it more casual on the aesthetic level would be cool.
Complete tangent: Part of why I love The Long Dark is because of the utterly brutal survival difficulty options.
Easy mode is basically a walking sim in that game, but harder difficulties have you debating if it's really worth risking a match.
With regard to problem 2, I think that's a side effect of emergent gameplay. I was relying on those air pumps to get down into the jellycrab caves, and it was a really immersive experience laying them down bit by bit, getting a little closer each time until I could finally go in and see- oh my god what is that it's terrifying
By contrast I never found the thermal suit, so I was totally dependant on the Cyclops and the Prawn suit in volcanic levels
I've been holding off, but will definitely want to check it out once it's finished.
I'm crossing my fingers they kept the one item I absolutely loved from the first game: the jukebox! For anyone who didn't try it, you can copy local music files into a folder and then play them through the jukebox in your base/vehicle. Turning your playlist into a diegetic experience is such a clever little trick that makes your base feel so much more real. I haven't seen any other games pull this trick, and it's probably a bit niche (especially with how few people keep local music libraries), but it was super cool.
Voices of the Void has a radio item that does this, and they go even further by offering a TV item that can play local video files!
I had no idea Subnautica had this feature. I'm going to have to load up my save and try it out.
I just looked it up and it seems like the jukebox was an item exclusive to Below Zero, so it's not available in my original Subnautica world. :(
I have maybe 18 hours in it so far! I'm quite enjoying it, though it's most certainly early access and there are a few things that I'm missing that were in the first game. I have not played through Below Zero.
Where it is now, it feels like Subnautica 1, but with updated graphics and on another planet, with another story to uncover through the exact same game-play as in the first. Not that I'm complaining.
Yeah, at least so far there isn't a ton to differentiate the two games outside of the visuals and some mechanics.
It's a huge step up in terms of how things look and feel, kinda like Hades 1 to Hades 2, but it hasn't done anything that completely blew my mind... yet anyway.
I am missing the sound of fish bumping into my craft :/
Haha I'm glad I'm not the only one who noticed this. I want the thunk back!
I'm on the fence about preordering it. I have subnautica 1 on PSN but the S1, S:BZ and S2 bundle on Steam is very tempting. S1 is a top game for me all time and Id love to replay it on my desktop and I know the price is probably only going to go up unless I'm very patient
I've bought it (mostly to spite Krafton) but I'm currently sitting on it for a while to let all the Early Access hiccups get ironed out. Just finished another playthrough of Subnautica 1 yesterday and I'm considering starting Below Zero again, though I've not actually completed that game. I bought BZ on day 1 and played through it before they massively changed the plot (I think you could only progress to finding the island base and then the game went "yep this is all we've got so far") and when I came back a few months later the plot was entirely different and for some reason that kind of dissuaded me from playing more. I really should give it another shot.
I'm additionally hesitant to actually start playing Subnautica 2 until they finalize things legally with Krafton. I'm sure 90% of the EULA is not legally enforceable, even in the states where "consumer protections" is the punchline to a joke rather than anything actually protective. However, I'm also not keen on risking losing my access to all my Subnautica games because I use a VPN and play on multiple devices. The EULA seems to me to be another blatantly obvious attempt to dissuade people from buying the game, all so Krafton doesn't have to pay the devs what they're owed. Fingers all the way crossed, in a year or two Unknown Worlds will be out from under Krafton's control and they'll retain ownership of the subnautica IP.
EULAs generally are user hostile joke. There is zero chance 99%+ customers fully read and understand even majority of the EULAs they technically agree to and expecting that is unrealistic and also not desirable in my opinion.
These kinds of contracts really should be governed by template, understandable language and legal jargon walls of text forbidden and fined in addition to fines for any unenforceable clauses.
Why don't they want you playing with a VPN on? Does the game not work in offline mode?
The EULA for Subnautica 2 is uncommonly user hostile. No VPN usage is allowed, if you play the game on multiple devices you're required to buy multiple licenses to the game, no streaming or video capture is allowed to be broadcast without an explicit disclaimer that Krafton does not approve, any streaming material belongs to Krafton, simply buying the game prohibits you openly speaking negatively about Krafton on top of all the usual "you own nothing and we can take it away for any reason with no warning" crap. Also if you breach the Subnautica 2 EULA Krafton reserves the right to remove your access to all Krafton games. At one point I think they even try to imply they will delete your Steam account if you refuse to follow the EULA, which isn't even something they're capable of doing.
I think all of the user hostile language is just intended to convince as many people as possible to avoid buying the game. Krafton's CEO doesn't want to pay the bonus to Unknown Worlds because he's an idiot so he's doing whatever he can to tank the game's sales thus not triggering the bonus. If someone does anything that might breach the EULA, they could risk losing everything. (If they erroneously believe the EULA is actually legally binding)
All the above information was what I was able to glean from other people's reviews and comments; I actually bothered to scan the EULA a little bit and it seems less user hostile than everyone made it sound.
Notable differences between the popular story and reality:
-Multiple licenses are needed for playing the game on different devices AT THE SAME TIME (which is standard across all Steam games already)
-VPNs are not allowed for bypassing regional game restrictions (much less hostile than "no VPNs at all)
There's an additional forced arbitration clause, but again that seems fairly standard in EULAs anymore.
I played a couple hours but it feels exactly like the first game, which I'm sure is great for fans, but I expected some new mechanics at least and so far that's not the case. I played the first game for several hours but never did finish it, so I can't see myself finishing this one either.
The genetic modifications system is both narratively and mechanically unlike the first game, but I agree that the feel of playing it is nigh-identical.
I just finished the current story content yesterday (in about 12 hours, though I was playing with someone else, which probably helped), and really enjoyed it! It's quite linear right now, which I don't love, but that's probably just a result of it still being under development - I assume the map will open up more as early access progresses. It's a lot closer to the original than Below Zero, which I'm happy about. It has a more engaging story than the first game, but delivers it in a way that feels natural. I'm interested to see where it goes.
More game design critique (including gameplay spoilers for late-game).
The progression does feel perhaps a little strange right now. After leaving the first region to cross over to the second, there's little reason to ever go back beyond getting the last few biomods (and most of the biomods are of little use, I've found - especially the additional active ones, since the dash is so useful I don't want to get rid of it). All major resources can be found in the second region, albeit occasionally in lesser quantities, like with fibrous pulp. Crossing the trench between the two regions is a bit of a gamble, due to the Collector Leviathan, so since everything needed for late-game crafting is present in the second region I never saw much of a reason to take that risk. This is also something that feels like an artifact of the game being in early access, though, so it's possible it'll change as the map expands.
The game is also maybe a little too easy. There are plenty of predators, but the vast majority of them don't do enough damage to be more than a nuisance. Even the new Leviathan can only be found in a couple places, the second of which you only need to visit briefly (the metal farms, or whatever that biome is called; you only need to go there to get troilite, and enough of it to repair the power plant can be found on the edge of the biome, outside of the Collector's range). For the most part, I felt completely safe while exploring, which I hope changes later in the game. Funnily enough, the biggest dangers in the game are probably hunger and thirst, which increase quite quickly and can be a chore to take care of. I would appreciate something like the water filtration machine from the first game, so I don't have to keep manually collecting water slugs / fibrous pulp all the time.