When comparing Subnautica vs Hover Junkers, the Slant community recommends Subnautica for most people. In the question“What are the best action games on Steam?” Subnautica is ranked 5th while Hover Junkers is ranked 49th. The most important reason people chose Subnautica is:
The game takes place underwater, and it looks very good especially because of the new candy eye update. Looking up at the sun through the ocean looks pleasant and real. Coral reefs have multiple colors and look real as well. Graphics wise this game looks great and pulls off its theme of an underwater survival quite well.
Specs
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Pros
Pro Great theme and looks
The game takes place underwater, and it looks very good especially because of the new candy eye update. Looking up at the sun through the ocean looks pleasant and real. Coral reefs have multiple colors and look real as well. Graphics wise this game looks great and pulls off its theme of an underwater survival quite well.
Pro The sound effects really set up the overall atmosphere
The sound design in Subnautica is amazing. Even though the soundtrack can be bland at times, the sound effects for the ocean noises are incredibly atmospheric and really help to get the player in the mood for exploring a vast, alien ocean.
Pro Interesting creature design
The creature design in Subnautica deserves some major praise. Spotting a new, never seen before creature is extremely rewarding and there's a large variety of alien creatures to look for.
Pro Has a mode for people who just want to explore
Subnautica has four game modes: survival, freedom, hardcore, and creative. The first one pits the player against the elements and forces them to think about food and water through its thirst and hunger mechanics.
The second game mode basically removes every mechanic that is related to surviving, such as the aforementioned hunger and thirst mechanics. It also leaves all the items in your inventory after you die. In other words, it's a game mode for people who want to explore without having to bother with surviving. Which is nice, since Subnautica has a lot of stuff to explore.
The third one, as the name tells us, is more difficult. Not only do you have to worry about health, oxygen, water and hunger, you will have to worry about your life. Since this game mode gives you one chance to live, no respawning. If you die, you'll lose your progress and will have to start over again.
The fourth one will let you build a base of your dreams without worrying about food, oxygen, or thirst. It is the best mode for people who want to build and don't want to gather resources.
Pro No pointless multiplayer
Not every damn thing needs multiplayer, and multiplayer can often ruin an otherwise incredible experience. There's none to be found here, and that intensifies the lonely atmosphere. Also, the creators didn't waste resources on something that would fundamentally undermine the experience so they could focus on making the game the wonderful thing that it is.
Pro Very interesting for both new and long-time players
But it goes faster when you learn the game. Because everything is done manually.
Pro Incredibly satisfying tool-building mechanics
The whole process of creating new tools is mostly done using a sophisticated 3D-printer available from the start of the game. You gather various resources and transform them to create tools that you will need for your survival.
For example, organic matter gets printed into raw carbon, combine carbon with some zinc and you get a battery; combine that battery with some glass and you get a flashlight that helps you see in the dark. It's very straightforward but incredibly satisfying when you build your tools, especially since you are doing all of this while swimming in an ocean filled with predators.
Pro Innovative and immersive experience
This isn't the type of game where you just press a button to reload or crouch. If you want to duck behind cover you have to actually do it. To reload you have to pop open the barrel, press the touch pad in a pattern and swing the controller to pop it back in. This makes the game feel more real.
Pro Huge variety of weapons
There is now a huge variety of weapons, well designed and also well balanced.
Pro Strategic loot based gameplay
The loot earned in the game can be found out in the wasteland inside of shipping containers. The player needs to use their welding gun to shoot them open to then gather the loot. Strategy comes into to play as it takes time to haul the loot in, which leaves the player vulnerable to enemies, so it is bet to wait to do this in until an opportune moment arrives. Once the loot is obtained, some can be used for cover on ones ship, making their ships stronger, the rest can be used to earn a higher score in the game.
Pro Fun multiplayer
Hover Junkers was one of the first multiplayer games on the Vive, and remains to be one of the few multiplayer games available. Being multiplayer based it is fun to mess around with friends or to play seriously with them. Up to 8 players can play at the same time and in game voice chat is built in.
Pro Strategic weapons
This game has 3 weapons so far and has more planned to come. They each have advantages and disadvantages and learning to use them at the right time can make a difference.
Cons
Con Lacks Co-Op
This game was meant to be a survival game (and a bit of horror), most survival games are difficult, may get boring to play alone after time and this game has both. Having a second survivor in the story would mean to rewrite it again, but having a friend in an alien world would be better.
Con No real story
A bit underdeveloped story. Only in notes and some short cgi animations.
Con Poor netcode
There can be lag during multiplayer, which can easily ruin ones aim and competency to shoot accurately.
Con Longer shots can be difficult
While not an issue in the shooting range, when in the meat the gameplay, enemies tend to be the same color as their ships making them difficult to see. This means that most shots need to be made in close quarters in order to visibly see who you are shooting at, which limits the gameplay a bit.
Con Limited and unpolished experience
The game while presented as a finished title (it is not in early access but is a full release) often feels unfinished. The guns in the game are limited to only three, the menus have frame drops giving an unpolished feel. The shooting mechanics often feel a bit too loose making them not very precise, which leads to more luck based gameplay over skill. The maps do not really feel all that different, giving a "same" vibe. Overall it feels like an early access game, but is being sold as a finished title.
Con Small amount of players online
Being this is a game only playable on an 800 dollar piece of hardware that only really runs well on an expensive gaming computer, as well as the fact that this is a fairly new game, there are not all that many players online to play with. Being that right now this a multiplayer only game, having few players is a bit of a problem (but that's not the game's fault).