When comparing Subnautica vs PlayerUnknown's Battlegrounds, the Slant community recommends Subnautica for most people. In the question“What are the best first-person games on Steam?” Subnautica is ranked 2nd while PlayerUnknown's Battlegrounds is ranked 37th. 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 Awesome combination of looting, survival and combat
You start the game getting dropped from a plane where you parachute into a random point of the map. You got to loot to get as good gear/weapons as you can before the game forces everyone to converge to a location for an intense firefight.
Pro Great co-op
You can play in a squad of 2-4 and the teamwork makes the game infinitely more fun.
Pro Every match feels as fresh as the first one
Even though all matches start the same (with you dropping from a plane), chances are, you will rarely have the same experience twice.
Up to 100 people can join the server which is practically a 8x8km island. The choices you (and every other player) make from the moment you touch ground onward, will alter the course of the match in unexpected ways. Items are also randomly-generated, which means you never know what you'll find.
Pro Always keeps you on the edge
Managing to survive usually means that there's a relatively great time investment going, this increases the stakes of the game and keeps you on the edge at all times.
Pro Lots of different strategies you can take
The massive map, the great array of weapons, and the amount of different choices each player can make give you a great deal of strategies to follow to win the game. Even dropping from the plane to start the match is a choice that can greatly affect your possibilities of winning. Do you drop early to gain an edge over opponents? Do you drop close to the centre of the island in order to prepare for the final stages of the battle?
Even after dropping from the plane you can choose different strategies. You can play aggressive and try to hunt and kill other players, or you can bid your time, hide inside a building and wait for other players to kill each-other. The possibilities are endless.
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 Still in early access
PlayerUnknown's Battlegrounds is still in early access and there might be issues and bugs that have not been fixed yet.