When comparing Subnautica vs Emily is Away Too, the Slant community recommends Subnautica for most people. In the question“What are the best indie games on Steam?” Subnautica is ranked 9th while Emily is Away Too is ranked 83rd. 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 Low system requirments
This game only requires 512 MB of RAM to run. Total file weight is 100 MB.
Pro Evokes a sense of nostalgia
Pixelated art, Windows XP-style game interface, early 2000's versions of Facebook and Youtube featured in the game, as well as numerous pop-culture references (including Harry Potter, Lord of the Rings, Eminem, and Red Hot Chili Peppers) will make players (given that they're old enough) nostalgic.
Pro Heartfelt story
You take the role of the protagonist who unexpectedly gets contacted by his school crush and gets caught up in a love triangle. Seeing the characters interact, holding back their feelings, voicing their regrets, and figuring out what love is makes for a heartbreaking experience.
Pro Your actions meaningfully influence the story
Emily is Away Too plays out differently, depending on the choices you make. The relationships can evolve in different ways, your actions can affect the situations other characters are in, you can discover different details about characters depending on how you approach the situations, etc.
Pro Features in-game apps, such as retro versions of Facebook and Youtube
This game builds upon the original Emily is Away game, but introduces some new interesting feautures, like profile customization in the chat app and new in-game services, like Facebook and Youtube.
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 Boring, repetitive gameplay
This game revolves around narrative much more than action. The gameplay mostly consists of typing one of the pre-recorded answer templates into the chat app.