I finally finished this game and TL:DR I would say that it is an extremely good game. I would say that this game is on the same level as half life 2 when considering if you should buy it or not and I would consider half life 2 to be a must buy.


The progression system is obviously the best part of this game as you expand your technological prowess as well as your ability to travel vertically as well as horizontally. Personally, I googled a few parts on how to progress further, such as where to find certain materials or blueprints. Other than that, all other sections of the game proceed extremely well and naturally. I would advise to use the internet for help as little as possible especially when navigating the world. I occasionally watch my dad play this game and he uses a map to help him navigate which I personally really disagree with. Exploring the world and discovering the biomes with the use of beacons and what not is one of the key features of this game.


I've seen multiple people say that this game is grind free but I'm here to tell you that this statement is not true. Theres not NEARLY as much grinding as there is in other games, but this game definitely has its grindy moments. For me the only parts that were really grindy, was the two ending scavenger hunts as well as how much gosh dang traveling you have to do. I probably traveled 20k+ meters in my cyclops and hated nearly every minute of it. I established my home base in the mushroom biome and had to travel to and from the lava castle area around 5 times mostly due to my own fault. Towards the end of the game I streamlined my travel time pretty well, but in the mid game portion I had to travel across the entire map around 4 times (each trip to the lava zone) just to progress the story.


This section will have some story spoilers so be careful if you haven't played the game. The end game consists of two major steps 1. Finding the containment center and assisting the sea emporer with her babies. 2. Building the Neptune rocket and escaping the planet. These two steps are fine as is, but I, at this point of the game, was extremely sick of the go get materials then build something gameplay. The sea emporer section wasn't terrible because I enjoyed getting to see all of the biomes one last time. Little did I know, I would have to make two more trips to the lava zone to complete the Neptune rocket. One for my cyclops which was still at the center after step one, then another trip because I didn't collect enough sulfur when originally visiting the lost river.


No, I'm not talking about any bugs as in fish, but this game is still incredibly buggy with many graphical and gameplay errors. I can remeber countless times when zooming about in my seamoth, when I spotted some fish teleport or fly unnaturally fast. There are many times floating rocks won't load in or some walls will look extremely strange. I'm convinced that walking on land was a last minute feature that was added into the game as getting stuck in the ground is way too easy. The railways in your habitat and moonpool are like magnets for your entire body. If you want to parkour around in your base or even move slightly wrong, the railways will be sure to suck you in and keep you there, forcing you to load your last save, fidget around until you somehow manage to escape or use the console to teleport away. I'm not joking when I say this game is still riddled with bugs. I probably spent 2 hours of my ~36 hour total interacting with bugs in some way. At least an hour of my gameplay was spent inside the walls of the aurora, a railway or even flat floor trying to escape. To top off the bugs section and my final bad remarks this game is much more computer intensive than it says it is. I don't have the best computer, but I know it should be able to handle a game like this.


At this point you're probably wondering why I am recommending this game, as I just wrote three fairly lengthy paragraphs on why this game is bad. Let me just say I'm not entirely sure if I can explain why this game is good, you just have to play it. I already talked about the progresssion system as I believe its one of the best parts in the game; however, I believe the general experience of playing the game is by far better. If you have a fear of deep water, or anything similar, I would recommend this game even more than usual. That feeling of conquering your fear of the unknown is one of the most satisfying and fufilling experiences and this game fully takes advantage of that.


The sound design of this game is simply incredible. I was tempted to listen to music at a few points while playing this game, but then I remember I may miss out on some of this game's sounds. The sounds in this game seriously sent shivers down my spine whenever I heard them. The sounds range from the fantastic techno soundtrack that inspires and motivates you as you gaze upon the games underwater beauty, to the bone chilling scream of a reaper leviathan in the distance as you enter a seemingly endless void of water. The different soundtracks that play in the different biomes can literally stop you in your tracks.

I am sure I didn't experience literally everything this game has to offer, but I am still amazed at how much detail and depth this survival game has.