Another month, another Subnautica 2 update! Last month, the focus was on changing creature behavior to make things a little less frustrating for those of you who just wanted to go on a killing spree. This month the focus is on your friends, with update 1.2 titled “Buddy System”, adding some exciting new features that will make it easier for you to play with your friends.
To begin with, the promised arrival of the local chat is here. It works as expected; When playing multiplayer, friends sound louder when they are closer to you and quieter when they are further away. What’s pretty cute is the fact that the farther away your friend gets, the more it seems like they’re picking up a radio signal that’s losing reception. It’s the little things!
In addition to this, a few other practical elements related to multiplayer are added. There will now be player emotes, which are currently limited to thumbs up or down, clapping, fist pumping, and cheering (you’re encouraged to use this one sarcastically when your friends fluff it). Inventory sharing is also a thing now, just turn to a friend and you can open a menu that allows you to directly move items between the two of you instead of having to drop items off and pick them up.
Perhaps most helpful is that if you or your friend are depressed for any reason, you will have some time so you can swim out to them and share your oxygen to bring them back. And for customization options, there are two new avatars to choose from and a few additional costume colors to choose from.
Some smaller additions include the arrival of a tracking tag that you can throw around the environment to track things. Alternatively, you can place one in a portable locker to make it easier to find if you need to leave it somewhere. If you have one on you at the time of your death, this will also increase the signal range of your black box.
HUD icons will now be much smaller if you’re not looking in their general direction, and will increase in size if you want to make them easier to distinguish. Pinned recipes are also seeing an improvement, and the base creation tool should make it clearer when you can and can’t place something. There will also be a series of bug fixes, and the full update will be available soon: tomorrow, August 19. Good subscription or otherwise!
