Unknown Worlds Entertainment – Augmented & Virtual Reality Confabulation

September 2, 2018

Journey To The Polar Regions In Subnautica Below Zero, A New Standalone Expansion

Unknown Worlds Entertainment, the development team behind the popular underwater survival videogame Subnautica, have announced that they are hard at work on a new, stand-alone expansion that will expand the titles gameplay and systems into a new ‘ice-bound region’. This means the players will travel to the polar region of the games world and get to experience many new adventures and mystery as they deal with massive glaciers and icebergs.

Subnautica: Below Zero

Originally released into Steam Early Access back in 2014, Subnautica has quickly become a hugely popular title that came out of the program and released in full earlier this year. The title supports virtual reality (VR) play as well by means of the HTC Vive or Oculus Rift head-mounted displays (HMDs) which offer a more immersive way for players to experience the underwater world of the mystery planet they find themselves stuck on.

In the new expansion, entitled Subnautica: Below Zero, players will continue their adventure after the events of the original game and experience a new chapter that will build on the titles current gameplay systems and stories. Much like the base videogame, the new expansion will release into Early Access as well later this year and be getting consistent content updates where players will be able to help space the experience by providing feedback during its development.

Subnautica: Below Zero

“The concept of Below Zero is still developing.” The team right on the announcement website: “We are keeping the core gameplay mechanics, such as base building and open-ended exploration. We are also exploring new ones, such as thermal management, and more voiced dialogue at the core of the plot. We’re still in early stages and nothing is set in ice. These features may change prior to, and during, Early Access.”

Much like the original title, it is expected that this new stand-alone expansion will also support VR giving players the chance to immersive themselves within the new cold region. Those who are interested in keep track of the development of the new expansion, along with getting a peek at some of the features, can do so by checking out the studios Trello board.

VRFocus will be sure to bring you all the latest on Subnautica: Below Zero in the future, so stay tuned for more.

June 8, 2018

Subnautica Discounted This Weekend as Part of World Oceans Day

After three years in Steam Early Access Unknown Worlds Entertainment’s Subnautica fully launched in January this year, including support for Oculus Rift and HTC Vive. Allowing players to go on an underwater adventure the studio has announced a special discount weekend in support of World Oceans Day and the Whale and Dolphin Conservation (WDC) charity.

Subnautica image 1

Unknown Worlds Entertainment and Perfect World Entertainment (PWE) have teamed up with Steam to support the charity by offering a 20 percent discount off Subnautica. While gamers get to save money the deal will see 15 percent of net developer profits will go directly to WDC to support their work all over the world to keep whales and dolphins safe and free from the many threats they face, including whaling, being kept in captivity for ‘entertainment’ and the major new threat of plastic pollution in our oceans.

“It’s really exciting for us to be able to work with WDC on the Oceans Day promotion and to be able to use Subnautica to help make a difference,” said Head of Strategic Partnerships at PWE, Whitney Henderson in a statement. “Only this week, a pilot whale in Thailand died of starvation after eating 80 plastic shopping bags that he had mistaken for food so it’s wonderful to have the chance to increase awareness of the important work that WDC does to help keep our seas healthy and to give players the chance to donate to such a great cause.”

Subnautica Ghost Update

In Subnautica the story goes that you’ve crash landed on a watery alien world and the only way to survive is to head underwater. From sun drenched shallow coral reefs to treacherous deep-sea trenches, lava fields, and bio-luminescent underwater rivers, Subnautica has some rich environments to explore as you scavenge and search for resources. You’ll need to craft knives, lights, diving gear, and personal water craft to venture ever deeper to find rarer resources, allowing you to craft more advanced items.

Abbie Cheesman, who manages WDC’s partnerships and collaborations added: “Subnautica has been incredibly popular with our supporters in the gaming community and the broadcasters and fundraisers who have taken part in our Gamers for Orcas fundraisers, so we are delighted to be working with the team behind Subnautica on a special promotion this World Oceans Day. We are so grateful for their generous support of our vital work to help protect our oceans and the amazing marine wildlife that call them home at such a critical time for many whale and dolphin species.”

From today until 11th June at 10am PST, Subnautica will be available for £15.59 GBP rather than the regular Steam price of £19.49. For any further updates, keep reading VRFocus.

January 12, 2018

Underwater Adventure Subnautica Prepares to Emerge from Early Access

When videogames make their way to Steam Early Access developers usually have a rough idea how long they plan to be in development prior to a full release, with most titles tending to take no more than a year. Subnautica developer Unknown Worlds Entertainment started the process three years ago, in that time adding a myriad of updates including virtual reality (VR) support for both Oculus Rift and HTC Vive. Now the studio has announced a January launch event to celebrate the 1.0 release.

Subnautica image 2

Subnautica will leave early access on 23rd January, and to mark the occasion Unknown Worlds Entertainment will be hosting a Twitch livestream. During the stream the studio will premiere a new cinematic trailer for the videogame, interviews with the developers, a few real life sea creatures are due to make an appearance, and there will be the live pushing of the Big Red Launch Button.

The videogame has built up a strong community during its time in early access, garnering an ‘overwhelmingly positive’ response from players on Steam. If you’ve not tried or seen it yet, Subnautica is a open-world adventure set beneath the waves. The story goes that you’ve crash landed on this watery alien world and the only way to survive is to head underwater.

From sun drenched shallow coral reefs to treacherous deep-sea trenches, lava fields, and bio-luminescent underwater rivers, Subnautica has some rich environments to explore as you scavenge and search for resources. You’ll need to craft knives, lights, diving gear, and personal water craft to venture ever deeper to find rarer resources, allowing you to craft more advanced items.

Subnautica image 1

There’s more to Subnautica than just survival alone. You’ll soon discover mysterious structures in the depths, find signs of infected sea life and more, with a deep storyline to uncover as you adapt to your new home whilst looking for a way off the planet.

Subnautica is available to purchase on Steam for $24.99 USD or through Oculus Store for $19.99. For any further updates, keep reading VRFocus.

August 23, 2017

Subnautica Gets Massive Update

Steam Early Access title Subnautica was originally launched on Steam a couple of years ago, getting a re-release when Oculus Home was launched. Developer Unknown Worlds Entertainment have been conscientious about getting community feedback, even making submitting a bug report one of the achievements. There has also been much emphasis on adding new features and content – as seen in the new Ghost Update.

Subnautica is an open-world exploration title, which despite its Early Access tag has a vast amount of content to explore, the developers are mostly at the point of polishing the title to ensure stability of performance and framerates. The plot of the title involves the player character crash landing on an alien world covered in water. From there, the player must learn how to scavenge and craft in order to survive, while trying to uncover the mystery of the planet you are on and the slow corruption of the sea life.

Subnautica Ghost Leviathan

The new update adds new creates, such as the baby Emperor Leviathans, which offer up a cure for the insidious infection that is plaguing the planet. One the infection is cured, players can then investigate the vast precursor array and deactivate it to remove its threat. Players will also need to be cautious when roaming the seas, as the huge, deadly Ghost Leviathan is now hunting the Lost River, Grand Reef and Void areas.

A number of smaller quality of life enhancements and bug fixes have also been applied, such as the new model for the power transmitter, or graphical upgrades for the Reapers.

Subnautica is available on Steam for HTC vive and Oculus Rift at a price point of £14.99 (GBP). Further information and updates can be found on the Steam page.

VRFocus will bring you further information on Subnautica and other VR titles as it becomes available.