Games like Subnautica
The three best games after Subnautica are Outer Wilds (the same curiosity engine without the crafting), Raft (the ocean, made social and gentle) and The Planet Crafter (openly Subnautica-inspired, pointed at terraforming instead of escape). Ten games ranked below by what they actually replicate: the depth-fear, the base-building, or the pull of 'what is down there'.
Subnautica works because it welds two feelings most games keep apart: wonder and dread. Every biome deeper is more beautiful and more dangerous, and the game never needs combat to scare you — 97% positive across 378,000 Steam reviews for an ocean with almost no guns in it.
The ten below are ranked by which of those feelings they keep. Some keep the survival scaffolding, some keep the fear, one or two keep the wonder alone. One entry is a deliberate skip — the game most often bought as 'more Subnautica' that delivers the least of it.
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How we picked these
- Exploration where the map itself is the antagonist — depth, distance or dark.
- Progression through discovery: finding a place or blueprint beats grinding a level.
- A base worth coming home to.
- Atmosphere that works without jump scares.
- 80% positive or better on Steam; the one exception is the skip, and it is explained.
The list
01 Outer Wilds
Outer Wilds is what Subnautica's heart looks like with the survival layer removed: a hand-built solar system where the only progression is what you understand. 96% positive across 106,000 Steam reviews. If the Lost River gave you chills that had nothing to do with your oxygen meter, this is the purest next dose.
02 Raft
Raft keeps Subnautica's ocean and trades the dread for company: you drift, you hook debris, your home grows plank by plank, and a shark politely commits to being the only real menace. 93% positive across 377,000 reviews. The best pick if you want the sea without the fear — especially with a friend aboard.
03 The Planet Crafter
The Planet Crafter is the most direct heir on this list and honest about it: Subnautica's loop — scan, build, push into hostile zones — aimed at terraforming a dead planet until it breathes. 96% across 73,000 reviews. Less authored, less scary, enormously satisfying to watch change.
04 Grounded
Grounded shrinks the alien ocean to a suburban backyard and loses nothing in translation: zones of escalating danger, a base against the night, and spiders that occupy the exact ecological niche of a leviathan. 90% positive across 95,000 reviews with a finished story.
05 Subnautica: Below Zero
Subnautica: Below Zero is more Subnautica, ranked honestly in the middle: a smaller, colder map with more above-water play and a chattier story. 90% across 108,000 reviews. Worth it once the original's ocean is fished out — just do not expect the first game's scale of awe twice.
06 Astroneer
Astroneer keeps the explore-and-build half in a pastel solar system where the danger is your own logistics. 92% across 138,000 reviews. No leviathans, no dread — it is the cozy rebound game after Subnautica, and its terrain-deforming tool remains a quiet genre marvel.
07 Green Hell
Green Hell is for the player whose favourite part was the survival pressure itself: the Amazon with sanity, parasites and a body inspection screen, at 85% across 101,000 reviews. Harsher and more literal than Subnautica — the fear here is checked against a wiki, not felt in the dark.
08 No Man's Sky
No Man's Sky offers infinite oceans instead of one deep one — after years of free updates it sits at 85% across 414,000 reviews from a famously burned crowd. The trade is depth for breadth: no hand-placed Lost River anywhere, but the 'first step on a new world' feeling is on tap forever.
09 The Forest
The Forest runs Subnautica's formula on land with the horror dial turned up: crash, build, and descend into caves you genuinely do not want to enter. 96% positive across 680,000 reviews. The story is thinner, the dread is thicker, and co-op turns it into a different, chattier game.
SKIP10 Stranded Deep
Skip the obvious ocean-survival comparison — Stranded Deep has Subnautica's setting and none of its architecture: no story pulling you deeper, no biome ladder, just islands and repetition, at 74% on Steam. If you want the sea, Raft is friendlier and better built; if you want the descent, the Forest's caves are the real thing.
Similar but different
DREDGE
DREDGE bottles Subnautica's exact dread — the water knows something you do not — into a cozy fishing loop with a day-night risk dial. 96% across 56,000 reviews and finishable in a weekend.
DAVE THE DIVER
DAVE THE DIVER is the lighthearted cousin: dive by day, run a sushi bar by night, at 97% across 160,000 reviews. The ocean-curiosity is real; the dread is replaced with jokes that mostly land.
ABZU
ABZU is Subnautica's wonder with every system removed — two hours of pure diving meditation from the artists of Journey, 93% positive. For the evening you want the ocean to just be beautiful.
FAQ
Is Below Zero worth it if I loved the original?
Yes, with scaled expectations: smaller map, more story, less awe. It is ranked mid-list here on purpose — good Subnautica, not new Subnautica. Play it when the memory of the first has faded a little.
What about Subnautica 2?
It is in early access and reviewing well so far, but this list only ranks finished games. The original plus everything above will comfortably outlast the wait.
I want the fear without combat. What fits?
Outer Wilds and DREDGE. Both scare you with knowledge and atmosphere, not monsters chasing you — the same trick Subnautica's deep zones pull.
Best co-op pick here?
Raft for gentle, Grounded for adventurous, The Forest for scared-together. All three keep the build-a-home loop intact in multiplayer, which Subnautica itself never offered.
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