Overview
Well, it’s that time again isn’t it? That’s right, its play through time. If you’re here reading this, then hi, I’m doing a first person account of Subnautica: Below Zero, after my run through the original. You can find that here https://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=1921573800 so enjoy that! Beyond that, two comments. One, spoilers abound in this playthrough, read at your own risk! Two, the — is a representation of time spent doing stuff like travel! I got nothing else to say, let’s get GOING!
Chapter 1: The Frozen Lands
Day 0
Huh? Whats goin…. On? I hear an alarm. Hold up. I got a call from Sam.
Oh! Evac?! What the hell happened Sam?
****! That meteor storm is closer than they thought! I gotta run, now! Jeff? Ah crud, static. He was at the cave? Thanks Sam. Let’s GO!
As much as I want to take a look around at the scenery, I gotta go get Jeff!
I forgot the path to the cave has the weird flower that I think is staring at me. Its petals are pink and translucent, and it makes a weird noise that reminds me of lamps. I also forgot the cave has the lights Riley described in his logs.
Ah, Jeff, where are you? His GPS signal device is here, but not him. JEFF?!
Who the hell is that?! Jeff woke… something up?! And it won’t talk straight to me. Good! I am not gonna find him before it’s too late, I gotta get OUTTA here.
Aw come on! Jeff stole my ship! ♥♥♥♥ it! Into the base.
NEVERMIND! A freaking AVALANCHE just covered it in SNOW! I gotta get OUT of here. Into the water! SWIM! SWIMMM! Thank god Sam can drop me a pod. GET IN THE POD!
Right. Let’s count my supplies, and get myself organized. Only have a storage and a basic fabricator, but it will do. I need food, water, and a cold suit if I want ANY chance of survival. I’ll keep this log going, like Riley did, since now I’m alone in the icy depths. In case I do not make it, my name is Robin Goodall, and these are my logs.
Looking around, I can only find limestone and galena for metals. Those will have to do. My water situation, that I can fix by way of a simple bladderfish. Not sure about food yet. I’ll look around. Maybe a peeper. Actually, found a boomerang. Not filling, but it works.
I found some creepvine! Here in Sector Zero, they are yellow instead of green, with pink seeds like in the Crater. Using the rubber from its seeds, I made a knife and some fins. After knifing some samples to make into mesh, I got myself an o2 tank. Standard issue, extra 30 seconds of air, but its functional.
Day 1
Okay, now I need to find something acidic. The fab recipe I have for batteries uses something that looks like a yellow ribbon plant, so I suppose I am looking for that.
Oh my gosh! I feel a lot better now. The kelp regions have these really cute fish that make noises that remind me of dolphins. They are really pretty too, light blue and purple, with yellow lines. And they are friendly! I somehow lost my knife after they rubbed against me. Eh, whatever.
Hey, a piece of the base survived. Let’s loot the boxes. I found flares, food bars, water, and a habitat builder! Nice!
—
I cannot FIND that stupid plant. Gosh darn it…
Day 2
Onto the next day of searching. Found a cave with some argentine rocks for silver, and also crashfish. That really hurt.
Yeah, I cannot find this stupid plant. Argh.
Actually, turns out, I’m blind, and it’s been right there. Good on me… I made a scanner and a spare battery, at least.
Day 3
So, those cuddly guys? They are called Seamonkeys. And they steal stuff. I found that out while scanning em. They are really cute, but somewhat annoying. I get the impression they could be trained to work for humans though.
After a bit of scavenging, I have enough to make a small seabase near the pod for battery charging. While I was scavenging, something shot me and FROZE me! That was a really big, and also really cold, surprise.
One construction later, and we got a base. It’s very basic, but it will do. With this, and the ability to scan, I got myself a functional home base I can operate out of for going further out. I might as well explore, find what I can, rescue will take god knows how long anyways, might as well busy myself.
Some exploring later, and I found enough stuff for today. Making it back home now. Lot of stuff to document!
Day 4
Right, made a high cap o2 tank, now I can go deeper without constantly worrying. I found the data chip for it in the area the pda calls Twisty Bridges.
I found some really odd things. There are these really big fish with holes in the middle of them called titan holefish. They are slow, but produce oxygen in an area around them. Speaking of oxygen, I found a big plant to produces bubbles of oxygen. They are green, with a yellow center, and this really weird connector to the oxygen bubble.
While exploring the kelp regions of these cold waters, I found caves with yellow water. Note to self, do not explore these too often. They are very confusing and easy to get lost in. The good news is this is where the sea monkeys appear to reside, and they take things they find to their nests. In other words, frags! I found the mobile vehicle bay, and laser cutter frags.
After nearly dying of dehydration, I decided to make a grav trap to capture bladderfish to turn into water. It’s as good an idea as any, will keep me safe. Whatever it catches, it will be helpful. Food is what I most expect.
Day 5
Today, I have the goal of finding the frags to make myself a Seaglide. I will be back soon.
By looking through the green caves the sea monkeys (and crashfish) call home, I found enough frags to make a seaglide! With this, my exploration range has increased a ton. Let’s get home.
I made the seaglide, and spent the test of the day making a second high cap o2 tank, for more oxygen in case of emergencies. I have about 210 seconds of oxygen, give or take. I’m gonna go explore the big twisty bridges tomorrow with my new resources.
Chapter 2: The Voice
Day 6
After prep work is complete, I am off. Mostly, recharging my batteries and making sure I can go as far as I want to. My goal today is to try and find Sanctuary Zero.
—
Well, what do you know? I look around for a bit here, and I find Architect tech. That is probably the way! Janice (that’s why Riley called the AI for the PDA, and I figured I would call her that), confirmed it. Woo! Well, here goes nothing.
There is that voice again. It wants to destroy me, apparently. To quote itself, however, “I am all powerful.” Apparently, it thinks my PDA is a storage medium to put itself onto. O… kay….
Oh hey! Ion cubes! I might need those later. Picking them up unlocked the ion battery too! I need lithium, but that will REALLY help. Let’s see what else is here.
Uh… a giant cube? That’s where the voice is stored. Might as well download him, like he wants me to. I think it’s a he, it’s hard to tell to be honest.
—
Ow…. That hurt. The cube turned into a spike or something. When I woke up the voice (I’m gonna call him Jack for my own sake), said the sanctuary IMPLANTED HIM IN MY BRAIN! This is definitely not what I wanted to be doing today. Fantastic. I’m gonna freak out now.
—
I freaked out while swimming home. I mean, best way to handle stress, doing simple stuff. Going home was priority one. I just need familiarity and a spot where I feel alright.
Oh, he’s actually named Al-An. Er, that’s what he said to call him. Alan. The name of the voice in my head is FREAKING ALAN. Today is such a great day. Gods. I told him about Ketchup, my pet baawaal. Ah, old memories.
Now that I am home, it’s time to get back to work. While swimming home, I got the data chip for the rebreather. I’m gonna need that, so I might as well gather the stuff for it.
—
Got it. Needed a bit more silver for the wiring kit. Breathing issues in the deep, be gone. Time to explore some more, back to Twisty Bridges I go.
—
What the hell was that?! I heard a HUGE monster while exploring a region with a lot of black smokers. Oh god, I bet it’s a leviathan class.
Phew. Not a Leviathan class. It’s a tiny guy, actually. Roars like a Sea Dragon though, and I heard the data records of that. That scared the lights outta me. I shall call it the Small Dragon, and leave it alone.
I really need to find the datachip or scan data for the multipurpose room. That will improve the base a ton, give me room to work with, and let me have a bioreactor. I also need to find interior and exterior growbeds, or a plant pot. A pot will do, to be honest.
While looking around, I received a signal from the comm tower. I totally forgot about it. It’s broken, and needs repairs. While heading to it, I found the fragments of a very unfortunate Seatruck. The Seatruck is, as some Alterra rep said “a combination of the speed of the Seamoth, and the modularity of the Cyclops.” The Seatruck can have multiple modules for multiple jobs. Fab module, docking, habitat, and storage, the main draw of the Seatruck. This will actually be really handy for repairing the tower, and for making new bases easily. It’s slow with cargo, but it’s gonna set my range of exploration even higher. I found the logs of whoever was driving the seatruck, and it sounds like they were having an issue with some Leviathan class chasing them. I only have the latest log, hope they made it back okay. Maybe they were scared of the Small Dragon? (It has an actual name, but I prefer Small Dragon since they sound like the Sea Dragon, and sorta look like them too) Who knows?
Meanwhile, found the land mass the comm tower is on. Time to rush on up, because it is gonna get cold and FAST, in this weather at the least.
Phew. Made it into the seabase someone made up here to warm up. I found a lot of scan data here. Multipurpose room, bar top, shelves, storage, all sorts of things that I needed for sure. Even found a big filtered water from a water filtration machine. Nice. I’ll take a nap, then go check out the tower.
Chapter 3: Wrecks, seatrucks, and other such things
Day 9
Man, that was a good rest. Been needing that. Okay, so, looking at the circumstances, radio tower is totally busted. Nearby PDA lays it all out. They couldn’t repair it either. According to the PDA, there is a starship wreck at the Eastern Shelf. What starship crashed here in Sector Zero? And how? The Quarantine Enforcement Platform that caused the wreck of the Aurora and the Degasi was shut down by Riley. Did some ship get shot down and land in Sector Zero while that was still on? Strange. How did no one hear about this before now?
After that, I just need to be back at base, and so I took the long swim home. Nothing fancy. Gonna charge my batteries while I get the material together for the truck and mobile vehicle bay.
Day 10
Bay made, after some floundering around and the stealing of some creepvine.
—
Farmed around Twisty Bridges to get the last items I needed. Some ribbon plants, copper, gold, all that fun stuff. Only annoyance was the stupid freaking sharks. I call em brutes, because they are dumb. One crafting later, and I made myself a seatruck! Now how do I make the modules for it?
Day 11
Still no idea. Looking around the thermal vents now.
OW! The Small Dragon BIT ME! That HURT!
Ooooh… Oh my good lord I saw a Leviathan class! I am NOT sticking around that thing! It was huge, like an eel, and its mouth, it split open into 4 parts! NOPE!
Okay… Home… That was TERRIFYING. I was looking around for silver, I can’t find Argentine freaking anywhere, and I started heading east towards the shelf the starship is at. Past the thermal vents is more thermal vents, letting off pink somehow (I don’t know, I’m a xenologist, not a geologist). This area is FULL of the Small Dragons, AND the Leviathan class. Only issue is that to GET to the area the crash supposedly is, I have to go past said Leviathan class, and the Seatruck is not like the cyclops. I either go with my glide once I find silver to make an ion battery, or I truck it and just BOOK it past. That is probably what the seatruck was chased by. I’m gonna call it the Serpent, since I don’t know its actual name.
Day 12
Found the silver I needed to make an ion battery, this is really useful. I’m gonna explore today. Maybe just around where the Serpent is. I really need to find this crash. I also need to find the damn datachip for the coldsuit, I cannot STAND being unable to look around on the surface.
Wooooah. There is the starship crash! Damn. Wait a second. That isn’t Alterra tech… Is that a Precursor/Architect ship? What?
Made it home to make two ion batteries, one for my seaglide, and an extra for later.
Day 13
Back to the radio, this time with a repair tool. This will tell me what I need.
Well. I made it there, and bad news. I need a piece of wreckage and an advanced wiring kit. Dammit.
Spent the rest of today going home, so there is that.
Day 14
Two weeks into this survival business. I got a plan. Beyond the Starship, there is a lot of open water. My thoughts are saying that’s a far distance to go just to go back to base to get crafting done. So, I’m making a new base over near the starship. It will be a nice, simple base, multifunctional and a good retreat. I’m gonna need multiple trips to and from though.
Day 15
Thank god I used the Seatruck. That would have taken FOREVER with the seaglide. After two or three trips, back and forth, Alpha base is alive. It has a hatch, bioreactor, storage, fab, and battery charger. Basically, everything I could need. Except for creepvine. I need to find a growbed for that.
Here we go. Into the starship. Whatever secrets I find in here are bound to be interesting. I’m using a pathfinder tool to make sure I don’t get lost.
No… no way. This IS Alterra tech. What the HELL? Why is there an alterra ship wrecked here in Sector Zero? Or at least, it looks like Alterra tech. Human at the least.
Day 16
Sadly, my exploration ended as soon as it began. Most of the ship is sealed off, needing a laser cutter to get em open. Where the heck can I find diamonds?
Holy **** what the hell is that?! Oh my good lord. Is that… Is that a JELLYFISH LEVIATHAN?!
It is! It’s called the Vent Garden. It’s right on top of a smoker, that’s probably why it is so big! Nutrients blasted up all the way through the smoker.
****! GO GO GO!
♥♥♥♥♥♥♥… God. I was attacked by a Serpent Leviathan. No idea what they are still, but god! It tried to EAT the TRUCK!
Day 17
I decided to go back to where the lifepod is and poke around. I turned up exactly zilch. The north shelf sorta blocks off any amount of exploration. It feels like I am in the corner of this place, if that makes sense. Ugh.
Day 18
Hang on… I think I see something. A possible way up to the tundra?
Getting on this damn tundra was a lot of work. I hope it was worth it.
Chapter 4: The Tundra Above
Day 19
This took way too long, I will be totally honest. I had to swim through a cave full of jellyfish. Gosh. I made it, at least.
Day 20
Its cold, I am wet, and I just heard a giant roar while walking on this tundra or basin or whatever it is. Fantastic. I already met the snow stalkers, furred protective mothers. I am glad the suit protects against bleeding, because that HURT when it TACKLED ME ONTO THE ICE.
—
What the heck is this? A seabase door in the ice? What?
It was a tiny bunker. Odd. Who made it?
I finally found Snowfox base. We made snowfoxes, hoverbikes essentially, here. Not much of it is left, looks like a giant rock crashed into it and broke it. Oh well.
Day 21
What? A crashed transport…? Wait! Jeff made that bunker! He was hit by a meteor and landed here! But where the hell is Jeffov?
—
The hell? I just got warned of a… stationary leviathan? What? I entered a cave, seeing what else I can find before I find a way the hell outta here. The way into this cave was past a bridge that is obviously of Alterra make. I bet it leads even more into this tundra
What. The. Hell. That thing… it’s HUGE! It must be Sea dragon sized, or even more! And it was infected with Kharra? It can’t be any more than 1000 years old! According to the scan, it was a land based creature. How… odd. How did it freeze in a cave like this? Why?
Oh, hey, theres the chip for the cold suit. Nifty!
Time for me to skedaddle. I ran practically the entire night into the water,
Day 22
While looking around, I found a cave entrance to a deeper part of twisty bridges. Wonder whats down here.
—
Pain. Lots of pain. I got attacked by a shark… squid… what? Oh god, that’s terrifying.
Good news, I found the frags for the fabricator and storage modules of the seatruck, will be nice to use when I make them.
Day 23
Today, going to make the Mod station. No reason I didn’t before now, I had all the materials, I was just lazy. Easily done thanks to my friend the base builder. Only thing I could really use is the ultraglide fins and the ultra high-cap air tank. That will need lithium, so I gotta gather that, and find the UHC stuff in the first place.
—
Turns out, the sea monkeys stole the stuff, I found it in their weird caves. That’s part one down, thank god.
—
Remember that area where I described a giant jellyfish leviathan? Yeah, turns out, that area has tons of lithium and such. Score. A trip home awaits me.
Day 24
Back home, time to make an Ultra High-cap o2 tank. Fabricators make this pretty easy and instant. Even as I write this, it’s done, and equipped. So much better. I can stay underwater for good amounts of time now. Heading back to Alpha base now.
Day 25
With all the materials on hand, I made myself a fabricator and storage module for the Seatruck. These will be incredibly handy to me.