Best Games Like Subnautica (2026): 10 Survival Picks

Quick answer: play Subnautica: Below Zero first — it is the same studio's standalone follow-up. Then The Planet Crafter for the closest survive-build-explore loop on an alien world, Raft if you want the ocean with friends, and Outer Wilds if Subnautica's best moments were the mysteries you pieced together yourself.

Subnautica (Unknown Worlds Entertainment, early access 2014, full release on PC in January 2018, later on PlayStation, Xbox and Switch) drops you into an alien ocean after a crash and asks you to survive, build bases and craft vehicles that let you dive deeper — and the deeper you go, the more of the planet's story and the more of its predators you find. The ten games below share at least two of the four things that make it work. Each says which, and where it differs.

• Exploration that is the progression — the map, not a level counter, is what you unlock
• Survival and crafting — food, water or oxygen, and tools built from what you gather
• Bases and vehicles — something you build to push further out
• A story you find — logs, ruins and signals that explain where you are

Unknown Worlds Entertainment · May 2021 · PC, PS4, PS5, Xbox One, Xbox Series X|S and Switch

The standalone follow-up, set in an arctic region of the same planet. It is shorter, more story-driven and has land sections on the ice as well as the ocean below. Shares with Subnautica: all four. Different: a voiced protagonist and a smaller map.

Miju Games · PC · 1.0 in April 2024

You land on a dead planet and have to make it habitable: build machines that add heat, pressure and oxygen, and watch the world change around you — water appears, then plants, then life. Shares with Subnautica: survival and crafting, bases, a story you find. Different: you change the world rather than only exploring it, and there is co-op.

Redbeet Interactive · PC · early access 2018 · 1.0 in June 2022

You start on a few planks in an open ocean, hook debris out of the water and grow the raft into a floating base while a shark circles. Story islands lead you between set locations. Shares with Subnautica: survival, crafting, a base, a story you find. Different: you live on the surface, and it is best played in co-op.

FakeFish and Undertow Games · PC · 1.0 in March 2023

A 2D co-op submarine sim under the ice of Jupiter's moon Europa. Your crew pilots, repairs, fights off monsters and floods compartments to survive. Shares with Subnautica: the dread of the deep, a vehicle you depend on. Different: a crew-management game in 2D, with chaotic multiplayer at its heart.

Hello Games · 2016 · PC, PlayStation, Xbox and Switch

Subnautica's survival-crafting loop scaled up to a galaxy of planets, many with oceans of their own, plus bases, freighters and years of free updates. Shares with Subnautica: all four. Different: procedurally generated, so it is broader and less hand-crafted.

Mobius Digital · 2019 · PC, PS4, PS5, Xbox One, Xbox Series X|S and Switch

A solar-system-sized mystery in which the only thing you gain is knowledge. There is no crafting and no survival meter — but the feeling of following a clue into a frightening place and coming back understanding more is the closest any game gets to Subnautica's best moments. One of its planets is a storm-wracked ocean world. Shares with Subnautica: exploration as progression, a story you find. Different: no crafting or bases.

Obsidian Entertainment · 1.0 in September 2022 · PC and Xbox; PS4, PS5 and Switch from April 2024

Shrunk to the size of an ant in a suburban back garden, you survive, build bases and craft gear from the insects and plants around you. There is even a pond to dive into. Shares with Subnautica: survival and crafting, bases, a story you find. Different: brighter, funnier, and built for co-op.

Endnight Games · PC · early access February 2023 · 1.0 in February 2024

Survival horror on an island full of cannibals and worse, with deep base building and cave systems that explain what happened there. Shares with Subnautica: survival and crafting, bases, a story you find underground. Different: combat-heavy horror on land.

System Era Softworks · 1.0 in December 2019 · PC, PS4, Xbox One and Switch

A friendly space sandbox in which you terraform and tunnel through planets with a deform tool, building vehicles and bases as you go. Shares with Subnautica: exploration, crafting, bases and vehicles. Different: no real threat — Astroneer is about building, not fear.

Parallel Studio · published by Quantic Dream · August 2023 · PC, PS4, PS5, Xbox One and Xbox Series X|S

A story-led deep-sea adventure about a diver working alone in the North Sea in the 1970s, with light resource management and a submarine to explore with. Shares with Subnautica: the ocean, a vehicle, a story you find. Different: much more narrative and much less survival.

For an underwater game with no survival at all, Giant Squid's Abzû (2016) is a short, Wordless dive worth an evening.

• Subnautica: Below Zero, Outer Wilds and Under the Waves — PS5 and Xbox Series X|S.
• Grounded — Xbox from launch, PS5 since 2024.
• No Man's Sky — PlayStation and Xbox.
• Astroneer — PS4 and Xbox One.

Raft, Sons of the Forest, The Planet Crafter and Barotrauma are PC games.

Below Zero if you want more of the same; The Planet Crafter if it was building your way across a hostile world; Raft or Grounded if you want to play with friends; Outer Wilds if it was the mystery.

For more survival building, see our games like Terraria and best games like Minecraft, and games like Grounded for more back-garden survival.

Subnautica: Below Zero, the standalone follow-up from the same studio, Unknown Worlds. After that, The Planet Crafter has the closest loop — survive, build bases and transform an alien world — and Barotrauma is the pick if it was the ocean's dread you loved.

Subnautica: Below Zero, No Man's Sky, Grounded, Under the Waves, Astroneer and Outer Wilds all have PlayStation versions. Raft, Sons of the Forest, The Planet Crafter and Barotrauma are PC games.

Raft, Sons of the Forest, Grounded, No Man's Sky, Astroneer and Barotrauma all have online co-op. Subnautica: Below Zero, Outer Wilds and Under the Waves are single-player.

Yes: Abzû is a short, Wordless underwater exploration game with no survival mechanics at all, and Under the Waves is a story-led deep-sea adventure with light resource management.