10 Games Like Subnautica That Capture the Same Sense of Discovery

There is no shortage of survival games, but finding something that truly feels like Subnautica is much harder.

What makes Subnautica special isn’t simply gathering materials or watching hunger meters. It is the feeling of being dropped into an unfamiliar world with almost no idea what is waiting beyond the next ridge or beneath the next drop-off. You slowly turn a tiny shelter into a proper base, build better equipment, reach places that previously seemed impossible, and gradually piece together the mystery surrounding the world.

Some games on this list recreate that experience through oceans, while others replace the water with alien planets, ruined skies, underground laboratories, or entire solar systems. They aren’t all direct copies of Subnautica, and that is exactly why they are worth playing.

If you have already explored every corner of Planet 4546B and want another game built around survival, discovery, crafting, base building, strange environments, and the temptation to see what is just a little farther ahead, these are the games I would recommend next.

10. Outer Wilds

Outer Wilds is easily the least traditional survival game on this list. There is no elaborate crafting system, no giant base to construct, and you won’t spend hours stockpiling titanium. What it does share with Subnautica, however, is arguably its most important quality: the desire to explore simply because you need to know what is out there.

You are given a small spacecraft and an entire miniature solar system to investigate. Every planet works differently. One is slowly consumed by sand, another physically falls apart while you explore it, and others hide environments and secrets that you may completely miss during your first few visits.

The real progression isn’t equipment. It is knowledge. Every piece of information you discover helps you understand another part of the solar system and eventually the larger mystery connecting everything together.

That makes Outer Wilds an excellent recommendation for Subnautica players who loved discovering abandoned structures, following environmental clues and gradually understanding what happened before they arrived.

Play this if: exploration and mystery were your favorite parts of Subnautica.

9. Sons of the Forest

If the moments when Subnautica suddenly turned from peaceful exploration into genuine horror were your favorite part, Sons of the Forest takes that feeling and pushes it much further.

Instead of crash-landing on an alien ocean planet, you find yourself stranded on a large forested island filled with caves, abandoned facilities, hostile inhabitants and plenty of things that are better discovered without spoilers.

The survival systems are much more combat-focused than Subnautica, but the basic rhythm feels familiar. You establish somewhere safe, gather supplies, craft increasingly useful equipment and gradually become confident enough to travel farther from your home.

Base construction is also far more hands-on. You can build cabins, defensive structures and increasingly elaborate settlements while deciding how permanent you actually want your home to become.

The biggest difference is aggression. Subnautica often encourages you to avoid dangerous creatures. Sons of the Forest regularly expects you to defend yourself against them.

Play this if: you want Subnautica-style exploration and survival with much more horror, combat and detailed base building.

8. Abiotic Factor

Abiotic Factor takes the survival-crafting formula somewhere completely different: a massive underground research facility where scientific experiments have gone catastrophically wrong.

You play as a scientist trapped inside the facility following a containment failure. Corridors, laboratories, offices and industrial areas gradually become your new survival sandbox as you search for supplies, build equipment and figure out how to reach deeper sections of the complex.

Its setting is very different from Subnautica, but the progression can feel surprisingly familiar. An inaccessible part of the facility becomes your equivalent of a deep biome. You initially encounter obstacles you can’t overcome, discover new technologies and eventually return with the equipment needed to continue.

There is also proper crafting and base building, allowing you to turn sections of the facility into surprisingly comfortable homes while everything outside is falling apart.

Abiotic Factor is particularly good with friends, although it can also be played solo.

Play this if: you like Subnautica’s science-fiction setting, technology progression and mysterious facilities but want a stronger RPG and co-op element.

7. Sunkenland

Sunkenland is one of the easiest games on this list to recommend if the underwater part of Subnautica itself is what you want more of.

The world has been almost completely flooded, leaving islands and improvised settlements scattered across an enormous body of water. Many of the valuable resources you need are hidden beneath the surface inside drowned cities, subway systems, buildings and other remains of civilization.

You dive down, collect resources and lost technology, return to the surface and use what you’ve found to improve your equipment and settlement. Better diving equipment eventually allows you to remain underwater longer and explore more dangerous locations.

Base building plays a major role as well. Bases can be constructed around islands, on the water and in other locations, while crafting expands from simple survival equipment into vehicles, weapons and increasingly advanced technology.

Sunkenland is considerably more combat-heavy than Subnautica, including hostile factions and attacks on your base, so don’t expect the same mostly peaceful approach to wildlife.

Still, repeatedly diving into submerged ruins because you spotted something interesting below is about as close to the Subnautica itch as you can get.

Play this if: you specifically want another survival game built around diving and underwater exploration.

6. Astroneer

Astroneer captures the lighter and more creative side of Subnautica.

You explore a colorful solar system containing multiple planets, gather resources using a terrain-manipulation tool and slowly establish networks of increasingly sophisticated bases.

Progression comes from researching new technologies and expanding what you can build. Early equipment makes nearby exploration possible, while vehicles, power systems, automation and other technologies eventually let you undertake much larger expeditions.

The terrain tool is what really separates Astroneer from most survival games. You can physically dig into planets, create tunnels, reshape landscapes and travel all the way from a planet’s surface toward its core.

There are also mysterious structures scattered throughout the solar system, giving exploration a purpose beyond simply looking for another pile of crafting resources.

It isn’t frightening in the way Subnautica can be, and the survival mechanics are considerably more forgiving. But few games reproduce the satisfying cycle of explore → find resources → unlock technology → explore farther quite as well.

Play this if: you want a more relaxing and creative version of Subnautica’s exploration and technology progression.

5. Raft

It is almost impossible to talk about ocean survival games without bringing up Raft.

You begin on a tiny floating platform surrounded by seemingly endless water. Floating debris becomes your first source of supplies, which you pull toward yourself using a hook. Those resources let you craft equipment and, more importantly, expand your pathetic little collection of boards into something resembling an actual home.

Eventually that home can become enormous, complete with storage areas, crop plots, equipment and increasingly advanced systems.

Like Subnautica, progression constantly pushes you away from safety. You travel toward new destinations, explore islands and structures, dive beneath the surface for additional resources and gradually uncover the story behind the flooded world.

Underwater exploration isn’t nearly as expansive as it is in Subnautica, but being surrounded by ocean gives Raft a similar sense of vulnerability. Knowing that your floating base is waiting above you while you dive toward a reef with limited oxygen should immediately feel familiar.

It also supports co-op, making it a great choice if you always wished you could bring friends along during your Subnautica adventures.

Play this if: you want ocean survival, crafting and a base that travels everywhere with you.

4. Breathedge 2

Breathedge 2 replaces the ocean with outer space but preserves many of the things that make Subnautica’s survival loop appealing.

You explore dangerous environments, gather materials, craft tools and steadily upgrade your equipment so that you can venture farther into areas that were previously difficult or impossible to reach.

The obvious difference is tone. Where Subnautica can be quiet, lonely and unnerving, Breathedge 2 constantly throws jokes, strange characters and absurd situations at you. Whether that works for you will depend heavily on how much you enjoy its style of humor.

The exploration itself is what earns it a place this high. There is always another resource to collect, another piece of equipment to improve or another interesting location pulling you away from safety.

There is one important difference for players specifically looking for another Subnautica base-building experience: Breathedge 2’s larger standalone base-building system is planned for a later major update rather than being the focus of the current version. So right now, it is a much stronger recommendation for exploration and crafting than for players whose favorite Subnautica activity was constructing huge underwater bases.

Play this if: you want first-person sci-fi survival and exploration but don’t mind replacing Subnautica’s serious atmosphere with comedy.

3. Forever Skies

Forever Skies asks a very simple question: what if Subnautica’s Cyclops wasn’t just your submarine, but also your main base?

Earth has become an ecological disaster, forcing what remains of humanity away from the surface. You explore the ruined world from a customizable high-tech airship that gradually becomes your home, workshop, laboratory and primary method of transportation.

You collect resources from ruined structures, research technology, build new equipment and continuously upgrade the airship so that you can travel farther and survive increasingly dangerous expeditions.

That mobile-base concept creates a progression loop that feels remarkably natural for a Subnautica fan. Your vehicle isn’t simply transportation. Improving it directly increases what parts of the world you can realistically investigate.

The game also puts a heavy emphasis on environmental storytelling. Exploring abandoned structures gradually reveals what happened to Earth and why the world ended up in its current state.

Moving through clouds rather than oceans obviously creates a very different visual experience, but structurally Forever Skies is one of the closest modern alternatives to Subnautica.

Play this if: you loved upgrading the Seamoth and Cyclops and want an entire survival game built around a mobile base.

2. No Man’s Sky

No Man’s Sky operates on a completely different scale from Subnautica.

Rather than exploring one carefully designed alien world, you are given an enormous procedurally generated universe filled with planets to land on, resources to gather, creatures to discover and locations to investigate.

The basic progression will nevertheless feel very familiar to Subnautica players. You begin relatively vulnerable, gather nearby resources, repair and improve your technology and gradually gain the ability to travel farther than before.

You can construct planetary bases, purchase and upgrade starships, acquire large freighters, explore hostile environments and even travel beneath alien oceans.

The difference is focus. Subnautica’s smaller world allows every biome and discovery to feel deliberately placed. No Man’s Sky trades some of that handcrafted intimacy for freedom and scale. If you want to leave one planet and decide that your next home will be on an entirely different world, nothing is stopping you.

For someone who loved the feeling of arriving in a strange biome for the first time, No Man’s Sky can keep delivering variations of that experience for an enormous amount of time.

Play this if: you want Subnautica’s exploration, crafting and base building expanded across an entire universe.

1. The Planet Crafter

If someone asked me for the game that most closely reproduces the overall feeling of progression in Subnautica without simply copying the ocean setting, The Planet Crafter would be my first recommendation.

You are sent to a barren and hostile planet with a seemingly impossible mission: transform it into a world capable of supporting life.

The beginning feels deliberately small. Oxygen is limited, resources have to be gathered manually and your first shelter is little more than somewhere to avoid dying. From there, everything begins expanding.

You construct machines that increase atmospheric pressure, oxygen and temperature. New technologies become available. Larger bases become possible. Previously dangerous journeys become routine. Eventually, the barren world itself begins changing around you.

That transformation is what makes The Planet Crafter so satisfying. Instead of simply becoming stronger, you can physically see the results of your progression. A lifeless landscape gradually develops water, vegetation, insects and eventually a functioning ecosystem.

There are also wrecks, ruins and mysteries scattered around the planet, giving you plenty of reasons to leave your comfortable base and push farther into unknown territory.

Combat isn’t the focus. Much like the quieter portions of Subnautica, the environment itself is your main obstacle. Oxygen management, exploration and preparation matter more than building an arsenal.

The Planet Crafter doesn’t have the terrifying depths or enormous sea creatures that make Subnautica unforgettable, but when it comes to the core loop of surviving, researching technology, improving your base and progressively conquering a hostile alien world, nothing else on this list comes closer.

Play this if: you want the closest overall alternative to Subnautica’s survival, exploration, crafting and base-building progression.

Which Game Should You Play After Subnautica?

If you want something that comes closest to the complete Subnautica experience, The Planet Crafter should be your first stop. It captures the same satisfying progression from barely surviving to comfortably exploring a once-hostile alien environment.

Forever Skies is another excellent option, especially if the Cyclops and vehicle progression were among your favorite parts of Subnautica, while Raft and Sunkenland are better choices if you aren’t ready to leave the ocean behind.

Players who cared more about discovering secrets than crafting should absolutely try Outer Wilds, while No Man’s Sky is the obvious choice if your main complaint about Subnautica was simply that you eventually ran out of places to explore.

None of these games completely replaces Subnautica, and that is probably a good thing. What they do offer are different versions of the same irresistible idea: placing you somewhere unfamiliar, giving you just enough tools to survive, and making you wonder what might be waiting beyond the edge of the area you already know.