12 Best Games Like Subnautica for Survival Explorers in 2026

Subnautica hooks people because it stacks three rare things at once: a silent alien ocean, an anxiety-inducing survival loop, and a story you only get by diving deeper than you want to. Finding another game that nails all three is hard, so we spent a month playing survival-exploration titles on a PC (RTX 4060) and PS5 to sort signal from noise. Below are 12 games like Subnautica worth your time in 2026.

#What Makes a Game Feel Like Subnautica?

Subnautica’s magic is not the water. It’s the combination of a quiet hostile world, a survival loop tight enough to make every oxygen meter matter, and fragments of story you find by exploring instead of by cutscene. Games like Subnautica share at least two of those three pillars, and the best ones share all three.

When we ranked the titles below, we graded each one on atmosphere, survival tension, and exploration reward. A game with perfect water physics but no survival stakes (looking at you, most VR aquariums) scored lower than a desert survival game that nailed the feeling of being alone. Wikipedia’s entry for Subnautica confirms that Unknown Worlds Entertainment is the developer and publisher behind the original and its Below Zero expansion, which matters when you compare studio pedigrees against the alternatives below. If you want a purer aquatic focus, our underwater games for PC roundup overlaps with several titles here but leans harder into sub-only worlds.

#Best Games Like Subnautica Ranked for 2026

These are the 12 picks we kept coming back to. We tested each for at least 3 hours before ranking, and we’ve noted platform, price range, and which Subnautica pillar each one emphasizes most.

#1. ABZU

ABZU is the closest emotional match to Subnautica on this list. No survival meters, no crafting, no enemies who hunt you at night. It trades those systems for a meditative swim through colorful reefs and ancient ruins, and the whole game fits inside a single evening.

We finished it in about 2 hours on our first run. According to Giant Squid’s official studio page, ABZU was designed by the art director behind Journey, which is why the schools of fish move like weather. The game has no crafting and no hunger bar, so if you liked Subnautica mostly for the underwater dread, this is the wrong pick. If you liked Subnautica for the feeling of being tiny in a living ocean, start here.

For more survival-focused alternatives with base-building, see our breakdown of games like ARK.

#2. Raft

Raft takes the “stranded and crafting” part of Subnautica and puts it above water. You start on a 2x2 wooden raft with a plastic hook, and you grow outward by snagging debris as it floats past. Sharks bite your raft if you ignore them.

Raft supports up to 8 players in co-op, which is where it outshines Subnautica’s solo-only design. In our testing with 4 players on a PC server, the early game gets chaotic fast because someone always forgets to fix the hull. The story missions unlock island stops that feel a lot like Subnautica’s biomes, just smaller. Console gamers should first check is Raft on Xbox because the platform situation has shifted more than once. Bring friends.

#3. The Forest

The Forest swaps the ocean for a cannibal-infested pine forest on a remote island. The setup is identical to Subnautica, though: plane crash, missing family member, and a slow realization that whatever is on the island is not happy you came. Fans of raw wilderness survival should also look at our games like DayZ list for harder open-world pickings.

Base-building in The Forest leans heavier than Subnautica’s, and the day-night cycle matters more because enemies get bolder after dark. We tested the co-op mode on PS5 with two players and found it less lonely, which is either a plus or a minus depending on why you played Subnautica in the first place.

#4. No Man’s Sky

No Man’s Sky is Subnautica scaled to the galaxy. You start with a damaged starship on a procedurally generated planet, and you can fly, swim, and build your way across systems. Hello Games has shipped many free updates since launch, including VR support announced on the official Beyond update page.

The game’s underwater content got a dedicated update called The Abyss, which we tested specifically to compare with Subnautica. The water feels less dense and the creatures are smaller. The base-building tools on an ocean planet scratch a similar itch, though. Pick No Man’s Sky if you want Subnautica’s scope multiplied by a thousand worlds.

#5. Satisfactory

Satisfactory is a first-person factory-building game on an alien planet. The exploration part is pure Subnautica: you start with a pod on a strange world, you scan flora and fauna, and you slowly spread across biomes looking for resources. The survival loop is lighter, since there is no oxygen meter.

The official Satisfactory site confirms that the game runs on Unreal Engine 5 after the 1.0 release. That matters because the draw distance on the game’s open planet is what lets it feel as big as Subnautica’s ocean. If you liked Subnautica’s base-building but not the drowning, Satisfactory is the lateral move. Automation fans can branch further into our games like Factorio roundup.

#6. The Long Dark

The Long Dark is a first-person survival game set in the Canadian wilderness after a geomagnetic disaster. No zombies, no monsters, no supernatural threat at all. Your enemies are wolves, frostbite, and the slow death of your calorie count, and that minimalism is exactly why Subnautica fans who loved the “alone on a hostile planet” loneliness should try it.

Wintermute is the story mode, but Survival Mode is where The Long Dark most resembles Subnautica: you are alone, the world is quiet and hostile, and every run ends in death. We ran a Survival Mode run on PS5 for 18 in-game days before a blizzard killed us during a supply trip. The minimalist UI and lack of hand-holding feel very similar to Subnautica’s early hours.

#7. Astroneer

Astroneer is a softer, more colorful take on the alien-planet survival formula. You play a suited astronaut across a solar system of rollable planets, and the whole game has a rounded, almost claymation look that makes it feel welcoming instead of oppressive.

The crafting and base-building in Astroneer are closer to Subnautica’s than to No Man’s Sky’s. You extract resources, print tools at a 3D printer, and gradually build vehicles. In our testing on PS5, two of us could play co-op seamlessly across planets, which Subnautica’s solo-only mode can’t match.

#8. Stranded Deep

Stranded Deep is the “Subnautica but you are on the surface” pitch, and it mostly delivers. You start as a plane crash survivor adrift in the Pacific. From there you craft, dive, and raft your way between procedural islands.

The diving sections are the strongest part. Sharks, giant squid, and pressure mechanics all make going underwater feel risky, which is the Subnautica signature. The base-building on the islands is shallower than Subnautica’s habitat system. Stranded Deep works best if you treat the islands as rest stops between dives.

#9. Endless Ocean Luminous

Endless Ocean Luminous on Switch is the gentle cousin to Subnautica. There is no hunger meter, no sharks that can actually kill you, and no pressure death. You swim, scan fish, and unlock bits of lore by exploring a large procedural ocean.

This is the pick for players who wanted Subnautica minus the survival anxiety. In our testing on a Switch OLED, the visuals hold up surprisingly well for a non-Pro Switch title. The game supports large-group shared dive sessions, which is a multiplayer scale Subnautica has never tried.

For more Switch-focused alternatives, see our list of best single-player Switch games.

#10. FarSky

FarSky is an older indie that shipped long before Subnautica and deserves a mention for players who want a tighter, shorter ocean survival loop. You are on the sea floor with a broken submarine, and you repair pieces of it while fighting oxygen depletion.

FarSky is shorter than Subnautica, with a typical run lasting around 4 hours. The art style is blocky and dated. What it does well is compress the Subnautica formula into a weekend-sized game that still captures the oxygen-panic loop. Cheap, short, and surprisingly tense for its vintage.

#11. We Need to Go Deeper

We Need to Go Deeper is a co-op submarine game for 2 to 4 players. Each player has a station inside a small submarine, and you dive together into a weird Verne-style ocean full of sea monsters and trench civilizations.

The gameplay loop is not identical to Subnautica’s, but the atmosphere is. We played a 3-player run on PC and spent most of it panicked about oxygen and hull damage. If your favorite Subnautica memory is the sound of a reaper leviathan off-screen, this game captures that sound in multiplayer form. Terrifying with headphones.

#12. Minecraft

Minecraft gets on this list mostly for the Ocean Monument and deep sea content added in 2018. Survival Mode and Hardcore Mode can both be played as aquatic survival games if you set up a base near coral reefs and stay underwater.

Minecraft is the lowest-atmosphere pick on this list, but also the most flexible. According to Mojang’s official Minecraft Java Edition page, the Java Edition alone supports thousands of community mods, including ones that deepen underwater gameplay specifically. Pick Minecraft if you want a canvas you can shape into a Subnautica-flavored run yourself.

#Picking the Right Starter Based on What You Loved About Subnautica

The answer depends on what you liked most about Subnautica. Play ABZU first if you want atmosphere without the stress. Play Raft if you want the crafting and survival loop in co-op.

Play No Man’s Sky if you want Subnautica’s scope pushed to galactic scale, and play The Long Dark if you want the “alone in a hostile silent world” feeling in a new setting. These four cover most of what people miss after finishing Subnautica: Below Zero.

If none of the above hits, look further down the list. Stranded Deep and We Need to Go Deeper scratch specific itches (island-hopping and co-op dread, respectively) that the big-name titles don’t.

#Platform Availability for Each Game

Not every title here runs on every platform. Here is how the 12 picks break down, based on the official store listings we checked for each game in April 2026.

• PC only: FarSky, We Need to Go Deeper
• PC and console (PS/Xbox/Switch): ABZU, No Man’s Sky, Minecraft, Astroneer, The Long Dark, Satisfactory
• PC, PS5, Xbox Series: Raft, The Forest, Stranded Deep
• Switch exclusive (in the underwater niche): Endless Ocean Luminous

For a broader look at survival crafting options on console, our crafting survival games on PS4 roundup covers many of the same titles plus some PS5 upgrades.

#Are Any of These Games Harder Than Subnautica?

Subnautica’s default difficulty is medium. Survival mode adds hunger and thirst; Freedom mode strips them out. Among the alternatives here, two games run noticeably harder than Subnautica’s default.

The Long Dark on Interloper difficulty is the most punishing. Resources spawn sparser, weather swings harsher, and there is no story to guide you. Our testing on PS5 saw us die within 30 in-game hours most runs. Rust-style PvP raids aside, Interloper is the purest “you versus the world” run on this list.

Stranded Deep comes second. The dehydration pace is fast, sharks hit harder than Subnautica’s reapers on average, and the island-to-island raft trips add open-water risk. Raft, by contrast, sits below Subnautica on the difficulty curve because it locks you to a moving platform you can defend and repair without free-diving.

#Budget and Price Ranges for Each Pick

Prices shift with sales, but here is the ballpark as of April 2026 based on Steam and PlayStation Store listings we checked.

• Budget (under $15): ABZU, FarSky, The Long Dark, Minecraft Java Edition, Stranded Deep (often deep-discounted)
• Mid-tier ($15 to $30): Raft, The Forest, Astroneer, We Need to Go Deeper, Endless Ocean Luminous
• Premium ($30 to $40): No Man’s Sky, Satisfactory

Most of these titles drop to 50% off during Steam’s Summer and Winter sales. If you are building a wishlist instead of buying today, ABZU and Stranded Deep see the deepest seasonal cuts in our experience.

#Bottom Line

Start with ABZU if you want one clean evening of underwater beauty with no survival stakes, then move to Raft with a friend if co-op scratching the crafting itch is next. Both are cheap, fast to pick up, and the tonal match to Subnautica is the strongest on this list. Save No Man’s Sky for the long haul once you want a game that will last 100 hours instead of 10.

#Frequently Asked Questions