Ocean and Space Games Like Subnautica: 14 Steam Picks

The best games like Subnautica give you the same mix of curiosity and nerves: a strange world you want to see more of, and a body that cannot quite survive in it yet. What sticks with most players is the moment a new piece of gear lets you dive deeper, where the water gets darker and the sounds get stranger. These picks recreate that pull on Steam, some underwater, some in space and some on land.

What makes Subnautica so hard to replace?

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Subnautica, from Unknown Worlds Entertainment, came out on Steam on Jan 23, 2018. You crash-land on an alien ocean planet with a life pod and almost nothing else, and the only way forward is down. Early on you are hunting for water, food and enough oxygen to swim a little further. Later you are piloting submarines through trenches, lava fields and glowing underwater rivers.

A few things make it what it is, and they are worth naming because they decide which games like Subnautica will actually satisfy you:

• Depth as progression. New gear is not just stronger, it lets you go somewhere you physically could not reach before. Your map grows downward.
• Survival crafting. You gather resources, learn blueprints and craft tools, vehicles and base parts. “Survival crafting” is the genre label for games built around that gather-build-survive loop.
• Base building with stakes. Underwater habitats have to handle pressure as you build deeper, so your home is part of the challenge.
• A story you piece together. There is a mystery under the surface, told through logs, signals and places you find rather than long cutscenes.
• Fear without combat focus. You are mostly avoiding things, not fighting them. The tension comes from not knowing what lives below.

It also lets you tune the pressure: survival mode tracks hunger, thirst and oxygen, freedom mode drops hunger and thirst, hardcore adds permanent death, and creative removes the survival side entirely. Subnautica is single-player on Steam, with controller and VR support, on Windows and macOS. No single game copies all five traits, so the sections below are grouped by which part you loved most.

Underwater games like Subnautica

If the ocean itself was the draw, start here. These keep you diving, from a direct continuation to a quiet story game and a cheerful fishing adventure.

Subnautica: Below Zero

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The obvious first pick, and the strongest fit. Below Zero is set two years after the original, back on Planet 4546B but in a freezing arctic region. You arrive to find out what happened to your sister, and abandoned Alterra research stations hint at a cover-up that logs and databanks slowly explain.

The loop is the one you know: build habitats, craft tools, dive deeper. New areas include the Crystal Caverns, the Twisty Bridges and thermal vents with alien artifacts, and you spend more time above water too, climbing snowy peaks in the Glacial Basin. It suits anyone who simply wants more Subnautica. Single-player, full controller support, Windows and macOS.

Under The Waves

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Under The Waves keeps the submarine and the deep sea but trades survival pressure for story. You play Stan, a professional diver on a long mission in the North Sea, set in a techno-futuristic version of the 1970s. He is dealing with grief, and strange events start happening as he sinks into his own isolation.

You pilot his submarine across the seabed and explore caves, wrecks and underwater plants in a special wetsuit. If the lonely, beautiful side of Subnautica stayed with you more than the crafting, this is a gentle, emotional dive. Single-player, gamepad recommended.

DAVE THE DIVER

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A much lighter take on ocean exploration. By day you dive into the Blue Hole, a shifting underwater area with over 200 kinds of sea creatures, catching fish with a harpoon and gathering resources. By night you run a sushi restaurant with what you caught. Oxygen still matters: run out and you drop everything you collected on that dive.

It mixes in rogue-like elements, meaning parts of the dive area change between runs, plus a comic story with quirky characters. Good for players who loved the sea life and want something cosy. Single-player. For more like it, see our list of games like Dave the Diver.

Stranded Deep

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Stranded Deep swaps the alien planet for the Pacific Ocean after a plane crash. You explore underwater and on small islands for supplies, crafting spears, axes, bows and spearguns, and you keep an eye on health, hunger, thirst and sunstroke through a survival watch. Injuries like broken bones and poison need treating.

It is grittier and more realistic in tone, and each playthrough plays out differently. Unusually for this list, it supports split-screen co-op on one PC as well as online co-op and Remote Play Together, and it runs on Windows, macOS and Linux. A strong choice for a couch partner who wants to survive the ocean with you.

Raft

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You wake on a tiny raft with a plastic hook and open ocean in every direction. Pull in floating debris, expand the raft into a proper floating home, scavenge reefs below and islands above, and keep a man-eating shark from tearing your base apart. The goal is to find what remains of civilization still above water.

Raft has the same gentle start and steady growth as Subnautica, with more of your time spent on the surface. It shines with friends. Single-player or online co-op on Windows. It is one of the most common answers when people want games like Subnautica but multiplayer.

Games like Subnautica but in space

Subnautica is science fiction at heart: a crashed starship, an alien world, a corporation with secrets. These picks move that survival into orbit or onto other planets, which also makes them good options if deep water makes you uncomfortable.

The Planet Crafter

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The Planet Crafter is the closest space match for Subnautica’s progression. You land on a hostile planet, manage oxygen while gathering resources, build a base and craft better tools. The twist is your mission: raise heat, oxygen and pressure until the planet becomes habitable. Moss and insects appear first, then forests and animals.

It feels great to watch the world change because of you, and old shipwrecks and ruins add a mystery to explore. Difficulty ranges from chill to hardcore. Designed for 1 to 10 players with online co-op, full controller support, Windows.

Breathedge

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Structurally, Breathedge is the most Subnautica-shaped game here: a crash, a debris field to scavenge, tools to craft, vehicles to pilot and a story to uncover. Instead of an ocean you float through the wreck of a space hearse, and instead of a serious tone you get jokes, an immortal chicken and a man carrying his grandpa’s ashes to a galactic funeral.

Suffocation, freezing and electrocution are all on the table, so the survival is real even if the writing is silly. If you loved the crafting loop and want a laugh, this fits. Single-player, full controller support, Windows.

ASTRONEER

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ASTRONEER takes the “go deeper” idea literally. Its Terrain Tool digs, collects and reshapes the ground like clay, and each of its seven celestial bodies can be explored from the surface down to the core. You build modular bases, power plants, harvesters and automated production lines as you work out the mysteries of the system.

It is brighter and less tense than Subnautica, which suits players who enjoyed the base building and exploring more than the fear. Single-player or online co-op, full controller support, Windows.

No Man’s Sky

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No Man’s Sky is about exploration and survival in a procedurally generated universe, meaning planets and creatures are created by the game’s systems so there is effectively no end to them. You fly from space to a planet’s surface with no loading screens, scan wildlife, gather resources and build. Its store page lists many major updates since launch, including one called The Abyss.

It is the pick for players who wanted Subnautica’s sense of discovery on a much bigger scale. Single-player, online co-op, online PvP, cross-platform multiplayer, VR support, Windows and macOS. Our best open world games on Steam list has more big worlds to get lost in.

Outer Wilds

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No crafting, no base building, but if the mystery was your favourite part, Outer Wilds may be the best fit of all. You join a small space program in a solar system caught in an endless time loop, and the planets change as time passes: an underground city gets swallowed by sand, a planet crumbles under your feet. Every secret is guarded by a hazardous environment, and yes, you check your oxygen.

Progress comes from what you learn, not what you build. Single-player, gamepad recommended, Windows. If it hooks you, try our mystery games like Outer Wilds.

Survival games with Subnautica’s dread, on land

Some players remember Subnautica most for the fear: dark caves, noises in the distance, the feeling of being small. These games keep that vulnerability without the open ocean.

The Forest

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As the lone survivor of a passenger jet crash, you are stranded in a forest home to cannibalistic mutants. The pattern is familiar: explore and build by day, defend by night. Below ground there is a large network of caves and underground lakes, which delivers the same tight, claustrophobic tension as Subnautica’s deep caves.

This is openly first-person survival horror, with crude weapons, traps and stealth. Single-player, online co-op, LAN co-op and VR support, Windows.

Sons Of The Forest

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The follow-up from Endnight Games sends you to a remote island to find a missing billionaire. You craft, build anything from a small cabin to a seaside compound, and fight mutated creatures with axes, pistols and stun batons. Seasons change, so you plan ahead, storing meat for winter and fishing streams in warmer months.

There are no characters handing out missions; you decide where to go, which echoes Subnautica’s freedom. Single-player or online co-op, full controller support, Windows.

Grounded

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Grounded shrinks you to the size of an ant and drops you in a backyard full of giant insects. It has a real story (who shrank you and how do you get home?), distinct areas to explore, including the depths of a pond and a termite den, and bases that creatures can attack.

The scale shift gives it some of Subnautica’s “this place is bigger than me” feeling, with more combat. Play solo or online with up to three friends, and the Shared Worlds feature lets your group keep playing when the original host is offline. Full controller support, Windows.

Abiotic Factor

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Trade the ocean floor for a research facility miles underground. After a containment breach, you and other scientists must survive paranormal entities, invaders from other dimensions and a hostile military sect, then make the complex your home while you plan an escape. It has a 1990s sci-fi flavour and character progression on top of survival crafting.

It suits groups who liked Subnautica’s corporate-gone-wrong backdrop and want to play together. Designed for 1 to 6 players, with online co-op, LAN co-op, cross-platform multiplayer and full controller support, Windows.

Which games like Subnautica can you play with friends?

Subnautica and Below Zero are single-player on Steam, so if you want company, choose from this list instead:

• Same couch: Stranded Deep is the only pick here with split-screen co-op, plus Remote Play Together.
• Big groups: The Planet Crafter supports up to 10 players and Abiotic Factor up to 6.
• Small squads: Grounded takes up to four, with Shared Worlds so nobody has to wait on the host.
• Online co-op: Raft, ASTRONEER, No Man’s Sky, The Forest and Sons Of The Forest all support it, and The Forest adds LAN.

For more group survival, our survival games like Valheim list focuses on co-op building and exploring.

How to choose your next game like Subnautica

The trick is to name the part you loved, then pick for that. A quick worked example: say you finished Subnautica, loved building your seabase and diving to new biomes, but the leviathans stressed you out and you want to play with a partner. That rules out Below Zero (solo) and The Forest (horror). Raft keeps the ocean but stays mostly on the surface; The Planet Crafter keeps the base building and steady progress with low pressure on the chill difficulty. The Planet Crafter is the better match for that pair.

Use this as a shortcut:

• Just more Subnautica: Below Zero.
• The ocean, minus the fear: DAVE THE DIVER or Under The Waves.
• The survival, minus the ocean: The Planet Crafter, ASTRONEER or Grounded.
• The mystery: Outer Wilds, then Breathedge.
• The fear, turned up: The Forest and Sons Of The Forest.

Mistakes to avoid

• Picking by setting alone. An ocean does not make a game feel like Subnautica. DAVE THE DIVER and Stranded Deep are both underwater but play nothing alike.
• Expecting a story everywhere. Raft and Stranded Deep focus on survival first; Below Zero, Breathedge and Outer Wilds are the story-led choices.
• Forgetting the horror scale. Subnautica is tense, not gory. The Forest games go much further, so they are not a safe swap for a nervous friend.
• Ignoring player modes. Check the table above before buying for a group; several close matches are single-player only.

Where to go next

If these games like Subnautica got you hooked on survival crafting, our games like Don’t Starve list covers tougher, stylised survival, and the full games like the ones you love hub has lists built around other favourites. Each game card above includes its Steam screenshots and trailer, so watch a few before you decide which world to drop into next.

Questions and answers

What game is in the same universe as Subnautica?

Subnautica: Below Zero is set in the same universe. It returns to Planet 4546B two years after the original game, this time in a freezing arctic region. You investigate what happened to your sister and why Alterra abandoned its research stations. It keeps the crafting, base building and deep diving of the first game, adds more time on land, and is single-player on Steam, released May 13, 2021.

Is Subnautica actually a horror game?

Not officially. Steam lists it as an Adventure and Indie game, and most of your time goes into exploring, gathering and building. The fear comes from the setting: dark water below you, limited oxygen and large creatures you hear before you see. If that tension is what you enjoyed, The Forest and Sons of the Forest lean fully into survival horror, while Below Zero keeps a similar level of unease.

Are there games like Subnautica but multiplayer?

Subnautica and Below Zero are single-player, but several close matches support co-op. Raft and Stranded Deep keep the ocean survival with online co-op, and Stranded Deep adds split-screen. The Planet Crafter supports up to 10 players for alien-world terraforming, ASTRONEER and No Man's Sky offer online co-op in space, and Grounded lets up to four people survive together in a giant backyard.

What are the best games like Subnautica but in space?

Breathedge is the closest in structure: you survive a crash, craft tools, pilot vehicles and follow a story, only in orbit and with a comic tone. The Planet Crafter swaps the ocean for a barren planet you slowly terraform. ASTRONEER lets you dig down to the core of seven worlds, No Man's Sky offers an endless galaxy, and Outer Wilds suits players who loved Subnautica's mystery most.

Is there a game like Subnautica that is not set in the ocean?

Yes. If deep water makes you uneasy, The Planet Crafter keeps the alien survival, oxygen management and base building on dry land, and ASTRONEER does the same across a whole solar system. Grounded shrinks you to ant size in a backyard, and Abiotic Factor moves the survival crafting into an underground research facility. Each keeps the loop of exploring, gathering and building without the open sea.

What game never gets boring if I liked Subnautica?

Games with a long goal tend to last. The Planet Crafter gives you a visible target, turning a dead planet green, and you watch it change as you play. No Man's Sky has a procedurally generated universe plus years of major updates listed on its store page. ASTRONEER rewards building ever larger bases and automated production lines across seven worlds.