Subnautica: Below Zero captivates players through its icy alien ocean, survival crafting, base building, and mysterious underwater exploration.
Subnautica: Below Zero
Release Date: January 30, 2019
Genres: Adventure, Indie
It takes the lonely survival formula of Subnautica and moves it into a colder, more compact world full of frozen biomes, strange creatures, hidden research facilities, and alien secrets. If you love its mix of crafting, exploration, sci-fi mystery, and environmental storytelling, these games capture different parts of that same survival adventure.
TL;DR – Games Like Subnautica: Below Zero
Table of Contents
Subnautica: Below Zero works because it makes survival feel curious rather than purely punishing.
You are not just gathering food, oxygen, and materials to stay alive. You are slowly learning how an alien ecosystem works, building safer routes through dangerous biomes, and piecing together what happened on a frozen ocean planet.
The best alternatives do not all copy the underwater setting directly. Some focus on alien exploration, some on crafting and base building, some on ocean survival, and others on the sense of mystery that makes every abandoned structure or strange signal worth investigating. Each game below connects to a different part of what makes Below Zero so memorable.
No Man’s Sky
No Man’s Sky is a massive sci-fi exploration game about traveling between procedurally generated planets, gathering resources, building bases, upgrading gear, flying ships, and slowly discovering the secrets of a vast universe.
Its biggest strength is scale. Where Subnautica: Below Zero focuses on one frozen alien world, No Man’s Sky gives you countless planets to explore, each with its own terrain, creatures, weather, resources, and atmosphere. You can mine minerals, scan wildlife, build outposts, pilot spacecraft, command freighters, and follow storylines that mix cosmic mystery with survival progression.
It fits Subnautica: Below Zero because both games make exploration feel like the core reward. You are constantly looking for new materials, new biomes, new technology, and new reasons to push farther from safety. The loop of leaving your base, risking the unknown, returning with upgrades, and preparing for the next trip feels very familiar.
No Man’s Sky is less claustrophobic and less scary than Below Zero, but it captures the wonder of being a small explorer in a strange universe. If you loved the sci-fi discovery side of Below Zero more than the ocean terror, this is one of the strongest choices.
No Man's Sky
Release Date: August 12, 2016
Genres: Role-playing (RPG), Simulator, Adventure, Indie, Arcade, Shooter
Why You Might Like It
- Huge alien planets filled with resources, creatures, and secrets
- Base building, vehicles, crafting, and long-term progression
- Strong sense of sci-fi exploration and discovery
- Great if you want Subnautica-style curiosity on a much bigger scale
Planet Crafter
Planet Crafter is a survival crafting game about turning a hostile alien planet into a livable world. You begin in a barren environment with limited resources, then slowly build machines, gather materials, craft equipment, and transform the atmosphere through terraforming.
The most satisfying part of Planet Crafter is watching the world change because of your actions. The planet starts dry, empty, and dangerous, but over time you create oxygen, heat, pressure, lakes, vegetation, and eventually a much more welcoming ecosystem. Progress is visible everywhere, which gives crafting and exploration a powerful sense of purpose.
It fits Subnautica: Below Zero because both games are built around surviving on an alien planet through careful resource gathering, crafting, base expansion, and environmental discovery. You start vulnerable, then gradually turn the hostile world into something you understand and can navigate more confidently.
Planet Crafter does not have the same underwater tension or creature danger, but it nails the feeling of building a home in an unfamiliar place. It is especially good for players who enjoyed scanning, crafting, upgrading, and creating a safe base between expeditions.
The Planet Crafter
Release Date: March 24, 2022
Genres: Simulator, Adventure
Why You Might Like It
- Survival crafting on a hostile alien planet
- Terraforming gives progression a strong visual payoff
- Base building, resource gathering, and equipment upgrades
- Great match for Below Zero’s alien-world survival loop
Outer Wilds
Outer Wilds is not a traditional survival crafting game, but it is one of the best recommendations for players who loved the mystery and discovery side of Subnautica: Below Zero. It sends you into a small solar system full of strange planets, ancient ruins, environmental puzzles, and hidden connections.
The game is built around knowledge rather than gear progression. You explore planets, follow clues, read alien writing, observe cosmic events, and slowly understand how everything fits together. There is no base building and no crafting, but the feeling of uncovering a lost civilization is incredibly strong.
It fits Subnautica: Below Zero because both games reward curiosity. In Below Zero, a strange signal or alien structure can lead you deeper into the ocean and closer to the planet’s secrets. In Outer Wilds, every clue pushes you toward another location, another mystery, and another moment of realization.
Outer Wilds is a perfect pick if your favorite parts of Below Zero were alien ruins, environmental storytelling, lonely exploration, and the feeling that the world is hiding something huge just out of reach.
Outer Wilds
Release Date: June 18, 2020
Genres: Puzzle, Simulator, Adventure, Indie
Why You Might Like It
- Outstanding sci-fi mystery and environmental storytelling
- Alien ruins, hidden clues, and discovery-driven progression
- Strong sense of loneliness, wonder, and cosmic danger
- Ideal if you loved Below Zero’s mystery more than its crafting
Raft
Raft is an ocean survival game where you begin on a tiny floating platform surrounded by endless water. You collect drifting materials, craft tools, expand your raft, cook food, purify water, defend against danger, and eventually explore islands and story locations.
Its survival loop is simple but addictive. Every piece of plastic, wood, scrap, and rope matters at the beginning, and your small raft slowly becomes a floating home full of storage, crafting stations, farming spaces, engines, and navigation tools. The more you build, the more confident you become when traveling across the ocean.
Raft fits Subnautica: Below Zero because of its ocean setting, crafting progression, and base-building comfort. The main difference is that your base moves with you. Instead of diving from a static habitat into dangerous waters, you carry your home across the sea and use it as both shelter and vehicle.
It is also a great choice if you want a more relaxed and co-op-friendly survival experience. Below Zero is lonely and atmospheric, while Raft can become a shared adventure full of building, scavenging, and exploring with friends.
Raft
Release Date: May 23, 2018
Genres: Simulator, Adventure, Indie
Why You Might Like It
- Ocean survival built around crafting and resource collection
- Your raft becomes a mobile base and long-term project
- Good mix of exploration, story islands, and survival management
- Great if you want a more co-op-friendly alternative to Below Zero
Breathedge
Breathedge is a sci-fi survival game set in space, where you explore wreckage, manage oxygen, craft tools, and try to survive after a disastrous accident. It has a much more comedic tone than Subnautica: Below Zero, but the basic loop of venturing into danger, collecting resources, and returning before your oxygen runs out will feel familiar.
The game’s strongest connection to Below Zero is its survival tension in an alien environment. Instead of diving into freezing oceans, you float through debris fields, abandoned modules, and space wreckage. Oxygen, distance, equipment, and navigation all become important as you push farther from safety.
Breathedge also has a strange personality. It mixes survival mechanics with absurd humor, parody, and weird sci-fi situations. That makes it less atmospheric and less mysterious than Below Zero, but also more unusual and playful.
It fits best for players who enjoyed the oxygen-based exploration and crafting side of Subnautica, but want to experience that loop in space rather than underwater. It is not as elegant as Below Zero, but it has enough survival DNA to be worth considering.
Breathedge
Release Date: February 25, 2021
Genres: Role-playing (RPG), Simulator, Adventure, Indie
Why You Might Like It
- Oxygen-based survival in a hostile sci-fi environment
- Crafting, exploration, upgrades, and wreckage scavenging
- Similar risk-and-return loop to Subnautica’s dives
- Good pick if you want underwater survival translated into space
Which games come closest to Subnautica: Below Zero?
Final thoughts
Subnautica: Below Zero is special because it turns survival into exploration. Its frozen ocean is dangerous, but it is also beautiful, mysterious, and full of reasons to dive just a little deeper than feels safe.
Planet Crafter is the best choice if you want alien survival crafting and visible progression, while No Man’s Sky offers the biggest sci-fi exploration sandbox. Raft captures the ocean survival loop, Breathedge brings oxygen-based danger into space, and Outer Wilds is perfect for players who mainly want mystery, ruins, and discovery.