Subnautica 2's early access warning is more serious than I could've imagined

Subnautica 2's early access boundary is unmissable. Developer Unknown Worlds marked it in horizontal orange lines stretching from above the ocean's surface to its deepest point, and if you somehow manage to overlook it anyway, a warning appears when you cross the lines. Beyond this point lies death and probably a lot of bugs and unfinished bits, says the message. I figured Unknown Worlds intended the warning to keep people from venturing too far out and getting stuck in some wonky geometry or dying somewhere they couldn't easily retrieve their inventory after respawning. In short, I didn't take it seriously.

Reader, don't be like me.

Image: Unknown Worlds/Krafton via Polygon

Granted, I had good reason not to take the warning seriously. I ventured outside the zone early just for curiosity's sake, then saw it led to a much deeper part of the ocean and immediately turned around. I wasn't ready for that. Later, while I was testing the depth at which solar panels stop functioning for base building purposes, I went outside it again. One of those unsettling bellows that issues from Subnautica 2's giant, deadly creatures reached my ears, but safely tucked away as I was near the edge of the warning zone, I figured it'd be fine. The "you're about to die" music wasn't playing very loudly either.

I glanced up and saw a biblically accurate manta ray gliding near the surface, the winged creature with dangly tassels and vibrant lines decorating its underside that you can see at the top of this post. It showed zero interest in me, so I assumed it was harmless, like those odd, glowing blimp-shaped fish that hover above the waters around the starting area and dangle little lures to catch fish. This was the danger zone? Please.

If the ethereal-looking creature was biblically accurate, it evidently came from one of those "end of days" chapters. Fast-forward several hours, and I'm working on restoring the power plant near the Alien Ruins and clearing the Angel Comb nearby. I needed some atacamite to make a certain kind of ingot, a mineral you find littered on the bed of the deep ocean near a bunch of quartz and, more pertinently, near the edge of the early access zone. A few more chunks of the stuff would've set me right, so I figured why not? It's just 20 meters away. What's the worst that could happen?

Image: Unknown Worlds/Krafton via Polygon

The answer is that the giant winged creature manifested from the foggy depths with its monstrous children, chased me down, and crushed my tadpole with me inside it. I've since learned the beast is called a Shiver Leviathan, which seems like an apt name for a monstrosity that moves that quickly and kills you faster than the, by comparison, tamer Collector Leviathan.

Death is trivial in Subnautica 2 for lore and gameplay reasons, as you can just "reprint" and go find your lost inventory again. This death mattered. I foolishly ignored my own advice about inventory management during gathering expeditions, out of a lazy desire to not deal with the abominable mess of a storage network I'd made back at my base. So I had valuable ingots and minerals rarer than atacamite in that inventory cache, items the Shiver Leviathan decided I would never see again. Every time I crossed the boundary, no matter how long I waited, the beast caught me. Unknown Worlds' persistent "you're leaving the early access zone" messaging popping up and freezing my movement until I closed the screen didn't help matters, either.

Eventually, I cut my losses and left the goods behind, materially poorer but wiser about what risks to take in the future. You win, Unknown Worlds. I will not be leaving the early access zone again.

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