Kicking off with your silent protagonist crash-landing on the alien planet 4546B, Subnautica immediately throws you into this heady mix as you fight to extinguish a fire aboard your tiny little escape pod before getting your bearings and coming to the realisation that you need medical aid, sustenance and an explanation as to what's just happened. It's a constantly thrilling marriage of fiendishly addictive gameplay loops, with hugely satisfying crafting and base building, well-implemented survival mechanics and a world and story that absolutely ooze wonder, mystery and full-on existential dread in equal measure. Subnautica really is one the great indie early access success stories, a game that's been honed to near perfection over a long gestation period on PC, with lots of input from avid fans helping to shape the core experience as it exists today. Beyond the now expected lowering of textures and graphical bells and whistles across the board - and some asset pop-in that we've actually also experienced whilst playing this one on PC and PS4 - this is one of the all-time great survival experiences, and its excellent sequel, looking and running spectacularly well on a handheld gaming device. We're not exactly sure what kind of secret underwater alien technology Unknown Worlds has employed in its porting process here, but both Subnautica and its sequel on Switch feel like nothing short of a minor miracle. Thankfully, it turns out, we needn't have worried.

However, it was delight tempered with a certain degree of scepticism as to how developer Unknown Worlds could possibly cram these enormous experiences onto Nintendo's dinky little hybrid console in a properly playable manner. It's one of our all-time favourite games and so, when we heard that both the original and it's highly anticipated sequel, Subnautica: Below Zero, were headed to Switch, we were understandably delighted.

One of the very best survival titles currently available on any platform, Subnautica is a hugely immersive underwater epic that combines survival, crafting, open world exploration and an intriguing narrative to truly spectacular effect.

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