{"id":1946902,"date":"2026-05-21T09:36:40","date_gmt":"2026-05-21T06:36:40","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/analyse.optim.biz\/?p=1946902"},"modified":"2026-05-21T09:36:40","modified_gmt":"2026-05-21T06:36:40","slug":"subnautica-2-dev-apologises-for-telling-combat-seeking-players-to-go-play-sons-of-the-forest-or-something","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/analyse.optim.biz\/?p=1946902","title":{"rendered":"Subnautica 2 dev apologises for telling combat-seeking players to &#8220;go play Sons of the Forest or something&#8221;"},"content":{"rendered":"<article class=\"article \" data-ads=\"true\" data-article-type=\"news\" data-article-group=\"news\" data-paywalled=\"false\" data-premium=\"false\" data-sponsored=\"false\" data-type=\"article\">\n<header class=\"article_header\" data-component=\"article-header\">\n<div class=\"breadcrumbs\">\n<nav class=\"nav_breadcrumbs\" data-component=\"nav-breadcrumbs\" aria-label=\"Breadcrumb\">\n<ul class=\"nav-links\">\n<li>\n                <a href=\"https:\/\/www.eurogamer.net\/\" data-active=\"false\"><br \/>\n                      Home<br \/>\n                <\/a>\n            <\/li>\n<li>\n                <a href=\"https:\/\/www.eurogamer.net\/news\" data-active=\"false\"><br \/>\n                      News<br \/>\n                <\/a>\n            <\/li>\n<li>\n                <a href=\"https:\/\/www.eurogamer.net\/games\/subnautica-2\" data-active=\"false\"><br \/>\n                      Subnautica 2<br \/>\n                <\/a>\n            <\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<\/nav><\/div>\n<div class=\"headline_details\" id=\"main-content\">\n<h1 class=\"title\">Subnautica 2 dev apologises for telling combat-seeking players to &#8220;go play Sons of the Forest or something&#8221;<\/h1>\n<p class=\"strapline\">&#8220;We understand where that request is coming from.&#8221;<\/p>\n<\/p><\/div>\n<div class=\"headline_asset\">\n<figure class=\"headline_image_wrapper\">\n<p>        <img fetchpriority=\"high\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"headline_image\" src=\"https:\/\/assetsio.gnwcdn.com\/e3b--RPQ.png?width=570&amp;quality=85&amp;format=jpg&amp;dpr=3&amp;auto=webp\" alt=\"The player can be seen scanning an alien fish in the Shallows in Subnautica 2.\" loading=\"eager\" data-uri=\"e3b--RPQ.png\" data-lightbox width=\"570\" height=\"321\"><figcaption>\n          <span class=\"attribution\">Image credit: <cite>Unknown Worlds<\/cite><\/span><br \/>\n        <\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/p><\/div>\n<div class=\"metadata\">\n<div class=\"avatar\">\n<p>    <img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" alt=\"Robert Purchese avatar\" src=\"https:\/\/assetsio.gnwcdn.com\/user-9946-originalxoriginal-14-03-23.jpg?width=2048&amp;height=2048&amp;fit=bounds&amp;quality=85&amp;format=jpg&amp;auto=webp\" style=\"aspect-ratio: 1\" width=\"1024\" height=\"1017\"><\/p>\n<p>  <img alt=\"Robert Purchese avatar\" data-autosize=\"crop_lossy\" data-uri=\"user-9946-originalxoriginal-14-03-23.jpg\" loading=\"lazy\" style=\"aspect-ratio: 1\" width=\"1024\" height=\"1017\">\n<\/div>\n<div class=\"text\">\n<div class=\"byline\">\n                  <span class=\"article_type\" data-slug=\"news\"><br \/>\n                    News<br \/>\n                  <\/span><\/p>\n<p><span class=\"by\">by<\/span> <span class=\"author\"><a href=\"https:\/\/www.eurogamer.net\/authors\/robert-purchese\">Robert Purchese<\/a><\/span>                    <span class=\"job_title\"><br \/>\n                      Associate Editor<br \/>\n                    <\/span>\n            <\/div>\n<div class=\"published_at\">\nPublished on <time datetime=\"2026-05-21T09:36:40+00:00\">May 21, 2026<\/time>              <\/div>\n<div class=\"comments\">\n      <a class=\"comments__link comments-bubble\" href=\"https:\/\/www.eurogamer.net\/subnautica-2-combat-response-update?view=comments\" rel=\"nofollow\"><br \/>\n          25 comments<br \/>\n      <\/a>\n    <\/div>\n<\/p><\/div>\n<div class=\"mypop-header-wrapper\">\n<p><button class=\"mypop-button button wide\" data-state=\"follow\" data-type=\"tag\" data-uuid=\"9b751be1-bde5-4ecd-8081-2abe2cce45b9\" data-name=\"Subnautica 2\" data-follow-text=\"Follow Subnautica 2\" data-unfollow-text=\"Following Subnautica 2\" data-aria-follow-text=\"Follow Subnautica 2\" data-aria-unfollow-text=\"Following Subnautica 2\" data-popup=\"true\" data-force-login=\"true\" aria-label=\"Follow Subnautica 2\" title=\"Follow Subnautica 2\"><br \/>\n  Follow Subnautica 2<br \/>\n<\/button>          <\/div>\n<\/p><\/div>\n<\/header>\n<div class=\"article_body\" data-component=\"article-content\">\n<div class=\"article_body_content article-styling\">\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/www.eurogamer.net\/games\/subnautica-2\">Subnautica 2<\/a> developer Unknown Worlds has poured cold water on hopes it will add more ways to defend yourself in the popular underwater survival game and potentially fight off dangerous fish.<\/p>\n<p>This has been <a href=\"https:\/\/www.eurogamer.net\/subnautica-2-self-defence-fish-fighting\">a contentious issue since Subnautica 2 released<\/a> last week, mostly as in <a href=\"https:\/\/www.eurogamer.net\/games\/subnautica\">Subnautica<\/a> 1, there were ways to fend off fish hassling you. But in Subnautica 2, all you have is a flare, which some players are declaring isn&#8217;t enough. The issue was aggravated further when a Subnautica 2 developer told players on the game&#8217;s Discord (<a href=\"https:\/\/www.ign.com\/articles\/subnautica-2-outlines-changes-coming-to-the-game-in-response-to-no-killing-fish-debate?utm_source=bluesky,twitter\">via IGN<\/a>): &#8220;We aren&#8217;t a killing game. Go play Sons of the Forest or something if you want to kill.&#8221;<\/p>\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/unknownworlds.com\/en\/news\/subnautica-2-community-letter-feedback\">Unknown Worlds has now issued an open letter<\/a> apologising for this response, acknowledging players who felt &#8220;ignored&#8221; or &#8220;dismissed&#8221; by the developer&#8217;s abrupt response, and said it was sorry for it. &#8220;Early Access should be a conversation with our players,&#8221; the studio explained, &#8220;not a one-way explanation from the development team. Your feedback matters, and we do not want any part of our communication to make the community feel otherwise.&#8221;<\/p>\n<figure>\n<div class=\"primis_wrapper\">\n<div class=\"primis_video\">\n<p><span class=\"embed_placeholder\" data-type=\"targeting\"><br \/>\n<span class=\"message\">To see this content please enable targeting cookies.<\/span><br \/>\n<button class=\"optanon-show-settings link\"><br \/>\nManage cookie settings<\/button><\/span> <\/div>\n<\/div><figcaption>Subnautica 2&#8217;s early access release trailer.<a class=\"video\" href=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/watch?v=5sU66p6w2P0\" rel=\"noopener\" target=\"_blank\">Watch on YouTube<\/a><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<p>Unknown Worlds also tackled the issue of fighting fish head on, reasoning that this desire for self defence probably stems from other mechanics not working well enough. However, it stressed that combat isn&#8217;t a direction it wants to take Subnautica 2 in.<\/p>\n<p><span class=\"injection_placeholder\" data-position=\"1\"><\/span><\/p>\n<p>&#8220;We have heard the strong request for more direct ways to deal with hostile creatures,&#8221; Unknown Worlds wrote, &#8220;including the ability to kill them. We understand where that request is coming from. When avoidance and mitigation tools do not feel effective, it is natural for players to want a more decisive solution.<\/p>\n<p>&#8220;Our current direction is not based on judging players who want combat, and it is not because we think those players are wrong. Subnautica has always been built around vulnerability, exploration, and survival rather than traditional weapon-based combat. We believe that this is part of what makes the game unique. However, that design only works if creature encounters feel fair, readable, and engaging. Right now, we know we have more work to do to achieve that.&#8221;<\/p>\n<p>To that end, the studio is working on improvements to creature behaviour and player mitigation, and upcoming changes include adjustments to creature aggression timing and aggro range, flare and Survival Tool effectiveness, and creature interactions with vehicles and bases.<\/p>\n<p>&#8220;In the coming weeks, we will be delivering a series of improvements aimed at addressing the concerns we are hearing from this community. We hope those changes will demonstrate that we are listening and that we are committed to working with you to make Subnautica 2 the best game it can be.&#8221;<\/p>\n<p><span class=\"injection_placeholder\" data-position=\"2\"><\/span><\/p>\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/www.eurogamer.net\/subnautica-2-sales-launch-one-million\">Subnautica 2 has been a huge success on Steam early access already<\/a>, racing to 2m sales in 12 hours and having hundreds of thousands of people play at the same time. But it&#8217;s a sequel that has been marred in controversy, mostly because of <a href=\"https:\/\/www.eurogamer.net\/kraft-subnautica-2-ceo-reinstated-judge\">a major legal battle between Unknown Worlds and the game&#8217;s former publisher Krafton<\/a>, which contested the firing of key people from the team and alleged that Krafton sought to withhold a hefty $250m bonus package. A judge ruled in Unknown Worlds&#8217; favour earlier this year, though design lead Anthony Gallegos confirmed to Eurogamer that <a href=\"https:\/\/www.eurogamer.net\/subnautica-2-krafton-steam-page\">Krafton is still technically attached as co-publisher<\/a>.<\/p>\n<p>From what we&#8217;ve played of Subnautica 2 already, we&#8217;re very impressed. &#8220;The joy of discovery in Subnautica 2 \u2013 when you&#8217;re not being chased down by sharks or nibbled at by fish \u2013 is immense,&#8221; wrote Kelsey in <a href=\"https:\/\/www.eurogamer.net\/subnautica-2-has-hooked-me-on-an-irresistible-mystery\">our Subnautica 2 impressions<\/a>. And Matt followed that with <a href=\"https:\/\/www.eurogamer.net\/co-op-is-definitely-the-worst-way-to-play-subnautica-2-but-as-a-big-old-sea-wuss-i-really-dont-care\">his thoughts on Subnautica 2&#8217;s early access release<\/a> this morning, saying: &#8220;Co-op is definitely the worst way to play Subnautica 2, but as a big old sea-wuss, I really don&#8217;t care.&#8221;<\/p>\n<p><span class=\"poll_wrapper\" data-fixed=\"true\" data-hashid data-init=\"false\" data-poll-position=\"1\"><\/span><\/p><\/div>\n<\/p><\/div>\n<div class=\"preferred-source\" data-component=\"preferred-source\">\nLove Eurogamer.net? Make us a <a rel=\"nofollow\" target=\"_blank\" href=\"https:\/\/www.google.com\/preferences\/source?q=https:\/\/www.eurogamer.net\">Preferred Source on Google<\/a> and catch more of our coverage in your feeds.  <\/div>\n<\/article>\n<div class=\"article_body\" data-component=\"article-content\">\n<div class=\"article_body_content article-styling\">\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/www.eurogamer.net\/games\/subnautica-2\">Subnautica 2<\/a> developer Unknown Worlds has poured cold water on hopes it will add more ways to defend yourself in the popular underwater survival game and potentially fight off dangerous fish.<\/p>\n<p>This has been <a href=\"https:\/\/www.eurogamer.net\/subnautica-2-self-defence-fish-fighting\">a contentious issue since Subnautica 2 released<\/a> last week, mostly as in <a href=\"https:\/\/www.eurogamer.net\/games\/subnautica\">Subnautica<\/a> 1, there were ways to fend off fish hassling you. But in Subnautica 2, all you have is a flare, which some players are declaring isn&#8217;t enough. The issue was aggravated further when a Subnautica 2 developer told players on the game&#8217;s Discord (<a href=\"https:\/\/www.ign.com\/articles\/subnautica-2-outlines-changes-coming-to-the-game-in-response-to-no-killing-fish-debate?utm_source=bluesky,twitter\">via IGN<\/a>): &#8220;We aren&#8217;t a killing game. Go play Sons of the Forest or something if you want to kill.&#8221;<\/p>\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/unknownworlds.com\/en\/news\/subnautica-2-community-letter-feedback\">Unknown Worlds has now issued an open letter<\/a> apologising for this response, acknowledging players who felt &#8220;ignored&#8221; or &#8220;dismissed&#8221; by the developer&#8217;s abrupt response, and said it was sorry for it. &#8220;Early Access should be a conversation with our players,&#8221; the studio explained, &#8220;not a one-way explanation from the development team. Your feedback matters, and we do not want any part of our communication to make the community feel otherwise.&#8221;<\/p>\n<figure>\n<div class=\"primis_wrapper\">\n<div class=\"primis_video\">\n<p><span class=\"embed_placeholder\" data-type=\"targeting\"><br \/>\n<span class=\"message\">To see this content please enable targeting cookies.<\/span><br \/>\n<button class=\"optanon-show-settings link\"><br \/>\nManage cookie settings<\/button><\/span> <\/div>\n<\/div><figcaption>Subnautica 2&#8217;s early access release trailer.<a class=\"video\" href=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/watch?v=5sU66p6w2P0\" rel=\"noopener\" target=\"_blank\">Watch on YouTube<\/a><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<p>Unknown Worlds also tackled the issue of fighting fish head on, reasoning that this desire for self defence probably stems from other mechanics not working well enough. However, it stressed that combat isn&#8217;t a direction it wants to take Subnautica 2 in.<\/p>\n<p><span class=\"injection_placeholder\" data-position=\"1\"><\/span><\/p>\n<p>&#8220;We have heard the strong request for more direct ways to deal with hostile creatures,&#8221; Unknown Worlds wrote, &#8220;including the ability to kill them. We understand where that request is coming from. When avoidance and mitigation tools do not feel effective, it is natural for players to want a more decisive solution.<\/p>\n<p>&#8220;Our current direction is not based on judging players who want combat, and it is not because we think those players are wrong. Subnautica has always been built around vulnerability, exploration, and survival rather than traditional weapon-based combat. We believe that this is part of what makes the game unique. However, that design only works if creature encounters feel fair, readable, and engaging. Right now, we know we have more work to do to achieve that.&#8221;<\/p>\n<p>To that end, the studio is working on improvements to creature behaviour and player mitigation, and upcoming changes include adjustments to creature aggression timing and aggro range, flare and Survival Tool effectiveness, and creature interactions with vehicles and bases.<\/p>\n<p>&#8220;In the coming weeks, we will be delivering a series of improvements aimed at addressing the concerns we are hearing from this community. We hope those changes will demonstrate that we are listening and that we are committed to working with you to make Subnautica 2 the best game it can be.&#8221;<\/p>\n<p><span class=\"injection_placeholder\" data-position=\"2\"><\/span><\/p>\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/www.eurogamer.net\/subnautica-2-sales-launch-one-million\">Subnautica 2 has been a huge success on Steam early access already<\/a>, racing to 2m sales in 12 hours and having hundreds of thousands of people play at the same time. But it&#8217;s a sequel that has been marred in controversy, mostly because of <a href=\"https:\/\/www.eurogamer.net\/kraft-subnautica-2-ceo-reinstated-judge\">a major legal battle between Unknown Worlds and the game&#8217;s former publisher Krafton<\/a>, which contested the firing of key people from the team and alleged that Krafton sought to withhold a hefty $250m bonus package. A judge ruled in Unknown Worlds&#8217; favour earlier this year, though design lead Anthony Gallegos confirmed to Eurogamer that <a href=\"https:\/\/www.eurogamer.net\/subnautica-2-krafton-steam-page\">Krafton is still technically attached as co-publisher<\/a>.<\/p>\n<p>From what we&#8217;ve played of Subnautica 2 already, we&#8217;re very impressed. &#8220;The joy of discovery in Subnautica 2 \u2013 when you&#8217;re not being chased down by sharks or nibbled at by fish \u2013 is immense,&#8221; wrote Kelsey in <a href=\"https:\/\/www.eurogamer.net\/subnautica-2-has-hooked-me-on-an-irresistible-mystery\">our Subnautica 2 impressions<\/a>. And Matt followed that with <a href=\"https:\/\/www.eurogamer.net\/co-op-is-definitely-the-worst-way-to-play-subnautica-2-but-as-a-big-old-sea-wuss-i-really-dont-care\">his thoughts on Subnautica 2&#8217;s early access release<\/a> this morning, saying: &#8220;Co-op is definitely the worst way to play Subnautica 2, but as a big old sea-wuss, I really don&#8217;t care.&#8221;<\/p>\n<p><span class=\"poll_wrapper\" data-fixed=\"true\" data-hashid data-init=\"false\" data-poll-position=\"1\"><\/span><\/p><\/div>\n<\/p><\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Home News Subnautica 2 Subnautica 2 dev apologises for telling combat-seeking players to &#8220;go play Sons of the Forest or something&#8221; &#8220;We understand where that request is coming from.&#8221; Image credit: Unknown Worlds News by Robert Purchese Associate Editor Published on May 21, 2026 25 comments Follow Subnautica 2 Subnautica 2 developer Unknown Worlds has [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[226,253],"class_list":["post-1946902","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-uncategorized","tag-crawlmanager","tag-eurogamer-net"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/analyse.optim.biz\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1946902","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/analyse.optim.biz\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/analyse.optim.biz\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/analyse.optim.biz\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/analyse.optim.biz\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=1946902"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/analyse.optim.biz\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1946902\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/analyse.optim.biz\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=1946902"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/analyse.optim.biz\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=1946902"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/analyse.optim.biz\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=1946902"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}