Start with food, a Scanner and a repeatable oxygen loop, then build the equipment and base support for longer trips. These ten tips connect starter recipes and illustrated routes with the current creature, co-op and save changes.
Updated . Recipes, route guides and official update notes are linked below.
If native food fails to satisfy hunger, follow the Angel Comb route for Digestion. Read Anita in NoA, swim northeast from the Lifepod toward her black box signal, and interact with the Angel Comb central pod. Keep your early food supplies for this trip and collect the black box before returning.
Angel Comb routeCraft a Scanner with 2 Titanium, 2 Quartz and 1 Basic Battery. The battery adds 2 Copper and 1 Acidic Raion Pouch if you make it from scratch. Scan accessible fragments for blueprints and wildlife for databank entries. Later, the Bioscanner adds biological research; ordinary scanning and bioscanning serve different progression goals.
Creature indexThe Standard Air Tank costs 2 Titanium, 2 Silver and 1 Rubber at the Fabricator. The Colonist Bunker 1 route combines a Silver cave with useful bunker scans and a quick-slot upgrade. Craft the tank before extending your trips into wreck interiors, and leave oxygen for the return journey as well as the scan itself.
Oxygen and depth guideScan both Habitat Builder fragments on the Welcome Center route. Its Fabricator recipe needs 2 Titanium, 1 Glass, 1 Basic Battery and 1 Copper Wire. Start with a compact, accessible base that gives you storage and a place to return. Expand after checking the space and power your next station needs.
Crafting referenceA powered base needs enough supply for the facilities you use. Check its power display after adding a station and again while the station is active. The Scanner Station can add a substantial load, so plan its supply before relying on it for a resource trip. Choose power sources that suit the location and leave room to expand.
Base building guideUse the Lifepod storage while getting established, then add storage near your crafting area. A Portable Locker uses 4 Titanium through the Habitat Builder. Keep materials for the next planned craft together and leave free backpack slots before heading out. More backpack space, more quick slots and more storage containers are separate upgrades.
Inventory and storage upgradesThe Survival Multitool is useful for harvesting. Adaptive Measures adds fleeing behavior for most creatures after a hit, with a period when they only retaliate defensively. Buddy System gives the Sonic Resonator a 10-second stun and changes the Feedback Resonator to a stun. Use these openings to leave the encounter and recover.
Creature deterrentsSave before moving or refunding a developed base, and keep a separate backup of a world you want to preserve. Buddy System Hotfix 1 fixes wall-rack item returns during Refund Base. It also records save build and branch information, so a newer save cannot simply be opened by an older build. Use the save guide when changing devices or branches.
Save file backupChoose a return landmark before entering an exposed area or a deeper canyon. If a Collector Leviathan is on the route, give it space and return when you have the supplies and equipment for the objective. The September hotfix changes its lower-canyon pathing and collision, so a place where it previously got stuck is a poor escape plan.
Collector Leviathan notesThe Welcome Center route introduces Dash and Sea Skimmer. Use the Biolab to choose abilities that suit your next trip. Later, craft a Bioscanner and follow the species checklist for more ability research and passive-slot progress. You can use those first abilities as soon as you reach them; there is no reason to delay them until an arbitrary playtime milestone.
DNA Modification systemCure Digestive Incompatibility. Read Anita in NOA, swim northeast from the Lifepod toward Anita black box, interact with the Angel Comb, and confirm Digestion in Adaptations. Everything else — scanning, base building, vehicles — works better once that one survival blocker is gone.
Use milestones instead of a timer: reliable food and water, a Scanner, an air tank, accessible storage and a return landmark. The progression guide connects these objectives so you can pick up from the next missing step.
No. Subnautica 2 introduces a new planet, new creatures, new mechanics like Digestive Incompatibility and DNA Modification, and a separate story. Returning players have an instinct advantage for oxygen management and scanning, but the recipe trees and creature behaviours have changed enough that experience is not a complete shortcut.
Co-op lets your group divide gathering and navigation tasks, trade items directly and revive each other before reprinting. Agree on the next objective and use each character’s PDA to check equipment and abilities before leaving. Players who want to explore at their own pace can also play solo.
Pushing depth before pushing prep. Skipping the Air Tank, skipping a beacon, skipping a backup save, then chasing a shiny resource into a leviathan zone. The original game was famous for it; Subnautica 2 adds ocean currents and the Collector Leviathan to make the same mistake costlier.
Once the basics click, these pages cover the rest of the early game.