A dated record of the Early Access launch, the published roadmap, and the changes delivered in each update. Reviewed 2026-09-04.
What the first Early Access build contains based on official store and launch-window reporting.
The 5/15 roadmap now gives the tracker concrete update buckets instead of only broad future categories.
How this site should handle claims before they become reliable wiki facts.
Jump to the source or page that explains each tracked update.
Ran the delayed routine source loop across the official Steam appnews patch, Steam review APIs, Steam appdetails, and the active competitor. Buddy System Hotfix 1 shipped September 1, with a September 3 follow-up for affected Axum Powerplant Turbines. Steam reviews remain Very Positive at 115,470 positive / 11,305 negative / 126,775 total all-language reviews (91.08%); the English API sample is 71,971 / 5,285 / 77,256 (93.16%). sn2wiki.com remains a 28-URL surface with May 21 lastmod. subnautica2wiki.cc is no longer available and has been retired from routine competitor monitoring; its failed TLS fetch is retained only as the final transport observation. No newer GSC or Bing export was available.
The official follow-up patch to EA 1.2 Buddy System adds save build and branch metadata checks, fixes the save/version tooltip and platform-write logging, restores affected in-progress Axum Powerplant Turbines, returns wall-rack items on Refund Base, fixes Proximity Chat push-to-talk, and addresses base, co-op, Collector Leviathan, Water Slug, Scout Ray, Tadpole, UI, compile, crash, and stability issues. Mods should remain disabled until they are updated.
Ran the weekly routine source loop across Steam appnews, Steam review APIs, Steam appdetails, and the two required competitor sites. No new official announcement has landed after the August 19 EA 1.2 Buddy System update or the August 20 Ocean Cleanup community post, so the public build remains on EA 1.2 Buddy System. Steam reviews remain Very Positive at 115,132 positive / 11,288 negative / 126,420 total all-language reviews (91.07%); the English API sample is 71,796 / 5,272 / 77,068 (93.16%). sn2wiki.com remains a 28-URL surface with May 21 lastmod; subnautica2wiki.cc still fails its TLS handshake through the required proxy, so no competitor change was inferred from that failed fetch.
Reviewed the official August 19 Early Access 1.2 "Buddy System" announcement, the August 20 Ocean Cleanup community post, Steam review APIs, Steam appdetails, and the two required competitor sites. Buddy System is now live on the public build with proximity voice chat, revives, player trading, emotes, Tracking Tags, new character options, multiplayer/base-building improvements, and a broad bug-fix pass. Steam remains Very Positive at 114,650 positive / 11,235 negative / 125,885 total all-language reviews; the English API sample is 71,520 / 5,253 / 76,773. sn2wiki.com remains a 28-URL surface with May 21 lastmod; subnautica2wiki.cc could not complete a TLS handshake, so no competitor change was inferred from that failed fetch.
The Buddy System update is live. It adds proximity voice chat, player revives before reprinting, direct player trading, five emotes, Tracking Tags, new Jegna and Grace character options, multiplayer/base-building improvements, and a large set of community-marked bug fixes. Restart Steam if the update does not appear.
The August 12 UTC Steam announcement adds an opt-in Experimental branch for previewing upcoming content, smaller patches, and fixes. Experimental can contain game-breaking bugs, does not update daily for now, and its saves cannot move between the preview and main branches. The public branch has since moved to EA 1.2 Buddy System; the August 23 review checkpoint remains Very Positive at 114,650 positive / 11,235 negative / 125,885 total all-language reviews.
The opt-in Steam Experimental branch previews upcoming releases and fixes before they reach the wider Early Access build. Treat it as a disposable test channel: builds may contain game-breaking bugs, saves are stored separately, and saves cannot be imported or exported between Experimental and the main branch.
No official announcement has landed after Hotfix 4, and EA1.2 still has no public date or patch notes. The July 26 Steam review API remains Very Positive with 112,671 positive / 10,982 negative / 123,653 total all-language reviews. Required competitor sitemaps remain unchanged at 89 URLs for subnautica2wiki.cc and 28 URLs for sn2wiki.com, so this pass refreshed proven reception data without opening a new thin page.
Hotfix 4 was the first hotfix after Update 1 Adaptive Measures. At the time it fixed Angel Combs not opening for some players (a progression blocker), water currents appearing inside player bases that could block movement and building, the FOV slider not showing on Xbox, and two low-volume crashes on Xbox session-invite join and creature spawn. It repeated the standing mod-disable-before-launch rule; Buddy System Hotfix 1 is now the public baseline.
The first content update after launch replaced Hotfix 3 as the patch baseline before Hotfix 4. It adds two new Biolabs in Coral Gardens and Axum Ruins, raises unlockable Biomods from four to six, adds Bioscanner scans that unlock extra passive Biomod slots, lets Survival Multitool hits and Sonic Resonator stuns deter creatures without killing them, and adds a FOV slider plus on-land and in-base sprint.
No official Hotfix 4 or EA1.1 patch note was found in the source pass. Hotfix 3 remains the latest patch baseline. The June 29 Steam review API still reads Very Positive with 108,954 positive / 10,624 negative / 119,578 total all-language reviews. Competitor sitemaps stayed stable except for subnautica2.gg moving to 666 URLs, mostly reinforcing item/blueprint breadth and its Farming Planner surface rather than justifying thin copied entity pages.
No official Hotfix 4 or EA1.1 patch note was found in the source pass. Hotfix 3 remains the latest patch baseline. The June 16 Steam review API still reads Very Positive with 106,228 positive / 10,306 negative / 116,534 total all-language reviews. Recent English review samples still point at broad content-length, optimization, and co-op expectation themes, while tracked competitor sitemaps showed no newer entity wave.
No official Hotfix 4 or EA1.1 patch note was found in the source pass. Hotfix 3 remains the latest patch baseline. The June 13 Steam review API still reads Very Positive with 105,270 positive / 10,209 negative / 115,479 total all-language reviews. Recent review samples still point mostly at optimization/FPS and Early Access content-length complaints, while tracked competitor sitemaps showed no entries modified since June 11.
No official Hotfix 4 or EA1.1 patch note was found in the source pass. Hotfix 3 remains the latest patch baseline. The June 10 Steam review API still reads Very Positive with 104,307 positive / 10,093 negative / 114,400 total all-language reviews, and Steam appnews also surfaced the June 2-9 SteamDB top-sellers list with Subnautica 2 still in the top ten.
No official Hotfix 4 was found in that source pass. Hotfix 3 remained the latest patch baseline, the June 4 Swimming Forward dev vlog remained the latest roadmap-cadence signal, and the June 7 Steam review API was the newest verified review checkpoint for that pass.
Sub2Wiki added a source-backed news summary for the June 4 Swimming Forward dev vlog so "Subnautica 2 next update", "EA1.1 update", and "Swimming Forward" searches land on a clear page instead of a patch-note guess.
Unknown Worlds says the team is pivoting from frequent rapid hotfixes toward the EA1.1 update, expected in a few weeks. Treat this as a roadmap and cadence signal, not a new patch note.
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The June 7 Steam review API checkpoint still reads Very Positive: 102,901 positive / 9,945 negative / 112,846 total all-language reviews, while the English-language API sample shows 64,310 positive / 4,627 negative / 68,937 total reviews.
Unknown Worlds upgraded DLSS to 4.5, fixed DLSS crashes and settings persistence, restored Frame Generation availability in affected versions, reduced Interior Wall costs to one quarter of the previous price, adjusted Hammerhead, Nibbler, and Marrowbreach behavior, fixed rare startup crashes, fixed multiplayer clients reverting position on rejoin, fixed Strike Armor stacking, and fixed Tadpole Haul Chassis goggles staying visible.
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The June 2 playbook pass moved Hotfix 3 into the news desk, updates page, known issues, performance, creature, vehicle, base-part, and community-report surfaces.
Unknown Worlds added more Silver and Troilite resource areas, reduced Hammerhead attraction to Tadpole lights, fixed several Tadpole / crash issues, improved Epic-setting performance, and revised Terms, Privacy, and telemetry messaging.
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Unknown Worlds acknowledged feedback around hostile creature readability and mitigation, then listed upcoming tuning areas: aggression timing, aggro range, flare effectiveness, Survival Tool effectiveness, and creature interactions with vehicles and bases.
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Unknown Worlds lists Hotfix 1: improved AMD / DirectX 12 startup error guidance, fixed an infrequent Ping crash, changed analytics to start only after Terms acceptance, reduced backend data volume, and noted Xbox rollout depends on certification.
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A new goal-based crafting planner groups survival, tool unlock, base-building, Tadpole vehicle, and DNA/biomod route leads without publishing unsupported recipe counts.
New wiki hubs now cover the Tadpole vehicle search cluster, official vehicle docking and fabrication roadmap work, Welcome Center biomod choices, Biomods System roadmap changes, and passive slots without copying external databases.
5/15 official roadmap coverage added: EA 1.1 focuses on quality-of-life and usability, EA 1.2 focuses on co-op, and later major drops expand regions, biomes, creatures, tools, vehicles, and story.
T+24h launch day report covering Steam reception (Very Positive), the Digestive Incompatibility mechanic, the DNA Modification System, and first-wave player findings.
Subnautica 2 entered Early Access at 08:00 PDT / 15:00 UTC on Steam, Epic, Xbox, and PC Game Pass with 4-player crossplay co-op.
Sub2Wiki added a community report workflow, bug report guide, status checks, and issue triage pages before Early Access unlocks.
Unknown Worlds released the Early Access gameplay trailer and repeated launch timing, price, storefront, Discord, and update entitlement details.
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Unknown Worlds published the account-linking flow for Twitch Drops, including the note that linking is done after the May 14 Early Access launch.
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Unknown Worlds announced a Reaper Leviathan Statue blueprint for eligible Early Access launch purchases, with a separate Microsoft Store bundle note.
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Unknown Worlds announced a limited in-game decoration for qualifying Early Access purchases.
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Xbox lists Subnautica 2 for Game Pass Ultimate and PC Game Pass at launch.
Future updates are expected to expand biomes, creatures, craftables, tools, vehicles, story, fixes, and optimization.