Dev says “go play Sons of the Forest” to Subnautica 2 players furious over no weapons

After a bumpy development cycle, Unknown Worlds finally released Subnautica 2 into early access. The game sold an impressive 2 million copies in 12 hours and surged to 650,000 concurrent players on Steam. Players are having a great time diving into co-op underwater exploration.

However, one thing has bothered players returning to the sequel: they are irritated that they can’t kill most underwater sea creatures, or wildlife for that matter, in the hostile underwater biomes of the game.

You can’t use weapons or stab Leviathans in Subnautica 2, much like in the original game. You only have access to a few tools to scare them away. Even the devs have made it clear that they want to keep the game that way. As expected, you cant please everyone and some fans aren’t happy.

Not a 'killing game'

One player on the official Subnautica 2 Discord stepped up and asked the developers why there’s no actual way to fight back against the hostile wildlife. Artyom O’Reily replied with a straight answer: “We aren’t a killing game. Go play Sons of the Forest or something if you want to kill.”

The Unknown Worlds team has pretty much doubled down on the pacifist agenda of Subnautica 2 for unknown reasons. Design lead Anthony Gallegos has also doubled down in numerous interviews, calling the no-kill rule “a continued point of resistance” among Subnautica fans, something that the player base “feels strongly about.”

He explained the studio’s vision and said, “We want people to feel like they’re learning to adapt to live in the world, not to be the conqueror, colonist, and dominator.”

This philosophy isn’t new by any means and dates back to the first game, developed after the Sandy Hook shooting, when co-founder Charlie Cleveland wanted to create an immersive underwater exploration game without any guns. 

Modders to the rescue?

That’s where modder Jibotron stepped into the picture with his “Killable Creatures” mod. Explaining the reason behind the mod, Jibotron stated:

“What happened to being able to kill even the mightiest of leviathans with your knife?” The mod allows you to reuse your survival tools, such as the multitool hammer, to deal 20 damage to any creature, while the sonic resonator deals 50 damage.

Still, plenty of Subnautica 2 fans aren’t happy about the mod and are siding with the developers in this regard, while much of the wider community believes that Subnautica 2 should offer freedom of choice given its sandbox nature.