// KOTAKU — GAMING
Subnautica 2′s Co-Op Buddy System Update Is Live, And Has The Coolest Chat
After the fuss over the furious fish, the next-most requested feature in Subnautica 2‘s early access has been improved co-op options. For reasons beyond me, a lot of people seem to want to play this creepy underwater survival game in packs of chatty Kathys, rather than alone and in silence as is only proper. With version 1.2 of the game rolling out today, developer Unknown Worlds has now made some big improvements in the co-op department, including adding proximity chat, player trading, and the ability to revive your buddies.
Since the May 14 launch of Subnautica 2 into early access, two topics have dominated the player feedback. The first was the lengthy controversy over whether players should be able to harm the fishies (of course not), and the second was demands for better ways to play in co-op. Unknown Worlds prioritized the former in the first major update, released July 8, with a compromise of making it easier to deter the more infuriatingly aggressive animals, while also reducing their damage. And this all came with promises that version 1.2 would focus on friendship.
That’s now out as of today, with a trailer and a vlog to explain more.
Creative director Anthony Gallegos takes the lead on 1.2, explaining what’s changed, with the most important new addition being proximity voice chat. The in-game communication has been done in a neat way that feels very in-universe: Up close you can hear other players clearly over your radios, but the farther apart you get, the poorer the audio quality becomes, breaking up and eventually failing altogether.
There are a bunch of rather corny-looking emotes too, which look very early-2000s MMO, although they seem quite redundant with voice chat. More useful is inventory sharing, where you can walk up to a chum and access their backpack, swapping items between yours and theirs, and again, this maintains immersion, requiring both of you to be immediately next to one another rather than letting you magically teleport items.
The last big addition is player revives. If you die outside, rather than immediately reprinting back at your base, a short timer allows other players to swim in and share oxygen with you to bring you back to life. To make more visual sense of what’s going on in larger groups, there are also two new pioneer skins and new suit colors so you can distinguish yourselves.
Outside of co-op, a few other new features are now in the game, including a device called a tracking tag. Basically an in-game version of an Apple AirTag, you can drop one at a particular location, or even put it inside a container you especially don’t want to lose. Carrying one will also improve your black box location when you die, making it easier to find and recover your loot. Then there are improvements to the UI, including a better way of displaying icons at distance, and all sorts of tweaks and adjustments to flora and fauna. Oh, and there’s a sneaky glimpse of what looks like a pedal-powered underwater vehicle?
We still seem to be a fair way off from an update that will expand on the game’s current storyline, but with 1.1 and 1.2 addressing the loudest concerns of the game’s player base, perhaps Unknown Worlds will feel more ready to pursue this?
Here are the full patch notes, and I’m sorry for your mouse’s scroll wheel. (Entries preceded by a snorkeling gear icon are player-suggested changes).
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