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It's finally almost here. After years of drama, legal cases, and hype, Subnautica 2 launches into early access on May 14, next week. Being the most wishlisted game on Steam right now, there's a lot of excitement for the release, and the developer's latest dev log gives some updated specs and info on whether you can run it.
The video in question, titled "Subnautica 2 Dev Vlog - Welcome Aboard, Captains", is the team's last dev log ahead of launch. The team say that you will be able to play on a ROG Xbox Ally or Steam Deck with no problem.
At a minimum, pairing an Nvidia GTX 1660 with an i5 8400 will get you 30 fps on Low, which is pretty good for a seven-year-old card, even if it's only at 1080p. The team say that a rig with an RTX 5070 Ti and i9 14900K will get you 60 fps at 4K on High settings. Not bad all round, though the CPU requirements are a little heavy-duty at the high-end.
| Header Cell - Column 0 | Minimum | Recommended | Ultra | Ultra++ |
|---|---|---|---|---|
GPU | ||||
CPU | Intel i5 8400 or AMD Ryzen 5 2600 | Intel i7 13700 or AMD Ryzen 7 7700X | Intel i7 13700 or AMD Ryzen 7 7700X | Intel i9 14900K or AMD Ryzen 9 7900X3D |
OS | Windows 10/11 | Windows 11 | Windows 11 | Windows 11 |
Memory | 12 GB | 16 GB | 32 GB | 32 GB |
GPU memory | 6 GB | 8 GB | 12 GB | 16 GB |
Resolution | 1080p | 1440p | 1440p | 4K |
Preset | Low | Medium | High | High |
Frame rate | 30 | 60 | 60 | 60 |
Though 30 fps is a tad low for many, those minimum specs are certainly not too bad. It makes sense that a game with so many wishlists would want to appeal to as many people as possible, and if the specs are too high, it would alienate some.
And that's before mentioning the memory crisis, which is currently threatening most of the components in a gaming PC by this point. The chances are that if you've bought or built a gaming PC in the last five years, you shouldn't have too much trouble with Subnautica 2. The only sticking point could be the 12 GB memory minimum. Some older 8 GB rigs will need an upgrade.
The dev log does state "this is really just our starting point" and that the team plans on further optimising the game over its early access period.
Subnautica 2's early access period is expected to take around 2 to 3 years, with the full game intended to be more polished, with a wider range of features. However, the team do state "What we have on day one is the most ambitious starting point we've ever had"
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