Transcript for:
Subnautica Biomes Overview

There's something about the ocean that scares me. The never-ending depths, the dark corners, and most of all, the questions of what's really out there. And it's those very questions that are what makes Subnautica one of the most memorable and atmospheric games of all time. But no game can have an atmosphere without some truly special locations; so today I want to deep dive into each and every biome from every Subnautica game so far. Looking at the plants, the animals, and the lore that makes each special and along the way rank them each against one another to see which of these underwater places is best. [Music] maybe more than any other biome in subnotica the sparse Reef really lives up to its name and that's because this region on the map doesn't have all that much going on at all situated between the grassy plateaus to the North Grand Reef to the South and blood kelp trench and sea treaders path to the east the actual biome of the sparse reef is little more than relatively flat sand shelves covered in green Mounds with theocc occasional bit of table Coral compared to many other places you can go there are very few types of fauna in Flora here and while they can get quite boring from a gameplay perspective it really adds a lot of much-needed immersion to the world of subnotica and makes the areas full of life we will see later on this list feels so awesome in comparison in fact in a lot of ways the Zone serves as a buffer of sorts a place that feels safe and welcoming that sits right next to some much scarier places that can be hard to Traverse and that makes it an ideal spot to build a base of operations and because of a lack of Life allows any onlookers To See For Miles in any direction for oncoming danger but this sense of security too is dampened by the ominous Stillness in the waves here where few sounds can be heard and you always feel alone ranging from a depth of 40 to 310 M the sparse reef is also a great location to stock up on materials for building and crafting as well as a prime spot to find many hidden and lost Tech fragments you will need to make some of your most important gear early on on top of this in the deeper parts of the reef you will discover a regular formations caves and imposing drop offs and the further you make your way into these Caverns the more danger you uncover including the famous tiger plants which shoot spines at anything in their nearby vicinity or eye stocks which consist of Twisted purple stems that are crooked and have nearly no rounded Corners with bioluminescent yellow bulbs at the rims even more notable than these though are the occasional bone sharks large shark-shaped creatures plated in thick and serrated exoskeletons sporting razor sharp and Jagged teeth that protrude from their skin rather than their gums this idea probably comes from great whites in our real lives which have tiny flat v-shaped scales all across their skin that shred their prey with ease as they Glide by stealthily but regardless Predators like these in the sparse Reef have learned to survive in a low biodiverse environment with very little food and their aggressive nature is likely in part due to the highly competitive everyday life for scarce resources and based on the open Rocky terrain of the biome as well it's heavily speculated that this region went through some large amounts of tectonic activity at some point which would have transformed it from a much more Lush and vibrant ecosystem into the barren yet calming dystopia we know it as today but it's that same calming nature that gives this biome something special as well where you can Simply Swim through the region at night Guided by the glowing plant life or admire large rock formations in the northern section of the area for a lot of people that's what subnotica is all about just taking it all in at your own pace and the sparse reef is second to none in terms of places that will lower your heart rate and just let you relax however for me Far and Away the most interesting part about the sparse reef is the strange ominous echoing ambiance that can be heard at certain parts of the lower Zone and considering there is an entire alien vent Network here to explore could there potentially be some other Grand conspiracy waiting in the dark as well a type of creature we have never seen or heard about regardless it goes to show that even in the most boring and honestly least insane biome in all of subnotica there is still so much Intrigue and mystery to potentially dive into it's what makes this series so great in the first place and trust me it only gets better from here next up we have another biome that is in large part destitute as well and yet again full of resources but this time with even more things lurking around every corner the mountains situated in the northeastern corner of the first game just above lifeod 5 the Life pod you crash land in at the start of the game the mountains are bordered by a large variety of other biomes including the blood kelp Zone underwater Island and mushroom Forest the region is characterized by a dizzying amount of huge rocky mountain ranges with vast unobstructed areas of open water surrounding them and dotted all throughout the landscape as well are hydrothermal vents that produce broad areas of heat attracting some of the most dangerous forms of wildlife in the game including the now famous Reaper leviathans for those that don't know Reaper leviathans are the most populus and one of the most aggressive forms of leviathans a classification given to any organisms that are extremely large and with their formidable size they tend to bully all other living things around them and dominate whatever space they take up for the reaper specifically with their long slim and muscular bodies which are propelled forward by four codal fins and two pectoral fins they are also very quick and this will likely mean you need to do everything you can to avoid any you see in the mountain ranges when you get there as the zone is usually explored more early on in the game and maybe most horrifying of all is the fact that creatures this massive are probably the least of our concerns in the oceans of subnautica's Planet 4546b because as we know from our real lives deep sea species tend to be much larger than their shallow dwelling relatives due to the higher pressures at deeper depths which means in the Deep Waters there could be things that make Reaper leviathans look like peepers but we will talk about things like that much later on this list because for the mountains specifically if you do manage to not die at the hands of these large creatures who swim around you you won't have much else to find there's an abundance of brown algae in the zone along with patches of moss and grass but outside of that really the most exciting things you will see here are shs of fish and for the most part you will be hugging the sides of mountain ranges and hiding as you search for materials or lost technology for upgrades because the biome is one of the deeper in the early game though extending all the way from 0 to 500 M underwater if you manage to make your way into certain portions of the biome you can uncover extensive cave networks which are home to a lot more life and in my opinion are a lot more interesting for example located inside the actual mountain ranges themselves are caves home to drooping Stingers cave crawlers and spiked horn grass which can be harvested using your knife and while they are for the most part pretty Barren as well there just is a lot more going on in these caves with a wider variety of striking colors and things to find and on top of this in the southern portion of the mountain biome you can also find what is known as Mountain Island a set of mountains that have grown so tall they have now formed their own Island above the water which sports its own cave Network as well sadly though as with everything else in the mountain biome there isn't much going on here outside of a large amount of materials to collect and really the most interesting part of this island might be the Lagoon you can find inside it which to be honest is pretty unique and interesting compared to anything else in the game and of course this island is also The Stomping Ground of the massive quarantine enforcement platform an ancient alien weaponized Tower which is actually responsible for shooting down your aura ship you travel to the planet on along with countless others that have tried to enter its orbit still though for me the mountains of subnotica just don't quite have enough going on to be higher on this list and while the lore they teach us about the world is fascinating that being that massive amounts of volcanic activity must have been going on many years ago which formed these mountains along with indicators of precursor desperation after the Cara outbreak began it still nowadays just isn't all that interesting and for many people is nothing more than a large zone of nothing located between 125 to 460 M below the oceans of planet 4546b and snuggled between the grand reef and crash Zone the crck field biome of subnotica is yet another region dominated by large geological formations this resourcer area is also home to a myriad of low-level Predators as well including small bone shark groups and Mesmer quaint yet aggressive fish with three colorful design patterns that emit light even in the darkest conditions all throughout this medium-sized biome are Jagged rock formations craggy outcroppings and Sandy valleys but most fascinating of all are the massive almost spir likee rocks that have formed in a wavelike pattern likely due to erosion at the hands of fast moving water in the zone included with this as well are other worldly look Rock structures that almost resemble human hands and might point at an ancient Grand conspiracy of giant human creatures that used to walk this planet millions of years ago that had ancient Magics and language or it's just rocks and sadly for me that's really most of what this biome is just rocks but along with any place with lots of rocks comes tons of minerals all of which you can use for crafting making the cck field one of the most helpful biomes in the game despite being one of the least visited by player numbers alone and overall for me what makes this area of the map more interesting than some other similarly Barren spots is that the formations of the land and Wildlife are just a little more peculiar for example one of my favorite animals in the game can be found here the shuttle bugs these horrifying yet cute parasites are one giant eye attached to a flappy bit of skin with three massive legs that allow the creatures to either walk across land or Propel themselves through the sea this unique genetic makeup makes the shuttle bugs a very interesting presence and since they're mostly docile it's easy to get up close to one and admire fun fact by the way for those of you who are also fans of these adorable monstrosities early design documents from the subnotica team show that at one point they were supposed to be an intelligent and interactable species that would quite literally talk to the player as they traveled around the world but considering that that did not happen by the time the game came out the cck field biome just doesn't have much else going for it and don't get me wrong it can be really atmospheric swimming around here and imagining what sort of massive environmental shifts must have been happening on the planet to create these massive Rock structures but outside of that once again most of the storytelling in this region will all be inside of your head and if you don't have a big imagination this biome gets old fast taking up the entire Northwestern portion of the first game The Dunes biome of subnotica is one most players are very accustomed to not only because of its massive size that's what she said but because of the Bountiful amount of fauna you can find within ranging from a depth of 65 all the way to 400 m down the area is composed of multiple major shipwrecks and Sandy Dunes beautiful archways and most notably a giant sinkhole and Cave Network full of distinct life forms so this means that while the dunes themselves can be quite Barren in many spots just like say the mountains sparse Reef or crack field they actually have a lot more going on as well and most of this comes from the extensive network of animal life that can be found here giving birth to an expansive and vibrant alien ecosystem for example it's in the dunes that you can find the illustrious gaso pods along with their eggs these fairly large herbivores release their young from the acidic gas pouches in their tail which if harvested right before an explosion can grant the players some valuable resources including ammo for the propulsion cannon on top of this the dunes are where you can find four hidden sea crowns one of the rarest types of harvestable plant life in the entire series which is a hulking blue translucent bladder being held together by small stocks with yellow and green tinges of color throughout even cooler though in my opinion are the Gary fish and Spade fish some of the goofiest looking things in the entire series who are fun to endlessly Chase around as their giant eyeballs and regularly shaped bodies waddle in the sea this is also the area where you can find some warpers as well which are actually biomechanically engineered life from the hands of the precursors who can generate teleportation Gates which they use to warp themselves and other small organisms at will along with sending telepathic or strange messages along distances to communicate with one another or in other words the dun's biome is chalk full of interesting creatures and lore and more than the other biomes we've spoken about so far in subnotica it really does feel like its own distinct world where so many life forms can come together and co-mingle creating something unlike anything else out there but don't get too excited because the dunes is also the breeding ground of eight massive Reaper Leviathan who Patrol the Open Spaces of the zone and kill anything in their path and this is only made worse by the fact that there are so few places to hide in the dunes for most creatures that see a Reaper Leviathan setting eyes on them their Doom is all but guaranteed it can be such a dangerous Zone at times in fact that the AI on board your ship will even ask you what you are doing starting to drive in that direction knowing you will most likely die detecting multiple laran class life forms in the region are you certain whatever you're doing is worth it but still while that means the dunes can be quite an exciting Zone at times for me it still is just too bland and if you haven't picked up on it already I really like colorful and vibrant places in subnotica more than the reserved ones and while you need a lot of both and either can be good for me the dunes are yet another biome that is really fun in theory but gets bested by many of the upcoming biomes on this this list for the first subnotica below zero biome on this list we have to turn to a place that wall cool is actually my least favorite in the whole game the Thermal Zone consisting of three entirely separate biomes the thermal zone is a long patch of sea that stretches all the way from the Eastern borders of the West Arctic towards the twisty bridges in the north around the pad Islands after which it reconnects with itself completely surrounding Delta Island this ring of sorts is split up between the thermal spires ranging from 5 to 200 M deep the purple vents which go no further than 170 and finally the tree spires which dive into the dark Waters 460 M below the surface and with all this area comes a lot of well thermal vents don't get me wrong these underwater structures are cool and the plumes of hot gas you see everywhere definitely produce a certain Vibe it's just not quite my favorite one in the purple vent specifically you can find a unique yellow discoloration all across the ground due to a process known as hydrothermal alteration where chemical reactions between the water and surrounding rocks due to intense heat can change the color of the terrain often leaving yellow orange or reddish Hues and just like how we see this in real life the purple vents are no different but what certainly is are the actual purple color colors coming out of the vents themselves this is likely due to a high amount of bacteria and ARA in the biome mixing with Rare Minerals and it implies that the purple vents may be a breeding ground for lots of new life forms that are beginning to formulate and for me personally this is what makes the purple vents the most interesting part of the entire Thermal Zone a place that runs in contrast to most biomes of subnotica seemingly at the start of its story rather than the end of a long and historied past outside of that though the purple vents don't have much Flora or fauna to dive into and really the only especially notable creatures are the shelis serat leviathans who are elongated crab like creatures with shark adjacent bodies with a jaw section that is formed entirely by four long curved manales pointed forwards that mesh together towards the back to form an inescapable jaw these carnivores use their long spines to reach extremely high speeds underwater and a dorsal fin-like membrane that coats spikes growing out of their plated skin they are without a doubt one of the scariest things you will ever see approaching you in game and the purple vents aren't the only place it can be found as even more reside in the next part of the Thermal Zone the tree spes as the deepest part of the entire Zone the tree spes biome is home to a much wider variety of life including brute sharks hoop and red feather fish along with Cliff lanterns and tornado plants but without a doubt the real thing that makes this biome interesting are the large tree likee hydrothermal vents covered and vines that spew gases towards the surface and this is where you can find the gargantuan vent Gardens these Leviathan class animals are so rare that there's actually only two in game but while they lack High numbers they make up for it in pure Mass over 100 m in height these jellyfish lookalikes have a round transparent Bell attached to their body which uncas a large red structure resembling seaweed all attached to a cone structure that emits a bright Scion glow at night along with with massive tentacles that reach downwards these creatures are so large that they almost could be considered a biome all on their own which is good considering the rest of the tree spires doesn't have all that much going on besides a handful of different fish species but despite how mundane portions of this biome can be nothing beats the monotony of the thermal spires the final part of the Thermal Zone composed of nothing more than small to medium-sized vertical Spire formations oozing sap from their innards the thermal spires are one of the first places most players will visit in below zero and thus are rich in minerals and relatively safe with the only potential problems you will run into being the rock punchers and krypotos sucus now don't get me wrong both of these two aggressive carnivores are really awesome and their designs are some of the best in the series I especially like the rock punchers and how they move across the sea floor and jump at you with their little shrimp tails and punch the ground but the actual biome itself otherwise just feels so lacking to me it's nothing more than gray rocks and thermal vents with the occasional Coral shelf plate batch on a Cliff's Edge and considering how awesome some of the other biomes right next to it and Below z r it just Falls so flat but regardless the Thermal Zone as a whole still has a lot to offer and something you also don't really find in quite the same way anywhere else in the series so it should be lotted for that at least in my book though there are so many other cooler places we're about to visit if your girlfriends ever told you that Size Doesn't Matter that's because she hasn't been to the crash Zone as the largest region in all of subnotica this area of the map is actually the waters in which your massive spaceship the Aurora crashed on planet 4546b taking up the entirety of the southwestern portion of the map The Zone itself is characterized by Rocky slopes and deep trenches all covered in sand and littered with debris that was kicked up by the Aurora's sudden invitation and because of the recent activity this entire open space is littered with murky brown Water ominous wreckages and worst of all 10 fully grown Reaper leviathans hunting for prey this means as you're making your way through this Zone you will constantly hear the screeches and moans of the leviathans and if one actually spots you it's almost certainly game over for early level players the biome itself because of its size is also split up into four distinct regions that being the main crash Zone the trench the messes and finally the spit the main Zone and trench are extremely Barren where most of your travels will be nothing more than waiting through murky now radiated water and finding Salvage all over the place this means that while these zones can be quite boring from a purely visual standpoint they also have lots of much needed materials to grab all of which will keep you on edge as leviathans hunt you down while you do it it makes the crash Zone super tense especially on a first playthrough and when you combine that in with the ability to actually make your way onto the Aurora ship and explore it's actually one of the most important from a lore perspective as well where you can look back on what life must have been like on the ship and what went wrong along with learning more about the evil Mega Corporation Altera along with these portions of the biome though we also have the messas and spit the spit is nothing more than a very small section of land located to the east of the Aurora whose contents extend alongside the Aurora aligning against its eastern side towards the nose and this entire patch of land was probably raised Above Water by the crash itself giving you some much needed breathing room from the leviathans below and there are lots of ores on this island gather but outside of that it's about as Bland as the waters below where things start to see a little more variety is in the southern corner of the biome where we can find the messas six Lively plateaus protruding above their surroundings against the barren Dunes of the crash Zone with only one Reaper Leviathan being found here the area is much more safe and also full of more color and life there are Reapers hoverfish rabbit rays and my personal favorite the bladderfish which have a long extremely thin main body with pale purple colored translucent bladders above and below these little fish are used to craft filtered water in game and thus are one of the most important you will see throughout your entire play time and on top of that they may be named after a cult within the subnotica dev team that likes to wet themselves on occasion for sexual arousal seei subnotica Iceberg video if you want more information on that regardless though the crash Zone wall being Barren something I usually don't like in the series has a special place in my heart because of how dangerous it feels and how much lore and history there is to uncover for example how much damage did the Aurora really cause here what did many portions of this biome look like many years before before or right before the major crash what other secrets are hiding from us in these Waters from which we can barely see through and could some of those aboard the ship still be alive out there begging for help and really the crash zone is just one of those places that at first glance seems so mundane and tiresome but when you actually experience it for yourself you realize that half the beauty is the Ambiance and atmosphere it provides that creates a tension few biomes can match well most biomes in subnotica for obvious reasons are found underwater that doesn't mean there aren't plenty of above ground spots as well especially in the sequel but before we turn to those first we need to dive into where it all started none other than the floating island from the first game located just above the grand Reef in the very Southern reaches of the map the floating island itself is an above ground Oasis being held up by a team of giant and ancient floaters these gargantuan jellyfish-like creatures are transparent with a gelatinous blue colored surface that houses a pink core and they provide buoyancy to this entire land mass allowing it to bask in the sun above reaching temperatures of 41° C much higher than most other places underwater on the island itself you can find a whole host of densely packed fauna including bulbo and Lantern trees Ming and marble melon plants and even the occasional pink cap and this all comes together to create one of the most unique biomes in the entire setting one where you can finally stretch your sea legs and get used to just walking around again it's Lush vibrant and just different than most other places you go and for that alone it's a fond memory for many subnotica players especially on a first playthrough but maybe the most fascinating part about this island is actually the lore for those of you who don't know in the story of sub natica over a thousand years before the events of the game a race of hyper Advanced beings known as The Architects or precursors settled planet 4546b in order to set up a massive research Outpost to find a cure for a deadly contagion known as the Cara bacterium this infection is so dangerous primarily because of its ability to mutate cells causing glowing green lesions to form on the skin and in your veins after which it breaks down your body completely the ship you crash land on in the first game is called the Aurora and multiple surviving members from this ship tried to make makeshift huts on this island but even more fascinating is the ship that crashed before you you see years before you arrive on the planet another ship called the deasi crashed on the planet as well after which many of the survivors also found refuge on this small island and built multiple seab bases and research centers on top of the mountain ranges where they lived for long periods of time doing everything they could to survive and studying the car bacterium themselves this means that not only is the floating island a great place to get a good view of the world with some nice Shrubbery but also just one of the best locations for lore and World building something I personally love in all the games I play it makes you wonder what life must have been like for the previous inhabitants and also how devastating the car bacterium can really be an infection that is slowly killing this entire planet and stripping it of all the beauty it once had luckily for us though at the time we play the games there is still plenty of beauty to go around all of which will be looking into next located in the very center of subnotica below Zero's map is a large and very important Landmark known as Delta Island surrounded entirely by the Thermal Zone the location itself is home to a host of land bearing organisms things like penguins and Sky Rays or the hard to miss thermales which glow brightly as you walk past and face towards you warming you up while you brunt the harsh cold above water and that's because this island is completely covered in snow biting winds and damp Rock Caverns along with the occasional hot spring full of crystalline sulfur which can also keep you warm in a pinch in contrast to say the floating island of the first game Delta island is much more rugged but also has a lot more going on for example if you manage to climb all the way to the summit of the Island's biggest mountain not only will you be met with a cut scene of a woman in a Mech almost killing you but also the Delta research station a focal point of the main story and historical landmark that is filled to the brim with interesting lore on the series and that's because Delta station was actually a Remnant set up by Altera a massive transgo Corporation of the future that has bought up millions of other small companies and is the main player in space transportation and Logistics across the galaxy in the original subnotica game you are actually sent to Planet 4546b by Altera themselves as you are just one of many people hired by the company aboard the Aurora ship that gets shot down and the public reason that Altera keeps sending ships to this planet is to construct a phase gate for use in interstellar travel but the actual and secret covert reason is that they are trying to study the ancient precursor aliens and their Tech along with the car bacterium which could give them an edge over their competition who knowing Altera they would murder in an instant if given the chance in fact the deasi ship in the first game you discover the remnants of as well was a previous Altera rival companies the Mongolian Corporation who lost their ship to mysterious circumstances and Altera jumped at the chance to harness that power for themselves so in a way Delta Island acts as a fascinating look into this evil Corporation and what they were up to as well as well as just being a fun place to hang out in as long as you find a warm spot to stand in and what it lacks in raw beauty or variety it easily makes up for impure Intrigue a staple of all good subnotica zones places that not only look cool but make you stop and think as well on top of all this too there are so many hidden secrets beneath the island that lead to some of the coolest spots in the series but we'll be talking about those shortly while subnotica technically takes place on an alien planet lots of what we see underwater when compared to our real life oceans isn't actually all that weird sure there are fish with giant eyeballs and strange appendages but take a look at some of the things in deep portions of our ocean and you will be wishing you were in the waters of subnotica however one place where things on planet 4546b do really start to get Fantastical and out there is the underwater Islands found in the northern portion of the first game the biome itself is surrounded by many others including the blood kelp Zone mountains mushroom and kelp forest and grassy plateaus but unlike many of its neighbors who share so many qualities the underwater Islands have something wholly distinct and special ranging from 35 all the way down to 500 M you can find huge underwater Islands being held up by what at first looks like nothing but upon closer and inspection it becomes clear that attached to the bottom of each of these land masses are multiple ancient floaters who in a symbiotic relationship of sorts push these portions of land far above the bottom of the ocean so that sunlight can hit them this allows new forms of life to be birthed on the islands and as these same creatures die and feed the soil the floaters are able to sap nutrients from the roots of the Islands below creating a permanent and burgeoning food supply where the floaters create life and then take it back almost like a god of sorts in fact in some extreme circumstances some floaters in the region have been known to literally grab entire Leviathan class creatures and force them to the surface asphyxiating them and then consuming them for months on end while the decomposing bodies dissolve into the floater's mouths after which they find a new host and it really makes you realize just how terrifying these cute jellyfish like creatures are and to never trust a book by its cover outside of this though the underwater Island biome is teeming with life including a huge amount of fish species and Bone sharks as well as large lava geysers on the ground that create ecosystems all to their own on top of this as well each and every one of the islands floating near the surface is home to distinct plants and small animals that have found a new home and it makes the entire region so interesting to explore no matter what direction you look at combine that in with some shipwrecks to explore and a couple very small cave networks and you have a a place that is hard not to love I mentioned earlier in this video about how my favorite biomes in subnotica are ones full of color and life for places that have Mysteries and questions that really make you think and to start us off here we are talking about none other than the grassy plateaus biome covering a wide array of different parts of the central portions of the first game the grassy Plateau is generally one of the first biomes any subnotica player will encounter standing between the safe shallows and kelp forest it usually acts as a last Harrah in more safe water until you enter some of the much crazier things out there but that last Harrah is anything but unmemorable as the grassy plateaus are full of vibrant life and distinct color and speaking of color this zone is mostly known for its sprawling vistas of blood grass vibrant red Blades of tall herbs which fish and smaller animals love to hide in due to starting at a depth of 50 m the biome isn't suitable for creep Vines to take hold like in the neighboring kelt Forest so instead you are left with a very wide open area in a sea of red with pillar-like structures formed from water erosion and smooth Marine planes consisting entirely of sand it gives the entire region a very easygoing feel and when you combine that in with a huge assortment of plants and animals it feels so alive and optimistic scatter scattered all around the ground are plants like acid mushrooms red wart and the Beautiful veined Nettles which resemble a common hand fan but come to life with a burst of violet and dark purple stems but as with any Zone with lots of life there are also lots of predators and then the grassy plateaus this includes the smaller biters tadpool lookalikes which have razor sharp teeth and temperaments of piranha along with the infamous Sand Sharks which burrow into the Sands of the biome and wait for unsuspected prey to swim by for an ambush attack as the player you can even hear a series of low growls whenever you get close to one signifying it's time to run however out of all of the life probably my favorite in the whole zone are the reefback leviathans similar in size to a realworld whale these massive creatures are composed of a thick dark blue carapus with a rounded triangular front that rounds in the back attached to three long whip-like tentacles these dosil passive monsters swim near the surface and allow you to climb them and discover entire ecosystems on their back including Barnacles blood grass and even the aggressive tiger plants or smaller fish and ores that we all know and love and really more than anything the grassy plateaus is just a perfect example for me at least of what subnotica should be sprawling ecosystems with a huge variety of life and a inspiring things to discover like the reefbacks which make you feel so small in this big ocean and while there are some even better chill zones coming up soon without a doubt I love the grassy plateaus biome the best biomes in some natica in my opinion are almost always the ones that feel like they have their own personality their own unique twist that makes them special and in terms of places like this few do it better than the bulb Zone featuring in lots of cinematic trailers and concept art we have seen for the game as well the bulb zone is located in the northeastern corner of the map wedged between the mountains mushroom forest and crash Zone wearing a radiation suit in this area is highly advised as well as much of the radiation from the crash Zone has leaked into this environment up here nonetheless though the Zone itself is composed of small crevices and overhangs in a vast Sandy dunik tapestry one that is abundant with small brown algae and a huge huge variety of plants with bluish purple Hues the most notable of all of these though are Far and Away the bulb bushes unique to the bulb Zone these bushes come in four different sizes but all sport the same purple spherical bodies with a lumpy texture small light blue glowing spheres protrude from each of their bodies and at night the bushes all light up like Christmas trees during the holidays and fill the surrounding area with an Ambiance that is unmatched these plants also have a special special Knack at spreading their seed as often times different animals will graze against their bodies and Bulbs will be scattered everywhere across the seafloor giving birth to even more bold bushes on top of this as well the biome is full of other types of life including Reaper and reefback leviathans peepers shuttle bugs warpers bone sharks hoop fish and one of my personal favorites found only in this Zone in the blood kelt Forest the aels these massive Serpentine creatures have a seg M mented body covered in prongs that can generate incredibly powerful zaps of bioelectricity often times in the bulb Zone you will hear these aggressive creatures spewing off electricity at other fish and eating them as they are roasted alive they also like to travel in packs of two to five at a time meaning if you're unlucky enough to encounter a large swath of them at once you will have a very tough time staying alive but even with all the danger lurking in this Zone whether it be radiation electricity or massive pressure itors there is just something about it that feels so awesome there are tunnel networks leading towards the Lost River and an active lava Zone at almost 500 M or the nighttime here where a sea of bioluminescence opens up before your eyes and transforms a place that was already beautiful into something Beyond special and really it's the perfect type of Zone that makes you realize why some people have fallen in love with this series in the first place because it feels like an ecosystem all to itself with its own personality and character inside a much bigger world as strange as it sounds sometimes all you need for an amazing biome in subnotica is some awesome lore and backstory and in the case of the Copa mining site from below zero it proves this point perfectly and that's because the Copa mining site is actually a secret Altera Corporation research and Mining facility that can be found deep under the crust of Delta Island if you manage to find one of the small entrances to this place either in the Thermal Zone proper or its corresponding cave Network you will be treated to a sprawling underground equipment center full of storage crates and computer terminals large elevator shavs that moved people around years ago as well as massive rail systems that carried supplies All Around The Zone as workers dawned prawn suits to help in everyday tasks this means that there's so much cool world building to uncover in this area where if you take your time you can start to piece together many potential secrets about altera's past on this planet and what they were up to and really for me the biome combines the usual strengths of subnotica that being deep sea exploration and dark Caverns to poke around in was something more akin to say a Fallout game where you will be able to go through the environment and almost watch as it tells a story all to itself it's a match made in heaven and something I wish more so subnotica biomes would focus on heavily that being the lore and history behind it all telling stories of places and what happened in the past for example in the Copa mining site you can actually stumble upon a strange green statue in one of the back Chambers and while it's never fully explained to you just seeing all the lights around it and the abandoned research equipment in the room tells you all you need to know and more this must have been one of the ancient architect artifacts that Altera had found and was researching and it just makes you daydream about what this place would have been like at full capacity with dozens of researchers all working at once and also what did Altera manage to get out of their research could it be that one of the most evil corporations in the universe now has access to time travel like the precursors themselves it's questions like these that make an otherwise straightforward biome such a pleasure to come back to a place that not only looks pretty in the moment but one that makes you dream about the possibilities of what else is going on in the universe of subnotica [Music] I've always been a huge sucker for biomes that revolve around One Singular idea whether that's a striking color theme a certain type of material or maybe most interesting of all a living breathing thing and in terms of places like this few do it better than the sea treaders path located in the southwestern corners of subnautica's map the region itself at first glance is quite Barren with nothing more than a massive Hill in the interior with a considerable amount of sand and clusters of an unidentified Coral species but the true bewilderment of this biome begins to show its hands as you take a closer look and that's because under this great Sandy Hill is actually an extremely extensive cave network of deep tunnels Within These tunnels are a large assortment of different forms of life including cave bushes deep shrooms membrane trees and all sorts of different fish like peepers Reginald and eye eyes which just as the name implies are nothing more than a single huge eye strapped to a fish's body no mouth no butth hole but as cool as fishes with no buttholes are the real star of the show in the sea Treader path and what makes it such a memorable location are the sea Treader leviathans themselves beasts that are so notable they have an entire biome named after them because you see within the underground tunnels the sea treaders can be found partaking in their NeverEnding migrations where they will walk through the tunnels from one end to the next and what you see on the map isn't even the entire thing as the tunnel systems themselves extend all the way into the grand Reef to the East and it's been speculated this is how so many forms of life found their way into the tunnels originally regardless though the sea Treader leviathans while being the smallest Lev ithan class organism in the game are still quite for boing they stand on what looks to be three double-jointed legs holding up an almost triangular torso covered in bright bioluminescent orange and yellow patterns but you see the Third Leg of sorts on the front of this creature is actually its face beak and mouth Allin one and at the top of this leg joint sits two compound dark eyeballs along with two enormous feelers that protrude from the underside of its body upward while docile in nature these hulking beasts have no problem pecking and swinging at you if you get too close especially when traveling with their babies and unlike many other leviathans as well the sea treaders are very pack focused and move in herds meaning as you swim through this biome you frequently will see large groups of them all together varying from small babies to gargantuan mothers all constantly emitting loud echoing calls through the ocean's waves it's a terrifying yet strange L soothing experience and makes the Ambiance of these tunnels unlike anything else in the game where you can at 1 second be searching for some needed materials and the next sitting still and watching as the circle of life carries on and the music of these majestic creatures fills the walls of the [Music] caves with a name like the grand Reef you would expect this subnotica biome to be full full of color and life but almost disappointingly most of the time it's actually quite the opposite instead sporting dark Waters and Eerie Vibes but you see that's a big part of what makes this biome so awesome in the end because by the time you spend hours exploring every corner of it you realize it has more to offer than meets the eye located in the Southeast corner of the first gamees map this region is very dark and chilly allowing you to swim through dark chaos from 100 50 m all the way down to the Deep Grand Reef which caps out at 630 as you swim through this nightmare you will see lots of small dots of light from fish and plants that hang on the corners of the cliffs and each tell a story of a biome that used to be so vibrant that has lost some of its luster in recent years potentially at the hands of the Cara bacterium and all throughout the zone 2 you can find shes of fish along with larger creatures as well including bone sharks cra AB squids and the haunting ghost leviathans these apex predators have a soft bioluminescent and transparent outer membrane that Shields a large muscular body with piercing yellow eyes all of which give them a menacing look that matches their equally aggressive demeanor when attacking these leviathans extend their jaw muscles outwards and excrete a booming Screech which signals your impending doom and causes massive damage if you're hit one of the highest damage attacks in the entire game but outside of these monsters there is a lot more on offer in the grand Reef as well including a tunnel system of caves which sits mostly in the Stillness of utter Blackness and also by far my favorite part of the biome the Deep Grand Reef which is home to a forest of anchor pods suspended blue orbs with a jade green pattern which light your way in these ominous Waters this is also the place where you can find the famous final seab base created by the Lost crew of the deasi which can give you tons of insights on their final days on the planet as well as what they discovered through their Research into the bacterium as well as life nearby it's the type of Zone that most players absolutely love or hate and for me I just love The Thrill The Zone can give you with the creepy Vibes it has absolutely everywhere you go and some of the best lore in the game but if we're being completely honest more than a biome being good for building a base or how scary it is or how much lore you can uncover the true test of whether you personally will love a subnotica biome is if it passes your Vibe check and for me the grand Reef just does it's expansive visceral and even menacing at times and almost acts like a gateway drug into what we will be seeing in the final portions of this list the best of the best and biomes that will fill you with utter awe or dread [Music] for this next section I'm actually going to combine two biomes from subnotica below zero into one that being the Arctic both east and west and the Arctic spires above ground for the Arctic biome specifically this zone is characterized by rugged Rocky terrain on the seafloor and icebergs on the surface located around the outside portions of the Thermal Zone and as a last underwater Bastion before the glacial Basin and Arctic spires large port of your playtime spent here will be circling around massive icebergs staring off into a dark blue abyss of cold Waters and making yourself accustomed with the huge variety of plants and animals for example in the Arctic you can find things like the Titan whole fish or glow whales both gargantuan herbivores and carnivores that slowly drift through the Arctic oceans which can vary between 0 to 320 M deep on top of this the zone is home to the chelis serat Leviathan in conjunction with a whole host of Arctic specific plant life that has grown to survive in even the harshest and coldest conditions but really what makes this biome so special for me is how beautiful it is as we know from our real lives the Arctic oceans and icebergs in them can be Beyond breathtaking and the harshness in places like this only adds to the Intrigue you can explore underwater calderas that long ago were hauled out by volcanic eruptions or try and pet Penguins on top of the icebergs where mothers and their young sit sunbathing and even more than anything I could describe or show you here trust me when I say that out of every single zone I've ever been to in all of the subnotica games the Arctic has a special way of wowing you like no other place does it feels vast open yet claustrophobic and cold at the same time and with the improved Graphics of below zero it makes the whole ensemble that much more immersive but we aren't done yet because Northwest of the Arctic are the Arctic spires a huge above waterer land mass that borders glacial Bay the biome is characterized by a flat sheet broken up by huge spires of ice jutting up from below where it appears the sea level has dropped since the ice spires must have formed long ago between these spires as well is a sprawling ice Valley with cracks all along the surface that make it feel like at any moment you could fall through into the icy waters below but worst of all the biome itself can be very mazike feeling like you were trapped within a labyrinth that you have to figure out as you go through multiple cave entrances diving through small pools of water to come out on the other side in completely new portions of the zone and a lot of confusing geography and layouts but if you thought that was terrifying then just wait for the ice worms enormous Leviathan class organisms that have long slender bodies which they use to burrow through the ice sheets and Ambush Predators as they struggle to skate across this harsh area the the ice worms themselves also have a thick exoskeleton on their head sporting an extremely dangerous and huge Spike which they use not only to burrow but cut their prey in half in mere seconds luckily for us though these creatures use sound to find their victims which means if you are careful and quiet enough you should be safe in the Arctic spires to Simply sit back and enjoy the views and really it's those views that make this zone so special because while other places in the subnotica series can be a little more unique or special in terms of gimmicks of Flora or fauna I really do think that actually swimming around or walking around and playing the game exploring the Arctic zones will be some of the most magical times you will have in the series which is crazy to say since you can get to both of these zones so early in the game and for me at least it goes to show that the most important part of subnotica what makes it amazing as a game series is the immersion the atmosphere and feeling like you genuinely are discovering an entirely New [Music] World sometimes all you need for a really awesome biome in subnotica is an exceptionally interesting plant and in the case of the mushroom Forest well see for yourself split between a Northeastern Zone which is located right above the crashed Aurora ship and the larger Northwestern area the mushroom Forest sits between a usual depth of 75 to 250 M and as its name would imply is home to mesmerizing plants known as the tree mushrooms these huge Coral structures can grow to be over 100 m in height and all along their trunk are massive mushroom caps that are illuminated by an orange Hue constantly this means at night the sea Here is known to burst into a cacophony of songs from The Wildlife who gather around the lights to avoid danger and all along the tree mushroom muss are multiple forms of growth and even small ecosystems that form on the tops of the mushroom caps ironically though for a place that feels so full of life in the actual game there isn't much to do here but as you guys have already probably picked up on for me what make subnotica biomes great isn't that they serve a huge purpose in the main story or make a great spot for a base or even have tons of materials gather to me what makes a biome in subnotica memorable is how it makes you feel de and in terms of that few biomes reach the height of the mushroom Forest which is filled to the brim with cool creatures like The Reef back leviathans near the surface or bone sharks jelly Rays Spade fish peepers and amp eels near the bottom on top of this too the tree mushrooms are a great Catalyst for many other forms of plant life to form meaning you can discover huge patches of acid mushrooms grew clusters tree leeches and spawn along with rering weed on the ground and it all comes together to create a zone that is hard to forget not only because there is nothing else in the subnotica series like it but it's just so calming and relaxing too in fact one of the coolest things about the zone is the hidden cave Network found literally inside a single giant tree Mushroom in the Northwestern Zone which has a small hole near the top you can squeeze yourself through after which you will be greeted by one of the most soothing cavernous areas in the whole series full of plants illuminating your way and a whole host of resources to ga so while in a lot of ways the mushroom Force fails to reach its actual potential we see in a lot of the concept art which makes it look absolutely stunning it gets close enough and provides a much needed breath of fresh air especially in comparison to many other zones that focus on more dark and dreary demeanors and it goes to show that you can turn what would otherwise be a fairly mundane Zone into something awesome with just one cool main feature if there is one biome that every single player thinks of when you say the word subnotica it's got to be the safe shallows and that's because this beautiful place is actually where your entire Journey All Began it's literally impossible to miss the second you jump off of your skape pod in the first game you will immediately be graced by the most shallow Zone in the entire series and not because it lacks any empathy in fact quite the opposite situated in the very center of the map the safe shallows is not only the safest biome in the game with no native Predators but is also at its deepest only 80 M downward meaning you can easily swim around here with nothing but your bodysuit and no other gear the biome itself is actually a massive coral reef and as such is home to a huge abundance of life and color simply looking around anywhere in the zone you will be met with Hues of yellow purple blue and of course the oranges and greens of the Ground full of grass and sand along with this too are tons of small cave systems you can Wade your way through which are home to maybe the single most concerning thing in the entire area the crashfish a highly territorial species of small red oval-shaped creatures with widely spaced nostrils which upon sensing your presence will immediately emit a menacing gurgle after which they will burst out of their sulfur plants they hide in charge at you and explode these crazy Little Critters are able to pull this off due to a chemical reaction that takes place when the spikes in their torso are impacted pushing them into their body and setting off a bomb of sorts but if you have managed to avoid these annoying albeit cute little guys then pretty much everything else on offer here is a paradise there is a huge variety of fauna and Flora including the famous peepers rabbit Rays Sky Rays bladderfish boomerangs floaters garfish whole fish shuttle bugs acid mushrooms blue Palms spotted reads and so much more it makes the ecosystem of this biome really come alive and it's the perfect place to drop players into first it makes the game feel welcoming and exciting long before you will be venturing into the darkest and scariest depths imaginable and really more than anything it's such an iconic biome not only because it was the first but it's just one of the best full stop it has tons of resources to gather so many fish to identify and a whole Myriad of plant life with different colors that really sell the alien Vibe of the planet it's perfect for building your first base a great place to come back to when you've dealt with too much tension in some of the other environments and overall I wish I could again for the first time experience this biome because it captures perfectly The Wonder of the ocean even at such shallow depths well I know for a lot of people subn below zero is nothing more than a cheap imitation of the first game as someone that does love it for what it is one thing it certainly does well is beautiful biomes and this next one is a place that actually originally made me fall in love with the game because of how striking it is the twisty Bridges bordering the Arctic kelt forest and Thermal Zone the twisty Bridges sit at a depth between 50 and 250 M and are one of the first zones players will usually encounter in game in fact the the biome itself was originally planned to be part of the first subnotica game as well along with the Arctic and Lily Pad Islands but was cut due to time and budget constraints however what we did end up getting in below zero turned out to be one of the most immediately breathtaking environments in subnotica history and one I personally have spent countless hours in as the name would imply the entire Zone on offer here is mostly composed of massive sprawling and looping bridge-like structures that are covered in bioluminescent alery the entire biome has a bright blue tint to it and especially at night this all comes alive in a sea of color that reminds you of how wonderful the ocean can be at times and this atmosphere is only heightened by the Myriad of plant life you can find here including ribbon plants and oxygen plants which make the environment here much more cheerful and allow you to swim into the deeper portions of the biome without a ship by getting pockets of air from the oxygen plants as you Traverse this mechanic in game also helps you stay at these depths while hiding for long periods of time from The Brute sharks that Patrol the waters and even more notably help you reach a hidden station deep inside the tunnel network of the biome Sanctuary zero this architect facility was originally created as a way to transfer one precursor Consciousness into an artificial construct in the event of an emergency and in the story of below zero we actually get to pick up an SOS signal that is being sent from this facility in hopes of finding the AI Cube to save them them and really this biome just has it all there's a shallow version with even less danger or the Deep twisty Bridge Zone as well that is characterized by Deep Purple Hues and broken mandres that dot The Ridges and bridges which means no matter what depth you are at while exploring this biome you will be guaranteed to find something interesting whether that's a cave network with new types of plants and animals massive twisty bridges that fill the skyline as you look towards the surface of the ocean or entirely new types of gameplay mechanics and places to just sit back and enjoy the view as someone that loves both subnotica and below zero I highly recommend checking out the twisty Bridges if you want to see what below zero can do that even the first game never quite managed to pull off while the safe shallows might be the first biome players fall in love with while playing subnotica I feel like the kelt Forest is usually where people realize just how amazing the game is actually going to be and that's because the kelt forest is your initial glimpse into how alien and Fantastical the oceans of subnotica are and is host to some of the most atmospheric moments in any playthrough located between the safe shallows grassy plateaus and mushroom Forest the kelt forest is one of the earliest areas that players will encounter but also one of the most striking ranging from a depth of 0 to 160 m the entire zone is littered in massive creep Vines towering green kelp plants that grow from the seabed floor all the way hundreds of meters up towards the surface they actually do this in an attempt to capture more sunlight for food and grow massive roots in the ground in order to support themselves but for players the reason they are so notable is simply because they are just plain awesome the massive creep vines in the kelt forest cast Dark Shadows across the entire region where only small traces of light are able to make their way to the Sandy outcrops below and this makes the whole biome come to life with an almost Zen horror aesthetic where things should be scary but they're so beautiful you can't look away on top of this the biome is home to a myriad of different forms of life including bleeders and stalkers shark-shaped monsters with elongated bodies and noses similar to what you would find on say Earth's garial crocodiles these Predators like to hide within the confines of the dense creep Vines and pop out when you least expect in order to catch prey off guard along with these monstrosities are more elegant and peaceful organisms as well like the peepers that have migrated over from the safe shallows or the seed clusters which can be harvested from the body of creep Vines using your knife for use in creating lubrication it's another one of those early zones that just feels alive because of a really distinct sense of character and this feeling carries over into subnotica below zero as well where you can explore the Arctic kelp Zone which is very similar in most ways except for the creep Vines being a much more distinct puke yellow Hue and really it's just one of those zones that doesn't try to do too much instead opting for a very focused experience and it manages to nail it perfectly The Vibes just swimming around here are absolutely unmatched and despite the fact that some of the biomes coming up on this list are a lot more Fantastical or crazy I wouldn't be surprised at all to see many of you in the comments arguing that the kelt forest is still the best in spite of all of it it really just is immersive and awesome especially on a first playthrough I know it was for me at [Music] least often times certain biomes in subnotica take a little warming up to what might start off as a boring sea of nothingness could turn into a tapestry of vibrancy and color out of nowhere and capture your full attention but in terms of biomes and subnotica that make a great first impression with no extra investigation needed it's rare to find one better than the jelly shroom caves located just below the major starting zone of the first game that being the safe shallows kelt forest and grassy plateaus the jelly shroom caves sit at a depth between 180 and 300 M and as such you will most likely need a sea moth with upgraded defense systems to even survive down here to actually reach the cave systems though it's crucial to find any of the many openings in the Rocky seafloor which looks to go deeper than any other nearby caves because if you find one of these spots usually dotted with small purple jelly shrooms near the rim simply by going inside you will immediately be met by absolute Splendor the caves are characterized by NeverEnding purple Hues that illuminate the entire underground system full of stag tis and stag mites everywhere you look you are surrounded by Massive glowing mushrooms which light your way as you search abandoned bases and hunt for valuable resources like diamond and lith and really what makes this whole experience so awesome is that there's just nowhere else in the game quite like it and because it can be found right beneath your nose in the starting zones it's a natural first place to go as you begin to unlock more powerful vehicles and upgrades on top of this too there are multiple unique animals and plants in this area that make it exciting to venture into giving you a chance to discover things that make an appearance nowhere else for example this is the only region in the game where you can find the Oculus a small species of herbivores that look very similar to peepers but are twice the size and have two large bioluminescent magenta eyes with large detailed irises probably an evolutionary adaptation due to the lower amounts of light in this biome and the need to pick up on the purple Hues which are low on the color identification Spectrum outside of these are the crab snakes which are highly aggressive elongated Serpentine bodies with long translucent fins running through their necks on both sides all the way to to the end of their body finally forming into a tail they sport razor sharp fangs and will jump at any creature that threatens them and considering that the stasis rifle will not work on them in their home biome of the jelly shroom caves staying inside a heavily fortified vehicle is extremely encouraged if you do manage to avoid these Horrors though the real star of the show down here is without a doubt the jelly shroom fungi these plants consist of a tough trunk-like base which grows a fragile purple membrane and within the Zone itself they process decaying remains of fish for the crab snakes to eat and grow which is why the Predators often make their homes hidden inside them this has led most scientific researchers on the planet to conclude that the crab snakes and jelly shrooms live in a sort of symbiotic relationship seeing as the jelly shrooms have no natural defense mechanisms the crab snakes defend them while they Supply food regardless though the jelly shroom caves are one of the most stunning biomes in all of subnotica and a place that while you can find it so early on during your playtime leaves a mark you won't forget until the very end and proves that sometimes you don't need amazing lore or crazy leviathans to be the best Zone sometimes you just need a little splash of color and a cool place to explore as you would probably guess the deeper you go into the Waters of subnotica the more crazy things you find and this princip carries over to below zero as well where within the deepest caves and darkest corners of the ocean you can stumble upon biomes that remind you of just how alien this planet is but in terms of places like this Far and Away the most striking are the Crystal Caves and fabricator Caverns both of these zones are immediately recognizable due to their massive purple and red Crystal columns respectively which grow on the ground and walls around you this means both biomes can be an absolute pain to actually Traverse and navigate as it's always hard to tell where you are but if you manage to get past the initial frustration you are met with what is in my opinion the most amazing looking set of biomes in the entire series for the Crystal Cave specifically the location can only be access via the Deep Purple vents or lily pad crevice meaning you likely will be very far into the game by the time you get here and since the fabricator Caverns can only be found through small openings in the Crystal Caves the region is even more secluded in both both biomes you can find two massive Shadow leviathans which will aggressively defend their territory as well as bladderfish triops Rock grubs ribbon plants and Eclipse roots and for a place that reaches well over 500 M deep into the ocean far within the world's ancient underground caves it's surprising just how much life is actually down here too but still as you would expect most of what you will actually be doing here is simply swimming around and enjoying the sights but as I mentioned before it's those exact views that are what make these zones so special and despite how much hate I've seen online for these biomes because of how annoying they can be to actually Traverse I genuinely think that these massive red and purple crystals add so much to these caves making them Stand Out entirely versus everything else in the series and it really makes you feel like you are in an inexplainable place the crystal Caverns as well specifically are home to the Crystal Caves cash which is one of the most important architect bases in the game where you can find find vital components you need to scan to create the architect ship but honestly at the end of the day the reason I put these two biomes so high on my list while a lot of others might not is that I just can't imagine subnotica without them each are striking in their own way and somehow manag to host a lot of variety too for example in the Crystal Caves you can travel to the fissures massive trenches composed of a murky green fog and covered in seagrass and hydrothermal vents or what about the crystal Castle a smaller cave system within a cave system that has significantly more dense crystalline growth which entirely consume the region and transform it into a compact set of anti- Chambers and confusing corridors places like this perfectly play into the almost paradoxical feeling of claustrophobia we can find ourselves in in the ocean and manage to be some of the coolest looking places imaginable on top of that I mean seriously look at these biomes if you were to see an image of either for just a Split Second you would instantly ask yourself what game is that and how do I play it and in a way what more could a biome in subnotica do than [Music] that one of the hardest aspects of making a new biome in subnotica has to be the idea of providing variety while still remaining on course to One Singular theme and in terms of places like this that manage to do it perfectly the glacial Basin far in way is one of the most impressive diverse and just overall best biomes that the Universe of subnotica has ever seen and I know how strange that might sound to some of you after all there are many in the community who do not like below zero at all and especially its above ground sections but you see the glacial Basin is so much more than just what meets the eye first of all the Zone itself is split up into many subsections there's the glacial Basin itself a rocky exterior surrounded by tall icy Cliff sides and ridges along with many Frozen waterfalls and rivers that split the region in two and as the second largest outside Zone in the whole series this area is full of things like frosted sin trees or open valleys to use your snow fox by going at Breakneck speeds and Everywhere You Go is a new adventure all to itself nearby you can find so many fascinating areas to explore like the blue ice caves and dark caves the glacial forests composed of of purple Frost acaia trees or what about the massive ice fissure with frost face plants or the temperate and underwater caves full of green glowing ice stalagmites which illuminate a long lost Winter Wonderland and those aren't even the full extent of what this biome has to offer either in the very Northern tip of the zone you can find the glacial bay where the Altera Corporation has a strong presence including various structures like blizzard lines or radio towers that were frequently used in their Heyday here's what you can also find massive hydraulic fluid lines or steam vents that lead to architect structures or power lines that unlock facilities with deep lore and implications and just wait because we still aren't done because the glacial Basin is also home to deep underwater caves called the glacial connection which extend over 200 M below water and are home to some of the most striking visuals in the entire series with full Arctic kelt forest and eye jellies dotting the waters eye jellies especially provide a beautiful tapestry of light in this Zone and make it almost feel like you were swimming through a painting at times where no matter where you look you will be taken AB back by the awe of it all I mean seriously look at something like this or this utterly captivating icy underwater caves full of creatures and bioluminescence that takes your breath away and as if it couldn't get any better the glacial Basin is also home to maybe the single most fascinating area from a low perspective the FI excavation site this massive research facility built deep within a large mountain at the western side of the glacial Basin is a cavernous space that shows signs of previous Rock collapse with large Boulders and Pebbles littering the floor but the real reason this place is so significant is it's home to a top secret research project one that reveals to us one of the biggest mysteries of the series years ago an Altera employee stumbled upon a gargantuan super Leviathan Frozen in the ice that had been infected by large chaurus all over its body the research going on here in the excavation site is all about figuring what is going on with this monster and uncovering the secrets of the car bacterium as a whole and because this research facility and the monster are so well preserved in this icy Mountain you can even still ride the elevators check on some lost log notes and piece together a good amount of the backstory in history and when you combine that with all the other zones of the glacial Basin we've touched on a little bit here you begin to realize just how utterly amazing this biome is to me it's the quintessential example of what I would like to see more of in future games a Zone with distinct flavor get so many variations within that in this case an icy Tundra and Valley with secret crevices to uncover all around you and it goes to show something I've been arguing for years now that subnotica below zero has some of the best biomes in the entire series and I simply don't know how it would be possible to walk into the glacial Basin and be anything but impressed and for that reason it's one of my personal favorite biomes of all time a primal factor of what makes subnotica such an engrossing series is something that the creators didn't even set out to do originally and that's the NeverEnding sense of the clop phobia of Terror of dread about what's out there no matter what biome you go to no matter where you swim in the Seas of Planet 4546b there is always an ominous feeling that we are not alone and it's that feeling that has captured the hearts and souls of so many players and garnered a community that even years after release plays and talks about the game daily and that's why this next biome on my list is one of my single favorites of all time one that while we know so little about embodies the core principles that make subnotica subnotica the void also called crater's Edge and appearing in subnotica below zero as the world's Edge this NeverEnding and enormous biome is essentially everything we cannot see and that's because outside of the bounds of the regular map in all subnotica games lies a world devoid of any flora and most forms of life entirely an open ocean that rather than inviting you in to explore its depths like all others is nothing but utter Darkness where the light above is consumed and eaten alive by the nothingness below when you travel here in game you're given many warnings from the ship's AI systems along with ominous sounds of things far below that you cannot even see as you continue downwards you watch as the mountains around you give way to the void and the abyss and by the time you hit almost 1200 M the world gives away entirely to an endless ocean before you so dark and twisted that even your lights cannot penetrate anything by 4,000 M ghost leviathans begin to make an appearance and hunt you as you quickly move even further downwards and by the time you hit exactly 8,192 m in any direction the game breaks and you teleport back to the top of the crater the void more than any other biome in subnotica shows us what the true of the ocean are the endless Blackness that extends forever the sound and moans of ancient monsters that are so large and so disfigured that they would make other aliens on this world look like cute puppies and comparison and more than anything it's the idea this Zone puts in our heads the nightmares it gives you or the simple questions of what is out there that make it so special because you see the scariest parts of subnotica aren't when a leviathan chases you or when a loud sound hits your microphones it's so slower moments when you realize just how small we are in this dark world and how little we actually know coming to terms with the fact that despite spending hundreds of hours in this world you have barely scratched the surface or the ideas that pop into your head long after you have played about things that might not even exist but are even scarier for it that's what makes subnautica's atmosphere special and also what makes the void as a biome one of the single best in subnautica's history one that will always be one of the best best because of the simple fact that the fear of the unknown of what we cannot see as the famous horror and science fiction author HP Lovecraft put it is the oldest and strongest kind of fear out there and while gameplay-wise this biome basically has absolutely nothing to do and that's why it's not number one on my list realistically the fact that the void makes you look out and question does kind of make it the best in a way if the universe of subnotica has a hell then without a doubt it's the lava zones consisting of both the inactive lava Zone ranging from 900 to 1300 M deep making it the second deepest fully explorable biome in the game as well as the actual deepest the Lava Lakes topping out at 1500 M this entire biome is characterized by striking Hues of red and unbelievable temperatures in danger both of these two are areas are actually the final two you travel to in the first game and as such are full of some of the best lore in the entire series but also sport and intensity unlike anything else even traversing these zones can prove extremely difficult as temperatures can reach as high as 75° C or 167° F for those of you who love freedom and this means usual go-tos like the sea moth cannot survive due to the heat levels and levels of pressure so deep underwater and on top of this to even around yourself you will need to have the most advanced and upgraded reinforced diving suits and taking the Cyclops or prawn suit is a must once you actually get inside though there is a strange Beauty to these hellish biomes that really make them shine in the inactive lava zone for example you will be met with miles of open Cliffs spewing molten lava along with solidified chambers of magma that illuminate your surroundings like the inside of a furnace there are lots of unique things to find here too like the lava larva or magar rangs fish that have evolved to embrace the heat rather than being cooked by it and on top of this too this is the biome where you can find the great sea dragon Leviathan a colossal reptilian creature that is housed by a dark green Fortress of a body that seems to separate the sea with every move it makes the Leviathan uses its arms and tentacles to propel itself forward through the lava Zone at Great speeds and if you get caught out by one your only hope is to run and prey but just what when you thought things couldn't get even more intense and awesome depending on the type of person you are if you manag to make your way through the inactive lava Zone you finally find yourself in the finale of the game and one of the most memorable biomes in subnotica history the Lava Lakes while much smaller than the inactive lava Zone and thus for many people not quite as Grand it makes up for this lack of size with absolutely breathtaking views giant walls and lakes of lava blanket as far as the eye can see with obsidian pillars and magma formations creating vast geological structures to Wade your way through the Heat and brightness here is so powerful that your skin will immediately melt into your bones if you are not properly protected and spending any more than mere seconds in the fiery infernos all around you will result in a swift death it's the quintessential example of how to make a player feel powerless in subnotica and is the perfect culmination of everything terrifying you've seen up to this point in a final Zone that makes all others feel like they were just a warm-up not necessarily because this zone is the scariest but because it's the most fearsome most ferocious but the thing is I think what really puts this biome over the edge into my top five favorite biomes in the entire series is that it's also home to the primary containment facility this gargantuan research base also known as the emperor containment facility was originally constructed A Thousand Years Ago by the precursor aliens or architects who in their desperation to find a cure to the car bacterium outbreak that was killing their species found the sea Emperor Leviathan a species that looks very similar to the sea dragons and is the single largest living Leviathan we have seen yet the precursors took special interest in this hulking Beast because of its resistance to K meaning the sea Emperor is likely the key to solving what could be the most evil force in the entire universe that can wipe out entire hyper Advanced civilizations all on its it own it's such a fascinating concept not just because it's cool in its own right but because it finally puts all the pieces together for the main story that most players have been going through for hours up to this point and shows that often times the most interesting bits of World building happen in the most dangerous kinds of places and overall it's hard to argue that the lava zones in subnotica aren't something special a place that feels so forboding yet too enticing to not engage with and in a way isn't that what every amazing subnotica biome does that being making a place that is daunting yet exhilarating at the same time there's something about the lily pad Islands in sub natica below zero that just feels right it's an extremely green biome ranging from the surface of the ocean all the way to 340 M below and with that depth also comes a lot of of width and that's because the lily pad islands make up a huge portion of the Southeastern side of the map and as such are adjacent to the thermal zones and East Arctic but while these adjacent zones are cool by themselves in my opinion nothing compares to the Majesty of the lily pads in this biome you can find a dense and rocky seaf Flor dominated by plant life of All Sorts spewing green particles and Allergy into the water accompanied by Rolling Plains of seagrass by far in away the defining feature this place though are the lily pads these gigantic circular leaves float at the top of the water's surface and even allow players to climb on top of them and Below these heads of sorts are massive veiny trunks that hang deep into the waters below this means that as you swim around the lily pad Isles you will constantly be met with rays of sunshine beaming through the gaps in the lily pads as you make your way towards huge swast of land held up and suspended in the middle of the ocean by the lily pads above it's a strike scen for sure and because of all of the Moss algae and grass that is produced in the area also a very vibrant one and more than any other zones the lily pad Islands really feel active and that's because there's a huge variety of animals to analyze including squid sharks spinner fish glow whales feather fish and most annoying of all the sea monkeys who literally will bolt towards you underwater if you were holding a tool and attempt to steal it right out of your hands if you manage to avoid these pesky almost mermaid looking degenerates though you can make your way to the sea floor where you will find hundreds of decaying lily pads and ecosystems bustling with action here too you can uncover a handful of small openings in the Rock faces and trenches that give way to the lily pad caves which are lathian in nature and Sport an ominous Green Glow that implies the region may be overrun with Cara slowly eating everything alive but the true Intrigue of these caves isn't actually found here here but deeper all the way 600 M underwater where you can Traverse through the large tunnel networks and make your way inside the famous deep Lily Pad caves seemingly Untouched by the green Mossy death above this large split level cave is heavily illuminated by its Flora most prominently the grand cotton animon which are bioluminescent flower bulbs that shine bright pink connected to a very thick dark green stem which twists as it grows upwards this gives the entire own a very unique and distinct feel that you can't get anywhere else in the subnotica games and from a community standpoint it's also a lot of people's favorite most Zen place to go to build a base and it makes total sense too it's such a breathtaking biome all in its own and above it lies the lily pad Islands which are also established and great in their own right and this all comes together to craft a sort of alien world full of twisting cave networks and wide open oceans with massive handfuls of of land just floating in the waves it's atmospheric colorful teaming with life and overall just such a cool environment that is the type of thing you didn't even know you wanted until you actually see it for yourself and when combined with the deeper and especially dark Lore implications of the zone of a disease that has taken hold and will soon destroy the entire planet it's hard not to feel completely immersed every second you swim around these Waters one of the most important aspects of subnautica's success and the biggest reason I love it personally is just how unbelievably atmospheric and tension-driven some of the biomes can be the kinds of places that make the hairs on your back or neck stand up or your eyes lie wide awake in awe and in terms of zones of influence like this without a doubt none do it better than the blood kelp Zone composed of both the blood kelp trench to the southwest of your starting life pod and the northern blood kelp Zone found between the mushroom Forest underwater islands and mountains both biomes are recognized by their distinct lack of light and overgrowth of blood vines these very tall and thin plants emit an ominous white glow from their stems and will often time be the only thing you can see in front of you as the northern Zone can get as deep as 580 M while the trench extends all the way to 67 75 M at its apex this means that much of the life around these parts has evolved to survive in extremely delicate and harsh conditions that lack sunlight thus resulting in monstrosities that pull lots of inspiration from the deep sea creatures in our real lives for example in the northern blood kelp Zone you can find The Ghost leviathans blers and crab squids translucent bulbous sacks of Flesh that have four eyes attached to a Squid's torso almost resembling an alien with a massive brain stumbling upon these things at depths like this can be a terrifying and disorienting experience especially when the only thing to keep you grounded in the utter Darkness are the small plants you can find or random cave networks that reveal a treasure of resources but you see no atmospheric biome like this would be complete without some music to back it up and the blood kelp zones in subnotica specifically actually have some of the best and most eerie music in the entire series it makes it so every second you spend here feels like you're last and in the trenches specifically at many points you will feel like you have become lost or that the game might have crashed because it really feels like you were down there alone and scared combine that with the fact that the sea moth and pra suit can struggle to navigate the tight spaces in the southern Zone which is literally one massive trench with rock bridges spanning from one wall to another and you wind up with an almost paralyzing sense of Terror but in a good way and it shows just how tense and amazing this series can be at at times where the blood kelp zones are once again another biome that Taps into that sense of thalassophobia within all of us making you afraid of what could be out there in the darkest portions of the ocean hiding away from prying eyes to me it's everything that a subnotica biome should honestly be full of mysteries to uncover like large shipwrecks or small floating islands terrifying monsters that are fully unique to these zones that can't be found anywhere else and a distinct feeling of being on edge the entire time are here so much so that it's seldom you find players in the subnotica fan base who don't love this biome even if they can barely stand being in it because even if you only spend a little time here it leaves a resounding mark on you and becomes the type of biome that will live on in your memory forever and make all of your friends want to try it too well the world of subnotica thus far has has been a host to countless breathtaking environments and biomes that all feel Grand and unique in their own ways maybe one of the actual best is a place that never saw the light of day in the first two games the Single Cell landscape you see this rumored biome was actually cut mid-development of the first game and while developers have come out and said that it was a real planned location at one point all we can go off of for now are a few hints in this single piece of concept art The Zone itself was supposed to be a completely dark biome this black and gooey protoplasm would have reacted violently to all light that hit it quickly forming domes of alien substance around your ship as you had to turn off your lights and ramp up your speed to maximum the terror in this place would have been unlike anything else we've ever seen in subnotica and likely would have been so scary that many players would have quit the game outright upon getting here but along with this too would have potentially been some lure on creatures and histories outside of the pre cursors and Cara diving into even more ancient beings that could have survived on this planet that were composed of a dark sludge substance even more powerful than the ocean waters around it and I can't express just how awesome and horrifying this idea is it's the kind of thing I really hope the dev team brings back for subnotica 2 towards the end of the main campaign as a sort of last place we need to go to unravel the mysteries of the series you could even include new forms of plant life that are gooey in nature or animals that have learned to survive with no light trapped in a Hell with this monster maybe you could find hundreds of gargantuan Leviathan skulls that imply a great war of sorts before or even shipwrecks from precursors that date back millions of years the possibilities truly are endless and it fits right into the theme of Discovery for the whole series and would add a huge layer of variety so while we may never actually get to see this biome in game I still believe in my my heart that a future title could include it but even if they don't just the idea of what this could be the potential means it's one of my favorite biomes in subnotica history but you see we still have one place left one that not only is a fan favorite of the series but the single greatest biome in subnotica history a big part of what makes some natica such a special game series is that every single biome is unique and special in its own way whether that zones full of utter darkness and molten lava are other worldly locations where entire Islands float underwater and form ecosystems all to their own however there is one place one biome in subnotica that rises above them all and creates an environment so beautiful so atmospheric full of lore and tantalizing that it is without a doubt not only a fan favorite of the series but the single greatest biome in subnotica history the L river found via four entrances spread across the map including the blood kelp zones deep Grand Reef Mountains and the bulb Zone The Lost River itself is a frigid and deep cave biome ranging from depths between 550 and 1,000 M deep and on top of this it's split into 7even different sub biomes within and this makes the L River not only one of the largest zones in series history but also Far and Away the most diverse one second you might be making your way through a massive Corridor full of crab squids and pyrro coral and the next find yourself in the bone field surrounded by the skeletons of monsters far greater than anything we have ever seen alive in game but we'll get to that first of all almost everywhere you go in this Zone you will be blanketed in a strange and ominous green toxic Mist this isn't just for show either because this green tint you see every where in the Lost River actually comes from the presence of Highly toxic green brine pools which release chemicals into the water that make it very unlivable for most forms of life and create the large crystalline sulfur outcrops we can find in the zone just like in our real life oceans sulfur settles at the lowest points in water due to the fact that it's more dense than the molecules around it but you would be sorely mistaken if you thought it was the only resource in this haunting place because in actuality the Lost River is home to the most diverse set of resources and life in the whole game if it's minerals you're after you will be happy to find things like gold diamond nickel Ruby silver lead lithium ghost weed seeds gel sacks and titanium or uranate deposits in terms of animals in the waters of the Lost River there are schools of many unidentified forms of fish along with baby Ghost leviathans and their mothers bleeders who are parasitic worms that attach to your skin and suck your blood at an alarming rate or the spine fish who look like living zombies who are translucent down to the bone and swim aimlessly forever and all of these things come together to make the entire Zone feel alive and lived in despite how toxic it comes across at first and as you swim around this biome you will be met with countless massive Rock structures huge stalagtites that have very strange shapes that almost make them look like they were formed by an intelligent Creator rather than ocean waves and if you swim towards the ocean floor you will be blank Ed by a thick green must that hides the sand and rocks beneath it and might be home to some of the secrets we still have yet to uncover in the games because there are seven distinct biomes as well there is so much to see and do for example in the ghost Canyon a large passageway featuring multiple caves and tunnels that Branch out all into one huge Canyon of sorts you can find the ancient skeleton of a bone plate Leviathan a hulking sea slug that looks like it crawled across these floors thousands of years ago presumably before Brian had taken over in other areas like the ghost Forest you can Wade your way through miles of ghost rays and weeds which have a bright blue shine of light that emits from their branches and paints an evocative scene in the dark and forboding place that the Lost River is and maybe most interesting of all of these sub biomes is the tree Cove a luminous room with a single giant Cove tree in the middle that is surrounded by a swarm of ghost Rays swimming around it in an almost religious fashion fashion basking in the blue and purple Hues that make this place stand out against the rest of the larger biome at the corner of the zone 2 you can find the mountain regions which include a giant sea dragon Leviathan Skeleton on a hill and even more importantly the famous disease research facility this enormous abandoned and destroyed precursor alien base was once thousands of years ago home to some of the most twisted and heinous experiments in this planet's history where the Architects would capture innocent underwater creatures and restrain them to small rooms or against walls where they would inject the horrifying Cara bacterium into their bodies directly to study the effects these helpless animals would scream and whine as the water around them diluted the sound waves and Cara began to take hold of their bodies creating massive green pel sores that consume them from the inside out and for years this tragedy continued on as the Apex alien precursors tortured everything in sight until one day a humongous Sea Dragon Leviathan in an effort to save its own kind collided into the research facility causing a massive rupture and releasing the car bacterium into the wild where it would go on to slowly kill the entire planet it's a horrifying reminder of the tragedy of the subnotica main story and goes to show just how dark and twisted things can really get in this universe that otherwise looks cheery and happy but even more interestingly it makes us beg the question what was the Lost River what was Planet 4546b like before all of this happened and the reason this question is so prevalent in the subnotica community is because of the bonefield sub biome that I mentioned earlier that's also in the Lost River as you would expect from the name it's in this biome that we can find the single greatest secrets and Mysteries that the Universe of subnotica has ever seen giant gargantuan super Leviathan skeletons that are so large that even a single head of one of these creatures dwarfs the Cyclops the biggest vehicle we can make in game you can travel for hundreds and hundreds of meters following these skeletal remains and by the time you reach the end you quickly realize that you are only seeing a small part of the body as most is Now hidden under the green death of the Zone buried under miles of sand that is moved at top the bones over thousands of years and even more terrifying we know from some fossil dating and lore finds that these skeletons are actually juveniles baby gargantuan super leviathans meaning the full adults would presumably be so massive and insane they wouldn't even fit on our screens trying to look at them standing miles away and that means that these skeletal remains all imply that at some point these oceans that we are exploring in subnotica were home to much bigger and much more fearsome apex predators that had teeth larger than our entire bodies but these findings only beg more questions than they answer for example how on Earth did creatures this large find themselves in a cave Network like this sure don't get me wrong the Lost River is extremely expansive and one of the biggest caves in the entire game but it certainly isn't big enough to even house one single monstrosity like this let alone many so could it be that thousands of years ago the entire biome was much different maybe instead being a massive open portion of ocean after all we do know that the in active lava Zone and active lava zones are just below the Lost River in game so it would make sense that after such a long time span potentially World altering amounts of volcanic activity could have terraformed the region into an entirely new place and the skeletal remains could simply be lost artifacts to that time this Theory begins to break down though once again when we notice that the bones left behind by the gargantuan super leviathans are in very pristine condition to have survived that long meaning something a lot more crazy must be at play here but as to what that is your guess is as good as mine but really regardless of what the actual answers are to me the Lost River is by far the greatest biome in subnotica history one that has literally everything you could ask for it's massive and teeming with unique life forms of animals and plants you can't find anywhere else it has a huge handful of smaller sub biomes that all have their own spin some of the craziest lore and best research facilities in the entire game Grand Mysteries that make you wonder about the past of the planet and the future of what we could possibly see in other subnotica games and a general visceral atmosphere that makes the entire biome feel extremely immersive I cannot stress enough just how great this single location is and as hard as it was deciding where to put every other biome on this list and quite honestly I could go back and switch a couple spots depending on the day I knew from the very second I started researching and working on this video that the Lost River would be number one because there simply isn't anything else that captures the same sense of magic quite like this biome does but the thing is we aren't quite done yet because as of writing this video script subnotica 2 is on the horizon we've gotten a trailer multiple screenshots and a whole host of devs talking about how awesome it was be and as an undying Optimist myself I have to say I'm super excited not just for all the new biomes we will get to see with updated Graphics but to see that the team is taking real risk the first subnotica game with multiplayer the first on a new planet and most of all a game that has the chance to once again light the fire in our imaginations to know what's out there I mentioned it at the start of this video to but to me what makes subnotica as a series so special is that sense of awe of my history of Wonder you get while playing it for the first time I'll never forget finding the lost river and realizing what I was in for or jumping into the giant ocean before me and landing in the safe shallows full of so many strange fish and plants that's what subnotica is all about and the potential for new biomes in the sequel is practically endless coral reefs teeming with life underground chasms full of strange natural landmarks and colors or maybe even the Single Cell landscape finally making its much needed debut regardless though I can't wait to see what the game turns out to be and no matter what I will be there day one to play it and make up my own opinions on it so let me know down below what you guys think are the best biomes we've seen in subnotica thus far and also what kinds of biomes you would like to see in the future pitch some of your craziest or wildest ideas down below I love hearing about them because after all it's those ideas and the wonder they Inspire Within us that makes making videos like this one such a blast despite the endless hours of work researching writing and editing and hopefully sometime in the future we can discuss the biomes of the newest subnotica game and see how they compare to what's come before so as always thank you all very much for watching I appreciate the support dearly and I'll see you next time