[1] To survive and progress, the player must collect raw materials from the environment, including various minerals, flora samples, and fish, while avoiding or countering threats like hostile fauna and blinding snowstorms.

Generally, the player must face harsher environments the further they progress, requiring better equipment or upgrades for old ones, like suits that resist the cold, oxygen tanks with higher capacities, or vehicles that can withstand deeper waters.

There are structures and wrecks to find both above ground and underwater, which serve as key locations for the story, providing blueprints and recordings of conversations that slowly reveal lore.

Alongside returning mechanics such as oxygen, hunger, and thirst, players now have a body heat gauge which comes into play when walking on land.

Shortly after landing, Robin picks up a distress signal and goes to investigate it, discovering an alien sanctuary containing the digitized consciousness of a living Architect.

She encounters Degasi survivor Marguerit Maida several times, who is suspicious of Robin at first, but reveals her part of the story in return for disabling Alterra surveillance of the sector.

"[13] IGN's Leana Hafer commented "New vehicles, new gadgets, and across-the-board tune ups to technical performance and quality of life round out the experience skillfully.

"[14] Rick Lane from PC Gamer emphasized the game's environment design, calling it "The main area where the sequel improves over Subnautica.

Lane called the characters "dull" and the story "less engaging" noting that "The issue is partly a dispelling of mystery, as you're having stuff explained to you rather than discovering it yourself.

"[18] Nintendo Life's PJ O'Reilly commented "Although we definitely preferred the total isolation of the original's narrative, what's here still manages to remain engaging for its duration.

"[16] Jordan Devore from Destructoid was more positive on the writing, praising the banter between the two lead characters and commenting "The voice acting is a step up in general, to the point where I didn’t want to skip any audio recordings I found in the world.