Players are loving Subnautica 2's first terrifying trailer thanks to a crustacean cameo: 'More big ol crabs hype'

Subnautica 2 - Teaser Trailer - YouTube Subnautica 2 - Teaser Trailer - YouTube
Watch On

We've known that Subnautica 2 was in the works for some time now, with the official announcement actually being made via PowerPoint. And now, almost a year later, we've finally got to see the first trailer for the upcoming sequel.

Shown at the Xbox Partner Preview event last night, alongside games like Bloober Team's Cronos: The New Dawn and Remedy Entertainment's Firebreak, Subnautica 2 gave players a brief look at the underwater world alongside confirmation that early access will launch in 2025.

The trailer starts with a young explorer collecting data under the waves. Everything looks peaceful until the rock he's studying suddenly stands up to reveal itself as a giant crab, knocking the diver down into a black abyss. After blacking out, the explorer wakes up to find that he's low on oxygen—before things get too bad, another scientist appears in a Seamoth to rescue him.

Some players are asking if two researchers working together means there's going to be co-op in the sequel. "It looks like we finally get to dive with friends," one player asks. While it's true that there will be up to four-player co-op, this was actually confirmed a while ago during an earnings release earlier this year.

But just before the second scientist can actually save the day, a terrifying beast emerges from the dark background, resembling a ghost leviathan. This creature is probably something entirely new, but it looks just as big as a leviathan, so whatever it is, it's likely bad news.

As for all the other creatures shown in the trailer, we see a new colourful fish swim around a coral reef (unfortunately not the one that players found in hidden screenshots from the first game), as well as a bigger animal, a giant crab. Although only appearing briefly, this crustacean seems to have stolen the show.

"Giant CRABS!!!" one player says. "Why is no one talking about the giant CRABSSS!!!! CARSINISATION IS CANNON [sic] TO SUBNAUTICA!!!!" There are actually a few crustaceans already in Subnautica, like cave crawlers or rockpunchers, proving that Carsinisation is the ultimate form of evolution even in Subnautica. But people don't seem too upset to find out more crustaceans are joining the club: "More big ol crabs hype woooo."

Otherwise, most players are just happy to have confirmation of a new Subnautica game. "There's often the question - what game do you wish you could experience for the first time again, with Subnautica being my #1 answer," another player says. "Even if there are biomes with nothing in it, even if there are areas with no blueprints, I still can't wait to explore every inch of the map purely for the sense of adventuring in what otherwise feels like a living, breathing world."

TOPICS
Elie Gould
News Writer

Elie is a news writer with an unhealthy love of horror games—even though their greatest fear is being chased. When they're not screaming or hiding, there's a good chance you'll find them testing their metal in metroidvanias or just admiring their Pokemon TCG collection. Elie has previously worked at TechRadar Gaming as a staff writer and studied at JOMEC in International Journalism and Documentaries – spending their free time filming short docs about Smash Bros. or any indie game that crossed their path.

Read more
Diver looking at a fish
Subnautica 2 dev sounds foghorn about 'fraudulent links' being sent to community members: 'We will never contact anyone by Steam DM for any potential playtests'
A ferocious fish-man
Frogwares shows off The Sinking City 2's first in-game footage and launches a Kickstarter safety net: 'After 3 years of this horrid war hanging over our daily lives, we've learned to adapt'
The Long Dark 2
Blackfrost: The Long Dark 2 will hit Early Access in 2026, and this time it'll have co-op
The new Slay the Spire 2 gameplay trailer reminded me that Slay the Spire 2 is out in early access next year: hell yeah
A survivor in the woods with a weapon and mask
Please join me in getting super excited for all the cool looking survival games coming in 2025 (and beyond)
Top hat guy in nice suit addresses Camera in outer worlds 2
Obsidian is about to make it a monster year for RPGs, with The Outer Worlds 2 coming later in 2025 after Avowed
Latest in Survival & Crafting
Wearing a hazmat suit, a Rust player proudly holds up a freshly cooked pie, foregrounded by a table covered with pies and a large pumpkin on the left.
Rust's crafting update gives the survival sim real-time food cooking and pies to rival Monster Hunter, but the tastiest treat is the ability to make and throw 'bee grenades'
A pig, a cow, and two birds dance
Minecraft Live returns in March with everyone's favorite kind of content: 'exclusive movie content'
An explosion in a desert environment
Survival sandbox Core Keeper gets explosive next week with a whole new skill tree devoted to bombs and grenades
Dead in Antares screenshot
The tough luck continues in Dead in Antares, the newest addition to the long-running series about people trying not to lose their heads in bad situations
Jack Black with mining gear.
'3 hours of my life that I'll never get back': A Minecraft modder did the lord's work, creating a mod that adds Jack Black's voice to the game
The Last Caretaker trailer still
Humanity's last hope is a little robot with can-do spirit in The Last Caretaker, coming to early access this summer
Latest in News
Pipboy holds up an open padlock.
A BIOS update could be all that's stopping you or someone else from jailbreaking your old AMD CPU
Asus's new ultrawide sucks as hard as it blows
Asus' new monitors purify 90% of airborne dust from your desktop and I've definitely seen some gnarly gaming setups that would benefit
A screenshot from Sony's PlayStation 5 Pro announcement video, showing a stylized processor against a dark background with glowing lines streaming from its edges
The AMD x Sony collab gave us FSR4 and a version will appear in PlayStation next year, too, having 'already started to implement the new neural network on PS5 Pro'
Pedro Pascal as Joel in a coat in winter looking unhappy
'Don't you know what he did?': The truth comes out in The Last of Us Season 2 trailer
Aloy
'Creepy,' 'ghastly,' 'rancid': Viewers react to leaked video of Sony's AI-powered Aloy
Split Fiction trailer still - Zoe and Mio standing side by side, wearing glowing neon sci-fi jammies
Split Fiction sells 1 million copies over 2 days