Subnautica 2's no-killing policy isn't because it's 'a game about pacifism', says design lead, but because players would 'master the crappy combat' over anything else

2 hours ago 1

Rommie Analytics

Subnautica 2 got into a bit of hot water (get it?) recently over some Discord comments that bluntly stated it wasn't a "killing game". Now, I didn't exactly buy into the critique of the game centered around that—I think it's perfectly fine for videogames to be about different things—but I do appreciate that being hounded by a scary ocean creature with no means of defense probably doesn't feel great.

In a recent interview with MinnMax, design lead Anthony Gallegos explains that the choice wasn't made because "we're like 'we're a game about pacifism' or 'we're a non-violent studio'—the studio's founded by modders who made Half-Life mods and their first mods were all about shooting aliens."