Subnautica and sequel Below Zero are fascinating, fun, and challenging survival-based games, with hints of plot and lore scattered about their watery worlds. From the deadly Kharaa bacterium to the alien Architects and corrupt Alterra corporation, there's more than meets the eye to this game.
However, not all of this lore or plot makes perfect sense when looked at with a closer eye. Some things just don't add up about Below Zero, when scrutinized. And here are 10 of those things.
10 Sector Zero ๊ 𝔉
Below Zero takes place two years after the first Subnautica. But according to the first game, the Kharaa bacterium wiped out nearly all life on 168澳洲幸运5开奖网:planet 4546b. The only exception was the Crater – the first game's location – due to its unique fauna and remaining Architect presence. While Subnautica ends on the promise that the world will heal, it would, realistically, take centuries, if not millennia, for the cure to spread globally.
Two years after the fact, Sector Zero should be an empty grave🍃yard, if not extremely sparse in life. Yet by the time Robin Ayou sets foot on this frozen landscape, this small region is already brimming with life. Such circumstances should be impossible, and th🐈e game provides no explanation of how it could be.
9 🐟 Mercury II 🔯
The Aurora and Degasi weren't the only human vessels to crashland on this watery world. Mercury II preceded them by almost a century, give or take a few decades. And yet, its presence in Sector Zero makes very little sense.
That the canon from Subnautica has a long-range, and that a far-enough ship could crash elsewhere in the world makes sense. However, the Mercury II is heavily implied – like the Aurora – to be powered by nuclear energy. But where the first game had the protagonist to prevent a nuclear meltdown, it's implied there wasn't anyone to stop the same thing from happening to the Mercury. So, why isn't there any sign of nuclear devastation around Sector Zero, let alone the ship's remains?
8 🍌 Sanctuary Zero
Sanctuary Zero is where players will meet the first living Architect of the series, AL-AN, or Alan. But his presence in this arctic landscape makes very little sense, given 168澳洲幸运5开奖网:his role in the game. He was, after all, the lead scientist trying to find a cure for the Kharaa eons ago, and he was al𓃲so the one who led to the devastating failure and outbreak on the planet.
But all the Kharaa research facilities are in the Crater, thousands of miles away from Sector Zero and Sanctuary Zero. So, how, exactly, did Alan travel so far away from his stations? He must have done so after the initial outbreak, but there's nothing in either game that demonstrates inter-regional transportation by the Architects. And more importantly, why did he abandon his post?
7 N🌳o 🌄Quarantine Enforcers
One of Subnautica's many hostile creatures was the Warper. This synthetic-organic hybrid acted as a Quarantine Enforcer for the Architects, meant to hunt down and neutralize infected individuals from leaving the planet.
So, why aren't there any Warpers in Sector Zero? After all, this icy landscape is home to a direct gateway to the Architect Homeworld. Given the extremely easy ability to break quarantine here, the lack of Warpers to "enforce" it is rather odd. Even with the bacteria cured, and them no longer needed, there should be hints and remnants of them scattered about, right?
6 🧸 The Frozen Leviathan
One of the biggest additions to Below Zero is its greatꦬ abundance of terrestrial biomes, which come with plenty of fauna♏. Among these is the frozen, preserved corpse of a Leviathan, still infected with Kharaa. The presence of the disease gives an age to the creature, dating it as thousands of years old. But its sheer size makes it incredulous to believe such things existed on the planet.
While the Crater holds fossils of even greater, long-extinct Leviathans, it's easier to imagine how such aquatic predators thrived on an oceanic planet – perhaps they once dominated the now-Dead Zones of the world, back when (or if) they teemed with life. But for an amphibious beast like the 168澳洲幸运5开奖网:Frozen Leviathan, such limited land-based biomes meant there was very little room for it to live or hunt. There's no indication, on land or at sea, as to where or how it stood in the ecosystem. Instead of blending into the ancient fauna of 4546b, it just becomes an anomaly.
5 Marguerit's Survival
In a shocking twist froᩚᩚᩚᩚᩚᩚᩚᩚᩚ𒀱ᩚᩚᩚm the first game, Degasi crewmate Marguerit Maida still lives. The plot💃 surrounding her reveals how she survived her encounter with a Leviathan and made her way to this chilly land. Long story short, Marguerit used the corpse of said Leviathan as a meaty lifeboat to Sector Zero.
And yet, this seems nigh improbable. Not necessarily due to the length it would take such a creature to decompose, compared to the time to travel between the Crater and Sector Zero. But what of all the predators in the Dead Zone? The Ghost Leviathans at the Crater's Edge and Void Chelicerate of the World Edge? How did nothing tear that corpse, or Marguerit, to shreds?
4 Marguerit's Stealth
While it's uncertain how long, exactly, Marguerit has been living in Sector Zero, one thing is definite: she was there during Alterra's brief occupation of the region. Her assistance with Robin's sister, Sam, makes that much obvious. But what isn't so obvious is how, exactly, she remained so thoroughly undetected by Alterra.
Up until her and Sam's mutual sabotaging of Alterra's sites, she never came into physical conflict to keep herself hidden. So she clearly had to use stealth. But given the relatively open locations of her main base and greenhouse, you'd think Alterra's other personnel would have noticed and tracked down a rogue Prawn Suit and its pilot, stalking these icy waters.
3 What Was Left �꧃�Behind
Sometime between's Sam's sabotaging efforts and death and Robin's arrival to Sector Zero, Alterra abandoned their efforts on the planet, evacuating their remaining personnel and using only a satellite to observe the world. But how, exactly, did they leave?
Judging from everything's disrepair, it's been a while since the evacuation happened. But at the same time, the amount of personal belongings left behind indicates it was a fast and messy exit. Did Sam going AWOL really spook Alterra enough to cause such a hasty retreat? Or was it Marguerit's lingering, hidden presence? Or maybe even something else?
2 Robin's Goals
At the start of Below Zero, Robin's goals seem fairly cut and dry: investigate the actual cause behind her sister's untimely death, do some xenobiology on the side, and leave. Whereas the plots surrounding her sister and Marguerit help bring closure to her loss, her actual plans for afterward remain vague
On one hand, Robin indicates at the very start of the game that she plans on returning home, though she's clearly uncertain how. But as the game progresses, and she runs into Architect Alan, it becomes clearer that maybe Robin wasn't so certain about returning. Could it be that Robin knows Alterra figured out her unauthorized snooping? Or perhaps does she have nothing to really return to? Whatever the case may be, Robin's plans for the future are as uncertain as the game's ending.
1 ꦍ ไ Borrowed Tech
Both games make sure to hammer in the point that Alterra is as corrupt as can be. Most of the game's characters, from Sam to her coworkers, Marguerit, and even protagonist Robin, hold some level of dislike and distrust towards the company. Even Alan is wary, especially with their apparent desire and attempts to locate him, for unknown reasons.
Whatever the case may be, this leads to most characters attempting to avoid Alterran detection. And yet, there's a glaring breach in this stealth: Robin's PDA. She clearly indicates its borrowed tech from the company, and she brings it with her through 168澳洲幸运5开奖网:the ending of the game, making it v𝓰ery easy for them to track her, Alan, and his homeworld down.