Subnautica 2 patch notes & roadmap
One page per hub, kept current: every significant update summarised with a link to the publisher's own notes, plus what it has announced next.
Update history
Buddy System Hotfix 1
A cleanup pass on the co-op update. Unknown Worlds fixed missing translations in PDA and Databank descriptions, improved Collector Leviathan pathing in the lower canyons, and fixed save bloat caused by bases, items lost from wall racks on a base refund, and oxygen not replenishing for players riding a creature. Mods should be disabled before launching after the hotfix.
Early Access 1.2 — Buddy System
The co-op update the roadmap promised second. It adds cross-platform proximity voice chat that degrades to radio static as you swim apart, player revives before reprinting, direct inventory trading, five emotes, a Tracking Tag beacon, and two more playable characters, Jegna and Grace. The world got quieter changes too: more Carryable Racks in early-game wrecks and human-made sites, music in the Tufa Zone, Thermal Area and North Coral Gardens, and light poles between the Observatory and the Rosetta Stone.
Early-game wrecks and human-made sites hold more Carryable Racks than they did before 19 August, and bases can no longer be built inside Great Jaw.
Early Access Hotfix 4
A short progression-blocker hotfix six days after Adaptive Measures. It fixed Angel Combs that would not open and stop a run dead, water currents appearing inside player bases and preventing building, the FOV slider missing on Xbox, and two crashes.
Early Access 1.1 — Adaptive Measures
The quality-of-life update the roadmap promised first, and the one that proved this world moves. Two more Biolabs were added, in Coral Gardens and Axum Ruins, taking the number of Biomods you can unlock from four to six, and passive Biomod slots now unlock by scanning creatures with the Bioscanner. Wreck interiors were reworked with traversal and oxygen puzzles and their rewards moved to match. Creatures now flee when hit with the Survival Multitool and go briefly dizzy from the Sonic Resonator, and you can finally sprint on land and in your base.
Two Biolabs were added and wreck rewards were moved, so a wreck route or a Biomod checklist surveyed before 8 July is out of date. This is also the patch that gave silver new spawns in Coral Gardens.
Early Access launch
Subnautica 2 opened to players on 14 May 2026 at 08:00 PDT / 15:00 UTC, on Steam, the Epic Games Store and Xbox. Unknown Worlds framed it as the start of a build-in-public run rather than a finished game: an alien ocean to explore alone or with up to three others, and an in-game feedback tool that shapes what comes next. There is no announced 1.0 date.
Roadmap
The next big drop: world, biomes, creatures, resources, tools, vehicles
The one large item on the published roadmap, and the reason the biome and resource pages on this hub refuse to publish a final count. Unknown Worlds says the next big drop expands the world, biomes, creatures, resources, tools and vehicles and brings the next chapter of the story. No date, no window and no ordering was given.
Improvement updates, hotfixes and balance tuning
Between the large drops, Unknown Worlds committed to smaller updates that address systems and features, plus hotfixes, balance tuning and optimisation throughout Early Access. Two improvement updates and five hotfixes have landed on that promise so far.
Second update: co-op improvements
The roadmap's second slot was reserved for requested co-op improvements and additions. It shipped as Early Access 1.2, Buddy System: proximity voice chat, revives, trading and emotes.
First update: quality-of-life fixes
The roadmap's first slot was quality-of-life work on systems that needed tweaking. It shipped as Early Access 1.1, Adaptive Measures, which also reworked Biomod progression, wreck interiors and creature reactions.