Subnautica clone Astrometica is the most flagrant rip-off I’ve played in a year that also contains Palworld
Astrometica is Subnautica in space and to developer BeryMery’s credit, the game makes zero effort to hide this. It’s right there in the dog Latin of the title. It’s got Subnautica’s premise of being a shipwreck survivor starting afresh from an escape capsule, piecing together the backstory signal by signal, database entry by database entry. It’s got Subnautica’s core loop of exploring while dealing with the problem of decreasing oxygen, scavenging fist-sized chunks of raw material and scanning wreckage for blueprints, then crafting items and gear back at base.
It’s got its own close variations on Subnautica’s fonts, Subnautica’s tubular habitats and building interface, Subnautica’s curvy, slightly luminous gadgetry, Subnautica’s softly contoured menus, even a fair approximation of Subnautica’s lilting, characterless music. Based on a quick 20 minutes with the Steam demo, being set the other side of an atmosphere is the only thing that differentiates Astrometica from the Unknown Worlds survival sim – OK, that and perhaps the gentlest drizzling of Hardspace: Shipbreaker in the ability to melt the locks off cargo pods in zero gravity. What absolutely brazen cheek! This is probably going to make a trillion dollars. Here’s a trailer.
“Subnautica but in space” might lure the magpie gaze of the internet’s survival simmers, but it threatens to be a step back from the richness of Subnautica. After all, a huge part of the latter’s charm is that the world is alive, changing dramatically as you go deeper and push out from the sunny coral reef at the heart. Outer space lacks that sense of structure and vitality. Not many fish out here. So it’s just as well that Astrometica appears to take place predominantly in an asteroid field littered with domed habitats where other beings might dwell, to say nothing of abandoned ships and “cosmic anomalies”.
There appear to be a few active threats – jovial tentacle boys that lunge at your visor, for example – together with outcrops of astral flora that look like the offspring of a lava lamp and a swingball. Still, it all feels very empty right outside your escape pod. I genuinely found myself glancing around for those gumball-tailed seals who are among the first larger creatures you meet in Subnautica. I realise that in space, nobody can hear you scream, but I do miss their hooting.
Technically, of course, Subnautica is already Subnautica in space. Your character was an astronaut right up till they crashlanded on some weird planet full of germs and leviathans. It’s almost as though each game’s lead characters were originally crewmates aboard the same doomed starship. When the shit hit the fan, Astrometica’s protagonist happened to board an escape pod pointing in the opposite direction. I find that notion funny. I’m not sure Unknown Worlds are laughing. Astrometica is out in early access this month. Read more on Steam. Alternatively, keep your beady eyes peeled for news of Subnautica 2.