Subnautica 2 Third-Person Mode Feels Like A Completely New Game

3 weeks ago 27

Published May 22, 2026, 7:00 PM EDT

Chris is a Gaming Editor at ScreenRant. He has been a professional writer since 2009, and has written for top TV, comics, movie, and video game outlets like Engadget, Polygon, Destructoid, and more. He brings with him an expertise in every game genre, no matter how niche or mainstream.

You may know him as the former Managing/Reviews Editor of Destructoid, where he published hundreds of game reviews across every genre, including MMOs, sports games, and Metroidvanias.

Find Chris on Twitter @_SRChris.

Subnautica 2 is a bona fide success story. The original two games (including Below Zero) were well received, and the game has already hit over 4 million in sales in Early Access. It's a massive number for a game like this, and that's just in Early Access before the full push for launch, and the long tail it'll enjoy once it hits 1.0.

The first-person perspective has also proved to be an issue for some, from general ease of use to accessibility concerns. Thankfully, fans have already found a workaround, just like the first one. Over on Nexus Mods, fans can grab a solution now.

Subnautica 2 player inside Tadpole vehicle

Crafted by uregven, the simple mod allows you to try out Subnautica 2 in third-person. As a completely optional way to engage with the game, fans seem generally happy with what it's accomplished, though there are some tweaks here and there to the overhead view.

As one user writes: "What would be a great companion feature for this mod would be a camera orbit mode where you can change the position of the camera relative to your character while in Third Person (ie. holding Z and using mouse look would enable orbit mode)."

To be clear, the first-person mode in Subnautica 2 is what the developers intended players to use, and arguably works best if you're trying to have the smoothest experience possible. But given the massive modding scene for the Subnautica series in general, a mod like this was bound to pop up. Even if a third-person mode is added to Subnautica 2, it would likely be optional.

Subnautica Tadpole vehicle with upgrades

Over on the official Subnautica 2 suggestion box, fans have been wanting an official third-person mode. As one puts it: "While I absolutely love how immersive the first-person view is in the original Subnautica, can we please have an option for third-person camera view in Subnautica 2? I think it would be interesting to see how large the other creatures are compared to our player character. Third-person would also be good to have when character customization gets added as well. I am really hoping there will be customizable dive gear and so on."

As the game continues to develop, the team will have to wrestle with these ideas and marry them to their vision for Subnautica 2. Given how well the first game turned out, it's not an impossible task.