Subnautica Mapsize compared to SN: Below Zero true to scale

[リアンダ]

Since the release of Below Zero is getting closer (it's a Christmas miracle!) I decided to do some research how big the map is compared to the original. I knew it was smaller than in the base game but when I found out how small the map actually is I was a bit underwhelmed. I compiled my findings into an image and attached it via imgur link. https://imgur.com/xewdhVK

If you are a potential buyer and need a comparison that is true to scale you might have a look before dropping 30$ on a game that is substantially smaller in scope than the original which ironically cost less...

/edit1: @TheGraveDigger The reason why I didn't use the map on the WIki is because I can't reconstruct how this map was generated and it seems a lot less precise than the map I used. While the one on the wiki seems to be handdrawn and doesn't include any dimensions the one I used was rendered straight from the game's geometry and has clear dimension markers both in terms of depth as well as lenght. Since these two maps are directly add odds with each other in certain areas I had to pick one of the two and settled for the one generated straight from the 3d mesh.

I uploaded another image to imgur where you can check the difference between the 3d generated and the handdrawn map on the wiki. No matter which map you believe to me more correct (my money is on the map rendered straight from the geometry) it doesn't change the fact that the BZ map is significantly smaller than SN1's map.

Map difference: https://imgur.com/PIVmHTl

[Kauldric]

Seems fine

[well.thats.me.told]

I'm not sure this is a useful comparison.

I personally wouldn't care if the game world was smaller still, if it felt denser. It feels like of what there is there's a lot of dead space.

The purple crystal zone is lovely, but pretty barren and I accidentally sort of neutered the one threat it has.

The frozen wastes must be 20% of the map and they were horrible for me. For one thing the Snow Fox makes me feel seasick and more importantly I was just lost all the time! (How I find it easier to navigate underwater than on land is beyond me.)

SN1 feels *much* bigger than it is, even though you're playing the whole game within about a cubic mile.

That said, it's hard to say how much that's because BZ lacks the claustrophobic fear of SN1. Some of that might not even be repeatable. *I* (not Riley, or Sam) have conquered 4546B already in the worst possible circumstances. I have looked the reaper in the eye (and run away).

I came to SN1 pretty late. (I think I bought it Christmas Eve last year.) BZ has more in common with your second game of SN1 -- where you get the scanner and Seaglide and swim off to Bart's island to unlock the multi-purpose room and collect melons -- than it does the first where everything is out to kill you.

[dragonbornzyra]

Saved, thanks for compiling this raw data.

[リアンダ]

Originally posted by well.thats.me.told:

I'm not sure this is a useful comparison.

I personally wouldn't care if the game world was smaller still, if it felt denser. It feels like of what there is there's a lot of dead space.

The purple crystal zone is lovely, but pretty barren and I accidentally sort of neutered the one threat it has.

The frozen wastes must be 20% of the map and they were horrible for me. For one thing the Snow Fox makes me feel seasick and more importantly I was just lost all the time! (How I find it easier to navigate underwater than on land is beyond me.)

SN1 feels *much* bigger than it is, even though you're playing the whole game within about a cubic mile.

That said, it's hard to say how much that's because BZ lacks the claustrophobic fear of SN1. Some of that might not even be repeatable. *I* (not Riley, or Sam) have conquered 4546B already in the worst possible circumstances. I have looked the reaper in the eye (and run away).

I came to SN1 pretty late. (I think I bought it Christmas Eve last year.) BZ has more in common with your second game of SN1 -- where you get the scanner and Seaglide and swim off to Bart's island to unlock the multi-purpose room and collect melons -- than it does the first where everything is out to kill you.

I haven't played the game yet in order to avoid spoilers. It's my understanding that the game is a smaller and more story driven experience which is fine I guess even though I don't know why they went in this direction when it was the feeling of isolation and free exploration most people seemed to love about Subnautica. I mostly compiled this image for people who expect BZ tobe similar to SN and might be surprised by how "compact" the game is compared to the original.

@dragonbornzyra you're welcome, hope it's helpful :)

[well.thats.me.told]

Originally posted by ShakingZealot:

I haven't played the game yet in order to avoid spoilers.

I hope I haven't spoiled anything much for you there.

If it's worth anything, I think it's worth playing. I think if you enjoyed SN1, it's most likely a good game. What it lacks is the sense of, "Wow!" and also, "I'm gonna die! I'mgonnadieI'mgonnadieI'mgonnadie!" of SN1.

[リアンダ]

Originally posted by well.thats.me.told:

Originally posted by ShakingZealot:

I haven't played the game yet in order to avoid spoilers.

I hope I haven't spoiled anything much for you there.

If it's worth anything, I think it's worth playing. I think if you enjoyed SN1, it's most likely a good game. What it lacks is the sense of, "Wow!" and also, "I'm gonna die! I'mgonnadieI'mgonnadieI'mgonnadie!" of SN1.

My mindset is that it wont' be a bad experience but significantly less engaging than SN1 due to a change in focus. Story driven experience + a much smaller scale compared to the original is what I am mentally prepared for. Feels kinda bad to think that if it wasn't for BZ we might have gotten a proper sequel instead of a map that barely reaches 850m in depth...

[Weaver]

Map size does not equal scope. 90% of the original Subnautica map was just empty space to be ignored and passed by, not detailed interesting areas, not areas with anything to do and see. Half of the map or better you have no interaction with whatsoever while playing through the story and are just copy pasted biomes from the other side of the map. Someone could make a game that was a flat plain the actual size of earth and not much else, that would not make it have amazing scope or anything else just because it was big. BZ has a smaller map, but it has more Points of Interest than the original game by far.

[リアンダ]

Originally posted by Weaver:

Map size does not equal scope. 90% of the original Subnautica map was just empty space to be ignored and passed by, not detailed interesting areas, not areas with anything to do and see. Half of the map or better you have no interaction with whatsoever while playing through the story and are just copy pasted biomes from the other side of the map. Someone could make a game that was a flat plain the actual size of earth and not much else, that would not make it have amazing scope or anything else just because it was big. BZ has a smaller map, but it has more Points of Interest than the original game by far.

Glad to hear that. Most of my friends said it felt pretty empty a couple of months back. Like sandy dunes in the original. I would still have liekd to be able to dive deepe rthan before, even if it's just a narrow sinkhole or something.

[dragonbornzyra]

There is a form of art that uses negative space to help express the artist's intention.

Sometimes the vast stretches of empty space help draw attention and appreciation to details that may other wise be over looked if things were too saturated.

It's like the way salted watermelon is such a strange delight.

The taste of salt actually compliments the sweetness of the watermelon, it constrasts in such a way one "flavor" over rides and provides relief from the other "flavor" and it's felt in such a way that is somehow so much more satisfying than either one flavor by itself or even one after the other. But together.....

It's so difficult to really describe and put to words the way it feels to me playing Subnautica. There's an artistry to it. It's like something in a meal's recipe.......wether it's an ingredient, or a cooking method, or how it's garnished, sometimes there's a spark that just sets everything off and it's dazzling and thrilling and satisfying.

And sometimes all it takes is just a pinch too much of this, or cooking for 2 minutes to much, or taking it out 2 minutes too soon...or maybe you forgot to tuck one of the pastry sides in properly, and suddenly the whole thing comes out differently and it's not really through any fault of your own.

[TheGraveDigger]

Uh.... OP used the old below zero map instead of the new one

[dragonbornzyra]

Originally posted by TheGraveDigger:

Uh.... OP used the old below zero map instead of the new one

Could you show me the new one? I wanna get as accurate infromation as I can as possible.

[TheGraveDigger]

Originally posted by dragonbornzyra:

Originally posted by TheGraveDigger:

Uh.... OP used the old below zero map instead of the new one

Could you show me the new one? I wanna get as accurate infromation as I can as possible.

The only map I can find is on the subnautica wiki, however it doesn’t contain any size reference, but it’s the most recent map of below zero https://subnautica-belowzero.fandom.com/wiki/Sector_Zero_Map

[リアンダ]

Originally posted by TheGraveDigger:

Originally posted by dragonbornzyra:

Could you show me the new one? I wanna get as accurate infromation as I can as possible.

The only map I can find is on the subnautica wiki, however it doesn’t contain any size reference, but it’s the most recent map of below zero https://subnautica-belowzero.fandom.com/wiki/Sector_Zero_Map

The reason why I didn't use the map on the WIki is because I can't reconstruct how this map was generated and it seems a lot less precise than the map I used. While the one on the wiki seems to be handdrawn and doesn't include any dimensions the one I used was rendered straight from the game's gemorety and has clear dimension markers both in terms of depth as well as lenght. Since these two maps are directly add odds with each other in certain areas I had to pick one of the two and settled for the one generated straight from the 3d mesh.

I uploaded another image to imgur where you can check the difference between the 3d generated and the handdrawn map on the wiki. No matter which map you believe to me more correct (my money is on the map rendered straight from the geomtry) it doesn't change the fact that the BZ map is significantly smaller than SN1's map.

Map difference: https://imgur.com/PIVmHTl

[moonracer]

I just bought BZ so haven't played it yet (I just started SN1), but I've got a few thoughts on this:

For one, I can see both sides of thought here. Scale is important and part of the appeal of underwater exploration. Scale and the fact that everything is so spread out helps set the mood. But also, making a world more dense and interesting can make for better gameplay.

Another possibly valuable way to compare the maps would be to make a cluster map of points of interest. Map out all points of interest in a 3D grid map and then compare the scale of the cubic space they fit in (as well as the number of points of interest). If there's twice as much to see in half the space, that might justify a smaller map for some.

[リアンダ]

Originally posted by moonracer:

I just bought BZ so haven't played it yet (I just started SN1), but I've got a few thoughts on this:

For one, I can see both sides of thought here. Scale is important and part of the appeal of underwater exploration. Scale and the fact that everything is so spread out helps set the mood. But also, making a world more dense and interesting can make for better gameplay.

Another possibly valuable way to compare the maps would be to make a cluster map of points of interest. Map out all points of interest in a 3D grid map and then compare the scale of the cubic space they fit in (as well as the number of points of interest). If there's twice as much to see in half the space, that might justify a smaller map for some.

Haven't played the game either so I really can't comment on this a lot. What's the impression of the playerbase? Are there significantly more landmarks and points of interest? Are there significantly more wreckages, creatures and biomes? Because in terms of volume the stats are pretty bad. SN1 is an almost 4 km wide, square map with very little negative space. It's also 1,8km deep. In comparison BZ is 4km wide, about 2km in height (with lots of unused negative spaces) and is only 850m deep.

Let's assume SN1's and BZ have a somewhat similar way to layout the map and Subnautica's "content volume" is X. In this case BZ's volume would be 1 (~same lenght) x 0,5 (~half the height), x 0,4 (~40% of SNs depth). So BZ's "volume" is 1x 0,5x 0,4 or 20% of SN1's "content volume". Even if BZ was twice or even three times as rich in content it's still significantly smaller in terms of overall volume meaning that SN1 probably offers more content for your money.