Sony hosted a State of Play livestream presentation today primarily centered around Insomniac Games' upcoming Ratchet and Clank: Rift Apart. However, when Sony announced the April 2021 State of Play earlier this week, it also teased updates on a pair of indie games. One update was Innersloth's Among Us coming to PS4 and PS5 with Ratchet and Clank skins sometime this year, but the other concerned Unknown Worlds' Subnautica: Below Zero; releasing for both consoles next month.
Subnautica: Below Zero was given its May 14 release date this February following its availability in Early Access since January 2019. The game is a standalone expansion that takes place one year after the events of the original Subnautica, an underwater-based survival game which also spent time in Early Access before receiving a full release in 2018. An around two-minute trailer released during today's State of Play, narrated by an Unknown Worlds audio producer, that focuses on the game's more personal story of its main character trying to find her missing sister.
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This trailer shows footage captured on PS5, which is said to reach up to 4K resolution and target 60 FPS in performance mode. It also talks about features inherent to the DualSense controller like haptic feedback integration, which are further detailed in a PlayStation Blog post by Unknown Worlds community manager Donya Abramo released after the event.
Another key selling point outlined in the trailer and PlayStation Blog post is that both Subnautica and Subnautica: Below Zero will have a free upgrade path from PS4 to PS5 for players who own physical or digital copies. While there is no mention of Microsoft consoles given it was a Sony-driven presentation, Subnautica: Below Zero is listed as a game optimized for Xbox Series X/S Smart Delivery on Xbox's website.
Those who are interested in taking on the unique alien planet presented in Unknown Worlds' survival game before its sequel releases next month will have to buy it on their preferred platform, though some may have gotten their hands on Subnautica for free not long ago. Subnautica was one of ten games featured in the PlayStation Play at Home initiative that could be claimed from March 25 to April 22.
Though Subnautica: Below Zero led the State of Play event, its main focus was ultimately Ratchet and Clank. An extended gameplay showcase for the upcoming PS5 exclusive took up the vast majority of the livestream, revealing plenty of story beats, characters, and features such as new weapons in Ratchet and Clank: Rift Apart.
Subnautica: Below Zero releases May 14, 2021 for PC, PS4, PS5, Switch, Xbox One, and Xbox Series X/S.
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Sources: YouTube, PlayStation Blog, Xbox