Underwater survival game ‘Subnautica’ free on Epic Games’ online store

By Aaron Mamiit Published December 15, 2018

Subnautica, the underwater survival game that recently won PC Game of the Year at the 2018 Golden Joystick Awards, is being offered as a free download on the Epic Games store.

Epic Games, which is looking to attract more PC players to its recently launched online store, promised to offer a new free game every two weeks. Subnautica by Unknown Worlds is the first free download for the Steam competitor.

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In Subnautica, players take on the role of a human whose spaceship crashed into a hostile, underwater planet. To survive and get back home, players will need to collect resources and create equipment, while either fighting or studying the alien creatures in the water.

PC gamers interested in taking the plunge with Subnautica may simply head on over to the Epic Games store, sign up for an account, and download the open-world title for free. It should be noted that the free download is for the full game, not just a demo. Players, however, will likely be required to keep the Epic Games store client running in the background when playing Subnautica, similar to titles downloaded from Steam.

Epic Games, the studio behind the massively popular Fortnite, launched its online store to compete with the likes of Steam and GOG. To attract developers, the Epic Games store is offering a larger share of profits with an 88/12 split. In comparison, Valve’s new revenue-splitting plan usually only offers developers 70 percent, increasing to 75 percent for games that make over $10 million and to 80 percent for hitting the $50 million mark. In addition, developers who use Epic Games’ Unreal Engine will have the engine royalties waived.

Just a week after its announcement, indie studios are already flocking to the Epic Games store, with some announcing timed exclusives on the platform and some even completely skipping a Steam release.

Epic Games is looking to keep the momentum of its online store with the free download for Subnautica, which will be available until December 27. It appears that the Epic Games store will not be offering never-heard-of games as free downloads either, as next in line is Super Meat Boy, a side-scrolling platformer that is popular among hardcore players for its difficulty.

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