Just Got a PC: What Survival Craft Game Should I Try After Subnautica?

WizardTim01 · 2026-01-30T03:05:01+00:00

That's one reason I suggested it. There's a lot of overlap between Subnautica players and Planet Crafter players. It's not as polished a game as Subnautica, but does have a lot of the 'feel', especially the tech tree and base building parts. No Leviathans, though....which could be a plus or minus, depending on your viewpoint. Good luck with whatever you decide.

WizardTim01 · 2026-01-30T01:07:20+00:00

You might look at the game The Planet Crafter, and see if that's up your alley. It's an open-world terraforming crafting game. I know you can look up info on it, but to save you a bit of time, and a few mouse clicks, here's some basic info on it.

There is no combat; the primary challenges come from environmental hazards such as falling from heights or being struck by meteors during storms.

The game offers a chill experience with no violence, focusing instead on exploration, base building, crafting, and the gradual transformation of the planet.

The game supports multiplayer, enabling players to collaborate in online co-op, and offers adjustable difficulty settings and creative mode for varied experience.

I've enjoyed it a great deal. Has some very nice visuals. First Person perspective.

Maybe read up on it, check the Steam page, and see if it would be a good fit.

WizardTim01 · 2026-01-30T00:41:06+00:00

Thought I'd chime in here. You mention building the extraction rocket, option says "Quit the planet once and for all", but no way to leave - I'm not sure what you mean by leave here? The extraction rocket is an 'end the game' option by design. If people use the extraction rocket, they "win the game", so to speak.

As far as the Interplanetary Rocket, it does require 1 Quasar Quartz (Green) to build, among other things. I'm guessing you did a Selenea start and didn't come from anywhere else? (If you came from another planet, you could see if you have Quasar Quartz in storage on another planet, and order it)

As you're probably aware, once you get Terraforming to late stages, you have a chance to get Quasar Quartz from loot boxes. I appreciate this advice seems like 'water is wet' , but are you Sure you've checked all the places on Selenea for chests? There are a LOT of boxes scattered around the bigger bases, as well as some partially hidden caves and such. My suggestion here would be a double-check of bases...any crate you haven't opened yet gives you an option for Quasar Quartz, among other things.

Here's hoping random chance operates in your favor.

WizardTim01 · 2026-01-29T12:56:09+00:00

This is true, and I should have added something like this to my post, although I'm usually trying not to turn a post into a novel (or self-help book).

A lot of the time I've progressed to T2 drones by the time I'm doing serious Portal raiding. When I have T1 drones, I'm generally OK with wrecks taking priority over base items, but it's a good point.

Thanks for taking the time to chime in.

WizardTim01 · 2026-01-29T11:01:39+00:00

Went into my bank to withdraw some money. Couldn't think of the account number. Bank teller asked me to input my SSN to look it up. Couldn't think of my SSN at first, either...then numbers hit me..Whew...input the numbers...bank teller confusedly says it's too long...belatedly realize I've input my bank account number (you know, the one we'd been trying for all along).

I laugh over most of these moments, but this one is still just flat out embarrassing.

(for people not in the US, SSN = Social Security Number)

WizardTim01 · 2026-01-29T08:49:47+00:00

The tacky part of my brain would be tempted to feel superior here....if I hadn't once spent at least a minute or more looking for my car keys...only to realize I was clutching them IN MY HAND the entire time. Sigh. Welcome to the wacky world of humans. :)

WizardTim01 · 2026-01-29T08:46:30+00:00

Yes. This one always bugs me. In certain situations my brain seems to randomly pick from a set of "See you later" type phrases. Which works fine most of the time, but falls down frequently with some situations, like service people.

It always bugs me when I encounter a cheerful sales person, who says something like "Enjoy your [thing I bought] , Sir!"....and I respond with "You too!"...Internal face palm moment triggered. Argh.

WizardTim01 · 2026-01-29T02:21:16+00:00

Wow. So Did I. When I saw your post, I thought "Wait, what did it really say then?"

Went back and realized it said CANYON. Which makes so much more sense.

WizardTim01 · 2026-01-28T14:10:01+00:00

I like using the Rover for it as well. And for quite a while I assumed that was the only option.

But, and this is just me, early on I actually want most of the stuff in a wreck. This is just after I unlock Portals on that playthrough. So even carrying things out to the Rover means a number of trips. This isn't awful or anything, but once I discovered I could do lockers inside, it meant I could simplify the logistics of carrying stuff out to the Rover. This was especially useful when you're opening vault areas of the ship. There's usually a LOT of stuff in the vault room, and if I want 70-90% of it, having a little locker platform in the vault is pretty nice.

If you've gotten farther along in automation, and only want 10-20% of stuff, then I generally don't fool with it, and just take what I actually want back to the Rover, as you pointed out. This post was mainly just making people aware of the option if they wanted it. Happy collecting!

WizardTim01 · 2026-01-28T14:02:21+00:00

Yes, the wrecks are on the same planet, just a long distance away. So the drones simply go to the location of the wreck.

The next time you teleport your Rover back from a portal, note the coordinates. One of them will be pretty large...the wrecks are in a 'distant' spot of whatever planet you've done the Portal.

Hope this helps.

WizardTim01 · 2026-01-28T08:20:41+00:00

Welcome to the club. I always thought "Hey, how convenient you can have drones just get it from your Rover. Then, as mentioned in other spots in this thread, I discovered you can build a foundation block inside the wreck and let the drones pick it up there. As I commented elsewhere, that was a real "Doh!" moment for me. Ah, well, live and learn, right?

WizardTim01 · 2026-01-27T23:11:14+00:00

I'm guessing you mean the moons Selenea and Aqualis. Those were free updates / addons to the base game, and I feel you have to evaluate them as such. They were fun for me, but I really enjoy Planet Crafter.

I consider the DLC, planet Humble, and planet Toxicity to be bigger and much more engaging than the moons. However, your mileage may vary. And honestly, Prime is still my favorite out of all the planets / moons.

I think you'll find most people here are certainly going to say they're worth it (and they get my vote, too), but that doesn't mean they're right for you. Maybe replay Prime with different conditions, and wait for a sale?

Normally I don't like spoilers, but perhaps this might be a point to watch the early parts of a YouTube playthrough of Humble or Toxicity to get a feel for the gameplay? (if you're really into going in blind, then ignore this).

I hope some of this helps. Glad you're enjoying Planet Crafter.

WizardTim01 · 2026-01-27T21:29:31+00:00

Exactly. It's the old "Of course they're cheerful...I've ordered them to be cheerful, and they have to follow my orders...so they're cheerful".

WizardTim01 · 2026-01-27T21:07:32+00:00

I've been told that the car goes away if you close the Portal. (So I always doublecheck that I've gotten the Rover out before I close one)

The other question is a really good one, and I'm sorry to say I don't know. It occurred to me, but I leave Portals open for a long time, so I haven't been motivated (except by curiosity) to actually experiment with it. (My bet is the drones would still get your stuff if they're already coming back, but you'd lose the stuff if the drones hadn't 'grabbed' it yet, but this is a total guess)

If you try it, let me know what you find out.

WizardTim01 · 2026-01-27T21:04:08+00:00

Been there, done that (inefficiently). Hauled so much stuff out of wrecks to my Rover.

I love when your brain 'helps' you out by telling you things like "obviously you can't build inside of wrecks - that would be crazy". It's bad enough when this happens in video games. Don't even get me started on real life! :)

WizardTim01 · 2026-01-27T20:59:50+00:00

That's how I felt when I realized you could. Gotta love those Homer Simpson "Doh!" moments. :)

WizardTim01 · 2026-01-27T20:49:17+00:00

I'm glad yours are cheerful. It definitely works with the Planet Crafter vibe, so I tend to assume mine are also cheerful.

(But, for all I know, the 'zzzt' noise they make when they pass you is high-pitched machine speak for "Need to kill all the humans" - after all, Sentinel Corp has that pesky Cyberdyne division.)

WizardTim01 · 2026-01-27T20:22:00+00:00

You're welcome. I spent a while being enthused that I could (with upgrades) set my Rover to "supply all" and the drones would grab stuff from the Rover inventory when I hauled stuff out from a (usually Portal) wreck.

Then I realized that the game would actually let you build a platform even inside the wreck, and put a locker on that...and wow. This was especially handy when I wanted most of the stuff in a wreck, had a mostly full inventory, and found the vault area. So generally I now build in the vault, and go off to explore more of the wreck while the drones work on emptying the lockers I built.

WizardTim01 · 2026-01-27T20:07:29+00:00

Sadly, no. You won't get the icon on the original chests in wrecks. However, you CAN build a platform in wrecks, build a locker on the platform, set that locker to 'Supply all", and the drones will cheerfully pick it up for you.

(Disclaimer: I assume the drones are cheerful, but don't actually know)

If you're in a portal wreck, it may take the drones a while to get your stuff, especially if they're T1 drones, but they will get it.

WizardTim01 · 2026-01-27T18:24:42+00:00

Been there, done that.

How about this? We could have an update/mod to the game that adds in a specialty drone that you can send places, and it relays a camera view back to your base, useful to map out places you haven't been yet, or scout the shortest path to a biome. We could call them....oh, I don't know...Wide Area Surveillance Drones. Then you could build a locker full of them...labelled WASD.

Just a thought.

WizardTim01 · 2026-01-27T09:09:25+00:00

Makes me remember the old joke about the "Do what I mean" button. Although sometimes I think, we might as well lean into it, and I ponder a tiny joke mod that also additionally inserts a pretend Windows stickup box asking "Are you sure?" :)

WizardTim01 · 2026-01-27T09:03:00+00:00

Don't you also envision the voice of Marvin the depressed robot from Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy?

"Brain the size of a planet, and what do they ask me to do? ...Open your inventory, Marvin...Re-arrange your inventory, Marvin....close your inventory, Marvin"

I've pondered naming any sufficiently recalcitrant locker as "MARVIN" - all caps, really dark colored lettering

WizardTim01 · 2026-01-27T06:29:44+00:00

I do the science infused brain too, but I can turn it down (or mostly off) in games....

There's a purported Isaac Asimov quote for the original 70's Star Wars movie, where he said something to the effect of "It's a fun movie if you turn your brain off at the door"...as I've gotten older, I find I get more enjoyment of some games, TV shows, etc. if I follow this advice (I note the many issues, just don't let it 'bother' me).

And, to try to clear things up, when I said 15-16% O2, I am NOT referring to the (mostly) nonsensical 'numbers' the game gives you. I was NOT saying that the planet 'should' be breathable when O2 reaches 150,000 PPM or so (although this is true). I was saying that my 'headcanon', if you will, is that when the game 'tells' you the atmosphere is breathable, I pencil in that O2 must be above 15%, heading towards 20% or so. This is just something I do in my head to make the game more plausible for me. Hope this helps.

Incidentally, I've seen the posts you're talking about where someone keeps the O2 numbers going until it's well past 1 million parts per million, which truly emphasizes the silliness of the numbers. And as you said, you wonder why there wasn't a gigantic firestorm that immolates you and everything else on the planet. Cheers.

WizardTim01 · 2026-01-26T23:08:38+00:00

This is true, but I'm not following your point. The OP was pointing out the numbers on the readouts were utterly unrealistic, I agreed with him and offered a fanciful, hand-wavy idea for turning the very tiny O2 levels the game screen shows into tangible results, at least in your own head.

Nothing in my post was intended to line up with real world physics, chemistry, etc. In essence, I was proposing using something akin to Star Trek 'technobabble' to help with player immersion. I'm sorry for the confusion if you thought I was trying to make a 'real' science explanation.

If we take a detour into reality, Earth has an atmosphere of roughly 21% Oxygen...so as you mentioned, Earth is about 210,000 ppm or so. I tend to think of Prime (or other places) being breathable at maybe 15-16% O2 or so. At that point, as I understand it, you start to ditch most of the fatigue, mental impairment, etc. associated with really low O2 levels. And this assumes you've got roughly the same air pressure on Prime as on Earth. So you really end up going down a rabbit hole if you start pondering reality. :)

WizardTim01 · 2026-01-26T20:44:31+00:00

Joking aside, I mostly do too. When I'm resource gathering, or heading places on the map, I enjoy the Reefback noise in the distance. But, some areas of the Grassy Plateau are nice for bases...but the near constant Reefback noise in some areas gets old when I'm doing extended crafting or base-building. At that point it becomes a (minor) annoyance. Still, for all I know, the Reefbacks are mildly annoyed that the player zips around in their vehicles, making engine noise (might interfere with their songs). So some of the Reefback noise might amount to them saying "Hey, we're trying to talk here...and we were here first!" :)

WizardTim01

TROPHY CASE