In terms of fun and beauty, this game is not even close to Subnautica. In terms of bugs, this game is very close to early access Subnautica. In completing the first three levels, I found such bugs as looping "threat" music if you fend off the shark too early, some infected animals continuously visible as infected on the screen after you heal them, pick-up interaction not displaying in some angles, you could go through the rocks somewhere on Pirate's Nest map, and I think there were some more, not to mention I didn't get any achievements despite completing 3 levels to 100%. The mechanics leave a lot to be desired, from gameplay (repetitive tasks) to interactions (interaction stops if you accidentally move your "crosshairs" to another object lying nearby, which is annoying). Even at the maximum settings, I wouldn't say the graphics are as good as Subnautica. Yet, the game is so poorly optimized that even on a very modern gaming system there are inexplicable lags in some places (which is not the case with other games with lower hardware requirements). Moreover, at level 4 it somehow loads my PC to the point a 1000Va line-interactive UPS can't take it after I spend some time playing the level. The killing blow was today, when I loaded the game after a several days delay to try and complete level 4 only to find out that all my progress is gone and I'd have to do the first three levels all over again. Was it the update? A cloud save error? Considering how bugged it is, maybe the fact that I changed my video settings to try to lower the load on my PC? I don't know, but at that point I was very tempted to demand my money back even if the price is insubstantial. I may play it again at some point, but right now, I'm not happy with my player experience at all and will be wary about buying something from the developer in the future. Is this a diving simulator in the end? Hard to say, but I'd rather say no than yes. The devs make their message about nature clear though.
