Options and Settings
Welcome to IGN's Subnautica: Below Zero guide. In this portion we'll talk about the Options and Settings available and the different game modes. Game modes vastly change up the way you play, so you may want to try beating the game in one mode and then switching to another. Similarly, options and binding controls gives you a lot more flexibility in how you play the game!
Options and Settings
From the pause menu, select "Options" to access the options menu. You'll see four categories: General, Graphics, Controller and Accessibility.
There are several options available to players to customize gameplay. On Switch, for example, players can:
- Turn on and off news
- Include subtitles
- Adjust sound and volume
- Re-bind controls for almost all actions
- Alter graphics rate
- Turn on accessibility features like highlighting interactable items, turning off flashing lights and more.
More specifically, here's what you can do under each.
General Options
- Turn news on and off
- Turn subtitles on or off
- Reduce or increase speed
- Change vertical field of view
- Change horizontal field of view
- Turn up or down master volume
- Turn music volume up or down
- Turn voice volume up or down
- Turn ambient volume up or down
Graphics Options
- Increase or decrease Gamma
Controller Options
- Enable/disable vibration
- Invert look
- Change run mode
- Change horizontal sensitvity
- Change vertical sensitivity
- Re-bin controls, including Move, Look, Jump, PDA, Deconstruct and more
Accessibility Options
- Change UI scale
- Enable/disable PDA pause
- Enable/disable flashing lights
- Highlight interactable items
These are all available via the Pause Menu at any time.
Game Modes
There are also four game modes players can enjoy, each very different. We recommend beating the game in classic Survival Mode, then learning How to Build a Base in Creative Mode. Additionally, we found the Void Chelicerate in Creative Mode.
After this, you may choose to speedrun on Hardcore Mode or try other modes.
- Survival Mode - Maintain health, oxygen, food and water levels and complete story elements. When you die, you typically lose belongings. Note that our Walkthrough pages were all written for Survival Mode, but some other aspects of this guide, such as finding the Void Chelicerate, were accomplished in Creative Mode.
- Freedom Mode - This is similar to Survival Mode but you don't need to worry about food or water levels.
- Hardcore Mode - You've got one life, and when you die, it's over. Start again from the top.
- Creative Mode - Build anything you like without worrying about health, food and water or oxygen. Although the game's menu says you cannot make story progress in Creative Mode, this is untrue and you can in fact complete story elements.