Subnautica 2 developer Unknown Worlds has warned eager players to be wary of "fraudulent links" to a playtest for its upcoming survival adventure game, which have reportedly been sent out to fans on Steam.
Word about the next Subnautica first surfaced back in 2023, and with the highly anticipated sequel set to release in early access at some point this year, hype is building. With that in mind, you can understand why some particularly excited underwater explorers might not hesitate if they were sent a link to a playtest via Steam, but Unknown Worlds is making it very clear that it would "never" reach out to anyone this way.
"We've been made aware that fraudulent links to a Subnautica 2 playtest are being sent to our community on Steam," a new tweet reads. "Please be aware that we will never contact anyone by Steam DM for any potential playtests. Stay safe out there, Subnauts!"
We've been made aware that fraudulent links to a Subnautica 2 playtest are being sent to our community on Steam. Please be aware that we will never contact anyone by Steam DM for any potential playtests. Stay safe out there, Subnauts! 🐟February 10, 2025
Unknown Worlds has elaborated slightly on this situation in the official Subnautica Discord server, where community manager Donya Abramo clarifies: "Any contact regarding studies or playtests will only ever be sent by email from an Unknown Worlds address." Furthermore, while the devs recently invited players to sign up for a "User Research Participant Pool," the official link to it is only available on the Discord server.
If this warning has come too late for you, Abramo advises anyone who's already clicked one of the fake Steam playtest links to "change your password immediately to secure your account" and consider enabling two-factor authentication for some extra security.
For now, anyone eager to dive into the sequel will just have to hold on a while longer – in the meantime, there's no doubt that dedicated fans will have their eyes on its predecessor for more hidden teasers like we saw last year.
You can also check out our roundup of the best survival games for even more to play.
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