In my 2018 review of the original Subnautica, I suggested that it might be the “best underwater game ever made.” I stand by that today. The game even had a pretty compelling sci-fi mystery to unravel, complete with an actual ending to reach. I felt like I had to work for every discovery, whether it was some bizarre biome or a new tool that would help me dive deeper, but it never felt like work. Not only did it stand out in the genre with its one-of-a-kind alien water world, it also nailed a sense of genuine chart-your-own-course exploration. Subnautica was a survival game for people who thought they were sick of survival games. The violence and gore could be a turnoff for some, however, as it comes suddenly and brutally, sometimes without warning.A frigid new standalone story that can’t quite fill the original game’s flippers Alliances are shaped and crossed, expectations of characters are toyed with and thwarted, and Martin can never quite fully know who he can trust. Further, each character is thoughtfully sketched out and given bits of background and history that are scattered throughout the banter and dialogue.
And Callejo's Ramis takes over every scene he's in and becomes another kind of heart of the film by the end. Gutierrez's Martin is solidly determined to hold onto his humanity while trying to manage a group of prisoners. While the film unfortunately lacks any representation outside of all the light-skinned Spanish men in this film, the acting is gripping, textured, and easy to slip into watching. This might be the subtle genius of the film, this deft handling of the above and all in one, clear voice and tone.
For instance, the film might first begin with a nod to horror, but then firmly establish a mystery, only to then move into psychological thriller territory, then back for more horror, then transition to a survival kind of thing, then jump back to a reminder of the core mystery, then to a hunter-hunted kind of thing, then back to survival, and so on, before final revelations.
Below Zero somehow works either despite all the mashing up of genres or because of it. There's lots of fun to be had in this violent thriller that twists and turns its way through different genres like suspense, mystery, survival, and horror.
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