Subnautica 2: graphics come up 2.1 times as often in Japanese-language reviews
Graphics are mentioned 2.1 times as often as usual in Japanese-language reviews. The count covers 556 reviews written in Japanese, collected from 14 May, 2026 to 2 November, 2026.
Own research by 648 News. Every figure in this article was counted by us from 556 Steam reviews written in Japanese, collected between 2026-05-14 and 2026-11-02.
The collected sample matches Steam's all-time Japanese count
The collected sample contains 556 reviews written in Japanese for Subnautica 2. Of these, 469 recommend the game and 87 do not. The share of reviews that recommend the game is 84.4%, with a 95% confidence interval from 81.1% to 87.1%. Steam's own figures for the whole history of Japanese-language reviews, read on 3 November, 2026, show the same counts: 556 total reviews, 469 positive, 87 negative, and 84.4% positive. Steam labels the game Very Positive.
The numbers
Graphics and content rise above the usual rate
All 556 collected reviews were classified into topics. Gameplay, combat, and core mechanics appear in 359 reviews, or 64.6% of classified reviews. That is common for games, so the distinctive rates are graphics and content. Graphics and art direction appear in 105 reviews, 18.9% of classified reviews. Across the 155 other followed games, the typical rate is 9.0%, so this game's rate is 2.1 times as high, or 9.9 percentage points above the baseline.
空や海の景色が美しく、海底の暗闇や海洋生物の描写も雰囲気抜群。
The sky and sea scenery are beautiful, and the dark seabed and marine creatures are very atmospheric.
Reviewers who praise the game connect the graphics topic to clear skies, bright sea views, dark seabeds, and detailed marine creatures. Several say exploration is enjoyable because the underwater scenery stays readable and atmospheric. Content, length, and replayability appear in 215 reviews, 38.7% of classified reviews, compared with a 24.9% baseline. That is 1.6 times as high, or 13.8 percentage points above the baseline. Some reviews that recommend the game describe the available scope as limited but say the base-building, resource management, and exploration give enough to do. Others that recommend it still note that the implemented range feels short.
Negative reviews raise content and story more than usual
No topic is recorded as divisive by a large gap. The clearest comparison comes from the reviews that do not recommend the game. Content, length, and replayability appear in 38 negative reviews, 43.7% of the reviews that do not recommend it. In reviews that recommend it, the topic appears in 177 reviews, 37.7%. Compared with a typical game's negative reviews, where the baseline is 22.4%, this game's rate is 2.0 times as high, or 21.3 percentage points above the baseline. Story, scenario, and writing appear in 14 negative reviews, 16.1% of the reviews that do not recommend it. In reviews that recommend it, the topic appears in 70 reviews, 14.9%. The baseline for negative reviews is 8.7%, so the rate is 1.9 times as high, or 7.4 percentage points above it.
Gameplay, combat, and core mechanics appear in 57 negative reviews, 65.5% of the reviews that do not recommend it, and in 302 reviews that recommend it, 64.4%. The near-even share does not make gameplay a divisive topic, but several negative reviews say direct damage against creatures is absent while aggressive creatures pursue the player.
今作ではついに魚にダメージそのものを与えられなくなった。
In this game, you can no longer deal damage to fish at all.
Negative reviews about story describe unclear objectives, scattered logs, and a structure that is hard to follow. Some link the story complaint to setting and writing. Negative reviews about content describe the available scope as thin and say they want more before finishing.
Longer sessions recommend slightly more often
The reviews also vary by play time when they were written. The quarter with the least play time, up to 8.6 hours, contains 139 reviews. Among them, 81.3% recommend the game. Their top topics are gameplay, combat, and core mechanics at 54.7%, content, length, and replayability at 23.0%, and graphics and art direction at 22.3%. The quarter with the most play time, from 24.6 hours, also contains 139 reviews. Among them, 86.3% recommend the game. Their top topics are gameplay, combat, and core mechanics at 73.4%, content, length, and replayability at 47.5%, and graphics and art direction at 25.2%. The share that recommends the game is 5.0 percentage points higher in the highest play-time group, with p = 0.254. The median play time behind the reviews is 15.4 hours.
Methodology and sources
Data
Steam user reviews, retrieved with Steam's public review listing between 2026-05-14 and 2026-11-02: 556 written in Japanese. Steam's own all-time totals for Subnautica 2 were read on 2026-11-03.
How the reviews were classified
Every review was read by a language model, which rated how positive it is, how much concrete detail it gives, and which of 15 fixed topics it talks about. The counts and percentages in this article were then computed from those labels in ordinary code, not by the model. Automatic classification makes mistakes, so single percentages should be read as approximate. Reviews of fewer than 15 characters were not sent to the model; they count as positive or negative from the reviewer's own recommendation and carry no topic.
Limits
People who write a Steam review in Japanese are not a representative sample of everyone who plays in Japan, and the language of a review does not establish where its author lives. Steam's default filter for off-topic review activity was left on, so periods Steam marked as review bombing are excluded from the counts in this article. Reviews that arrived after the retrieval date are not included.
Links
Data from Steam. Steam and the Steam logo are trademarks and/or registered trademarks of Valve Corporation.