Subnautica: The Lore Behind the Sunbeam Explained (2024)

While Subnautica is a survival game, the same basic plot of crashing and hoping for help is even prevalent in games like Returnal. However, Subnautica puts a different kind of spin on the "waiting for help that never comes" storyline. That is, in a nutshell, what the lore behind the Sunbeam offers to players.

Subnautica does a good job of selling the player on their being very much alone. So when the Sunbeam comes along sometime after exploration of this mostly underwater world, it seems like a real reprieve. It turns out that's not exactly the case. By handling the Sunbeam the way the game does, it puts the arrival of the ship into the lore of the game in a very effective way.

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Subnautica's Lost Rescue Ship

The Sunbeam first makes its appearance in the world of Subnautica not long after the player first starts exploring the world they crash-landed on. A story then unfolds, mostly through radio messages that the potential rescue ship sends once it finds the debris of the character's ship. Those messages include the fact that it's going to take about a week for the Sunbeam to reach the player's location. On the other hand, there is at least help on the way. Captain Avery Quinn seems to be the savior of the game, at least at the beginning.

As players start exploring the world and start to put together a way to survive in Subnautica, time passes and the Sunbeam gets ever closer. Captain Quinn sends more messages that make it seem even more as though rescue is imminent. In total there are four messages before the ship can be seen coming into view. This is also where the story takes a rather frustrating turn for players who think they are about to get off the planet they've been marooned on. There are a couple of different directions the story can turn, but the fact of the matter is that all of them are going to end up with the same basic finish.

When the Sunbeam is able to find a way into the planet's atmosphere, the player can actually see its rescue coming. That's when disaster strikes. There are actually a couple of different outcomes that can unfold, but the most heartbreaking of all is that when the rescue ship comes into view, the planet in Subnautica takes on a rather sinister personality. An automated defense system reactivates once the ship comes close and ends up blasting it into pieces. Thus ending any chance for rescue, at least from Captain Avery Quinn and his crew.

Perhaps even the most frustrating part of this particular storyline is that it appears there is a way to disable Subnautica's planetary defense system so that it would appear the Sunbeam can safely land. However, there are still two situations that can unfold. The first is that the character is not where they are supposed to be and the Sunbeam ends up going home, deciding there's no one available to be rescued. The final frustration is when the character is where they need to be and the ship isn't shot down but announces it also can't land. Such is the final story of Sunbeam. It's the ship that forces the player to eventually build the escape rocket that is part of the end game for Subnautica.

Subnautica is out now for PC, PS4, PS5, Switch, Xbox One, and Xbox Series X/S.

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