Breathedge vs Subnautica: reviews and scores

What the ratings say

On Steam, Subnautica sits at 97.1% positive, rated "Overwhelmingly Positive," while Breathedge holds 81.6% positive, rated "Very Positive." source: Steam user review summary: Subnautica (all languages) (as of 2026-08-10) source: Steam user review summary: Breathedge (all languages) (as of 2026-08-10) Critics agree on the direction: Metacritic lists 87 for Subnautica and 71 for Breathedge. source: Metacritic: Subnautica (PC), critic Metascore (as of 2026-08-10) source: Metacritic: Breathedge (PC), critic Metascore (as of 2026-08-10) Read plainly, both are recommended games; Subnautica simply clears a higher bar with both players and press.

The number most comparisons skip: volume

Percentages alone flatten an important difference. Subnautica has been reviewed about 22 times as often as Breathedge, 378,116 reviews against 16,826. source: Steam user review summary: Subnautica (all languages) (as of 2026-08-10) source: Steam user review summary: Breathedge (all languages) (as of 2026-08-10) A 97% rating earned across hundreds of thousands of reviews is a different kind of evidence than a strong score from a smaller crowd. It marks Subnautica as a mainstream phenomenon and Breathedge as a well-regarded niche title. Neither framing is an insult; they are just different sizes of success.

How to read the gap fairly

The honest interpretation is not "good game versus bad game." A 81.6% "Very Positive" score means most people who bought Breathedge were glad they did. The gap reflects ambition and polish as much as quality: Subnautica is a landmark that defined its genre, and Breathedge is a cheaper, comic take that knows what it is. If you weight raw acclaim heavily, the scores point one way. If you weight tone and price, they matter less than what you actually want out of the evening.

To be clear about what these figures are: we relay the published scores from Steam and Metacritic rather than adding a rating of our own. Steam scores drift as new reviews land, so each figure here is dated, and we refresh it and stamp when we last checked.

Ratings are only one input. See the full comparison for setting, tone, price and platforms, or the specs page for what runs where.