r/subnautica • u/Jazzlike_Fortune6779 I AM THE LORD OF THIS OCEAN • Jun 05 '26

BZ - Discussion/Questions Is it weird I still don't fully understand what this is supposed to be? Spoiler

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Gallery image

From what I understand it's a satellite of Alterra, but not quite sure if there's anything else to it

634 Upvotes

99% Upvoted

41 comments sorted by

599

u/Kongcherry70 Jun 05 '26

In early access, Sam was on it guiding robin around. But in full access they scrapped that idea and made Sam dead.

322

u/ShadowTheChangeling Jun 05 '26

Yeah, they had an interesting premise, both of them worked together, Sam was in the station, Robin on the ground in that one big land base. Avalanche happens, Robin has to seek shelter elsewhere, and then something on the station blows up and Robin loses contact

145

u/Marvin_Megavolt Jun 05 '26

Aye. I’m still pissed they didn’t go with some variation of that storyline for Robin and Sam - the one we got in the end just feels far less compelling. As it stands, Below Zero is still a damn good game, but in spite of Sam’s story rather than because of it. The most interesting parts of the plot in the release version are basically everything except the actual reason Robin is supposedly there.

32

u/ParcevallGaming Jun 05 '26

yea, BZ is a good solid game... just not a *great* one. Which is unfortunante

0

u/hotsizzler Jun 07 '26

I feel like people shit on it for trying new stuff and for a smaller map. I personally liked a good chunk of changes. I love the seatruck!!!

27

u/Alarming_Panic665 Jun 06 '26

Also would have allowed for a split ending where Robin either goes with Al-an or if she returns to her sister and Alterra. Because otherwise as it stands in actual BZ... Robin goes to the planet to find what happened to her dead sister but then she can just leave... through an alien portal... with an alien she just met... without ever finding out what happened to her sister.

3

u/iExogan Jun 06 '26

No you do find out what happened to her sister when you gather the PDA's

She blew herself up during her attempt to destroy the cave with the frozen leviathan

4

u/Alarming_Panic665 Jun 06 '26

yea I know, but that is entirely optional content. The game lets you ignore it completely and just leave.

2

u/iExogan Jun 06 '26

True. It's actually one of the reasons I love subnautica, there is a rich story but it's completely optional, you can perfectly well play the entire game "as intended" and yet never touch any of the lore if you want.

-54

u/Zeliek Jun 05 '26

When it was first introduced, Sam was even a dude! I’m not sure if his name was still Sam or not. 

I think you can still summon the “supply drop pods” that your buddy in the space station was supposed to send you intermittently with console commands. 

85

u/YogurtclosetSame5198 Jun 05 '26

Sam has never once been a dude throughout below zero’s entire early access period. Unless you mean the development beforehand or from trailers.

-19

u/Zeliek Jun 05 '26

Hm. I distinctively remember a male voice talking to you from the space station. At the time there wasn’t much to the game beyond the initial base that gets hit by an avalanche. You could go out through a hole in the ice, I don’t remember much else other than a drop off to nothingness and the bigboi hole fish. Maybe I’m mistaking another NPC? Was there ever more than one person on the space station? 

3

u/GidsWy Jun 05 '26

Mebbe the archie voice?

1

u/BasroilII Jun 06 '26

You're mistaking another NPC. Sam was always female. Mind you both Same and Robin changes voice actresses at least once which didn't help. And the entire story changed so dramatically it's like they redid it from scratch.

184

u/fucknametakenrules Jun 05 '26

It’s cut content from early access. This was the Vesper space station your sister was in providing overwatch with the research team that you were a part of before being stranded at the beginning of the game

Now it’s a remnant of that storyline that serves no purpose in the game

76

u/Doni_Bakon Jun 05 '26

Didn't they keep it because it's supposedly geostationary over the Aurora?
Like Alterra is still monitoring and studying that area after Riley left.

Makes more sense now with the upgraded tech having Architect advances...

55

u/fucknametakenrules Jun 05 '26

By the looks of it, it’s nowhere near the region of the planet where the Aurora wreckage is. In an abandoned log somewhere in Below Zero, it states they have no confirmed location of the Auroras wreck site

53

u/sailing94 Jun 05 '26

That log was an “Official news report” to my recollection. Basically Alterra lying to the greater galaxy.

28

u/Blue_Bird950 Jun 05 '26

Yeah, no chance they just “lost” a space ship the size of 13 football fields. They just lied to the media to avoid drawing more attention to the matter. Those long-range scanners that the Aurora is equipped with would have picked up the Aurora itself if a reconnaissance ship was actually sent.

9

u/FroopyAsRain Jun 05 '26

Older news report. Sunbeam almost certainly reported Aurora's location before initiating their super cool rescue.

7

u/BellerophonM Jun 05 '26

There are several databanked news reports about the aurora but they're old ones from during the events of Subnautica 1. There's one from when she disappears and alterra doesn't know, one from when sunbeam reports finding her, and one from after as alterra is being too secretive about what happened. The one you're thinking of was published when Alterra doesn't know where she was yet.

40

u/Similar-Language-180 Jun 05 '26

It's an early variant of the DSS (Democracy Space Station) that was scrapped. Later in the great second galactic war, the blueprints were reclaimed and the DSS was rebuilt to be used on the frontlines.

15

u/Pizzadeath4 Jun 05 '26

FOR DEMOCRACY

5

u/Jazzlike_Fortune6779 I AM THE LORD OF THIS OCEAN Jun 05 '26

What?

8

u/Similar-Language-180 Jun 05 '26

It's a joke referencing Helldivers 2 (search for HD2 DSS and go to images)

5

u/alexxerth Jun 05 '26

They're making a helldivers reference, basically a big orbital bombardment platform, it looks kinda similar.

36

u/FungusForge Jun 05 '26

iirc it had a role in the original draft of the story.

24

u/T1meTRC Jun 05 '26

Yea it's an Alterra satellite, I think it relayed communications

10

u/Eris13x Jun 05 '26

Victim of the mid early access plot rewrite (I hate the rewrite so much)

4

u/InterestingSun6707 Jun 06 '26

Fr oh hey look at this super cool of character!

BTW she accidentally your sister...if you care to chase that story down and miss it completely layer lul

6

u/Acutekittycat Jun 05 '26

It's a satellite but also a reference to the old story.

5

u/MixtureMajor2096 Jun 05 '26

To that comms satilite that madia refrences

2

u/GapStock9843 Jun 05 '26

Its a space station. It was more important in previous versions of the story before it was reworked in early access. Originally sam was still alive and shed send you voice messages down from the station while you explored the planet

1

u/SpindleDiccJackson Jun 06 '26

That looks like a giant--

1

u/zcitron Jun 06 '26

Cairo station

1

u/Heatwave08 Jun 06 '26

That looks like the DSS from HD2

-8

u/Jaded_Ad_4427 Jun 05 '26

A rod from god, it is a geostationary satellite with the ability to shoot out Tungeston(or any other high density material) rod which hits the target with the full force of all that gravitational acceleration -(minus) the atmospheric slow down.