Story

+![The aftermath of the explosion at the Old Habitat](wiki-images/a1/a15c783fc1cf5ff17578134263ba6487.png)+ +The **Story** of *Subnautica 2* begins with the player en route to the desert planet Zezura on the *Cicada* starship as part of a colony project. The ship carries 40,000 printable colonists intended to form the new colony. While traveling, the *Cicada* makes an unscheduled detour through an alien phase gate and crashes into the moon Proteus.+ +## Arrival+ +Upon crashing, the *Cicada* breaks into various wrecks. NoA, an AI developed by Alterra to support colonization, begins printing a first wave of Pioneers to prepare the world and accumulate resources for the stored colonists. This first wave built Camp One, but the habitat failed, resulting in the death of the entire wave. NoA reprinted them with no memory of their survival efforts. As pioneers continued to survive, they grew suspicious, finding their own bodies and failed habitats. Distrust toward NoA grew, leading to the formation of a cult named Jubilee, led by Anita and Nahema.+ +Sophie Boucher, the colony's surgeon, determined that Proteus's biosphere is filled with heavy metals that fatally poison the pioneers. Additionally, many pioneers exhibited symptoms such as hallucinations, trances, and violent intentions. This condition was dubbed "Masefield Syndrome" and associated with the massive World Tree, though the exact cause remained unknown.+ +The pioneers also encountered the Tailings, a sentient alien race and remnant of an older species. The Tailings aggressively defended their territory, killing and experimenting on pioneers and attacking their seabases.+ +## Tensions Rise+ +Jubilee and the Pioneers operated separately for a time. Jubilee rebuilt the ruins of Camp One, while the Pioneers constructed several other seabases. However, Proteus proved incompatible with human life due to digestion issues, heavy metal poisoning, alien viruses, and hostile fauna. These challenges crippled both groups. Jubilee cut the cable to Sleep Bay 3, a section of the *Cicada* where new pioneers emerged, likely to stop NoA from printing more. Sleep Bay 3 subsequently sank nearly 600 meters underwater.+ +Tensions escalated as Nahema protested NoA's methods, urging pioneers to abandon the seabases and explore Proteus. Fascinated by the World Tree and local lifeforms, Nahema believed human encroachment was wrong and that celebration lay at the base of the tree. With help from Mantis and Chap, Nahema detonated an explosion at the Old Habitat, killing several pioneers, drowning others, and disabling Biobeds to prevent reprinting.+ +Following the explosion, a pioneer named Ganzo led a group of eleven survivors to the Tadpole Pens. During the journey, Ganzo's wife Ruby and Tuba were lost. At the Pens, Sophie and Nahema had taken the last Tadpoles and locked down part of the base, stranding the group. Under Ganzo's leadership, they headed to the Graveyard to find a blackbox left by Zip, hoping it contained an access key for the Tadpole Pens. Inside the Graveyard Caves, intense heat exacerbated Masefield Syndrome, causing trances and hallucinations. All pioneers died and were marked "Do Not Reprint" by NoA due to viral contamination, except Twinkle, who voluntarily shut off her air supply to be reprinted early at the Hot Cave Basecamp. Upon waking, Twinkle convinced NoA to reprint Ganzo. They debated returning to Sleep Bay 3 but decided to pursue Jubilee instead.+ +## The Chase+ +After the Old Habitat explosion, Nahema fled to the Tadpole Pens, stole a Tadpole, and departed for the World Tree. Sophie, suspecting Nahema planned to poison the tree to kill all humans, chased her in another Tadpole. Sophie left behind a ghost at the Pens revealing that the Bloom and Masefield are distinct; Masefield is caused by a Proteavirus infecting all living beings on the moon.+ +## Sleep Bay 3+ +![The view of Proteus when exiting the Lifepod](wiki-images/b0/b05957089f669ebf443ca0bbdeff341c.png)+ +Over 25 years after the *Cicada* crash, the Qualified Investigator (QI) awakens in Sleep Bay 3 after being printed by NoA. Predicting the QI's imminent death from atmospheric pressure, NoA recommends using nearby Alterra technology to adapt. Instead, the QI finds an unknown organism, the core of an Angel Comb, and interacts with it to gain gene mutations that allow survival on the moon. The PDA instructs the QI to take a Lifepod to the surface to send a distress call. After a rough launch and crash landing, the QI steps out to see the World Tree dominating the horizon.