How to play Subnautica online with a friend on PC

Subnautica PC players can now explore the game world with their friends online (Image via Unknown Worlds Entertainment)

Subnautica has always been a single-player survival game which takes place in the mysterious depths of the ocean. But now multiplayer is finally an option, for PC players anyway.

However, it is not an official feature from the developer of the game, so proceed with discretion. As with many other popular open-world games such as Skyrim, Subnautica now has a third-party mod that lets other people play together.

Keeping that in mind, it's certainly not an entirely seamless experience but many of the same features present in the single-player version are still available.

The mod, developed by Nitrox, has been downloaded a million times already. On top of that, it is open source, which allows anyone to play or contribute to the platform.

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Downloading the mod and getting up and running is simple enough. Here's what you need to know before you can start playing online in Subnautica:

How to download the Nitrox Subnautica multiplayer mod on PC

Before attempting to download the multiplayer mod from Nitrox, note that it is only available for the original Subnautica game, and not Subnautica: Below Zero. Also, the mod will work with the game no matter which digital storefront you purchased it from.

Once you're ready to download the Subnautica multiplayer mod, head over to the Nitrox website. There will be a link up front to download the file.

Once the download is complete, you have to extract its contents. Use the Windows zipping tool or any third-party app such as WinRAR or 7-Zip to do this. Once all the files are extracted, you can run the launcher as an administrator. The last step is to make sure the files are aligned to the same folder where Subnautica is installed on your PC.

Now that the launcher is ready, players can head into the game and play alongside other Nitrox users who they invite. Both parties will be able to interact with everything in the survival world, for the most part.

Given that the mod is open source, we should continue to see improvements and new features added over time.