Subnautica is among the popular sandbox-y survival games available nowadays. However, the official version of the game only allows you to play solo, no matter what platform you play it in. Lucky for players, the game allows modification. And even luckier, some mods allow you to play the game in multiplayer mode. Nitrox is that mod. It is a free and open-sourced game utility that enables you to play Subnautica with your friends. The software offers a full co-op playthrough and even has the rudimentary chat system to give you a legit multiplayer experience. Be warned, though, as getting the multiplayer version requires a lot of complicated processes first.

From solo to co-op

Subnautica offers a very vast alien ocean that you can explore throughout the campaign. However, while there may be lots of creatures in the seas you'll be exploring, it can still be a lonely experience when playing on your own. To escape that, you can install mods to your base game that will allow you to play the game with other gamers.

Nitrox is one of these mods. With this software, you can enjoy a full co-op experience, including synced player movement, basic animation, base building, and item dropping. It also offers other milestones, such as furniture interaction, power management, and cyclops syncing. Another notable addition is the chat system, which lets you interact with the other players. Nitrox comes integrated with Harmony—a library for patching, decorating, and replacing .NET and Mono methods during runtime.

However, while it may seem that the mod is a great thing to try out, it is not recommended for casual players. For one, installing the software into your Subnautica game can be pretty complex. It needs a lot of faffing to get it running since you will need to set up a development environment for it. Moreover, it still has various bug issues that can make the game more annoying than enjoyable.

Overall, Nitrox is still an unstable mod for players looking for a co-op mode for Subnautica. The program still has a long way to go before it can give the players a multiplayer mod that is as polished as the single-player game itself.