Story

This video briefly explains the plot of Subnautica

Here’s a detailed explanation if you are interested:

Aurora & the Desagi

In Subnautica, you play as a survivor called Ryley Robinson, who is the only survivor of the Aurora crash in the planet. The planet is known is 4546B and apparently this planet is far from federation space which makes rescue very unlikely. The Aurora was a giant trading spaceship that is known to teleport through different galaxies via by using the Phasegates.

Phasegates are giant gateways to other galaxies that sent ships to travel between colony planets. This said phasegate was the one that transported the Aurora in the first place.

When the Aurora got teleported to 4546B, the ship suddenly got hit by an unknown force which fell to the planet causing a major impact in the planet’s atmosphere and killed almost all crew members except for Ryley.

Apparently, the Aurora was secretly sent to 4546B to rescue an important team crew and locate a lost ship known as the Desagi, however the crew isn’t aware of the rescue mission of the Desagi ship. There were only three survivors: Paul Torgal, Bart Torgal and Marguite Maida. The Aurora was actually sent there to rescue the Desagi but they failed at some point due to the Aurora being fired at by an unknown cannon.

Only 22 – 25 lifepods were evacuated to the surface but only 10 managed to make it to the surface. Most of the lifepod survivors have since died, the only survivor however being Ryley Robinson.

The Aurora

The Aurora was a brand-new Alterra Long-Range Capital Ship (and possibly the first of its class) sent to the Ariadne Arm by the Alterra Corporation to build a phasegate.

Its auxiliary mission, unknown to most of the crew, was an agreement made with the Mongolian Independent States to search for and possibly rescue the survivors of the Degasi crew.

It was thought that the ship’s advanced scanning suite, superior to any ship that had previously made a search effort, would have better luck in finding the crew, or finally confirm whatever fate had befallen them.

Trading Ship Sunbeam

When Ryley Robinson receives a call from the radio at some point, they are answered by Avery Quinn who is with the Trading Ship Sunbeam that investigates where the Aurora went and tries to find the last survivors of the ship. Here are the voicelines from Avery Quinn, Captain of the Trading Ship Sunbeam:

“This is Avery Quinn of trading ship Sunbeam. Aurora, do you read? Over.
Nothing but vacuum. These Alterra ships. They run low on engine grease, they send an SOS; you offer to help, they don’t pick up.
Aurora, I’m out on the far side of the system, it’s going to take more than a week to reach your position, do you still need our assistance? Over.
I’ll try them again tomorrow. Damn charter’s going to have us wasting our profit margin running errands for Alterra.
See what the long-range scanner picks up in the meantime.”

“Aurora, this is Sunbeam again. We just picked up a massive debris field at your location.
I didn’t know how bad… How many of you… I didn’t know.
We are now en route to your location. We’re going to bring you home. Sunbeam out.
What else can I say? The only time I parked a rig this big on a rock that small was in VR, and I blew it.
Oh, it’s a bad option alright, but so are all the others.”

“This is Sunbeam. Y’know, Aurora, we’re from a little trans-gov on the far side of Andromeda, and we have a saying there.
There’s no bad without the good, no good without the bad.
Sounds like you tasted a bunch of the former, but that only means you’re overdue a whole lot of the latter.
Might just be we’re it.
We’re scanning for somewhere to park, we’ll be in touch when we find it. Sunbeam out.”

At some point Sunbeam will travel to 4546B in 30 minutes, they are planning to pick up Ryley at one of the planet’s surface islands.

But unfortunately, the Sunbeam ship blew up just before they land by an unknown laser that shot at the ship. This is caused by the Quarantine Enforcement Platform, an alien structure just were the Sunbeam was supposed to land.

“Survivor, we see you!
Man, I don’t know how you held out down there.
We’ve broken atmosphere and we’re descending towards the landing site.
Is that a building down there?! What do you mean you can’t identify it?
Hold on, no turning back now *Static*
Positions everyone, touching down in 10, 9, 8-
It’s coming from the building?! Change course, set thrusters to (full)- *Static*
*Sirens*

The Enforcement Platform Cannon destroying the Sunbeam

The Khaara Infection

The Alterra AI states that the planet is on a lockdown quarentine due to a disease infecting the entire planet caused by the Khaara Infection. Any living thing infected that passes to or out of the planet even at spaceships will get shot at by the Enforcement Platform cannon.

It’s unknown why this is outspread and where it came from so we are left to wonder why it started. The player then gets infected as well so we are left to find a cure for the disease by travelling to the other alien facilities on the planet.

When the player reaches the Disease research facility in the Lost River, Ryley discovers that the Warpers which were encountered previously are actually machines designed to kill any infected creatures. We even discover that the aliens were researching the various specimens found in 4546B and the amount of ray species in this planet.

At the Lava Lakes biome, we get to the Primary Containment Facility which was designed to contain a certain leviathan known as the Sea Emperor. This leviathan was the only way to cure the infection and the Precursor race was destined to find a cure but they couldn’t succeed as they were wiped out a long time ago.

The player then finds a way to obtain a Sea Emperor egg to hatch new young Sea Emperors at some point throughout the facility in order to wait for them to grow up. Finally, the survivor has enough samples to get the enzymes from the baby Sea Emperors to cure ourselves from the Khaara Infection.

After this Ryley builds the Escape Rocket and is able to turn off the Enforcement Platform cannon and be able to escape. The Sea Emperor sends one last message to us before we leave.

The Desagi

The Desagi was a Mongolian ship owned by the Torgal Cooperation manned by six people. The Desagi that crash landed on 4546B prior before the crash landing of the Aurora.

The only three survivors of the Desagi ship crash were Paul Torgal, Bart Torgal( Paul’s son ) and Marguerit Maida, a mercenary hired by Paul to fend off pirates.

Desagi Survivors:

Occupation: Captain of the Desagi Ship

Age: 79

Paul Torgal was the captain of the mongolian vessel, Desagi. And he is also the CEO of the Torgal Coperation.

Paul Torgal being attacked by a Crabsquid shown in the pre-release trailer for Subnautica

Occupation:

Age: 19

Gender: Male

Bart Torgal is the only son of Paul Torgal. He kept the Desagi crew alive after the crash by growing food.

Bart managed to survive for an unspecified amount of time before heading back to the Floating Island base where he made his last final recording just before he died to the Khaara infection.

This is the first time I’ve seen sunlight in months. After all that time in the deep I’d been dreaming of it. Now that I’m back here, I’m finding it hard to enjoy alone. Father was right: we should never have left this place. We shouldn’t have gone so deep. They do not want us down there.

Despite my best efforts ill-health is taking hold of me. The visions are getting worse.

Marguerit and father are now part of the ecosystem of this incredible planet. It’s reassuring to know that when I go, I’ll join them.

Until then… well, there’s always the view.

Age: 42

Occupation: Worked as a mercenary for Paul Torgal

Marguerit Maida is a hired mercenary for assisting Paul Torgal ro protect the Desagi from pirate raids during the Mongolian Vessel Desagi attempting to orbit around 4546B.

Marguerit’s considerable experience was demonstrated with these events when she wrestled Stalkers to remove their teeth and even fought a Reaper Leviathan to save Paul Torgal.

These conniving, corporate, bourgeois, inbred, incompetent, self-absorbed jerks don’t have a damn clue!The kid’s not so bad─he’s even useful─but I swear everything that comes out of his father’s idiot face is a narcissistic lie. If he wants to stay in this cave, that’s his problem. I’m the one doing the heavy lifting. When sea monsters are hunting you, you don’t hide; you hunt the sea monsters. Then you build a bigger boat out of sea monster bones and you hunt bigger monsters. Keep going until there aren’t any monsters left to hunt you.

The Full Video explains the story of what happened to the Desagi:

Story of the Desagi Survivors

Around a decade prior to the Aurora crash, a Mongolian ship named the Degasi, piloted by Paul Torgal, takes a detour from one of its usual routes to visit Planet 4546B. However, when the ship comes within range of the planet, it is shot down by the Quarantine Enforcement Platform, forcing Paul to make a controlled descent onto the planet. Of the six crew members onboard the Degasi, there are only three survivors after the crash: Paul, his son Bart Torgal, and Marguerit Maida, a mercenary hired by Paul to defend the Degasi against pirate attacks.

After drifting in a lifepod together for a number of days, the three eventually wash up at the Floating Island. Paul sends Marguerit to salvage parts from the ship and sends Bart to find a stable source of food. Together, they construct their first base on the Floating Island. Paul is initially reluctant to leave the island, deeming it a safe place to wait for rescue, while Marguerit insists that they explore the ocean surrounding them, stating that eventually they will have to.

The Desagi Base on the Floating Island

The Degasi crew built the central main base first, later adding the observatories to allow Bart Torgal to study the environment.

Under Bart’s guidance, they constructed a small farm on the east of the island, consisting of several exterior growbeds which were stocked with Marblemelons and Chinese Potato Plants. At some point Bart appears to have repurposed one of the Observatories as an ersatz greenhouse, with an Interior Growbed placed inside it.

Extreme weather conditions and a lack of resources caused tension among the group, forcing them to leave the habitat and set up a new one in the Jellyshroom Cave. At some point a landslide buried part of the central base and severely damaged the rest of it, being the likely reason for their departure from the island.

The Second Desagi Seabase on the Jellyshroom Caves

The second Seabase built by the Degasi crew, located within the Jellyshroom Cave. Away from the main base, four smaller outposts are present: most are just bare Foundations, while the furthest has a couple of destroyed Modules.

These each have small amount of resources and/or Fragments. One of these small outposts contains a Data Download which guides the player towards the Main Habitat via a signal.

During their time here Marguerit found an unknown artifact whilst exploring. They came to realize that whatever shot down the Degasi would also do the same to a rescue ship. Marguerit was determined to investigate further, much to Paul’s disapproval.

The Final Desagi Seabase in the Deep Grand Reefs

The third and final seabase built by the Degasi crew, found in the Deep Grand Reef.

Paul Torgal was not pleased with the decision to build a habitat in the Deep Grand Reef as it was risky and he had increasing doubts about Marguerit’s judgment. Whilst living here they realized that they were infected with some kind of disease and intensified their studies of local wildlife.

The animosity between the survivors only grew stronger over time, with Paul angrily confronting Marguerit over what he perceived as insubordination on her part. Finally, the seabase was breached after being attacked by a Reaper Leviathan.

Paul observed Marguerit fighting the attacking Leviathan after being thrown clear of the habitat, the old man dying shortly after. Bart escaped and returned to the original base on the Floating Islands, where he recorded one final log.

“This is the first time I’ve seen sunlight in months. After all that time in the deep I’d been dreaming of it. Now that I’m back here, I’m finding it hard to enjoy alone. Father was right: we should never have left this place. We shouldn’t have gone so deep. They do not want us down there.

Despite my best efforts ill-health is taking hold of me. The visions are getting worse.

Marguerit and father are now part of the ecosystem of this incredible planet. It’s reassuring to know that when I go, I’ll join them.

Until then… well, there’s always the view.”

– Bart Torgal, Final recording in the Floating Island