Can you trust Subnautica's Steam reviews? Adjusted rating 96.8%
Genuinely great 400 positive and 400 negative reviews analyzed · data as of 2026-10-12
Summary
Subnautica holds an official Steam rating of 97.1%. After weighting 400 positive and 400 negative reviews by trust, the adjusted rating is 96.8% (95% range 96.7–97.0%), essentially the same as the official figure. Verdict: "Genuinely great" (the adjusted rating is 70% or higher and the positive reviews carry high average trust).
Average trust is 0.74 for positive and 0.80 for negative reviews, but the gap is too small to move the official rating much. The most common discount factor is very short reviews, at 44% of all reviews.
The monthly history (144 months) has no month where volume and negative share jumped together. The rating does not appear to be driven by a single episode.
The last 180 days show 97.1% (last 30 days: 96.8%), close to the all-time figure.
Japanese-language reviews alone show 91.6% (1,137 reviews, 95% range 89.9–93.1%), 5.4 points below the overall rating. Players writing in Japanese are noticeably less positive. In the last 180 days, Japanese-language reviews show 84.0%.
The adjusted rating estimates trust from how reviews are written; it does not judge any individual review as fake. Data as of 2026-10-12.
Positive vs negative breakdown
Share of sampled reviews that meet each condition that lowers trust. When a condition is more common on the positive side, the adjusted rating falls below the official one.
| Condition | Positive reviews | Negative reviews |
|---|---|---|
| Under 2 hours played at review | 4% | 15% |
| Very short text | 45% | 24% |
| Key activated outside Steam | 11% | 13% |
| Received for free | 2% | 4% |
| Owns very few games | 23% | 6% |
| Over 100 reviews written | 2% | 3% |
| Average trust (1.0 = full) | 0.74 | 0.80 |
The median total playtime of the sampled reviewers is 21.4 hours.
Rating history
Monthly positive and negative review counts since release, as published by Steam.
Recent sentiment
| Period | Positive | Reviews |
|---|---|---|
| Last 30 days | 96.8% | 2,136 |
| Last 180 days | 97.1% | 33,825 |
| All time | 97.1% | 381,642 |
| Japanese, last 180 days | 84.0% | 81 |
About this verdict
- Every figure is computed from review data that Steam makes public. No AI estimation is used.
- Review text is never stored or republished. Read the actual reviews on Steam.
- Read the methodology and its limits
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