The creator of Subnautica will debut its new game at Gamescom ONL 2022

Subnautica: Below Zero
(Image credit: Unknown Worlds)

One of the first games confirmed to be in attendance during Gamescom 2022’s Opening Night Live showcase is the new IP from Subnautica studio Unknown Worlds Entertainment. 

Announced via a tweet from Opening Night Live host Geoff Keighley, we now know for sure at least one game that will be featured during the Gamescom 2022 live showcase. According to Keighley’s tweet, the upcoming game is a "new sci-fi IP" and the game’s director Charlie Cleveland (who was also the director of Subnautica) will also make an appearance to introduce the title and show "lots of gameplay," according to Keighley. 

We’ve known that developer Unknown Worlds has been cooking up a few things for a while now. Back in October 2021, it was announced that the studio’s next project will hit early access in 2022. At the time, the project was described as a new "genre-defining game," so we wouldn’t be surprised if this is the very same game that will be shown off at Gamescom this year. 

We also know, as of April 2022, that the same developer is also working on a new Subnautica game which was also said to be taking place in a "new science fiction world." This was very quietly revealed via a new job listing which was searching for a senior narrative designer "to help shape the next game in the Subnautica universe." 

If you didn’t know, Gamescom is an annual gaming event akin to the likes of E3 and Summer Games Fest which usually takes place in Cologne, Germany at the end of August each year. The event itself will feature several developers showing off their new and upcoming games as well as a live showcase hosted by Keighley on opening night. 

In a follow-up tweet, Keighley continued to promote the event by revealing that ONL will be a two-hour live show that will feature 30+ games, one of which we now know is from the Subnautica dev. If you want to see what Unknown Worlds and so many others are up to, you can tune into the event on August 23 at  2PM ET / 11AM PT / 7PM BST. The host also later confirmed that Sonic Frontiers will also be featured during the showcase. 

Want to know what else you can look forward to at Gamescom 2022? Find out everything you need to know about The Future Games Show Powered by Mana - which will also be taking place during the summer gaming event. 

Hope Bellingham
News Writer

After studying Film Studies and Creative Writing at university, I was lucky enough to land a job as an intern at Player Two PR where I helped to release a number of indie titles. I then got even luckier when I became a Trainee News Writer at GamesRadar+ before being promoted to a fully-fledged News Writer after a year and a half of training.  My expertise lies in Animal Crossing: New Horizons, cozy indies, and The Last of Us, but especially in the Kingdom Hearts series. I'm also known to write about the odd Korean drama for the Entertainment team every now and then.