Subnautica Developer’s Next Project Will Be a Turn-Based Strategy Game Called ‘Project M’

Subnautica’s developers have announced their next game, and it won’t be an immersive survival sim. Codenamed Project M, the new game will be a turn-based strategy game set in a sci-fi world, according to the Krafton earnings release. It is set to release in early access in 2022, alongside Callisto Protocol — a survival horror game from Striking Distance Studios.

In the same announcement, Krafton also announced a new program called “The Potential” intended to “actively push into new businesses such as deep learning, Web 3.0, NFT, VR, and others.”

Unknown Worlds was picked up by Krafton late last year, with the publisher saying it would continue to function as an independent studio as it worked on both what we now know as Project M as well as updates for Subnautica and Subnautica: Below Zero.

In our review of Subnautica back in 2018, we found it to be a “template for what open-world survival games should strive to be.” We similarly loved Subnautica: Below Zero in our review last year of the frosty follow-up.

Rebekah Valentine is a news reporter for IGN. You can find her on Twitter @duckvalentine.