Subnautica 2 Gets Massive Buddy System Update With Proximity Chat and Friend Rescue

Studio Unknown Worlds has released a major update, Update 1.2 Buddy System, for the ocean survival sim Subnautica 2. The patch focuses entirely on enhancing four-player co-op, adding spatial voice chat with a radio effect, the ability to rescue downed teammates, and direct item trading.

The update rolls out automatically and is free for all early access owners.

Spatial Voice Chat and Teammate Revival

The key addition is cross-platform Proximity Voice Chat: squad members’ voices are loud and clear at close range, gradually fade as you move apart, and turn into distorted radio chatter when divers get too far from each other. The chat supports voice activation and Push-to-Talk.

The game now features a Player Revives system: when a character passes out from lack of oxygen or predator attacks, they don’t die instantly. Teammates have a temporary window to swim over, revive the diver, and share oxygen. The rescued player keeps all their gear and collected resources, avoiding a respawn trip back to base.

Direct Resource Trading, Beacons, and Gestures

According to the official patch notes from Unknown Worlds, players no longer have to drop resources on the seafloor: items can now be transferred directly by interacting with a teammate’s inventory.

Other patch additions:

• Tracking Tag beacon: a compact navigation device that can be attached to objects or placed in a portable container so you don’t lose your stash in the depths;
• Emotion wheel: quick greeting and applause gestures, plus hand signals underwater;
• Customization: two new character appearances (Jegna and Grace) and an expanded color palette for dive suits;
• Fauna behavior: sharks and eels have new damage animations, and sound resonators now effectively stun underwater monsters.

Base Building Improvements and RTX 5000 Support

The underwater base design interface now includes alignment guides and a clear list of obstacles blocking compartment placement. On-screen navigation markers now only scale up when you approach the target, reducing interface clutter.

Graphics settings for Nvidia GeForce RTX 5000 GPUs now support Frame Generation up to 6x and dynamic frame rate scaling. The developers also fixed over a hundred critical bugs related to network synchronization, vehicle physics, and texture popping.