It's been a long, long road in development for Subnautica. Released in both Early Access and Xbox One Preview, the game has undergone numerous updates and changes, with the developer remaining ever-transparent throughout, even allowing the public to track their development Trello board. And now, Unknown Worlds is looking to put an official lid on the early access and preview content, in favour of a full, retail release.

The problem is, they don't know when that will be. Internally (and a bit externally), they've always aimed at October 31 for at least the Steam release of the game, but in a recent update over on their official site, fellow Aussie and Unknown Worlds community and all-round do a bit of everything guy, Hugh Jeremy, has now suggested a January 2018 release window. But he's even done that with an asterisk.

When it comes to release dates, only one thing is certain: There is no certainty. While we were quite keen to get Subnautica out on the 31st of October, it now looks most likely that we will release some time in January 2018.

This is a best guess, subject to change, and purely speculative. Like every other time-frame we talk about, it’s best to just smile and nod and expect us to change it again.

I've stopped playing the game at this point, because I don't want to get so deep that I spoil the final, (hopefully) polished version of the game. But if it's time they need to make it the best it can be, I can wait a few extra months. Plus there's plenty of games to play this Holiday Period anyway.

As an aside, a Subnautica fan went ahead and made a pretty incredible LEGO set based on the game and submitted it to LEGO Ideas. Check it out and if you like what you see sea, be sure to click Support to help it along.