Subnautica 2's Hotfix 3 is nerfing enemies again, and I wish it wasn't

Stop tinkering with Subnautica 2's angry fish

Unknown Worlds pushed the latest Subnautica 2 hotfix, and aside from the usual bug squashing, this one's all about making aggressive fish less so. The vocal segment of Subnautica 2's fanbase that took issue with how hard it is to evade the local wildlife — complaining about surviving in a survival game, in other words — has only grown more vocal since the issue first surfaced. But changing enemy behavior is just not the way to go about handling this issue.

For reference, here's what the hotfix does:

• Hammerheads no longer attack unpiloted Tadpoles.
  • Hammerheads can still take an interest in Tadpoles.
• Increased overall damage of Marrowbreaches.
• Spaced out Marrowbreach attacks to occur less frequently.
• Reduced Nibbler perception range, making players less visible to them.
• Increased the duration Nibblers circle the player before attacking.
• Reduced overall movement speed of the Nibblers.
• Increased sensitivity of the Nibblers to the Multitool.
• Increased overall damage of Nibblers.

Okay, so the Hammerhead thing sort of makes sense. Even aggressive real-life sharks will just do a little investigative test before attacking something. They won't bother it if it's not edible or threatening, so having a Hammerhead fish attack an unpiloted, unmoving tadpole is a bit extra. Having them check it out though, and linger in the area while they do — then maybe get a bit funky if it's moving or if you approach it? That seems like a better fix than just deciding they won't care anymore.

Meanwhile, Nibblers are less likely to take it personally when you hit them with the multitool. I would take it very personally if you hit me with a multitool, and I imagine most predatory animals would, too. It's a silly change. Stop poking the wildlife if you don't want the wildlife to poke back.

The amount of attention Nibblers get in this update confuses me in general. Yes, they're annoying, but you can easily outrun (well, outswim) them in the tadpole, get out of the way if you've equipped the dash mod (which you should do anyway), or use the sonic resonator to make them lose interest. And the damage they deal is trivial, or was trivial before the patch.

Mostly, I just don't understand why this issue has taken on such a life of its own. The top comments on the Subnautica 2 subreddit are praise for Unknown Worlds listening to players and adjusting fish difficulty. This is a survival game, not a theme park! I sank 35 hours into the game before its early access launch and only died twice — both times to massive leviathans, and one of those was because I exited the early access zone. Evading deadly enemies is part of surviving. You learn their patterns, you figure out how to get around them, and you incorporate that knowledge (and the mutations that improve your movement abilities) into your routine. It's kind of the point.

I'm judging you for complaining about surviving in a survival game, but I also think if that's the kind of game you want, then you should have it. But I should get to have the experience I want, too. Rather than Unknown Worlds implementing mandatory lobotomies for Subnautica 2's enemies across the board, I hope there's a more elegant solution somewhere down the early access path. You can already choose whether the game has hunger and thirst options at the start. Difficulty toggles that determine fish behavior would, undoubtedly, be a lot of work, but at least it'd give us more options for how we want to play the game.