Subnautica Cheats: Keep Your Head Above Water

Subnautica is, of course, yet another survival game. A very successful one.

However, it’s a survival game with a twist. You will spend most of your time with Subnautica in the salty brine.

Whilst underwater, you will have to constantly manage your food, oxygen, and battery levels.

Occasionally you’ll get to leave the deep dark sea and make landfall.

So far, Subnautica sounds like a pretty standard survival game. Just with a salty twist.

Right?

Well, no, not really. You see, most of your time with Subnautica will be spent as a pacifist.

You still spend hours crafting, scavenging, base building, and upgrading your gear.

But you never become top of the food chain. 

In Subnautica, you just get better at evading enemies and running away from them.

If you are like me, you have a limited amount of time you can spend on gaming, this means you may never get to see all the awesomeness that Subnautica has to offer.

Thankfully, there is hope!

Can You Cheat in Subnautica?

Thankfully, there’s a whole host of Subnautica cheats available which can be used to speed up your progress in the game massively.

Better still, some of the Subnautica codes can even be used to skip straight to specific milestones in the story.

This is great for added replay value or those of us on a time crunch.

There are just a couple of catches to using these Subnautica cheats.

First, they disable all achievements. If this is something you care about, be sure to make a backup of your saved game before you cheat.

Second, the cheat codes are essentially console commands for Subnautica.

These feel like they harken back to Subnautica’s alpha and beta days.

Meaning they lack polish.

Using some of the commands, especially anything aimed at triggering in-game events, can cause game instability and bugs.

If you have a saved game you are particularly fond of, you should back it up before engaging in any Subnautica cheats.

How to Use Console Commands in Subnautica

Now that we have the warnings out of the way, let’s get into the good stuff.

As mentioned above, Subnautica cheats are activated through console commands.

These originate from the debug tools used by the developers during the game’s extended time in early access.

By default, the console is deactivated. So, your first step is going to be enabling the console command window.

This process differs depending on what platform you’re playing the game on.

That’s right, Subnautica is one of the VERY few games that allows players to access the command console on PlayStation and Xbox systems. Awesome!

PC

Surprisingly, the console is actually the most difficult to access on a PC. Take that PC master race!

• Press F3 and then F8
• Uncheck the “disable console” check box

• Press F8 again
• Make sure the game is in full-screen mode and press ENTER

After you press ENTER, a little gray box will appear on your screen. This is where you type in the console commands and Subnautica codes.

Xbox

Next is the Xbox edition of the game.

The Xbox version has two ways to cheat. 

• To access the console, just press – Press LB+A+RB
• This will bring up a little gray box in the corner, as well as your on-screen keyboard. 
• From here you can just type in console commands to enable cheats.

Of course, no one is quick at typing when using a gamepad.

Thankfully, the developers thought of this. If you pause the game and then press LB+LB, a new menu option. This is the Subnautica debug menu.

• Select this option and you’ll find some handy cheat shortcuts.
• These are split between teleport options, options to give yourself certain items, and command cheats. 

Whilst these are more limited than the options available to you by typing your console commands, they are useful.

PlayStation

The process to access ​​Subnautica PS4 cheats is basically the same, just with different button prompts.

• Press R1+L1+ X to bring up the console command input window.

• Or pause the game and use L1+R1 to enable the developers’ menu options.

Just be warned, some of the Subnautica PS4 cheats here definitely lack polish and are a little janky. Same with the Xbox version.

The teleport menu especially can really confuse the game.

You see, like most games, Subnautica doesn’t load the entire game at once. The map is much too large.

Instead, it only loads whatever is in your immediate vicinity.

So, if you teleport to a location on the other side of the map, you are instantly transported to the coordinates of that location but must then wait for that location to load in. 

This can take a while, up to a minute (My character drowned waiting for one of the interiors of an underwater base to load in.)

If you teleport to a location, don’t be surprised if your game looks like it has crashed. You’ll have to wait a few moments for textures etc. to load in.

So, What Are The Subnautica Console Commands?

Subnautica has a pretty exhaustive list of console commands. 

To help you out, we’ve divided them up into sections which you can find below. 

Story Commands

There’s a good chance the main reason you’re looking for Subnautica cheats is you are looking for a way to speed run through the game.

After all, a survival game like this can be time-consuming.

Below, you can find all the commands you need to trigger important story events in Subnautica.

Be warned! Spoilers Below.

Code	Effect
countdownship	Begins countdown for Aurora drive self-destruct
explodeship	Blow up the Aurora without waiting
startsunbeamstoryevent	Begins Sunbeam events
restoreship	Magically restore the Aurora good as new
sunbeamcountdownstart	Starts the countdown for the Sunbeam event
playsunbeamfx	Plays the second half of the sunbeam being shot down event
precursorgunaim	Plays entire sunbeam events start to finish
forcerocketready	Let’s the escape rocket launch without defeating the Quarantine platform
infectionreveal	Play infection animation for the player character. Also advances your infection level to stage 4.

Item and Inventory Cheats

Maybe you just don’t feel like spending your spare time scavenging for items and messing around with your inventory.

The cheats below should help. They are all aimed at helping with inventory management and spawning whatever you might need.

To use some of these commands, you’ll need the item IDs for the items you wish to spawn.

Code	Effect	Example
item [NAME] [#]	Add desired item and amount to your inventory	Item stasisrifle 1
clearinventory	Delete everything in your inventory. Great for inventory management.	–
spawn [NAME] [#]	Spawns desired object/ item directly in front of you.	Spawn holefish 10
sub cyclops	Spawns the awesome Cyclops submarine in front of you. No assembly required	–
sub aurora	Spawns an intact aurora somewhere behind you	–
vehicleupgrades	Skip the crafting. Gives you every common vehicle part.	–
filterwater	Thirsty? Force every water filtration unit on the map to produce large, filtered water instantly	–
seamothupgrades	Get all the seamoth upgrade modules	–
sub escapepod	Spawns a brand new Lifepod 5 randomly in the shallows and teleports you inside	–
filtersalt	Every water filtration unit will instantly produce salt	–
cyclopsupgrades	Get all the Cyclops upgrade modules	–
exosuitarms	Get all the arms for the prawn suit	–
exosuitupgrades	Get every Prawn suit upgrade module	–
madloot	Gives you a habitat builder, 3 batteries, a survival knife, 4 computer chips, 10 titanium, 5 creepvine samples, and 10 glass. Bargain!	–
spawnloot	You get Copper ore, salt deposit, quartz, silver ore, 4 metal salvage, and gold ore	–
tools loot	Merry Christmas! Get seaglide, transfuser, stasis rifle, repair tool, and the propulsion cannon	–
resourcesfor [NAME]	Spawns whatever you need to craft the selected object	resourcesfor battery

Player Cheats

Next up are the commands that you can use to give your player character a helping hand.

These can be cheats that offer something drastic, like invincibility/ invisibility. 

Or, quality of life cheats that speed up game mechanics, eg.  reducing filtration and crafting timers.

Code	Effect	Example
cure [#]	Cures you and all life within range of the bacterium infection	cure 50
playerinfection [#]	Changes your character’s stage of the infection. 5 will cure you	playerinfection 5
infect [#]	Fan of deadly diseases? Infect yourself and all life within the specified range	infect 20
lldetach	Detaches the annoying lava larva from all vehicles	–
bobthebuilder	Turns on several cheats including- fast build, no cost, unlock all, radiation, fast hatch, fast growth. Also spawns a habitat builder, survival knife, scanner, and repair tool in your inventory.	–
ency all	Unlock all datapad entries	–
takedamage [#]	You masochist! Instantly lose a specified % of your health	takedamage 99
instagib	Every creature in the game, including you, will die in one hit unless you have made yourself invincible.	–
filterfast	Water filtration machines work much faster	–
invisible	Not just invisibility. All creatures will ignore you and you’ll become invulnerable to hazards like heat and radiation. Vehicles take no collision damage.	–
fasthatch	Eggs hatch almost instantly once put in alien containment	–
fastscan	Scan things much faster	–
fastbuild	When using habitat builder modules are built instantly	–
fastgrow	Any flora planted in a planter will grow in seconds	–
nocost	Great, when used with fast build. You can use any crafting station without needing any of the required crafting materials. E.g.: crafting habitat modules with the habitat builder for free.	–
noenergy	Go green! Vehicles, tools and bases will no longer use energy.	–
oxygen	Become a fish-man and breathe underwater. The Subnautica Oxygen cheat.	–
nodamage	All entities, including you, become invincible	–
nosurvival	No more annoying food and water requirements	–
fixleaks	Fixes the radiation leaks aboard the Aurora	–
nitrogen	Toggles water depth time. Can also add decompression effects, so be warned.	–
Radiation	Toggles radiation damage on and off	–
bubbles	Spawns some bubbles near the player for a free oxygen resupply	–
seaglide	Spawns a seaglide in front of you but it is unpowered	–
unlock [NAME]	Unlocks the chosen blueprint	Unlock solarpanel
Unlock all	Unlocks every blueprint in the game	–
unlockdoors	Unlocks all doors on Aurora and in Alien bases but not sealed doors.	–

Technical

These are Subnautica debug console commands. Originally these were mostly used by the developers to change technical parts of the game for testing. Note most of these won’t work on consoles.

Code	Effect	Example
freedomsurvivalhardcorecreative	Change game mode to the selected type	–
day	Change time of day	–
night	Change time of day	–
daynightspeed [#]	Speed up time in increments. E.g.- 3 would speed up time by X3	daynightspeed 4
schedule	Shows upcoming events and when they’ll occur	–
entreset	Reloads all assets, great if something has bugged out	–
gamereset	Reset game to last save	–

Getting Around

Our last batch of codes can all be used to get around the map without relying on vehicles. These are great for zooming around and seeing what the game has in store for you. 

It’s Subnautica warp speed ahead!

Some of these codes require specific IDs for biomes and individual locations. Much like item IDs, there are more of these than we can list. However, you can find an exhaustive list of the biomes here and location IDs here.

Code	Effect	Example
biome [NAME]	Teleport you to the chosen Biome	biome safe
ghost	This is the Subnautica fly cheat / Subnautica no clip mode. Use num keys to set speed. 5= 100m/s. Warning- can disrupt water/ land physics	–
warp [x] [y] [z]	Warps you to the selected coordinates	warp 1 2 3
warpforward [#]	Teleports you a chosen number of meters directly forward	warp 1000
warpme	Teleports you to the last Cyclops, Lifepod 5 or seabase you entered	–
goto [NAME]	Teleports you to the named place	goto aurora
kill	Instantly kills the player. Useful for teleporting straight to Lifepod 5. But game over in hardcore mode. Acts as a ​​Subnautica despawn command.	–
randomstart	Teleports you to Lifepod 5 and then teleports it to a new starting location	–
spawnnearby	The Subnautica unstuck cheat. Respawns you somewhere close by. Great, if you are stuck in terrain or the game is bugging out.

Also Read: Stellaris Console Commands to Take Over The Galaxy in 2022

Conclusion

Hopefully, you’ll find these codes useful. 

There are a few more Subnautica commands out there, but we’ve focused on sharing ones that you, the player, are likely to find most useful.

Subnautica can be a long, grueling game, so we don’t blame you for wanting to take a shortcut here or there. 

Just remember that, as always, the most enjoyable way to play the game is most definitely without cheats.

Also, just remember to back up that save game. 

Some of these cheats can be a little unpredictable and we would hate for you to lose progress on your favorite saved game.

FAQs