Subnautica 2's developers have released the "Buddy System" update, the game's latest monthly patch focused on improving multiplayer with friends. The 1.2 update adds long-promised proximity chat, where players sound louder when nearby and fade into a radio-like effect as they move further away, alongside quality-of-life features designed to make co-operative play smoother and less fiddly.

The update also introduces player emotes (thumbs up/down, clapping and fist-raising), direct inventory sharing between players standing near each other, and the ability to swim to a downed friend and share oxygen to revive them. Additional features include two new avatars, extra suit colours, a throwable tracking tag that boosts blackbox signal range if carried on death, smaller HUD icons that enlarge when looked at directly, improved pinned recipes, clearer base-building placement feedback, and various bug fixes. The update follows last month's creature behaviour changes and is set to launch on 19 August.