Did you finish Subnautica and do you want 20-40 hours more of the same? Do you also not mind that the game doesn't quite reach the same level of excellency as the first game (but is still very good)? Then this game is for you. If you haven't played the first Subnautica yet ... well, what are you reading this for? Go and play it, it is fantastic. And I'm usually not even much into survival games.
This one isn't quite as strong, but falling short of one of the best games ever made is not something to be overly ashamed of, it is still very very good. The game has a smaller scope and clearly had a lot less development and polishing time than the first game. While the first game certainly wasn't bug free this one has a lot more - sounds not playing, instruments not working (restarting the game fixes that), resources placed in such a way that they can't be picked up, some visible places without texturemaps ... and the first time I deployed my shiny new Snowfox it dropped straight through the floor. (I ended up making sure to look upwards while deploying it to make sure it spawns above the ground collision ... either that helped or I just managed to find that one wonky spot on first deployment)
The mystery story was also weaker than in the first game - due to it being set on the same planet there is less of the unknown in general, but the story is also split. The part of the story regarding the reason why you came to the planet in the first place is mostly resolved after less than half of the game, the other half of the game is very interesting but also very straightforward and culminates in an unnecessarily big cliffhanger. The first game was a lot more sophisticated in telling and ending its story. And also a lot more robust when it came to accidentally doing things out of the intended order, I had at least one very weird interaction that was clearly not supposed to happen that way. (But any more detail would spoil things)
A lot more of the game is set on dry land and while I certainly liked a lot of it I also think these aspects could have been done better. As beautiful as these arctic areas are, navigation is a lot harder on dry land and clearly not something the leveldesigners where as comfortable with as they are below the surface, the areas flow and guide the player a lot less. Cold as a hazard takes a lot of waiting at first and is a complete non issue later on ... and let's not even talk about the logic of temperature in this game. I'd say the dry land sections were at the same time a touch too big and a touch to underdeveloped.
But despite all of these issues the game often absolutely nails the feeling of wonder and discovery that made the first game so damn good, the visuals, the sound design and the music play together wonderfully and had me just staring in awe multiple times and in the end, that is a large part of what makes these games so great.

No other game in this genre manages to capture the fun of its progenitor Vampire Survivors quite as well as Nordic Ashes. The devs clearly understand why Vampire Survivors was so addicting and this game got me hooked just as fast.
While it does have ideas of its own it isn't quite as adventurous in its gamedesign as some of its competitors, but what is here already feels very polished and focused on the fun parts.
The Devs are very active with regular updates and fast hotfixes when necessary and its soundtrack has a tendency to get stuck in my brain. A strong recommendation from me for anyone who wants more Vampire Survivors and preferably enjoys a norse setting.

I'm usually not much of a story focused gamer, prefering to play something on the side while I watch something ... but this game ... this ♥♥♥♥♥♥♥ game really pulled me in, got to me and made me feel things and I can't remember when a game last did this to this extend. Well done, devs, well ♥♥♥♥♥♥♥ done.

Fantastisches Spiel, eins der wenigen Spiele wo Gameplay, Charactere und Story gleichermaßen klasse sind. Seit langer Zeit hat mich kein Spiel mehr so begeistert wie Dust.