If you're tired of waiting for Subnautica 2, new survival game The Last Caretaker tasks a seafaring robot with saving humanity

Sprawling underwater worlds and colossal sea monsters define the survival experience in Subnautica, but so too does the sense of loneliness. Sure, loads of the best survival games throw you into harsh environments on your own, but you'll never feel smaller and more isolated than floating around on the open ocean. Channeling that feeling while keeping the action above the waves is The Last Caretaker, a new first-person survival experience that puts you in the shoes of a lonely robot. However, despite appearing rather serene, the stakes couldn't be higher - the fate of humanity lies in your metal mitts.

I got an early look at The Last Caretaker back in February, and I was immediately hooked by its premise. With humanity having fled Earth to live among the stars, an army of robots called Caretakers were left behind to guard and maintain Seed Vaults. These facilities house the embryos of future humans, and should the galactic population need bolstering, the Caretakers must unfreeze them, grow them into actual humans, and then pack them into rockets to blast them up to the colonies. While a complicated task, it's certainly achievable with millions of intelligent, subservient androids. However, events on Earth have led to a catastrophe, and you're the last one standing.

As a result, it's imperative that you survive. Conserving and recharging your battery so that you don't lose power is critical, so finding new batteries and crafting solar or wind charging stations is a must. An upgradable tug boat, which acts as your home base, similarly needs electrical power or diesel fuel to keep it running. Recycling machines can turn junk you find into resources that are important for crafting gear and weapons - there's FPS game combat here too, for dealing with hostile threats both man-made and organic. There's a lot to juggle.

But carrying out your creator's goal of delivering fresh blood to the spacefaring human race is just as important as surviving. To do so, you'll chart dangerous waters to find and explore facilities peppered around the oceanic open world. Within, you'll not only find resources critical for both you and the humans you'll eventually need to sustain, but the materials needed to build and launch your rocket. Locations are also packed with puzzles that mostly rely on The Last Caretaker's reactive wiring system - power flows between batteries, cables, machines, and the Caretaker itself, and is needed to turn things on, open doors, and more. Getting everything neatly connected does give me cable management PTSD, though.

Even though you stay firmly above the waves here, there's a definite air of Subnautica here. While The Last Caretaker looks like a challenging and engrossing survival game in its own right, it also feels like a great option for fans impatiently waiting for the Subnautica 2 release date.

The Last Caretaker is out right now in early access on PC. You can get it from Steam here and the Epic Games Store here.

If harvesting resources, learning blueprints, and building masterpieces is your thing, check out some more of the best crafting games. For the explorers out there, here's our best open-world games list.