Anthony Gallegos
Anthony Gallegos is the Design Lead for Subnautica 2 at Unknown Worlds Entertainment. He has been the primary public face of the game's development, hosting all five dev vlogs released between April 2025 and February 2026.
Journalism career
Before game design, Gallegos worked as a gaming journalist. He wrote for IGN, 1UP, Electronic Gaming Monthly (EGM), Games for Windows (GFW), and GameSpy, primarily on the PC team at IGN. He studied at the University of California, Davis.
In January 2009, after layoffs at 1UP.com, Gallegos co-founded Rebel FM, a gaming podcast that became one of the longest-running in the medium. He also produced The Comedy Button podcast (over 200 episodes).
Game design career
Gallegos transitioned from journalism to game design, working at several studios:
Item | Description |
|---|---|
Gazillion Entertainment | Systems Designer on Marvel Heroes (MMO) |
Zombie Studios / Z2 | Design roles |
Echtra Games | Senior Game Designer on Torchlight III |
Unknown Worlds (May 2021-present) -- Design Lead on Subnautica 2 | -- |
Design philosophy on Subnautica 2
Gallegos has been vocal about two design principles for Subnautica 2. First, no weapons: the game has "no weapons, only collection tools." Leviathans cannot be killed. He stated that eliminating predators is "boring" and "players will have to avoid or interact with these colossal creatures."
Second, co-op must remain optional. He stated: "The important distinction there is that any part of the game isn't going to require cooperative play." He also noted that survival game players aren't "monogamistic" like MMO players, and the team supports players taking breaks between content updates.