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Proteus is the ocean moon on which Subnautica 2 takes place. It is an uncharted, water-covered moon in a binary star system, orbiting a gas giant. Proteus is the setting of the game, not its intended destination: the colony ship CICADA was bound for the desert world Zezura when its AI, the Noetic Advisor, diverted course toward Proteus instead. The ship broke apart entering the moon's atmosphere, scattering survivors across its ocean.

Overview

Proteus is an ocean moon: a body whose surface is dominated by deep water, with a layered ocean that descends through a series of regions. It sits in a binary star system and orbits a gas giant. The gas giant is known to the Axum as Apiary. The name Proteus is established in the game itself; some marketing copy leaves the world unnamed, but the in-game material treats it as Proteus.

The moon is the home of the Axum civilization, whose structures, observatories, and inscriptions are found beneath the waves. It is also where the Blight, a spreading corruption, is taking hold of parts of the ecosystem.

Lethal to Humans Over Time

Proteus is not a world humans can live on indefinitely. Two hazards make it lethal over the long term:

• A high-xenon atmosphere that acts as a sedative on humans.

• Water that carries heavy metals, building up in the body over time.

In the game's fiction, this is why colonists undergo a process called reprinting roughly every three months, restoring their bodies against the moon's slow toll. Reprinting is lore only in the current Early Access build: it explains how survivors persist on Proteus, but it has no associated gameplay mechanic at present. The player's own ability to survive the deep instead comes from the adaptations system rather than from reprinting.

Regions

Proteus is divided into a set of named regions, documented in full on the Biomes page. The current Early Access build ships with the regions below.

Several names that circulated before launch are not confirmed present in the current Early Access build, including Kelp Forest, Jelly Plateaus, Overgrown Ruins, VepZone, and Start Zone. The Biomes page tracks the full reconciliation.

Navigation

Proteus has no in-game map. The player navigates using a compass and beacons they place themselves to mark points of interest. Learning the moon's layout by sight and memory, and tagging important spots with beacons, is part of how the player builds a mental picture of the world.

Inhabitants and History

Proteus carries the remains of the Axum civilization, including an observatory in the Karakorum region. The Blight is spreading across parts of the moon, appearing as Blighted areas and as growths that infect local flora. Beyond the player's Pioneers, the moon is also home to earlier survivors, including the rebel faction Jubilee, fixated on the World Tree that is said to lie in the future Xanadu region.