Game: NAUTUS
Developer: Magic Design Studios (Montpellier)
Publisher: Arc Games
Genre: Underwater Adventure · Crafting · Co-Op
Beta Starts: August 31, 7 AM PDT
Platform: PC (Steam)
Players: Solo or 4-player online co-op
Feedback: Via Discord
🌊 Closed Beta Starts August 31 — Sign Up Now
The NAUTUS Closed Beta Playtest opens on Monday, August 31 at 7 AM PDT, and sign-ups are live right now at playtest.playnautus.com.
Magic Design Studios are explicitly after feedback — selected players will report through Discord and help shape the game from the earliest stage.
📖 We Covered the Reveal
NAUTUS was announced earlier this month with an Early Access window of 2027 — read our original NAUTUS announcement coverage here for the full breakdown of the premise and setting.
The surface is your sanctuary. The ocean floor is a different beast entirely.
NAUTUS is getting its first public hands-on. Arc Games and Magic Design Studios — the Montpellier indie studio behind Have a Nice Death and Unruly Heroes — have announced a Steam Closed Beta Playtest opening August 31, ahead of the game’s wider release.
It’s a proper introduction rather than a teaser: character creation, the first biome, your own submarine, main and secondary quests, and the core progression systems.
Two Games, Stacked Vertically
☀️ On the Surface
Catch your breath. Meet and help the quirky amnesiac locals, customise your tropical home base, manage resources, and engineer specialised submarine upgrades.
🌊 Below the Surface
Pilot your upgradeable submarine into a beautiful and genuinely dangerous abyss. Mutant marine life, environmental hazards, and rare materials worth the risk.
The dual-layer structure is the whole design, and the beta is built specifically to show both halves rather than just the exciting one. Cosy above, hostile below — with everything you bring up feeding directly into what you can build before you go back down.
The Locals Are the Reason to Dive
🧠 Amnesia, a Phobia of the Ocean, and Artifact Stones
This is the detail that ties the two layers together properly. The eccentric inhabitants of your tropical outpost are amnesiac — and, awkwardly for people living on an island, they have developed a bizarre phobia of the ocean.
Recovering lost artifact stones from the abyss cures them and restores them to their true selves.
That means diving isn’t just a resource run — the dangerous half of the game is how you repair the safe half. Plenty of games with a home base treat it as a menu you return to; here the base has a reason to want you back in the water, and every recovered stone visibly changes someone.
The cast is pitched squarely at the game’s humour — the beta introduces the town mayor and a character named Mr. Golden, with the wider roster including a tanning-obsessed diver and a somewhat unreliable expedition chief.
Underneath it sits the actual mystery: your uncle, Bernard Torpedo, has disappeared, along with whatever happened to the N.A.U.T.U.S. research team. Ancient relics and hidden clues are scattered through the depths for anyone willing to go looking.
Magic Design Named Their Reference Points
🎯 Dave the Diver, Subnautica, Terraria, SteamWorld Dig
Rather than a vague “fans of adventure games,” Magic Design have stated exactly who they’re recruiting for this playtest — and those four titles triangulate NAUTUS precisely:
Dave the Diver gives you the surface-and-dive rhythm. Subnautica supplies the submersible exploration and the fear of deep water. Terraria and SteamWorld Dig bring the descend-to-progress loop where better gear unlocks deeper ground.
Naming your influences that specifically is a confident move, and it tells prospective testers more in one line than a page of feature bullets would.
What’s in the Beta
👤 Make a Character
Create your own character and start the adventure from the beginning.
🚤 Unlock a Submarine
Get your own sub and begin upgrading it toward deeper, more hostile water.
🪸 The First Biome
Explore the opening region, with main and secondary quests to work through.
🤝 Four-Player Co-Op
Dive solo, or bring up to three friends along in online co-op.
Co-op being available in the playtest matters. Testing a four-player mode with real groups rather than internally is exactly the sort of thing a closed beta is for, and it means feedback will cover the multiplayer experience rather than just the solo one.
🌊 Underwater
🚤 Submarine
🔨 Crafting
🏝️ Base Building
🤝 4-Player Co-Op
🔍 Mystery
Who’s Making It
🇫🇷 Magic Design Studios
An indie studio in Montpellier, established 2015, whose core team carries decades of industry experience from Ubisoft titles including Assassin’s Creed, Ghost Recon, Rayman, Raving Rabbids and Splinter Cell. Their own work includes the award-winning Unruly Heroes (2019) and the critically acclaimed roguelike Have a Nice Death.
🏢 Arc Games
An independent publisher of AA and indie titles across North America, Europe and Asia, founded in 2008 as Perfect World Entertainment. Their catalogue spans REMNANT II, the Torchlight series, Neverwinter, Star Trek Online, Frosthaven and Have a Nice Death — as well as Order of the Sinking Star, which we covered recently.
The NAUTUS Closed Beta Playtest opens Monday, August 31 at 7 AM PDT. Sign-ups are open now.
Hi there! I’m Marie, also known as CtrlQueen. I’m passionate about keeping up with the latest in gaming news and sharing my insights. RPGs steal my heart with their rich narratives and immersive worlds, but I also love unwinding with fun, casual games. Whether you’re here for deep dives into game mechanics or just to chat about your favorite casual game, you’ve found the right place! Let’s game and explore together.
