Subnautica 2 Takes Steam’s Wishlist Crown as 2026 Beckons
https://dealnesthq.com
Steam’s wishlist leaderboard is a strange aquarium: every upcoming game swims around hoping someone taps the glass, and in 2026 the biggest fish is Subnautica 2. With Hollow Knight: Silksong finally out of the waiting room—after briefly making digital storefronts faint like overworked Victorian gentlemen—the top spot has opened up, and Unknown Worlds’ underwater survival sequel has slid into it with the smug grace of a hermit crab wearing a crown it found in a shipwreck. For the uninitiated, Steam wishlists are the platform’s collective anticipation ledger. Players add upcoming games to their wishlists, and Steam ranks the most-wanted **** les for everyone to see. It is not a sales chart, and it is not a review score; it is closer to a mood ring for the PC gaming crowd, except the mood is usually “please, please, please be good.” The ranking gives smaller games a chance to be discovered and gives big games a public scoreboard for bragging rights. In the late-2025 snapshot that inspired this dispatch, the scoreboard had a new name at the very top. At the time of that snapshot, Subnautica 2 sat at No. 1, followed by Valve’s hero shooter Deadlock, the co-op looter-shooter Borderlands 4, the highly anticipated FPS Battlefield 6, **** o Games’ ambitious Light No Fire, the extraction shooter ARC Raiders, Arena Breakout: Infinite, Dying Light: The Beast, the roguelike deckbuilder Slay the Spire 2, and ARK 2. The full Top 10 looked like this: Rank Game Quick Vibe Check 1 Subnautica 2 Alien ocean survival with friends 2 Deadlock Valve’s hero-shooter experiment 3 Borderlands 4 Co-op loot and loud guns 4 Battlefield 6 Big-budget FPS chaos 5 Light No Fire **** o Games’ planetary ambition 6 ARC Raiders Extraction shooter with style 7 Arena Breakout: Infinite Tense tactical extraction 8 Dying Light: The Beast Zombie parkour, presumably 9 Slay the Spire 2 Deckbuilding brain candy 10 ARK 2 Dinosaurs and survival, again Hollow Knight: Silksong had been the perennial occupant of the wishlist throne, and for good reason. The original Hollow Knight is a Metroidvania classic, often championed as one of the best games in its genre. Silksong was first announced in 2019, and the long wait turned it into a hype volcano. When it finally arrived, it briefly crashed Steam and other digital platforms, which is the modern equivalent of a rock star being carried offstage by an overly enthusiastic crowd. Now that Silksong is out, the wishlist crowd has to look forward to something else. Apparently, that something else is wet, dark, and full of alien fish. Subnautica 2 is an open-world survival game in which players explore mysterious alien waters. It supports co-op for up to four players, features crafting systems, and offers a variety of biomes and lifeforms to study. The game is currently without a release date, but it is expected to launch in early access at some point in 2026. That early access plan is important: it gives the game room to surface gradually, patch its leaks, and listen to players before making a full dive. Subnautica 2 has had some development problems, which is not exactly a smooth submarine ride. Hopefully its launch will go smoothly, because the wishlist crowd is not a patient school of fish when a game finally arrives. Still, Steam users seem confident that Subnautica 2 will deliver, as made clear by its spot at the top of the Steam Top Wishlisted games list. That confidence is the real prize here: a No. 1 wishlist spot is a promise from the audience that they are willing to wait, craft, swim, and scream at something with too many teeth. The interesting question is how long Subnautica 2 can hold the crown. The chart will keep shuffling like a caffeinated librarian trying to alphabetize a tidal wave as anticipated **** les become released **** les, and the next couple of months could bring significant shake-ups.
https://dealnesthq.com
https://dealnesthq.com
Steam’s wishlist leaderboard is a strange aquarium: every upcoming game swims around hoping someone taps the glass, and in 2026 the biggest fish is Subnautica 2. With Hollow Knight: Silksong finally out of the waiting room—after briefly making digital storefronts faint like overworked Victorian gentlemen—the top spot has opened up, and Unknown Worlds’ underwater survival sequel has slid into it with the smug grace of a hermit crab wearing a crown it found in a shipwreck. For the uninitiated, Steam wishlists are the platform’s collective anticipation ledger. Players add upcoming games to their wishlists, and Steam ranks the most-wanted **** les for everyone to see. It is not a sales chart, and it is not a review score; it is closer to a mood ring for the PC gaming crowd, except the mood is usually “please, please, please be good.” The ranking gives smaller games a chance to be discovered and gives big games a public scoreboard for bragging rights. In the late-2025 snapshot that inspired this dispatch, the scoreboard had a new name at the very top. At the time of that snapshot, Subnautica 2 sat at No. 1, followed by Valve’s hero shooter Deadlock, the co-op looter-shooter Borderlands 4, the highly anticipated FPS Battlefield 6, **** o Games’ ambitious Light No Fire, the extraction shooter ARC Raiders, Arena Breakout: Infinite, Dying Light: The Beast, the roguelike deckbuilder Slay the Spire 2, and ARK 2. The full Top 10 looked like this: Rank Game Quick Vibe Check 1 Subnautica 2 Alien ocean survival with friends 2 Deadlock Valve’s hero-shooter experiment 3 Borderlands 4 Co-op loot and loud guns 4 Battlefield 6 Big-budget FPS chaos 5 Light No Fire **** o Games’ planetary ambition 6 ARC Raiders Extraction shooter with style 7 Arena Breakout: Infinite Tense tactical extraction 8 Dying Light: The Beast Zombie parkour, presumably 9 Slay the Spire 2 Deckbuilding brain candy 10 ARK 2 Dinosaurs and survival, again Hollow Knight: Silksong had been the perennial occupant of the wishlist throne, and for good reason. The original Hollow Knight is a Metroidvania classic, often championed as one of the best games in its genre. Silksong was first announced in 2019, and the long wait turned it into a hype volcano. When it finally arrived, it briefly crashed Steam and other digital platforms, which is the modern equivalent of a rock star being carried offstage by an overly enthusiastic crowd. Now that Silksong is out, the wishlist crowd has to look forward to something else. Apparently, that something else is wet, dark, and full of alien fish. Subnautica 2 is an open-world survival game in which players explore mysterious alien waters. It supports co-op for up to four players, features crafting systems, and offers a variety of biomes and lifeforms to study. The game is currently without a release date, but it is expected to launch in early access at some point in 2026. That early access plan is important: it gives the game room to surface gradually, patch its leaks, and listen to players before making a full dive. Subnautica 2 has had some development problems, which is not exactly a smooth submarine ride. Hopefully its launch will go smoothly, because the wishlist crowd is not a patient school of fish when a game finally arrives. Still, Steam users seem confident that Subnautica 2 will deliver, as made clear by its spot at the top of the Steam Top Wishlisted games list. That confidence is the real prize here: a No. 1 wishlist spot is a promise from the audience that they are willing to wait, craft, swim, and scream at something with too many teeth. The interesting question is how long Subnautica 2 can hold the crown. The chart will keep shuffling like a caffeinated librarian trying to alphabetize a tidal wave as anticipated **** les become released **** les, and the next couple of months could bring significant shake-ups.
https://dealnesthq.com
6 hours ago
