Easter Eggs

Easter Eggs are hidden references to other games or pop culture.

Natural Selection 2
The Natural Selection 2 Poster can be found inside the Wreck in the Grassy Plateaus and in the Aurora, and can be placed inside any Seabase. There are many other objects from Natural Selection 2 in Subnautica as well. The poster hold no story significance, and is considered a non-cannon easter egg.

Star Trek
The line occasionally said by the PDA after activating either Data Terminal in the Quarantine Enforcement Platform, "Resistance Is Fertile," is a spoof on the Borg's famous line from Star Trek, "Resistance is futile." Shortly after the PDA says this, jazz music will start to play. This Easter Egg was added by Simon Chylinski after Scott Thunelius jokingly suggested the interaction.

A video of this can be found here: https://youtu.be/ac4wlJoTowE?t=44s

Obraxis Prime
When the Player fabricates the Survival Knife for the first time, the Dialogue says: "Weapons were removed from standard survival blueprints following the massacre on Obraxis Prime.  The knife remains the only exception." Scott "Obraxis" MacDonald is an animator who worked on Subnautica.

Strader VI
There is a Data Download mentioning the hive mind of Strader VI. Cory Strader is another Subnautica developer.

Donald Trump (China)
In the Soundtrack to the Sparse Reef, there is an audio clip featured of Donald Trump saying "China". Listen closely to the song below at 1:18.



Starwhal
In the PDA dialogue for the Stasis Rifle as well as in one of Paul Torgal's journal entries, a creature called a "Starwhal" is briefly mentioned. "Farming Starwhal eggs" is also mentioned in the Captain's Log. This could be a possible reference to the game Starwhal where players must control flying narwhals with the goal to pierce each other's hearts with their horns.

Cyclops Greeting
There is a chance for the Cyclops AI to say: "You are the best captain on the planet, I'm not even squidding." when the Player has entered it, rather than its normal line. This refers to the Player being the only captain on the planet, and a pun on the word "kidding".

Future Perfect
Two Alien Relics, the Alien Rifle and Doomsday Device, are reused assets from the game Future Perfect, another game made by Unknown Worlds Entertainment. The Alterra Corporation is in this game and several others as well. It is not known if this is simply an Easter egg or an attempt to connect two games.

CHBCLive
This easter egg is found in the PDA entry for the Translation Device. CHBCLive was a forum user who made Chinese translations since the farming update. He died battling cancer before the game was completed, and this easter egg was added in his honor.

Neebs Gaming
Neebs Gaming is a popular Youtube Channel that did videos during early and Beta releases of Subnautica. Their channel is different from many in that it creates humorous storylines from existing games. In the release version of the game, the player receives a radio message from Alterra about having to meet the rescue ship half way. The person on the radio argues with the other main character from the series, Apsaro, about what sandwich a co-worker should get for them from the deli. This was voiced by the Neebs Gaming team with dialogue taken directly from one of their Subnautica videos.

Markiplier Doll
In Lifepod 7, a doll based off of the YouTuber Markiplier can be found and scanned. Doing so will unlock it as a buildable item, which can be placed in seabases with the Habitat Builder. When built, clicking it will play quotes from his series, as well as his intro, in a higher pitch tone.