“...sometimes it’s better to just pick a direction and swim.”
January 30, 2018 1:38 PM   Subscribe

Subnautica gave me the experience I wanted from No Man’s Sky [PC Gamer] “There’s just one planet in Subnautica, home to an expansive ocean teeming with peculiar flora and fauna. Explore its depths and you’ll find fields of dancing kelp, caves illuminated by fluorescent fungi, bubbling thermal vents, and sandy plains sprinkled with glowing plants. It’s a diverse, vibrant setting, and feels truly alien. And while it may be unfair to compare quintillions of procedurally generated planets to a static, hand-crafted one, playing Subnautica gives me exactly what I wanted from No Man’s Sky: landing on another world, exploring it, and being surprised by what I find there.” [YouTube][Game Trailer]

• How Scuba Diving Inspired a Realistic Underwater Video Game [Vice]
“The hundreds of sea species in Abzû are all based on real creatures from oceans around the world. But when Giant Squid studied these creatures they quickly realized that each fish is infinitely complex in the way it moves, acts and looks. “We very intentionally chose what we felt were the most iconic elements of each species and focused our design on those, the outcome being a stylized representation of the actual thing,” Nava explains. “This approach worked very well in that it help us convey the essence of the creature, while simplifying less important details and reduced the noise.” Balancing visual noise with clarity was a major mission for Giant Squid. In many areas of the game’s underwater world, fish, kelp leaves, ambient particles, corals, and seagrasses overwhelm the screen. The challenge was to allow for this, while at the same time ensuring that the space was readable. As Nava says, this stylized look is both an aesthetic and functional choice: “Abzû takes you on a tour of undersea biomes, ranging from swaying kelp forests and bright coral reefs to deep pelagic chasms and dark abyssal plains,” he explains.” [YouTube][Game Trailer]
• Deep is a virtual reality 'game' that wants to teach you how to breathe [Polygon]
“Deep is played inside virtual reality, and in the demo I played there's a white circle in the middle of your view. When you breathe in, the circle grows bigger. Breathe out, and it contracts again. A bit of conductive wool on the controller senses your body moving as you breathe. I found myself inside a sort of underwater environment, with simple polygons and deep colors, surrounded by schools of swimming fish and other interesting things to look at. I breathed in deeply. And began to float. "Maybe it might be a commercial product. Maybe it will be an art piece. That's one of the questions we want to answer this week," Harris said. "Ideally, it will be both, game designer Niki Smit continued. The game is played completely by breathing and looking around; you aren't required to hit any buttons, and all the feedback so far is aesthetic. They're interested in the potential for healthcare, or a game that anyone can play, regardless of ability or mobility limitations.” [YouTube][Gameplay]
• There Is No Great Underwater Video Game, but There Will Be [Inverse]
“Underwater levels and areas are by no means unheard of — BioShock and SOMA engage in some nicely realized amphibious-ness — but they remain few and brief and far between. The reason for this appears to be threefold: 1) Many games have failed totally at underwater gameplay, which makes developers nervous. 2) Rejiggering character movement in underwater space without simply slowing everything down is difficult. 3) Things that look awesome on land or in the air, don’t look awesome underwater. Take a look at the Water Temple from Zelda: Ocarina of Time. This is a perfect example of developers trying and totally failing to do something interesting with water. Mocked as one of the worst and most difficult levels of all time, the Water Temple did a horrible job of mimicking what it felt like to be underwater. Not only did it slow every action to a crawl, but it made every area dark and indistinguishable from another — which led to plenty of frustration when you were trying to navigate through the temple. You also couldn’t swim because iron boots made more sense or something.” [YouTube][Water Temple Walkthrough]
• Enclosure or Escape: What the Ocean Can Mean in Video Games [Waypoint]
“She has inspired poetry, literature, art and song, but often the sea is portrayed as something untrustworthy—an untamed, raw and powerful force of nature containing leviathans, krakens and other terrifying monsters of the midnight murk. It's a plot device: the great and wild unknown, with deep and dark secrets, that's always thwarting plans, sinking ships and dragging people down to a watery grave. But in video games, the ocean is something almost entirely apart from what it's been portrayed as for millennia. In many examples of games that have a sea, it's easily recognizable shorthand: You can't go past this bit. It's the same as a cliff, a fence, or a wall, albeit often with the addition of your character instantly dying if they try to venture into its waters. Nobody likes an invisible wall, but sometimes that illusion of an endless world is more important than a proper sense of immersion. (Also, swimming out into the ocean is kinda tedious, and you probably shouldn't be allowed to do it.)”
• It's Time For A New Aquaman Game [Kotaku]
“Superheros have had a rocky relationship with the medium dating back to Superman on the Atari in 1979. With the exception of certain cult-favorites like The Death and Return of Superman on the SNES and 2004's X-Men Legends, most games featuring someone in brightly colored tights were licensed movie adaptations or other ill-conceived projects. The original Aquaman video game was no exception. For those who don’t remember, Aquaman: Battle for Atlantis was a Gamecube and Xbox game released in 2003. Why? Who knows. It’s not like the Aquaman comics were doing anything especially interesting at the time, and the character’s face-time in preceding shows like the animated Superman and Justice League series wasn’t anything inspiring. Despite all of this, publisher TDK Mediactive powered through negotiations with DC to land the license and then tapped Lucky Chicken Games, a studio best known for making toy car games, to deliver the project. What arrived on store shelves remains legendary. People often talk about the uniquely horrendous Superman for Nintendo 64 that released four years earlier, but Battle for Atlantis was no better. “He’s got a blond mullet and a claw hand—what happened, a horrible accident at a Skynyrd concert?””
posted by Fizz (57 comments total) 38 users marked this as a favorite
 
If you ever wished Abzu was slightly less linear and a lot more alien, this is the game for you.
posted by tobascodagama at 1:39 PM on January 30, 2018 [3 favorites]


Subnautica is, I mean, since Abzu also gets a deserved shout-out in the post.
posted by tobascodagama at 1:40 PM on January 30, 2018


Subnautica is by no means a perfect game, but it is REALLY awesome — fulfills my need to explore an ocean and build underwater lairs...as well as have my human ego challenged by a yawning abyss filled with giant monsters. All while being consistently gorgeous to look at and listen to. Highly recommended.
posted by Celsius1414 at 1:46 PM on January 30, 2018 [3 favorites]


It's worth noting, I feel like Bioshock which is set underground in the ocean isn't the same thing as these other games where the action/gameplay take place in the ocean itself. The ocean definitely shapes how Bioshock is made and designed, but I wanted to focus more on actual games where you're in the ocean exploring, living among the fish, etc.
posted by Fizz at 1:47 PM on January 30, 2018 [3 favorites]


Nope. Nuh uh. Not even. I could maybe play this game if it was multiplayer, having the comfort of fellow friends there to keep me from devolving into sheer, unadulterated panic.

Why do underwater levels freak me the fuck out in every video game? I don't know.

I experienced similar feelings playing Space Engineers, where I nearly had a panic attack about floating deep in empty space. I think the only reason it was manageable then was because Space Engineers does not include tons of crazy monsters in space, waiting to eat you in a 360 degree environment.

Hell, I loved Endless Ocean and none of the animals in it could hurt you, which is part of why I could handle it, but I still had to play it in little chunks as to not experience full blown panic attack terror on the regular.

Yeah, it looks amazing, and I'm going to pass.
posted by deadaluspark at 1:49 PM on January 30, 2018 [3 favorites]


Been playing this through several Early Access builds. Very cool game. If nothing else, the fact that I sort of play this despite having literally no time for videogames anymore should tell you how good it really is.
posted by Naberius at 1:51 PM on January 30, 2018 [1 favorite]


Also, fuck 'blitzball'. Ugh, why was that a thing in FFX. I hated that entire sequence. Blah.
posted by Fizz at 1:52 PM on January 30, 2018 [7 favorites]


FFX was the first proper Final Fantasy game I played.

It was also the last.
posted by deadaluspark at 1:57 PM on January 30, 2018 [2 favorites]


Why do underwater levels freak me the fuck out in every video game? I don't know.

I have this problem too. Some oddly specific phobia I have about looming large objects when I don't have a wall to my back. Space games also do it.

Foolishly, I only remembered this after I bought Subnautica on a whim awhile ago. Loaded the game, left my safe little submersible to see the great yawning expanse of ocean, and noped the fuck out of there.

Maybe I ought to try again.
posted by neckro23 at 1:58 PM on January 30, 2018 [2 favorites]


I do feel like comparing Subnautica to No Man's Sky is appropriate. By removing the whole procedural generated planets stuff, it allows for a more tightly focused game. They are ultimately doing different things, but exploration feels better in this game. Maybe because of it limiting everything to a single planet. There's still plenty to explore, but that sameness that comes across when you hop on different planets in No Man's Sky, it's obviously not here. And I still really enjoy No Man's Sky. The last few updates have been stellar.
posted by Fizz at 1:58 PM on January 30, 2018 [1 favorite]


This (along with driving and flight sims) is also when I finally found cases where I’d consider a VR headset. From what I last read, Subnautica in VR isn’t perfected yet, but someday: wow, yes.
posted by Celsius1414 at 1:58 PM on January 30, 2018


Subnautica is fantastic. I played almost to the end back in December, looking forward to starting anew for the final official release. It definitely captures the suffocating dread I feel of being in the depths. That goes away as you start becoming more at home in the shallow coral reef you start out on. It gets easier to maneuver too, so it stops feeling like annoying underwater levels in videogames and starts feeling like flying. But the challenge of maneuvering never goes away as you explore the deeper oceans. Also the sound design is great.

There's an Oculus Rift version of Subnautica too that feels beautifully immersive. Unfortunately it gives me terrible motion sickness because of the camera movement, so 3 minutes is about all I can handle.

I'd ask folks here avoid spoilers about Subnautica's content; a significant part of the fun is all the stuff you discover as you explore the world.
posted by Nelson at 1:59 PM on January 30, 2018 [3 favorites]


does anybody remember that game you played in elementary school that allowed you to choose from 40 different species of fish, was just one level on a 2d plane, and you basically had to survive in that sandbox while also enacting your various fishy survival mechanisms?

I remember everyone wanting to be a shark so they could eat the other fish but I really liked being the octopus who could only eat some fish but could ink the hell out of everyone. between that and typing games, those were probably some of the most evocative games I played as a kid from a purely mechanical/APM-driven point of view
posted by runt at 2:02 PM on January 30, 2018 [3 favorites]


There were some old games that took place underwater iirc from the early era of 3D. Archimedean Dynasty? And there was this one where you were part of a race of tiny people, like the Borrowers only underwater.

There was a 3D Ecco game on the Dreamcast that was... weird and kind of fucked, but also pretty cool.
posted by selfnoise at 2:03 PM on January 30, 2018 [1 favorite]


Ooh, just realized I should have also bundled this article into the conversation/post.

‘Ecco the Dolphin’ Is the Most Terrifying Game I've Ever Played [Vice]
“"You're a wee dolphin," she offered as I was handed the box and surveyed the cover art. "You swim around in the sea with the fish. It will be just like the aquarium." I excitedly popped in the cartridge and, within moments, was at the title screen. Games had next to no loading times back then, so no sooner had my mom closed the door on her way out than I started the first level. I got a feel for the controls and, before long, was merrily darting around Home Bay, talking to my dolphin chums via sonar and leaping out of the water like I didn't have a care in the world. One huge jump, however, would prove to be disastrous. Breaching a certain height triggered a violent hurricane that instantly sucked all of the wildlife out of the sea and into the sky with a frightening cacophony. I stared in disbelief as I was suddenly alone in the water, and a strange, mournful tune filtered in. If anything, the game was starting as it meant to go on. ”
posted by Fizz at 2:05 PM on January 30, 2018 [7 favorites]


Bears mentioning that this is under a decent little bit of discussion over at ye olde MeFightClub. Join us.
posted by RolandOfEld at 2:06 PM on January 30, 2018 [1 favorite]


Thanks for this post, Fizz. Ocean + games = bliss
posted by Celsius1414 at 2:09 PM on January 30, 2018 [1 favorite]


does anybody remember that game you played in elementary school that allowed you to choose from 40 different species of fish, was just one level on a 2d plane, and you basically had to survive in that sandbox while also enacting your various fishy survival mechanisms?

I believe you're thinking of Odell Down Under, the sequel to Odell Lake.
posted by Faint of Butt at 2:14 PM on January 30, 2018 [10 favorites]


EXCELLENT, thank you Faint of Butt! I know what I'll be spending the next two years attempting to dig up a copy of
posted by runt at 2:21 PM on January 30, 2018 [1 favorite]


I rarely see it mentioned, but for my money, the best underwater game is Aquaria.
posted by painquale at 2:25 PM on January 30, 2018 [4 favorites]


For the mac/os x users in the room, the answer is yes, Subnautica is available for 25 USD, and requires modern hardware.
posted by enfa at 2:26 PM on January 30, 2018 [1 favorite]


Subnautica is an excellent game! Especially the sound design. This is one of the only games I play with the music on.
posted by Pendragon at 2:27 PM on January 30, 2018 [1 favorite]


Yes, all the Ecco games are deeply fucked up but also awesome. I can't with the bloody caves, though.
posted by tobascodagama at 2:32 PM on January 30, 2018 [1 favorite]


Hell, I loved Endless Ocean

Endless Ocean 2 was a wonderful game and I've been hoping for someone to make something similar on PC. It looks like Subnautica might be somewhat in the same territory.
posted by straight at 2:46 PM on January 30, 2018


To be fair, that article complaining about the Water Temple in Ocarina of Time ought to mention how great swimming was as a Zora in Majora's Mask.
posted by straight at 2:50 PM on January 30, 2018 [1 favorite]


Subnautica sounds cool. Anyone with any experience as to whether it plays well with Macs? It sounds like the Mac version was released relatively late.
posted by praemunire at 2:58 PM on January 30, 2018


The description of the breath controls in Deep sounds a lot like Char Davies' 1995 VR installation Osmose. Wired had an article about it.
posted by rhamphorhynchus at 2:58 PM on January 30, 2018 [1 favorite]


Subnautica is not remotely what I wanted from No Man's Sky, which was Celestia or Space Engine but with spaceships and interesting planets to land on. I thought No Man's Sky's planetary surfaces were okay (lacking mainly in the absence of gas giants and other things that weren't just variations on Earth/Mars/Venus) but was super disappointed by the complete lack of any interest whatsoever in astronomy or planetary orbits.
posted by straight at 3:01 PM on January 30, 2018


I played Subnautic for like ten hours before remembering, "Oh yeah, I'm afraid of the ocean." It totally didn't occur to me and didn't trigger any panic and I was playing on an Oculus Rift, which is so immersive that one time somebody who was watching me play asked me if the character model had feet, and I tried to kick my feet up to show them my flippers (it did not work).

It wasn't until I left that first reef area and came across deep drop off with a yawning abyss that I remembered I am afraid of the ocean because I am afraid of deep, dark water. Deep, clear water? Shallow, dark water? Both are fine. Dark and deep, though, I just cannot do.

Anyway there's plenty of Subnautica I was able to traverse that wasn't terrifying, and eventually I got a submarine that helped me brave some of the deep/dark areas. But I still think it's pretty incredible that I was able to play 10 hours of the game on the Rift without a hint of distress, even though I'm the kind of person that gets nervous every time I drive past a lake. It probably attests to how little Subnautica is like an actual ocean but that's okay.
posted by brook horse at 3:05 PM on January 30, 2018 [3 favorites]


Why do underwater levels freak me the fuck out in every video game? I don't know.

Thalassophobia maybe?

Maybe you fear Reddit more?
posted by Splunge at 3:06 PM on January 30, 2018


Subnautica is not remotely what I wanted from No Man's Sky, which was Celestia or Space Engine but with spaceships and interesting planets to land on. I thought No Man's Sky's planetary surfaces were okay (lacking mainly in the absence of gas giants and other things that weren't just variations on Earth/Mars/Venus) but was super disappointed by the complete lack of any interest whatsoever in astronomy or planetary orbits.

Elite: Dangerous approaches this. Reasonably realistic version of the Milky Way (I believe all known stars are included where they should be and represented as accurately as possible, like they'll even tell you where a given star is on the main sequence before you jump to it.)

Our solar system is represented well (you can even fly out and say hi to Voyager!), and they apparently delayed a big release by a couple weeks so they could put the Trappist-1 planets in. They have a model they claim is realistic for procedurally generating the planets for each star.

Basically anything astronomical is going to be satisfyingly accurate, I think. The spaceship flying is also great (the underlying physics is Newtonian, but by default your flight computer makes it feel like there's drag, unless you turn it off for advanced maneuvering, or it gets blown up.)

It sort of has the opposite bias from No Man's Sky, though, because the only planets you can land on are ones without atmosphere, so it's just driving a dune buggy over some rocks.
posted by vogon_poet at 3:16 PM on January 30, 2018 [4 favorites]


I got hooked on Subnautica a while ago. I'm glad I'm not the only one who made the connection to No Man's Sky.

They do have a lot in common – open-world gameplay, gleaming techno-futurism contrasted with psychedelic alien flora and fauna, a player avatar that's a mute cipher in a spacesuit, resource gathering and crafting, a strong focus on exploration, a sense of vastness and mystery to the game world. But Subnautica actually gives you stuff to do.

The base-building does top out pretty quickly – you don't really need more than two to four rooms, the hull integrity mechanic discourages you from building large bases, and materials are scarce enough that you won't want to spend them on building a giant Minecraft-style base just because you can.

It's a game with a clear end goal, and the mechanics are designed for that (some critical resources are finite, for example) – but it feels like an open-ended survival game. I don't think I've ever seen that combination of mechanics before. It even has a "Creative" mode (which I haven't tried yet).

Also, it's fucking terrifying at times. It's not a horror game – just a game that includes horrific things.

Anyway, play it. It's good.
posted by escape from the potato planet at 3:21 PM on January 30, 2018 [6 favorites]


I've not played this game, and likely never will on my decrepit laptop, but the soundtrack is wonderful and I regularly listen to it.
posted by smoke at 3:24 PM on January 30, 2018


Very true – it's one of the best ambient scores I've experienced in a game. It does a great job of evoking an alien world, and gets pleasantly unsettling when it needs to.
posted by escape from the potato planet at 3:30 PM on January 30, 2018


runt,check out classicreload. you can play it in your browser I believe!
posted by Carillon at 3:38 PM on January 30, 2018 [2 favorites]


Endless Ocean 2 was a wonderful game and I've been hoping for someone to make something similar on PC. It looks like Subnautica might be somewhat in the same territory.

Somewhat is the important word here. It's got the scuba diving and the exploration, but it's also occasionally stressful in ways that neither of the Endless Oceans were for me, the range of marine life is a lot smaller (or was, it's been a while since I picked Subnautica up), and overall there's less of a "dicking around in the ocean for the hell of it" feel to it. I guess a good example is that Endless Ocean lets you pet all of the fish and when Endless Ocean 2 added a gun, it only shot medicine and friendship, but in Subnautica the primary way you interact with the fish is to capture or harm them. I liked Subnautica OK, but it didn't really scratch my Endless Ocean itch.
posted by Copronymus at 4:04 PM on January 30, 2018 [2 favorites]


Dang, I came to say what deadaluspark already said. I love No Man's Sky though, partially because it doesn't give you anything (or much) to do. Just wander around and look at the pretty sights that look like 70s scifi paintings. It's relaxing, and I think Subnautica might be the opposite for me, unless anyone who has played it can convince me otherwise.
posted by Billy Rubin at 4:48 PM on January 30, 2018


Why do underwater levels freak me the fuck out in every video game? I don't know.

Personally, I blame Sonic the Hedgehog.
posted by The Great Big Mulp at 5:18 PM on January 30, 2018 [3 favorites]


I played many hours of Subnautica in early release last year. I had to stop because this game deserves more consecutive hours than I have to give it at this point in my life. Now that it's officially released I might actually take it off my computer and load it onto the Occulus rig at work. Not that I'd be able to devote any time to actual game play there, but it would bring a lot more people a few minutes of joy/terror there, and also I'm dying to see what it looks like in VR (and not on a middle-aged Dell laptop).
posted by soren_lorensen at 5:27 PM on January 30, 2018 [2 favorites]


I am too old to be what is generally understood to be a gamer and therefore am old-coot-stylee on buying hardware. I bought my cohort-congruent wife a Wii when they came out however long ago that was - a week? maybe two weeks? I know it was sometime after Atari consoles. Anyway two of the games for Wii were Endless Ocean and Endless Ocean II.

The names of these games proved accurate, as my wife devoted approximately two years of her free time to these titles. She really loved it. I would, as a dutiful coot-husband, be delighted to buy an entirely new gaming rig for her to play other ocean games on if I knew that she would be likely to spend in excess of 4000 hours of her life engaged with them.

Would anyone care to translate the above cycle of posts into coot-friendly consumer-oriented marketing info? Which game costs the least and has the longest play time, factoring in the platform?
posted by mwhybark at 8:50 PM on January 30, 2018


Sorry, 2 years of non-work-non-sleep time on the 8-8-8 plan (as if) is just under 6000 hours, so that's the rough play time number I'm chasing.
posted by mwhybark at 8:52 PM on January 30, 2018 [1 favorite]


I bought Subnautica the other day on a whim; as a formerly devoted Ecco fan, it seemed a good idea. After reading this thread, I finally got around to trying it. Surfaced three hours later deeply satisfied already. Very chill so far, I really like it.
posted by gemmy at 9:15 PM on January 30, 2018 [2 favorites]


After reading this thread, I went into Subnautica expecting a immersive underwater exploration experience. Instead I got incredibly confused about the crafting and what I was expected to do to survive. If I hadn't read several walkthroughs of the first few things you have to do, I would have quickly given up in frustration (and I'm am still on the verge of doing so). For example, how was I supposed to know where to get copper? And that copper would be in limestone? And that limestone outcroppings would look the way they do? And how do I know where more of them are? And do I craft an oxygen container or something that supplies oxygen to me via something called something like an oxygen chain so I can dive deeper? And do I need to dive deeper right now in order to get other substances that may or may not be similarly buried in rocks that look just like the landscape?

I feel like this game is making me pass some sort of horrible final exam I didn't study for in order to enjoy it. And I guess that probably just means I'm getting old. Sigh. But, also, I can't help feeling like there's really a lot of tutorial missing for a game that's made it to an official release. Maybe the early access community filled in the gaps? Or maybe I just somehow overlooked a tutorial or a manual?
posted by treepour at 11:18 PM on January 30, 2018 [1 favorite]


Elite: Dangerous

I'm glad you brought this up. I stumbled upon this article on Polygon about griefers in this game attempting to sabotage a terminal cancer patient's joyride across the galaxy. Fortunately, the response from other players has been overwhelmingly positive, as they rally to provide metals and fuels to the ship being thwarted by the griefers. The article includes an embed of this player's Twitch channel where you can watch the rescue in progress.

Realize this is a sidebar, but I thought it was pretty sweet.
posted by Aya Hirano on the Astral Plane at 11:24 PM on January 30, 2018 [3 favorites]


how was I supposed to know [...] that limestone outcroppings would look the way they do?

Learning stuff like that was actually my favorite part of the game! You get to be a geologist! And biologist! You just wander around and do a bunch of exploring and eventually figure out what limestone looks like, and what kinds of places are likely to have salt, and how close you can get to a sand shark before it starts chasing you. (Playing on a huge screen probably does help here.) The crafting is not quite as open-ended -- more poring over blueprints -- but still, often you just need to try making a thing and seeing what you can do with it.

I wish I got to use this kind of "practical naturalist" thinking in the real world.
posted by gold-in-green at 12:27 AM on January 31, 2018 [1 favorite]


Also, some of the things that happen in Subnautica are absolutely terrifying -- on a desktop. I cannot imagine playing that game in VR.
posted by gold-in-green at 12:30 AM on January 31, 2018 [2 favorites]


For example, how was I supposed to know where to get copper? And that copper would be in limestone?

SCAN ALL THE THINGS!!!

Did I use the meme correctly ?
posted by Pendragon at 4:55 AM on January 31, 2018


But seriously, Your scanner and PDA are the two most essential tools in this game.
posted by Pendragon at 4:56 AM on January 31, 2018


...in Subnautica the primary way you interact with the fish is to capture or harm them.

Well, if you turn off the hunger mechanic, you don't have to kill any fish. And really, the primary way you interact with them is to scan them, SCAN THEM ALL, which rewards you with delicious made-up science facts and nothing else. It's by far my favorite part of the game.
posted by IjonTichy at 11:50 AM on January 31, 2018 [1 favorite]


STOP SWIMMING AWAY SO I CAN SCAN YOU
posted by tobascodagama at 12:01 PM on January 31, 2018 [3 favorites]


It's a really great game. Worth every penny, even if you only play it once. Can't recommend it enough. It looks amaaaazing, the light and colours change when you travel from one biome to another - the Grassy Kelp zones with the green-tinted water and yellow shafts of sunlight.. very nice.

Then there's travelling to the South and the Sea Treader's Path, and the presence of the two Ghost Leviathans probably just somewhere over there just waiting to destroy me and oh god what if the Reapers ended up aggroing their way over here too...what's that sound??, and the Warpers and the Shockers and the ABSOLUTE RELIEF when you make it back to base is like someone lifting the world from your shoulders.

Seriously, it's a physical thing. I think it's because there's no guns and you can't really kill anything (at least not without a dangerous amount of effort) so the feeling of defenselessness is augmented quite a lot.
posted by Zack_Replica at 1:48 PM on January 31, 2018 [4 favorites]


I think I have to stop playing for a day or two. I had this nasty dream last night about a Reaper chasing me to work....
posted by Pendragon at 2:54 PM on January 31, 2018 [1 favorite]


In case you were wondering whether the giant, fast-moving moon* in the sky can cause eclipses: yes. And it's honestly kind of terrifying when it happens while you're underwater going "WHY DID IT GET SO DARK THE SUN SHOULD NOT BE SETTING YET".

* I read some speculation on Reddit that the planet Subnautica takes place on is actually itself a moon of that planet, which actually makes a lot of sense, so I've adopted that as my headcanon.
posted by tobascodagama at 8:08 PM on January 31, 2018 [2 favorites]


Man. I purchased this game on the strength of this thread, and indeed, the exploration/crafting loop is pretty great - but it's really starting to bum me out how the occupants of every single other escape pod you hear from over the radio turn out to have perished horribly. Like, I know that I, the player character, will be fine in the end but it all feels kind of hopeless for some reason.
posted by Berreggnog at 3:24 AM on February 1, 2018


The running the game on a GTX 970 and it handles the game quite well if anyone is wondering how it holds up. I do not experience any clipping or lag. The water looks gorgeous and life-like.

I ran out of room on my SSD and its on my HDD. I might free up some space and re-install this on my SSD as I think it'd load a bit faster. It's not a huge deal but on a regular HDD it takes about 2 minutes to fully load for me.
posted by Fizz at 5:32 AM on February 1, 2018


Subnautica is an excellent game! Especially the sound design. This is one of the only games I play with the music on.

Alas, the sound designer is apparently a fan of InfoWars.
posted by Going To Maine at 5:45 PM on February 3, 2018


Said sound designer has apparently been fired.
posted by tobascodagama at 5:21 PM on February 5, 2018


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