![]() Tapping into our fear of the unknown is, undoubtedly, the game’s most malevolent and effective trick. And remember: this is the nice part of the ocean planet. You can’t trust anything in these waters everything is a trap. When has green gas or alien spores ever lead to anything good happening? Choking and poisoned, I tried to flee, but I barely made it a metre before dying once again. A noxious green gas erupted out of its bizarre tail, followed by spore-like orbs. But when I got close enough to touch it, I quickly realised my mistake. I swam up to one of these lumbering behemoths, and it didn’t seem particularly bothered by my presence, lulling me into a false sense of security. Subnautica’s manatee analogues are a reminder that this is not Earth, and that appearances can be fatally deceptive. They don’t have natural predators, aside from the occasional human, so they haven’t really developed any ways to stop us from, often accidentally, killing them. One of the reasons manatees are endangered is because they are entirely lacking defences. The largest creatures in the starting area are docile beasties that vaguely resemble manatees. I learned a valuable lesson: don’t go underwater spelunking when you’ve got barely any oxygen left. I didn’t escape, couldn’t escape, but death came and it felt like a relief, depositing me back in my escape pod no worse for wear. As I frantically searched for a way out, I could feel the film of sweat between my palm and the mouse growing as I gripped it like a lifeline. I’m only a little claustrophobic, but like any reasonable person I’m pretty terrified by the prospect of drowning, dying gasping for breath and clawing at my throat. I lost the fish almost immediately, but got turned around so quickly that I had no idea where the entrance was. The cave was, in fact, a labyrinthine series of tunnels, spiraling down and down, getting smaller and smaller. It darted into a cave, and despite the fact that I didn’t have a great deal of oxygen left, I decided to follow, egged on by the dwindling meter that represented my increasingly empty belly. It began when I was chasing a spry little fish, my lunch, but it kept getting away from me. Even the seemingly welcoming shallows hide dangers that get right to the core of some of our most basic fears. Subnautica’s first hint of horror doesn’t appear in those dark places, though. Eventually, the quest to not just survive but thrive pushes you further into the ocean. This is the bit in Jaws where pretty swimmers splash around and have a lark, unaware of the terrors they are about to face. Sure, there’s your typical survival concerns – looking for food, creating drinking water, hunting down the resources you’ll need to feed your flashy 3D printer – but it’s far from stressful. After the initial shock of the crash landing, it’s all calm waters and vibrant, picturesque reefs. If you squint, it could be Earth, and it seems largely friendly. Subnautica, at first, feels a little familiar. That’s the first trap that Unknown Worlds Entertainment sets. ![]() I didn’t begin my extremely distressing adventure feeling unwelcome, however. You’re not meant to be there and you’re definitely not welcome. In Subnautica, this is even more pronounced because it’s a literal alien sea, an entirely new world, that you’re exploring. It belonged to a man who had bumped into some coral, which proceeded to rip open his leg.Ĭoral! Nobody expects this of all things to tear chunks out of them, but that’s what you get when you decide to visit the utterly alien sea. I broke the surface of the water to be greeted by blood. ![]() Whenever it was, this realisation was undoubtedly confirmed when I was snorkeling off the coast of Australia in my early teens. I can’t quite remember when I realised that the sea was actually a vast world of horrors. ![]() Subnautica is, in fact, absolutely terrifying. Swim around a gentle ocean and meet lots of colourful fish, chill out in an underwater forest, sunbathe on top of a little escape pod – it all sounds very relaxing. Subnautica seems like a nautical holiday wrapped inside a survival game. ![]()
0 Comments
Leave a Reply. |
AuthorWrite something about yourself. No need to be fancy, just an overview. ArchivesCategories |