How Subnautica Gave Me Thalassophobia
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- Опубліковано 19 чер 2024
- *SPOILER WARNING FOR SUBNAUTICA*
Subnautica changed how I view the ocean, it made me fear it. This is how.
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Thanks for watching!
BGM used in order of appearance:
Music I use: Bensound, Dreadful Whispers by
FoePound
License code: PLXYCFBC8WNDXOBO
Kas:st - Vtopia
Subnautica (Original Game Soundtrack) ℗ 2018 Unknown Worlds By
Simon Chylinski
- Into the Unknown
- Lost River
- Bone Fields
- Bring a Medpack - Ігри
You popped out of your seamoth at 199 meters and it moved slightly past you so it was most likely at its breaking point so... Yeah it was probably crushed
Hey I just checked out your channel, super fun! If anyone sees this comment check it out yourself
@@RueUnderbite Thanks man! I could say the same for you! Your videos are really well put together and this video definitely deserves the attention it has gotten and more
doesn't sub have that weird "feature" that has ships rise to the surface? excluding the big ass sub
Most likely one of the creatures bumped it and pushed it below its depth. I learned that the hard way, I never leave my seamoth less than 15 meters above its crush depth after that lol. It's a horrible feeling, knowing for certain you will drown because your safety net is unexpectedly absent
that happened to me at 899 near the lava zone...
It's amazing how people with fears getting help to their fears with this game and people without fears are getting new fears they never had before. I couldn't have complete this damn beautiful game. It's too heavy on my nerves.
I also couldn’t finish the game because of that reason, I’ll gladly watch all the videos on it though!
Tbh, unless you're using a rendering mod to make the deepest parts actually dark, the last piece of the game is rather farming and avoidong sea dragons, which is easy if you have the jet and grappling hook upgrades. The lava zone felt anticlimactic to me, just like the crystal caves in below zero. Now imagine if you reach the bottom and there was nothing but actual darkness and beasts lurking... That would be impossible for me to complete
Have you tried getting the stasis rifle? It freezes anything in place, allows you to kill even things like leviathans
@@eintha3883you’re exactly right, the deepest parts in both games are simply not scary enough, they put big enemy threats in well lit areas which doesn’t provide enough of a ‘deep ocean’ feeling. It’s why so many fans love the void so much despite it not having any involvement with the main story progression of the games
The only thing I’m afraid of is some weird bug happening and killing me before I have saved the game and thus losing 2 hours of progress.
16:57 the fun part is, Reapers use echolocation according to the pda. Meaning if you hear one, it can see you.
Fortunately that is just for lore, the reaper actually just stalks the player and circles around them waiting for the chance to strike.
This fact in the PDA scared the bejesus out of me. Whether it is mechanically true or not idk, but the last time I played the game I managed to scan a Reaper and learn this fact about them. From that point forward every time I heard a Reaper I believed that they knew where I was...I could never hide from a Reaper...my only option was to keep moving or run! Whenever I heard the distant roar of a Reaper all I could think about was that the beast could see me and I worried how long before it finally decided to come and eat me!
In-game they can't see you over the massive distance their roars cover, but they do have a considerably larger sight range than the player does (they can see you past the distance they're visible through most biomes' fog), and they don't just rush you. They circle you and try to surprise you from behind, though much like everything else in Subnautica, they try to avoid instantly killing you, as that would break immersion and give you a break from the terror.
I scuba dive in real life wit little to no fear whilst submerged, and still, Subnautica continues to scare the ever living crap out of me.
Well, you don’t have to deal with leviathans when you dive, do you?
Lucky that we don't live at the same time as the mosasaur and similar creatures. Leviathans used to live on land and sea. In Subnautica that old fear of danger returns from our ancient days hiding in caves.
Opposite for me, I’m terrified irl but games and movies.. no problemo
Cuz its technically closer to a freedive survival game than a scuba simulator.
If there was ever a real reaper or any type of leviathan I would’ve been like “f*ck you beach”. Reef backs might also intimidate me a little bit too bcuz they’re bigger than even a blue whale ( I might be wrong )
Hearing "detecting multiple leviathan class life forms in the region, are you sure whatever you're doing is worth it?" Reminded me of the time where I accidentally encountered that message for the first time and I bolted out of there. When I saw that message I was worried you were gonna encounter a reaper or something.
I had that message pop up after I hunted my 3rd reaper behind the crash site
Gotta be the most unsettling quote ever imo, I never got it tho 😂
brother was gifted with elequant speech and used it for good
Hahaha I’m glad it seems that way! Certainly took long enough to record
You earned yourself a loyal sub
If you want to experience the premium version of Thalassophobia try exploring the Dunes biome during the nighttime
Actually scarier than most horror games
The dunes was the area for my base on my 3rd playthrough and I made small bases with water purifiers, alien containments, fabricator and moon pool at the blood kelp forest, lost river and lava zone
A reaper was close to my base, but a warper teleported it to me when I was 150 metres from my base so it didn't bother me anymore
The back of the Aurora is also beautiful under the moonlight 👀
oh i've been making it worse for myself by having my gamma to where it's still dark during the day. any biome is outright pitch black during night aside from the glowing parts of animals and plants
it's fucking terrifying
@@jrex0522if you add some mods that make the gamma even more dark, there’s some that’ll make it black and white or just a true horror game. Plus tweaking the size of the reaper or any creature just adds even more 💩 in your pants. Idk how Subnautica can be a kids game if it has this much fear in it.
You know whats weird?
This game did not cure me at all, but it became sort of a comfort game.
I love building my base, my safe space in the game. Coming back to it is so... calming.
Subnautica isn’t a comfort game for me but, it is one of my favourite games. I agree that returning to the safe spaces you’ve created are very relieving, getting back from search across the ocean knowing you made it back safe and sound, top tier relief.
I built a base in every zone and each one became my new favorite hobbit hole
I used to dislike how few decorative items there is in Subnautica. then I discovered the existence of living walls, decorative usage of plant beds and flower pots, as well as alien containments are perfect glass floors
Holy crap this is so high quality, figured i was watching someone with atleast 100k subs, amazing content please keep making stuff of this quality!
Thank you so much! Comments like this encourage me to do more, much appreciated
THATS WHAT I THOUGJT TOO
Yeah, absolutely the same
Me too, subbed immediately
@@legendaryblob8227 Thank you!
I think its really interesting to see people discussing subnautica in the context of thalassophobia because it (along with just playing subnautica) has made me realize that i have the opposite of whatever thalassophobia is. i dont really know how to explain it, i get the same kind of thought process (things like "we don't know what's down there", "there could be a massive creature in there") but for some reason those notions really excite me. I feel like if i can't see the bottom of the water, i have to go down and be the first one ever to explore it. I especially love it when there's creatures involved; if i think i see something in deep water, i get the urge to swim out to go see it. Even the creatures being hostile isn't enough to deter it, i actually found myself grinning during the reaper leviathan jumpscare because it was just so awesome to me. I know this is exactly how mad scientists die in movies and idrk what my point is, i just think its interesting to see how different people emotionally react to the same thing in such different ways
Psychopath energy 😂. That’s interesting, can’t say I’ve felt that way before
Soooo that would make you a… thalassophile?
@@halla3184 i guess lol
That's called Thalassophilia,,, I am also a Thalassophile. The love, or attraction to the sea. You love it unconditionally,,,
And thanks to people like you our species progresses.
Submechanaphobia is definitely one of the phobias that makes sense as there are more planes underwater than submarines in the sky(as if that makes any sense)
That’s a meme
Yes
c'mon youtube algorithm, pump this masterpiece up, a 30min essay of this quality under 1k views is a crime
13:40 you can actually see that when you got out of the seamoth it continued to move just a bit, so it got under the 200 meters and blew up. I had a similar experience exploring a wreck but for me a bone shark pushed it under the 200 meters
You’re right, well spotted
Just wanted to say a huge thank you to everyone who watched, liked or left a comment, it means the world to see this kind of support. Thank you all!
when watching the video i tought of the same joke for the enitre thing
there are more planes underwater than submarines in the sky
Try to do a deep review on grounded it could be great also Ark survival is another great game.
@@repaeR_ehT love grounded, but haven't played Ark
I absolutely ADORE Subnautica, but I'll never see large bodies of water the same ever again.
The quality of this video is so good I didn't notice he only had 300 subs until 19 minutes in
14:18 any hostile creatures will attack your vehicle if it's left nearby, and in this biome i expect it would have been bonesharks. for me, that's one of the things that made the game a little scarier, knowing that my source of air and safety could be gone in seconds if i didn't observe my environment well enough
A lot of hostile animals like bonesharks and crabsquids are attracted to light! Seen a lot of letsplayers get into trouble with them because they leave their crafts’ floodlights on. Switching off the lights before exiting the vehicle will actually reduce how much it is targeted by critters
I remember one time I was exploring the Dagasi base in the bulb zone. I was feeling confident. I was busy looting and listening to the PDA left behind when I heard something hit my seamoth. There was a window where I swam up and peaked out to see a crab snake. I watched in horror as this goddam big brained asshole broke my seamoth my way out my oxygen over 500m down.
The seamoth broke because he left it moving just before the depth limit so it glided from the momentum, just under the limit, causing it to break
Nah, it was gone because it coasted to 200 meters, making it take damage slowly until destroyed completely.
@@masoncannon3616 ohh of course!!! :))
One of the best parts about Subnautica - and Subnautica UA-cam videos - is that when people describe their first playthroughs somewhat cinematically and in a seemingly exaggerated way, it's actually sincere due to how immersive the game is. If I could wipe any game from my memory and play it again for the first time, it would absolutely be Subnautica, there's really nothing like it.
Finally someone mentions Submechanophobia! I see people address this so rarely in relation to Thalassophobia and it's actually what mostly causes mine, since I'm scared there could be a submerged wreck somewhere. It's also the reason I had to stop playing Below Zero - the two wreck parts you have to enter and pass by any time you wanna visit the Lily Pads were just too much since they're much older and more decayed than the Aurora and the Architect ruins.
When it comes to how much of the ocean has been explored it is more along 20%.
I have played over 300 hours of subnutica one of my top games of all time. I will never forget my experience.
I can relate to you, I didn't watch any of your video, I jumped to another tab to just hear you, because footage of diving and of this games makes me feel anxious and have a hard time catching my breath. I already knew I was a little bit afraid of the ocean, but I didn't know how disturbing it would be to look around and only see the same shade of blue, or to look at a precipice and not seeing the bottom. I literally can't play this game alone, even though I am excited for it. Every time I try, my heart starts beating faster and faster, and I start to panic, even though I'm sitting at my room, in no danger at all.
I knew I had Thalassophobia when I first went swimming in deep waters for the first time as a kid. I was in the middle of a large lake. The water was cold and dark and the algae made it incredibly murky and hard to see even with goggles. I couldn’t see the bottom nor swim to it and was way far from shore. I live in California, i had nothing to be afraid of in a lake but 8 year old me felt like I was being watched from below and that something like an alligator was going to swim up and grab me and drag me to the bottom. The whole time swimming back I felt a constant dread and was so glad to finally get back to shore with my family. I’m not as scared of large water as I used to me now but I still feel uneasy in the dark deep water even in my own pool at night when the lights are off.
hello vault boy
@@PRESTONGARVEY-ww3fq Yes i didn't forget about your settlements
I thought this vid had like a million views or something . This is top tier keep doing it
I love your explanation and your game experience this basically tells my whole Subnautica experience
I love this game and I'm scared of it, but i never knew why. This video helped me figure it out. This is also very high quality. Good Job!
I’m glad it helped
The ghost leviathan puts the fear of god in me.
Really great video mate! Subnautica is one of my fav games of all time because of how convincing and immersive its worldbuilding is. Two things I want to add that I think really make Subnautica such an excellent, and terrifying, experience.
First is that you must face the ocean alone, completely alone. You mentioned it but I think its brilliance is often underplayed. This is something that the sequel expansion took away that I think detracted from below zero, having Al-an as a companion gives such great comfort in that game. Whereas in the original Subnautica you are completely and utterly alone, every hope of other survivors, even an NPC to visit, is completely obliterated as they are all revealed to be dead. You are the only survivor. Which creates an odd and unique pressure that survival is such an unattainable goal (the PDA even remarks as such when you pickup copper for the first time) that hope is slowly...and subtly...replaced with dread. Dread of what might kill you replaces the hope of what might save you.
Second is how little hand holding the game provides in its narrative structure. Besides the markers for the sunken lifepods, the game never gives you a clear direction of where "exactly" to go. Just about every technology and upgrade you need you have to "stumble" into the wreck locations. Even major story locations are rarely marked explicitly; the PDA will tell you where to find something, but rarely where it actually is. Thus, in order to progress the game the player MUST explore, you MUST confront the fear of the unknown and delve into the deep with little to no direction as to where to go or what's out there....
Which is so damn terrifying!!!!
100% agree. I love the fact it doesn’t hold your hand and guide you through the world, I went into it thinking it didn’t have a story, so to find out here was actual objectives shocked me and it was better for it
Your editing is really great...NGL you made better understanding to the viewers about phobias...good job ❤
Thank you so much!!
A core memory of mine from this game is my driving the big sub in open ocean. I could not see the ocean floor or the surface and at some point, a barely visible reaper just swims across my screen in the distance and I just lose it.
Now, this is quality. The effort that went into this was well worth it. I love both subnautica's, and this video is spot on.
Thank you so much 🫡
Fun fact: the circle of light on the surface is known in physics as Snell’s Window. It gets caused by the angles of light bouncing off the sea bed, the circle being the area where the visible light can escape into the air instead of getting reflected back down again. There’s a specific calculation that the game runs to render it. Really contributes to the feeling of being underwater.
Definitely thought I was alone in developing a fear of the ocean from this but good to hear others are scarred too 👍
Dude your content is amazing. I really enjoyed the video. Keep it up!
Thanks a ton!
This guy gives me Jacob Gellar vibes and I love it. Definitely earned my sub.
i've been afraid of open/deep water all my life- as far as i remember, might give subnautica a go to just to scare myself more, your descriptions gave me goose bumps so i might die of fright xdd
amazing video, subbing and looking forward to more videos!
Highly recommend the game, however if you have a fear you might struggle a bit. Take your time with it, a few others in the comments have said it actually helped them with their phobias, never know.
Ooh another long form passionate video essay about Subnautica? Sign me up!
I have done SO MANY play through of this game and not once did I ever realize you can eat bladder fishes for oxygen
The quality of the video is just wow for a 500 Subscriber Channel
This is like one of the best video I've ever seen!!!!!
Beautiful content❤❤❤❤
Wow, thank you!
I was recommended this video a few days ago, so saves it for later.
It's been great seeing your view and subscriber count go up.
Well done, great video, keep up the good work!
It’s been unreal to be honest. Had 15 subs when it was posted, nearly at 500 now. Thanks for the support!
This is a very entertaining video even more so coming from such a small channel. Well done mate 👍🏻
Great quality and very nice scenario. I am sure you will have success if you keep going. With each video you grow, don't give up
This production quality had me thinking this was easily a hundred thousand view video, but no. This video is _massively_ underrated, good work.
I also want to say as someone who enjoys fighting sports and tends to seek a way to fight or get angry in fearful situations because it makes me feel better and more controlled, the fact that there is little to no weaponry whatsoever in Subnautica makes one feel small and powerless. If you see a Reaper in the distance the best you can do is hope you have a stasis rifle and can escape. That, or you can slog on for upwards of fifteen minutes shanking it with that little survival knife while hoping you don't take a hit and run yourself out of meds. When I got the stasis rifle and knew I could trap a thing and dice away at it a little at a time, my fear alleviated greatly, but anytime I didn't have the batteries necessary or got jumped the dread returned. To die fighting is one thing but to die helplessly is another.
Thanks a lot, it’s popping off for my channel so I’m grateful. Yeah the feeling of helplessness is definitely a factor that played into it for me, I never kill any of the leviathans just out of fear that they’ll become unstuck and insta kill me haha
Take this subscribe, my friend. A well written video that very perfectly describes the strange feeling of fear playing Subnautica!!
Absolutely amazing quality video thank you for freaking me out beforw bed😂❤
Bro I was gonna like the vid and saw that u didn't have at least 100k likes, great vid dude
What a great video, needs more recognition
Yeah, that seamoth imploded. It kept moving to 201 meters beyond its limits.
You enter an area where you know a Reaper resides…. Panic!!
You don’t hear it…. Calm :)
You don’t hear it…. PANIC!!!!
You probably had it even before playing Subnautica. Playing it just made you aware you have it.
Since it's pretty hard to experience that level of fear of depths in real life.
I have a debilitating fear of depths and voids but still managed to finish the game.
Fantastic analysis, thank you!
Broo ur script and edition are so good! I bet u will be famous in the future
And yea. I dont have a pc or such, so all I did was watch subnautica gameplay, and even so it was scary. Dk if I will be able to play it someday haha
Great vid. Look forward to seeing you blow up! Liked and subscribed
Thank you
DAMN!
Thats some god tier vide making.
Holy shit, this quality could rival at least someone with 2 mil. I have no clue how you are this underrated
I know right
As someone with reverse thalassophobia I love these videos. It explains in such a way something I can never understand. When looking at that empty image that had nothing in it, my eyes darted around, not from anxiety, but because I wanted to see a big fish! I am known for taking pit stops to swim with reaper leviathans and sometimes even intentionally make bases close to them so I can see them easier. I get being afraid of them, I’m not stupid about it, I know I’m good enough to dodge reapers and I usually leave my seamoth out of it because god forbid I get those resources again, but I wouldn’t play around with one if I had important things on me.
The only thing that truly scares me in the game is Kharaa and the Sunbeam event. They make me feel timed and stressed out lol. I can deal with building sized carnivorous fish but the second you put a due date on me I’m out.
You ever hear a loud scary noise and you just start backing up only to get jump scared running into a wall? 😂
When I watch this video I wasn’t panicking or having anxiety knowing whatever happens ain’t happening to me however if I was playing this game I would be terrified just knowing something could be a few metres from me and I wouldn’t know it.
Amazing video- I’m surprised that you don’t got even 500 subs! With these types of videos though, I think you can get there!
Thank you!
Keeping the lights on for this one
15:05 yeah in my experience whenever this happened i would have to go to my beacons and turn it off and on again a few times. Otherwise i could NOT find it. It may have just imploded in your case as-unless you have already upgraded the depth module-the seamoth initially can’t actually reach the depth of that particular wreck. It can get close enough that you can swim to the wreck but not right next to the entrance.
Fun thing i learned recently: they fixed the emergency floatation device you can build so it actually gets you to the surface quickly now. I had to use it at this wreck for similar reasons (couldn’t find my seamoth and had seconds) and that lil device got me there with a few to spare!
I hated how much I loved subnautica because it kept me in a state of perpetual anxiety. I remember a creepy time when I was on my sub and the voice greeted someone on board like it does and it got me on edge and creeped out because I wasn’t sure if it was a bug or not or if it’s a rare thing that will happen sometimes but after watching this, I need to go back to the game and play again
I have had Thalassophobia for as long as i can remember. I found Subnautica to be a very good exposure therapy kind of thing. I could control the experience, and if it got too much i could leave. I'm still scared of the ocean, of the things that could dwell beneath. But i remember building a base in peaceful waters and seeing wonders beneath those waves, and how i could control the dangers. And it's helped a lot.
Meow algorithm work. Video is amazing. Lobe the narration
ive been playing subnautica since like 2015, i was 5 years old at that point and at first it scared me, but the more i played it, the more it made me curious. unlike most people, the game makes me more curious about the ocean then anything
The way the views went up compared to when i first saw this vid is insane. Especially compared to your other vids, congrats ! ALSO IT COULD BE INTERESTING TO SEE YOU DO A DEEP REVIEW ON GROUNDED!!! 🙏
Yeah there’s a been a lot of support on this video and it shows! Also I love grounded! Maybe I will cover it at some point
bro ur video is waaay beyond good
Much appreciated!
I still have dreams/nightmares that feel like just playing this game every once in a while and I know didnt beforehand.
Amazing quality I’m sure you can go far if you keep it up
Appreciate the support 👏
something that helps me is going to the console commands and typing "fog" this will get rid of the fog so you can see better (also make sure fog is all lowercase)
I dont have thalasophobia before nor after this game but i do have a fascination of the dark unknown and this game aaaaaaabsolutely made me paralyzed with fear at a few points. I remember first playing, unknowing of much of the game, and seeing something i needed to get but unable to make myself push forward to it. And i especially remember the first time i made my way to the biological dead zone (or whatever its called), getting notice of this, not knowing what that was supposed to mean, and then suddenly being attacked by a giant glowing thing. I literally jumped out of my seat.
Dude, i have the same problem as you honestly. When i was about 7 years old i almost drowned about 3 times (i went to far too deep into the ocean and got caught in massive waves numerous times) but i never really got SCARED or frightend of the fact i almost lost my life to the ocean. even today i almost drowned again, the only reason me being alive is because there were tons of lifegaurds around the ocean, and i wasnt TOO far out.. I still loved the water and swimming after EVERYTHING. but something about subnautica just felt diffrent, the fact that there were these other wordly creatures in the massive expanse of the ocean was so daunting. There were no other humans in the area either.. Just you, you're base and the unknown.
My first reaper encounter was terrifying. I was looking through a wreckage in the dunes (didn’t know how dangerous it was) and the pda gave me the line about the leviathan life forms. I got in my seamoth after scanning a few things and the reaper who had just found me chased me for like 2 minutes straight. I didn’t get to see it at that point but i could hear it roaring right behind me the whole time
I would love to see you cover the Lost River and Lava biome in depth, in particular. Perhaps thw bulb biome too. I know that I never, ever felt safe in the Lava biome. You're not meant to. I genuinely couldn't finish the game because of the instincual fear it put into me, the sounds, the sight(or lack of, at the beginning). The lost river was bad. The lava biome entrance was too much. A pit. A gaping hole of darkness that I knew I had to jump into. Without knowing what was in there.
I like that idea, the depths were always something I absolutely hated going near. As I said in the video finding the giant fossil was a horrible realisation that the leviathans I’ve been dealing with this whole time, are no where near as big as what they could be
Subnautica would make an amazing movie/show
I watched the entire video thinking this was made by guy with thousands of subscribers! This is insane quality for someone with only 300 subs! Congrats man! Great work, you just earned urself another sub
Wow, thank you!
At 13:00 those conduits are so mazzie i can't remember getting into that wreck!
The limit to the void is 8192, a power of two implying it's actually a code issue as opposed to a mechanic. Though this does occur horizontally as well
Subnautica is my comfort game, love the ocean and the mystery of the unknown
Dude how do you only have 100 subscribers? This is so underrated and professional quality. You definitely needs a lot more subs.
the only thing would be adding spooky noises to the real footage, such as a reefback, since it makes it less scary and removes tension
Hey I really appreciate that, and I totally agree with the real videos. I wanted both clips to be longer and include the real audio but I was scared that it might have caused a copyright claim on the video
@@RueUnderbite oh yeah that does make sense, copyright is a risk
I anticipated thalassophobia as it's a video on subnautica, but I would've really appreciated an arachnophobia warning for the intro, that got me really freaked out, Incredible video nonetheless
24:13 What’s so funny about the gargantuan Leviathan is that there is a fully fledged mod currently in the works for it that shows what it would be like at full size. It really puts into perspective how bad my thalassophobia really is to say the least.
its the same chain of events that happened to me 1 and a half years ago but i still play the game the game what triggers it it's the REAL world that triggers it and it was because of the REAPER when i try going near the aurora i can hear and feel my heart and being alone makes it worse that's why i'm so happy the the next game will have co-op
Commenting for the algorithm, ur awesome dude
I appreciate you!
Subnautica actually helped me with my thalassothobia
I also played subnautica, to me it seemed a little bit like a horror game, but it didnt really cause me to feel any extrme discomfort. Its liekly because i played it at 20 fps, but i heard form many friends that they are now a little bit scared of deep open water. But there is another game that i played, the forest and now part two, sons of the forest. Ever since i started playing the forest, im scared of dark and to me unknown places. Luckily its not an issue when im at home, since i know the place, but it allows me to understand how "suffocating" it can feel being scared of something you know you shuoldnt be scared of, but still are. And what i wanted to say is, that i think this is a really great video, everything is explained perfectly and backed up by examples, so yeah, great video, keep going.
Thanks! We’re you playing on of the old gen consoles by any chance? I originally played it on PS4 and oh boy it ran terribly
@@RueUnderbite nah, my pc is just shit xD a ps 4 would be better xD But i am now finally getting a half decent pc, have been working a minijob. Now i can go and traumatize myself in sons of the forest.
Haha hopefully not too bad, enjoy it man
Playing Subnautica especially once I'm like 1 hour into it is when the game definitely get more scary. I'm so sucked into the game that someone in real life can touch me and jumpscare me. Even worse, I remember going around the Lost River in my Seamoth and the background music suddenly changed which gave me a jumpscare too.
You described perfectly on how I felt about Subnautica. But even that did not erase my awe and love for the ocean.
Subnautica just reinforced it.
I've followed Subnautica for years. I remember when it was a tech demo, when it was referred to as 'earliest access', when new biomes and areas were just ominous cube-shaped cutouts into the rock you could explore in freecam, devoid of fish or light or sound - those truly felt like something alien, because it was so dissonant to the rest of the game. I've seen most if not all the game has and has had to offer, but the one thing that still gets to me is the void. It's a true phobia, because there's no way for it to suck you in or any such thing - the map simply stops around 5 kilometers down, the terrain smoothly wrapping around the perfectly flat bottom of the crater, and there's the spherical teleport barrier centered around the spawn area to prevent you from falling or exploring too far, and the ghost leviathans are deliberately designed to push you back in with their attacks. But looking into that abyss, where the water is pure black even from ten meters down, the music doesn't play, and I _know_ it's truly bottomless, is the only thing that still actually unsettles me in the game. It used to even have a bottom, of sorts - an unfinished, early mess of terrain formations that spread outwards from the base of the crater's walls, despite being two to three times the depth any vehicle could manage at the time or can now (and exploring at 5000 meters down is haunting in a different way, but doesn't have quite the same effect), but even that's gone, leaving just the feeling that if you were to somehow fall down there, no rock shelf or other terrain quirk remains to catch you. The teleport barrier just doesn't have the same immersive feeling to it of something that will save you from the drop.
I suppose I could use some of that built up experience to talk about the creatures, myself.
The reaper leviathan, while found in the crash zone and mountains, is actually quite common. I believe there is around a hundred of them on the map, concentrated mainly in the dunes and mountains, places where players just happen to generally avoid. Their scan entry says that their roar is echolocation sonar, with the specific phrase 'if you can hear it, it can see you', but this is not true in-game, as if you are in the distant range they can't tell you're there, or I suppose maybe just don't care enough to investigate if you want an immersive reason. Their AI has a considerably larger sight range than the fog allowes the player to, however, and is programmed to circle around and rush you from behind rather than simply blindly charging at any given time, resulting in most of the jumpscares. At the distance they circle, their roars are still distant-sounding, since the water makes it hard to tell where they are at all, so when you can hear them it is still best to assume you're not safe. That said, given they do 40-60 damage to the seamoth and 80 to the player, you can still get attacked by one even while just swimming and still escape alive, as they back off after attacking, a trait shared by all of Subnautica's creatures in order to increase immersion. Death is a release of tension, and we can't be having that, hence also the generous time given before suffocation actually claims you. It gives the feeling of having just barely escaped a lethal situation, but without getting completely away from danger. The reaper is kind of the mascot for the game, which makes their bones found on the way to the lava zone that much more intimidating.
Ghost leviathans are not found solely in the void. Their juvenile forms are found in the cave systems they hatch in, being the Lost River and Deep Grand Reef, and a single adult one swims its endless path in the Grand Reef as well, but the ones in the void are not at maximum size. According to the PDA entry, they likely never stop growing. It's unclear if anything bigger in the void eats them, but there's no reason to show it if so as it wouldn't even acknowledge the player at that size. It's an aspect that makes the sea emporor taking note of you just that bit scarier too - creatures that large shouldn't care about you at all.
For a creature that isn't a leviathan, I think the crabsquids deserve a place among the terrifying first encounter creatures. Their EMP blast does an excellent job at making you feel powerless, and their sounds are ominous and unsettling both when you know and when you don't know what they are. The scan entry theorizing that they may be intelligent enough to use tools and describing how effective they are at catching and - to use the words it does, 'butchering prey' - adds ever more to that. They, and the other creatures sharing the environments with them, make the Lost River, Blood Kelp Zone and Grand Reef that much more terrifying to be in.
Walking Subnautica Encyclopaedia 🫡
I ain’t readin allat
There's a mod in the works that actually adds a live Gargantuan Leviathan the mod also give an alternate ending to that Sunbeam scene
When I play subnautica as someone who's afraid of deep water, dark water, wrecks submerged in water and the mysteries of the deep, the horror I experience is abnormal
My favorite game of all time. It actually removed my thalassophobia and made me more intrigued to learn about our ocean (my first reaper encounter is still my scariest gaming experience ever)
high quality video man
Woah, this is very impressive for the sub count, keep it up!
Sub before 1000 haha
Thank you haha, so close :)
Subnautica gives me mixed feelings. It is my favorite game ever created, and for good reason. It’s beautiful, it pulls you in, and drowns you (sometimes literally) beneath 100’s of meters of water. It is masterfully done. But that… that is exactly why it’s so terrifying. Every roar, every voice line from the pda, and every time I get in my seamoth, I can feel it. A slight feeling of dread. I am alone, on an ocean planet, with only one choice-to go deeper. But if there is one takeaway from the game that *everyone* understands… “They do *not* want us down there…”
I have a slight phobia (idk if you can say that) of the Ocean, i only am really scared of it when i don't know what is below the surface.
Thats why i never really swim in the Ocean or other bodies of sea where i cant see below the surface anymore, i only swim in Swimming Pools now. I dont even know why or when I got that phobia. It just appeared one day, which is.. scary.. if you think about it, that you can suddenly go from loving an activity like Swimming at a beach, to being scared of that activty.
This didnt come from a game, it just appeared.
Also really high quality video! You got a really good voice for Video Essays.
PS: I just looked up my Phobia, I also got Thalassophobia.
ive been on edge watching all this video about subnautica. even now i cant look at a container made of darker color filled with water, and not feel uneasy about it. i feel like im about to throw up.
For me Subnautica really made me scared for oxygen in every game i play were you can drown i directly scour to the nearest oxygen source when i put my head in the wet blue. I Just realy love this game even though i shit my pants more than once playing it
Amazing video I love subnautica, I was once trying to get to the gun island but got lost and ended up in the void I never played that save again.😂 I also want to try subnautica in VR but I don't know if my pc can handle it and VR is kinda expensive.
yeah I have Thalassophobia, playing subnautica was very stressful but I kind of got over it till I needed to go deeper
This video was well made