Do you know what terrifies me? Plenty, I’m a rather nervous person by default. But one thing that never fails to get my anxiety going in all the wrong directions is the open ocean. There is something distinctly ominous about a large body of water that you cannot see through yet you are quite certain contains a large number of creatures that think you are very very tasty.

Surprisingly then, I really like Subnautica. A game set on an ocean world where everything is doing its best to turn you into the planet’s new hottest delicacy.

Subnautica is a survival game where you must scavenge the world and the blown-up ship you arrived on for resources in order to escape and rejoin space civilisation. What I really like about it compared to other survival games where I tend to just lose interest after I have made my giant castle/treehouse/replica of the Mines of Moria, is there is an actual reason to explore this world you find yourself in. For Subnautica, not only is exploring the entire planet fun due to the beautiful undersea biomes and abandoned alien structures, but it is completely necessary to gather all of the materials you need to get off the planet. A strong story and structure are what keep it engaging.

The game does manage to spice things up by populating the world with a variety of sea monsters that range from minor nuisances to leviathans that will haunt your nightmares. My first encounter with one is something that has taken up permanent residence in my brain. There I was, using my brand new water scooter to make a trip towards my crashed spaceship where I assumed I could find some more snacks and better gear, when I suddenly heard a loud rumbling noise. Undeterred and overconfident, I proceeded towards my goal. I was within spitting distance of the largest part of the ship I could find when I was suddenly dragged ten metres underwater and launched into the air, whereupon I found myself face-to-face with a sea-serpent about 50m long and was quickly devoured. Needless to say, I was a bit more cautious going on from this.

The ‘leviathans’ as they are called in the game serve as a gentle reminder to the player not to get too complacent or comfortable whenever they go exploring, lest they be turned into a sea monster’s protein bar. Everything about their, and all the other dangerous fauna on this planet, terrifying presence is expertly handled and I have to give special mention to whoever had to write the in-game descriptions for providing some extra nightmare fuel.

To quote their entry for the Reaper Leviathan (the one that ate me): ‘The deep roar emitted by the reaper at regular intervals is effectively sonar – if you can hear it, the reaper can see you.’ Another good one is a hypnotising fish called a Mesmer that causes your player to compulsively move towards it whenever you get too close. When looking it up in your data log, it will encourage to go closer to ‘share its beauty’, suggesting the fish can either manipulate your technology or the player’s perception of what the technology is telling them. I am not sure which is worse.

Subnautica is very much worth it for the carefully crafted and perfectly executed world and story that all fits together to create an experience that you just do not find in other games.

I do have my gripes with it though, and some of them are big enough that I was persuaded away from playing for large stretches of time. One was the need to continue to eat food and drink water so as to not die. Now I know that both are there to evoke a more realistic survival experience, and that me choosing the in-game option to disable the need eat and drink to is essentially playing on easy mode. However, to me they did not make the game any harder, just more annoying. Food and water that is not contaminated by salt, radiation or bits of fish are not difficult to find and even easier to catch. Doing so is just far less interesting than exploring, gathering materials or building black and yellow submarines that resemble bumblebees. So I recommend turning that feature off.

The game is also terrible at explaining itself and key resources needed for progress are often hidden behind brick walls. Some of those brick walls even have teleporting psychic fish-people guarding them. Progression is often hampered by stuff like this that can be really discouraging. A visit to the Wiki will usually sort out your problems, but a slightly more intuitive discovery and exploration system would have been much appreciated.

All of those minor issues aside, I do highly recommend Subnautica. I wish modern games (hell, modern media in general) would all take notes from this on how to create an absorbing and beautiful world. To do so requires effort and creativity to be put into the small details as well as the large strokes. If you can see through its faults and can commit to it, I think you will find something very much worth talking about. Just watch out for the monsters.