Subnautica – Ever So Far Beneath

I’ve played many open world games before, but I’ve never played one that adds survival elements to it where you have to keep yourself fed and hydrated as you explore. Skyrim added this feature with their anniversary update but I never bothered with it.

Now, imagine an open world survival game where you not only have to do those things, but you also have to watch oxygen levels because you’re underwater all the time, add the ability to craft things to survive and you’ve got Subnautica.

I started playing this game earlier this year as I was drawn to its beautiful underwater environment but I did not allow myself to become too naive from its beauty as even the ocean can be terrifying and there were already some creatures that were giving me the heebie-jeebies.

In this game, you play as Ryley Robinson who was serving aboard the Aurora, a spaceship from the Alterra company until it is mysteriously shot down and crashes on Planet 4546B which is ocean all around. It basically starts you off in the escape pod and you’re on your own. This is a game that doesn’t hold your hand, so I had to learn everything myself, watching my oxygen levels, learning to craft food, drinkable water, and other useful tools with resources I found.

There are also four different game modes to play: Survival where you manage oxygen and hunger/thirst while scavenging to stay alive until you find a way off, Freedom where you don’t have to worry about hunger and thirst which is good for beginners of open-world games but don’t want to juggle too many resources, Hardcore, where there are no warnings about low oxygen and death, is permanent, and then Creative mode where you don’t have to worry about anything and all blueprints are unlocked so you can build whatever you desire everywhere.

Naturally, I chose to play the classic Survival mode to get the real experience of this game without too much difficulty and I felt it best suited the game’s story. There are also lots of mods out there but the only one I installed was one that gave me a map of the area, which helped a lot.

The more I built, the further and deeper I could explore from where my pod landed. Crafting is actually very easy in this game since I could pin recipes on my HUD so I always knew what I needed, so I started with the basics like tools and food as I stuck to the Safe Shallows. But once I got the hang of it, I began to think, I needed more space than just a little life pod, so I began brainstorming where to build my base.

Eventually, and with some help from my friend who is basically a Subnautica veteran, I built my base in the biggest section of the Grassy Plateau right next to the entrance to the Jellyshroom Cave which was quite useful if I ever needed to go down there. I should have taken a screenshot of it, but my base wasn’t large, it had one room with essentials such as the fabricator, first aid, chargers for batteries and power cells, etc. Then I had another room which was basically hydroponics with Bulbo and Lantern Fruit trees. I really wish I had picked and planted some of the latter when I first found them growing on one of the floating islands that was above the surface because they provide an endless supply of a food source.

There was a room upstairs for personal quarters with an aquarium, a room I dedicated to my bioreactor until I built some thermal plants in the Grand Reef and transmitters connecting to them, and then that room became a storage room with lots of lockers. I also had a moonpool, scanner room, observatory for the hell of it, and an alien containment.

There were also a few plants I used the most for crafting that grew outside as well and as you can see, I have a nice variety of creatures in my containment!

The environment in this game is beautiful in some places and the creatures are a variety of cute, weird, creepy, or terrifying. I like Peepers, Spadefish, Bladderfish, and even Jellyrays also have their own authentic adorableness to them.

I hated Crabsquids, Bonesharks and Warpers, ugh especially Warpers! They become even more frustrating to deal with later in the game. But when it comes to horror, I can understand why this game would not be for everyone. It can leave you with thalassophobia if you don’t already have it. I sometimes feel like I already have some of it after an accident I had tubing on a lake years ago. The true horror of this game kicked in as soon as I went to the mountain island and heard that terrifying roar below the surface and when I saw that tail as I embarked on a trip to the Aurora to fix the reactor.

I had nightmares, I wandered a few times and then was startled like hell when a Reaper Leviathan grabbed my Seamoth and shook it around. These monsters are basically the symbol of horror in this game, it doesn’t matter where I am in their territory for whatever reason. I can always hear them and they can come after me at any time, even in an ambush!

So I eventually put in some defense systems so I’m no longer scared, I’m just like come at me bro if you dare! I’ll admit no matter how scary this game gets, I’m still brave enough to continue because I actually find the adrenaline I get from such scares in this game, thrilling like riding a rollercoaster, that’s how brave I am. So I’ve been grabbed by Reaper Leviathans, hell I even scanned one after it bit me but before it could eat me, I was also bitten by a Ghost Leviathan and lived to tell the tale by scanning it, my Cyclops survived attacks from another Ghost Leviathan and later, a Sea Dragon, and I managed to remain calm and escape in one piece!

By the time I got to the late stages of the game did I really feel the story start to tighten its grip. You see, in the beginning, not long after I arrived, I discovered I had been infected with the Kharaa bacteria which has placed the planet under quarantine, so when a ship tried to rescue me, a big AA gun shot it down and I could not disable it due to being infected myself. The structure, and other structures I found, appeared to be made by an alien race only known as the Precursors who were studying the Kharaa bacterium in hopes of finding a cure.

In the Lost River, I found one of the facilities where they were studying the disease and in the Lava Zone was a thermal plant, and finally a containment facility over fourteen hundred meters deep below the surface. A few times in the game I had hallucinations of a creature telepathically speaking to me and soon I finally met her.

The last remaining Sea Emperor Leviathan who had immunity to the Kharaa bacterium was being kept in this place and only four of her children remained unhatched. With her guidance, I travelled back to various places to produce a cure successfully. Not only did it cure me, but I held back tears as she used her remaining strength to play with her offspring before sending them off to distribute the cure throughout the planet. I even saw that Peepers can use it as well! All the feels, oh my God, this game may not look like it has much of a story but the parts that do are so beautifully done in every way possible.

And then, with the infection cured and the quarantine shut down, I was able to finish building a rocket to escape Planet 4546B. But first I had to leave behind a time capsule before launching. I had found several of these in the game and I decided to leave in mine: two kyanite crystals, two ion cubes, an extra beacon I was using in case I got lost on long trips (I had several beacons planted already, one at my base, two at two different entrances to the Lost River), and a first aid kit. I also added a snapshot of the Blood Kelp Trench near my base as a subtle hint to future players and a message that
said the following:

You will need this when you go really deep. How deep? Deep, it’s classified.

If you know what movie that line is from, then give yourself a pat on the back. If not, then it’s from one of my favourite James Cameron films: The Abyss, which is very underrated. Seeing all those Glowrays, especially in the Tree Cove, they remind me of those NTIs and now I want to watch that movie again!

The only thing I regret is being unable to say goodbye to my Cuddlefish before leaving. I hatched it and let it follow me and somehow it got lost in the shallows. Maybe it was eaten by a Stalker? They spend most of their time in the kelp forests but sometimes they can venture beyond that.

Overall it’s an amazing game and felt like a personal journey like I had truly stepped into Ryley’s shoes from beginning to end. Now I go among the stars, until next time 4546B, and when I return, I’ll be ready to brave the cold.

👽Emily