Subnautica

[Blue Jam]

Playing this on Game Pass now. Already worried about how much time I may end up sinking into this...

Subnautica is an open world survival horror which starts with you stranded in a borked emergency escape pod floating in the middle of another planet's ocean. You have to craft your way out of the situation, exploring, hunting and gathering while trying to avoid starving, drowning, and getting eaten by alien species.

The feel of it is somewhere between SOMA and Prey- it has that lonely and creepy feeling as you search for signs of survivors, and the limited resources and crafting system feel very Prey-like. Like SOMA it's also beautiful to look at. Weirdly it seems to veer between relaxing and scary.

By nature it's a bit grindy and normally I would hate that but crafting increasingly advanced bits of tech really opens new bits of the game up and there's a proper sense of progression which is really rewarding.

Anyone else given this a go?

[jonbob]

Yep, it's great I really enjoyed a game that was so heavily based on crafting, but had a story  with an ending. I'm on a second playthrough waiting for the release of the expansion,

[The Boston Crab]

I gave this a good couple of hours when it was in Early Access on the XB but performance was a bit iffy then. I understand it's had plenty of updates since then but not yet gone back to it. I did have one terrifying session where I just put the pad down because the door went or whatever and I forgot about it and when I went back an hour later, I was very very very deep down off a cliff edge or something, and I was in total darkness with only the cliff face behind me and nothing above or below that I could see. With headphones on, that was a very unpleasant place to be, like one of my worst fears, in fact. I can only imagine it in VR. Brrrr. I spent about ten minutes going up and still saw nothing and I turned it off and uninstalled. It may well have bugged out or something but that sense of total isolation and emptiness was a momentary sense of hell. This was on creative mode or whatever so I also couldn't die. Bad.

That's actually a recommendation, it must be doing something right.

[bgmnts]

Would check this out but it's got that unbearable survival mechanic where you have to act as a carer for your character, takes any fun out of a game.

[Blue Jam]

There's a Wuss Mode if you just want to explore at leisure and enjoy the story, and I think there is also a mode where you can still die but hunger and thirst are no longer an issue. I'm playing on Survival Mode though- it's more my idea of fun, and not having the threat of death as a motivation to build bigger oxygen tanks, better ways of catching your dinner etc would make the game feel a bit pointless to me.

I did have one terrifying session where I just put the pad down because the door went or whatever and I forgot about it and when I went back an hour later, I was very very very deep down off a cliff edge or something, and I was in total darkness with only the cliff face behind me and nothing above or below that I could see. With headphones on, that was a very unpleasant place to be, like one of my worst fears, in fact. I can only imagine it in VR. Brrrr. I spent about ten minutes going up and still saw nothing and I turned it off and uninstalled. It may well have bugged out or something but that sense of total isolation and emptiness was a momentary sense of hell. This was on creative mode or whatever so I also couldn't die. Bad.

That's actually a recommendation, it must be doing something right.

I'm not a strong swimmer and I'm only comfortable swimming in fairly shallow water, anything deeper than I am tall freaks me out a bit so that sounds pretty nightmarish to me too. I haven't made it out of the shallows yet (only just got the vehicle pod thing) but I've already had a few hairy moments when I've got an oxygen level warning while in a cave, and I can't find the exit because it's dark.

The sound design is impressive too- for example, when you come to the surface everything sounds muffled and quiet for a few seconds until there's a rushing sound and everything is clear, it sounds just like water running out of your ears. It's realistic enough with headphones, I imagine this is really immersive in VR but you'd have to be a total masochist to try it.

One thing I really love is the way it doesn't feel like I'm playing on rails at all- no mission list, no quest markers, no map, you just have a busted escape pod and a list of vague instructions to fix it up and survive, and you just have to explore and work everything out for yourself. It's hard but there's a logic to it which stops it being frustrating- "I reached that escape pod with no problems but the next one is 300m down, if only I could craft a little submarine... Oh, hang on...".

I wasn't sure about the lack of a map at first but I soon began to appreciate it- not knowing where you are on a strange planet and having to build beacons to mark areas of interest is more believable. I've even found myself navigating by the stars a bit- and old-school navigation in a sci-fi game is quite something.

[bgmnts]

There's a Wuss Mode if you just want to explore at leisure and enjoy the story, and I think there is also a mode where hunger and thirst are no longer an issue. I'm playing on Survival Mode though- it's more my idea of fun, and not having the threat of death as a  motivation to build bigger oxygen tanks, better ways of catching your dinner etc would make the game feel a bit pointless to me.

Exactly, i'd like to play the game as it's meant to be played. I may give it a go when I get my xbone back.

[Blue Jam]

Ooooh, I've found an island... with caves... and lithium... perhaps I can build a computer...

Damn, this game is making me wish I was unemployed.

[Blue Jam]

Heheheheh... just got back to my lifepod, put the radio on and heard a message from... a rescue ship! Yippee! Swam out to meet it, arrived at the island with the alien tech (which I have now christened Willie Thorne Island), had ten minutes to spare so thought I'd explore the caves for materials, got lost with two minutes left on the countdown, jumped through a hole into water thinking it would be a way out only to find myself landing in a horribly claustrophobic underwater cave system, managed to find the way out with ten seconds to spare and then prepared to watch the rescue ship land only to see my ride home get blown to smithereens by an alien space gun. GOD DAMN YOU ALL TO HELL... Fucking brilliant.

Eight hours in and I still feel like I've barely scratched the surface of this game.

[Blue Jam]

Built my cute little sub and found another island now. Got eaten by land crabs so I have named the new island American Samoa. Go Land Crabs!

No, seriously Land Crabs, fuck off. You move and sound like the mimics in Prey but you're somehow even sneakier.

[bgmnts]

Put it on, no idea what to do. Died of radiation going to the crashed ship.

Crap.

[Blue Jam]

You might want to craft yourself a bit of PPE then. Maybe go looking for some raw materials, perhaps some kind of very dense metal that blocks radiation, hint hint... Also don't worry about the crashed shop just yet, consult your To Do list and get tooled up first. I made the same mistake when I got my fragile naked self nuked early on in the game.

It's a hard game and that's why I love it, but I also have no shame in admitting I have consulted the wiki- this game is bloody massive, it'd be daft not to:

https://subnautica.fandom.com/wiki/Subnautica_Wiki

Feel like I'm quite far in now. Crafted a mech suit named Gary and a big fuck-off submarine named The Penetrator, plus a small seamoth submarine called RONALADO and a sweet sea base called Excalibur Cottage. Venturing into the murky depths to nick the alien tech from Willie Thorne's shed now.

[Blue Jam]

The bugginess and the flimsiness of the submarines is starting to fuck me off now. Got the depth upgrades for the seamoth and tried to get to another of Willie Thorne's sheds located 800m down, only for it to get smacked around by alien sharks who smashed poor little RONALADO to fuck.

Built a big Cyclops submarine only to find they move at about two knots per hour while eating up power cells and they're big cumbersome noisy beasts which every predator just wants to play with.

Patched up my sub only to get a warning that it had caught fire like a fucking bendy bus. Couldn't locate the fire anywhere and then died of smoke inhalation despite wearing a fucking oxygen tank and a mask. Bye-bye, The Penetrator- and Gary, my legendary mech suit which I had no time to salvage. Bah.

Built RONALADO II and pimped it with the tasers and hull reinforcements and finally made it down to the deep sea alien tech I needed. The seamoth may be flimsy but it's also smol and speedy and energy efficient and takes two seconds to repair so fuck it.

Might need a break from this while I get over the loss of Gary *rage quits*

[bgmnts]

Played a good few hours a few days ago, saved and exited.

Turn it on today and no save file, just new game.

Fuck this game.

[Blue Jam]

I made that mistake the first time I did a save- it takes bloody ages and you really do have to wait until the "Please wait" icon disappears.

I'm glad I persevered but maybe it's not for you. That's not a criticism, I had my doubts at first and still don't know how anyone could have finished a game this big and hard (oo-er) without the wiki.

Speedrun record is a shade under 40 minutes. Fucking hell.

[The Bumlord]

Remains the only game I've had to stop playing due to sheer spooky unease.

Brr.

[Blue Jam]

Remains the only game I've had to stop playing due to sheer spooky unease.

Brr.

Have you played Alien: Isolation? I had to stop playing that but now because it was too scary, because I got to a bit where I just couldn't evade the xenomorph and it stopped being scary and became more annoying and "oh fuck's sake, not you again".

Hand on heart I'd say Subnautica is scarier. After finding the alien base 800m down I now have to reach another one 1,300m down and I'm planning that expedition with some trepidation. Brrr indeed.

Incidentally, the only game I've had to quit because it was too scary was actually PUBG. Great game but amazingly agoraphobic and it just shredded my nerves.

[Blue Jam]

Also FUCK these guys. Submarines aren't food, you pricks:

[Blue Jam]

Just did a proper Homer Simpson scream playing this. Right, that's enough for tonight *shudders*

[Noddy Tomkey]

Ok Blue Jam I am going to buy this right now.

[Noddy Tomkey]

I've been playing for the past few nights and I'm bloody loving it. I find it very difficult to tear myself away, to actually stop crafting/exploring, and get to bed.

I'm about ten hours in and I've had quite a few jaw-dropping moments, mostly due to the sheer scale of things. I'd forgotten about Willie Thorne Island so when  I eventually went in that direction and it appeared out of nowhere it was a marvellous feeling of discovery. Then the next day I went round the other side of the island and what was casually revealed to be there was genuinely stunning.

I'm yet to build a sub (figured out quite late how to build the simplest of bases) but I'm positively thrilled at how much potential there is for the game to open up.

I haven't played many modern games but I think this might be my favourite. Catching fish can be very frustrating though!

[evilcommiedictator]

If you find plans for the gravity ball thing you can stop chasing bloody peeperfish all around going clickclickclick

[Blue Jam]

You can also build an aquarium, put fish and their roe in there, and then eat your pets.

Having a planter full of bulbo trees inside your base is really bloody handy.

[Noddy Tomkey]

Ffs, I thought the aquarium would be purely aesthetic! Of course you can put fish in it...

I've got a bit of the gravity ball and hopefully, while searching for Seamoth fragments I'll find the other bit.

[Blue Jam]

I've built an alien containment and have started putting eggs in it. I won't spoil this for you, but one type of egg hatches into a cute little fish and if you release it into the wild it proceeds to follow you round like a puppy and you can tickle it and throw it treats and it'll catch them and smile at you and make happy noises.

I know there's no karma mechanic in this game but I still can't bring myself to kill and eat the cute little fucker.

[Blue Jam]

Finally finished this last night. Loved it but it was such a timesink I'm relieved tbh. I hope the Sub-Zero DLC doesn't make it to consoles for a while, for my own sake. Any of you PC gamers played it yet? Apparently it has cute little space penguins, among other much more terrifying things.

[jonbob]

I've been playing below zero and csn confirm not only cute penguins, but a radio controlled spy in the wild style cute penguin robot. There's also sea monkeys

[Schmo Diddley]

Picked this up in the sale over the weekend. First became aware of it due to this thread, procrastinated over buying it for a bit but am glad I did.

Finding it really compelling after about 5 hours. It's a beautiful world, like the crafting system (but then I did end up farming pelts and mining rock for days on Skyrim) and the way the story guides you forward without feeling too gamey. Lack of map and direction markers helps you appreciate and explore the world better rather than just following the pin.

[PlanktonSideburns]

danmit did i miss the sale ? fancy this but am currently jobless. one day

[Schmo Diddley]

Sale on the PS4, £15. Think it's still that price.

[Blue Jam]

Think it's still on Game Pass too, and there's still that offer where you can join for £1.