The very first time I played Subnautica, I did not beat the game.
But the reason I did not beat the game isn’t because I did not enjoy Subnautica – on the contrary, I love Subnauticas gameplay loop.
The reason I stopped my first playthrough is something completely different.
Something unusual.
Subnautica was so scary to play for me, that I just wasn’t able to continue playing.
Subnautica was just so tense and playing it so taxing that I couldn’t take it anymore.
Even stranger – the section that absolutely broke me wasn’t about facing a terrible enemy nor was it an escape sequence or a psychedelic horror bit.
It was something much more trivial.
It was simply exploring past a dark cliff.
I just wasn’t able to dive into the darkness here.
I was too scared.
And that kind of raises a question doesn’t it.
Why?
Why did I find Subnautica so terrifying that it completely overwhelmed me even though I usually don’t care much about horror in games?
What was different in Subnautica?
What horror was I experiencing?
This question is what this video is all about.
Because I believe that the horror of Subnautica is Lovecraftian or cosmic horror.
So in this video we are going to embark on a journey.
We are going to dive deep into the depths below Subnauticas ocean.
We are going to discuss the horror of the deep sea, we are going to waffle about all the mysteries of Subnauticas story, we are going to talk about what Lovecraftian horror even is in the first place and why Subnautica is in my opinion such a prime example of it.
====== Patreon
Help content like this survive on the platform: https://www.patreon.com/Ceave
====== Timestamps———–
00:00:00 – Intro
00:03:35 – I: Crashed (Premise and Gameplay)
00:11:58 – II: The Ocean
00:19:47 – III: Cannons (Story and Gameplay)
00:28:00 – IV: Lovecraftian Horror
00:38:26 – V: The Aesthetics Of Lovecraft
00:51:38 – VI: Into The Depths (Story)
====== Sources
Major Sources:
Chapter 2 is heavily based on Chapter 18 of Bill Bryson’s fantastic book “A Short History Of Nearly Everything”.
Chapter 3 is heavily based on the fantastic Wikipedia article on H.P. Lovecraft.
Additional Sources:
Wikipedia: Metroid Prime, Lovecraftian Horror, Absurdism
Blue Holes: www.derstandard.de/story/3000000218562
Ocean Mapping: https://noc.ac.uk/news/quarter-ocean-floor-now-mapped
Flayra on Steam: https://steamcommunity.com/app/264710/discussions/0/523897653306355954/?ctp=9#c371918937268702725 )
Story Discussion: https://subnautica.fandom.com/wiki/Storyline
The artwork of Lovecraftian beings are card arts of Hearthstone’s “The Old Gods” expansion.
====== Credits for the Music
Subnautica OST: “Original Inhabitants”, “Salutations”, “Into the Unknown”, ”Shallows”, “Blood Crawlers”
Metroid Prime OST: “Menu Select Theme”
Additionally the video uses licensed music from productioncrate.com and motionarray.com
source
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well you are wrong in some point about lovecraftian horror, first its not horror for all the readers i like aloot that type of horror and dont produceme fear but curiosity, second point and that its a common missunderstood on who never read lovecraft its you can see the elder gods and still fine aloot of dude and entities do that, the thing its if you mind can manage the form of the elder gods you will become made but if you can manage will be fine, also lovecraft its more about the horror of the unknow the fear you feel for the unknow and the curiosity in what will happen and the degeneration the human and other entities can do for try to undestand the unknow, another things if you wanna read lovecraft when he use concepts like dimension its a math dimension on sapce its mean how many perpendicula line you cna draw in the space, if say infnite in some text mean infintite dimension but in math space not like classic scif-fi alternative universes or other worlds,
thank you ceave perspective for this very interesting and entertaining video
I love subnautica, the highlight for me was how beatiful the environments look
The reaper leviathan (along with the baby from RE8) remains one of the only monsters in video games to actually scare me. Not even the other leviathans get to me. I’ve never actually beaten Subnautica legitimately because I refuse to go into the crash zone for the cyclops shield generator lmao.
Another video compared Subnautica and Subnautica Subzero
They came to the conclusion that Subzero isn't as scary because the scary creatures are placed in a way that they can't be avoided
You get used to them and they eventually become an annoyance
In Subnautica you can beat the game without ever even seeing a reaper
This channel deserves way more subs. 10 videos and each one is a banger.
In my humble opium: Amazing analysis of how contemporary video games use (or don't use) lovecraftian horror!
36:56 Wh… why is Oseh Shalom playing? The background music is a slowed-down version of the Jewish prayer Oseh Shalom. I am Jewish, and Oseh Shalom is one of my favorite prayers, so the tune caught my ear and I was so distracted that I had to point it out.
Okay, continue.
this type of game is in short supply, and i believe its the exact kind of game that will stand the test of time, not games like fortnite or helldivers that are short bursts of emotion or just good gameplay loops, its the games that provide these things and also manage to make you feel something throughout the game, in subnauticas case, fear.
What makes Subnautica really interesting to me is that, unlike a lot of other Games in the Genre, it gives you a lot of Agency while keeping you at a low Power-Level.
Because of that, a lot of the progression is based around learning more about the Game and it's creatires, and simply finding the Courage to move on despite your fear…
It also makes the Scary bits scarier by forcing you to think about your next steps.
Because it isn't a pre-determined path, it's just your choice.
It also nails the feeling of Dread, ironically by letting you get away with a lot. Because barely getting away with your life is way scarier than dying and seeing a game over screen.
Well done my friend!
i played this game for the first time the same day i got my wisdom teeth removed
This reminds me of rain world a bit.
Thank you, Ceave, for allowing me to understand one thing that always was at the back of my mind until today. It's time for a little story.
I don't consider myself a horror fan – not a lovecraftian one, not gothic or any type. But I am an avid roleplay-lover, and the systems like Dungeons&Dragons are my jam. And yet, there is one horror system and setting that left me with this deep feeling of a new and exciting discovery in my inner self, that I failed to replicate since my first time playing it – the system is called "Don't Rest Your Head" (or DRYH in short).
The world of DRYH is your typical urban environment (or any other realistic one, honestly), but only on the surface. If someone suffers from insomnia or has other reasons not to sleep for far too long – they "wake up" and realize that the world around them isn't at all what it seems. They find themselves within Mad City, a true world that only has a facade that we naively call "reality" for those who still sleep.
The Mad City itself is an endless, psychodelic, dreamlike evershifting place that includes all eras and places, both existing and non-existant. Like Silent Hill cranked up to eleven. It features people who are not really people but mere props that are here to play roles. Nightmares, who are incomprehensible monsters that each have their unique look or lack of it – and abilities that manipulate reaility or twist the very essense of human nature itself. But also the Mad City has awaken – people like you, the player, who happen to find themselves in an utmost confusing and dangerous scenario in the world where they are constantly hunted by Nightmares… And the world that can't be explained or understood.
The stories within this setting are the opposite, as they mostly rely on personal character trauma and them either learning how to live with or succumb to it. But when I looked around me and saw the Mad City for the first time – it left an impression on me. Exactly because it was incomprehensible. Because I knew nothing of the weird rules by which this world worked. I was constantly filled with the sense of danger and uncertainty. It was THE lovecraftian horror – and it was my first time experiencing it as a person, hence leaving me begging for me but it could never come again from this exact setting. And now I understand why – because once my first story in this world was complete, I already knew the basics, and now other scenarios would be just chaning the color of the lighting in the room where I would want to enter a completely different and uknown one.
So thanks again for making me realize what I wanted all this time. What nudged me from the back of my head. Now I can articulate this to my friends with who I played DRYH – and maybe, just maybe, we can concoct a similarly unforgetting experience once more.
I think Ceave is really on to something here. When taking inspiration from something, it's easy to mimic the surface level aspects of it and achieve something that at a glance gives the same impression as the original. However, things which are worthy to be taken inspiration from, especially things which invent something new, usually only have their surface level characteristics be a byproduct of the ideas which said things are based on and try to explore. To truly take inspiration from something else and in turn expand upon its ideas, it's necessary to understand the viewpoint from which those ideas came in the first place.
I had to lookup how to actually kill the leviathans so that I could finish the game. apparently they do eventually die after many many many swings of the fire knife. just gotta keep them locked up with a stasis rifle and keep swinging and believing. even though they don't show that they received damage they actually do.
This may be my favourite channel on yt
If terror is the feeling that you need to run, horror is the feeling that running wouldn't help.
Lovely video, Ceave. Subnautica really captured my attention when it was first coming out, but its not a game that I could ever play myself (too scary for me)
The horror you described is why I'm always nervous before starting a new game, watching a new movie and even sometimes a youtube video from a new creator. It's the reason why I read through like half of the wiki for Satisfactory before launching it for the first time.
And the reason why this and The Outer Wilds videos were essential for me.
The only game I ever played blind (and not in my childhood) was, paradoxically, Doki Doki Literature Club. But even then, I knew that it was a visual novel and to.. I don't know.. expect something? I knew that there's something in there, and it made me less anxious, and now I finally know why. And what to discuss in my next therapy session.
Thank you.
Fun fact about the blue whale. There is an ichthyosaur species discovered that is believed to be a juvenile (well, it's fossil). Said juvenile is 82 feet long. Ichthyotitan severnensis is possibly the largest animal to ever exist, since it's juvenile stage is almost blue whale sized.
I always appreciate how well thought out these analysis videos are from you. Wonderful food for thought. I will, however, provide good-spirited debate on lovecraftian aesthetics no longer working for lovecraftian horror. I'll go right for the heart of my thoughts and save examples for paragraph 3. (I'm writing this at 47:01, if there's a good follow up after this with a counter point whoopsie doodle my comment lives forever as unnecessary. But I enjoyed thinking about it so nonetheless:)
I think the aesthetics can still work for the horror. because if the horror is about a fear of the unknowable, things beyond our comprehension leaving us drowning in a sea of existential dread and despair. Well, that feeling is honestly aesthetically neutral. Games focused on pure science or very robotic sci-fi can instill that feeling. That feeling could be evoked by a Cyberpunk game by using corporations as a metaphor for the universe being a machine of atoms and physics, for example. And just because I know what it means for something to be 'from the void, beyond our dimensions of reason and matter." Doesn't mean I can't still be left feeling utterly small and insignificant in the face of it.
While one example is, in fact, the Souls series, including Bloodborne, Elden Ring, and Dark Souls 3. All felt like I was struggling to understand and while the horror faded with time and familiarity, I still remember that feeling. My favourite example is actually, and god I hate that saying this out loud kind of spoils it. Magrunner Dark Pulse.
Going into a Quantum Conundrum style portal clone, only to come face to face with cosmic horror at the end of all things. Idk, even though I knew what Cthulhu was, in that moment. It hit hard.
Great essay and video. The other game, I feel like completely follows the Lovecraftian horror without aesthetics, is "Amnesia: A Machine for Pigs". Although widely regarded as inferior to the predecessor, the "machine", with its incomprehensible size, origin or purpose, the constant sense of the continuously deeper reaching apparatus and conspiracy and the main character going insane while trying to figure out how everything connects only to reach an absolutely devastating conclusion in the end, to me is another example of this Lovecraftian concept.
Ceave x Subnautica, I would have never imagined this crossover!!!
Subnautica is one of my favorite games of all time, and yet my experience with the game is so different than most others. While playing through the game, I didn't expeirance it as horror. rather as an adventure with the leviathans as obsticles.