Good afterevenmorn, Readers!

Now that I’ve finished my play-thorugh of Far Cry 6, I have started playing a new game on my Friday night live streams. It is a survival exploration game that I am assured also has a story element (my livestreams are narrative games, largely). It is both fascinating and absolutely horrifying. I am, of course, talking about Subnautica. With the third game in the series out now in early access (oddly called Subnautica 2, even though the second game in the series was Subnautica: Below Zero), I figured I should take a stab at the original game. I knew precious little about it, save that it was a science fiction survival and exploration game, and that there was a thing in it called a reaper levaithan.

Now, I’m not very far into the game, so I haven’t experienced any of the promised story, save for the introduction, but I am already obsessed. Let’s talk about it!

I have only streamed this game three times (it’s a recent start), so I’m not very far into it. The story so far is this: your spaceship, the Aurora, owned by intergalactic corporation Alterra, crash lands on an alien planet (4546). A planet that’s entirely ocean. You, a person on the ship, escape into a life pod/escape module and land in a relatively shallow region in the ocean, not far from your downed spaceship. You are the only person in the life pod. And you might be the only person who survived the crash. I’m not sure yet. Every other life pod I’ve come across has been sunken, ripped open and empty of anything but personal PDAs (personal digital assistants). A couple of times, your PDA notes that some of the animals in the area have bellies full of human remains.

Oh, great.

You have nothing, but some food and some water, and your life pod. So… good luck?

It is up to you to gather resources and, using what’s on your life pod, create the things you need to survive – a scanner, so you can scan parts of other tech that you need in order to have your PDA patch together blueprints that you can use, or, if you’re me, the fascinating biological life everywhere around you (seriously, my inner nerd is going wild!). The further you explore, the more you discover and can use in order to help you survive this alien world. For instance, there is a type of fish that can yield fresh water… which is your most essential resource. Other fish you can cook or salt and eat. Other fish are poisonous and will kill you, which you won’t know unless you scan the thing. Also, there are broken pieces of tech strewn all over the place. If you scan enough of the pieces of one kind, you can create all kinds of tools – a knife, a repair tool, a seamoth (a kind of personal submarine – I just got the blueprints for that), even habitat pieces you can use in order to build your own base. I have a very rudimentary base at present.

There is also something about a virus which, the game having prompted the player to scan themselves for, I feel will play a much larger role eventually. I suspect that’s where the story will come in, but I haven’t much of a clue as to what that might be just yet.

I stream only once a week, being stupidly busy, but I am obsessed. I can’t stop thinking about this game. I want to catalogue all the species I find. I want to explore every biome. I run (swim?) screaming from that exploration because of horrific sounds in the dark…

Look, I don’t do horror. I am a cowardly, knock-kneed, scaredy-cat. I don’t read horror novels. I don’t watch horror films. And I do not play horror games. Except for this one, apparently. In my defence, I didn’t know this was horror until I was looking into the murky waters around the Aurora and heard a roar right behind me. THE SCREAM I SCRUMPT. As they say in internet parlance. Beyond the horrifying unknown, though, is an incredible game. The world is insanely thought through; from the various biomes to the creatures that inhabit them, and the technology that will help you survive this water world. It’s all so detailed and thorough. This game is a masterclass in worldbuilding.

While I cannot yet make any claims as to the story (I’m way too early in game time for much of that to have happened), if the story is anywhere near the level of worldbuilding, this game might become my absolute favourite.

It is also scratching that itch that I believe lives in nearly everyone. The itch that is curiosity – the urge to learn, to go to new places, to discover, and explore. The urge that compelled our ancestors into the frozen lands north of their home, the urge that compels us now to stretch out into the heavens. It is a powerful thing that I think the makers of this game tapped into expertly.

It is also absolutely horrifying. The number of times I have muttered the word “nope” (and much less savory words) while playing is not insignificant. And yet, despite that horror, despite the threat of dehydration, starvation, and drowning, I am drawn again and again beneath the waves of 4546B. I don’t know what magic this dev. team poured into the making of this game, but just nine hours in, it is certainly working. I can’t wait to return.

Alas, I must go to the office instead.

*grumble*

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When S.M. Carrière isn’t brutally killing your favorite characters, she spends her time teaching martial arts, live streaming video games, and sometimes painting. In other words, she spends her time teaching others to kill, streaming her digital kills, and sometimes relaxing. Her most recent titles include Daughters of Britain, Skylark and Human. The Timbercreek Incident is free to read on Wattpad.