Subnautica and the obsession with the deep
The start of 2018 was marked by the release of one of those games that you don’t really see coming and yet almost instantly get the aura of a cult work. Recent examples include Hollow Knight and Outer Wilds, two games that seemingly came out of nowhere, but which have one thing in common: they come from the so-called ‘indie scene’. The game we’re interested in today can also be considered an indie game, although it’s the fruit of a much larger team than that of the aforementioned games, that of the Unknown Worlds studio, the parents of Subnautica. It’s not just the size of the development team that sets Subnautica apart from other ‘small games’. In its case, the Unknown Worlds team had already made a name for itself with the success of Natural Selection 1 and 2, shooters and strategy games set in an SF universe that the studio seems to hold dear. What’s more, while the general public discovered Subnautica on its release on January 28, 2018, thousands of players had already been able to familiarize themselves with its universe and systems during the game’s early access, which began in 2014. Through their curiosity and support, these veterans helped shape one of the most fascinating worlds in video games.
An experienced development studio, four years of early access and a few million dollars – this is what gave birth to 4546B, the planet-ocean that welcomes players when the spaceship crashes, marking the beginning of an unforgettable adventure, that of Subnautica.
Looking back, I think it’s safe to say that Subnautica was an important game for our favorite medium, video games. And, although the question probably can’t be answered definitively, if I were to try and put my finger on the reasons why it’s such a special game, I think the answer would be right there at the bottom, in the abyss of this seemingly bottomless ocean.
From Echo the Dolphin to Maneater, video games set in an aquatic universe have always existed and will certainly continue to do so, but something tells me that since Subnautica came along, they seem to be multiplying exponentially. It’s as if Subnautica had opened the floodgates, like a pilot fish showing the way for more diving and underwater exploration to follow.
Subnautica could be described as a survival game, but in water. Since the success of Minecraft, there has been a proliferation of experiments involving the harvesting of resources to create tools and makeshift shelters. From The Long Dark to The Forest, via Ark: Survival Evolved and Don’t Starve, the formula has become a real craze, and is now one of the most popular genres. The recent controversial success of Palworld is no contradiction.
Like all fashionable genres, the best way to stand out from the crowd is to take tried-and-tested systems and offer a new, original environment to exploit their full potential. We’ve been able to survive the vacuum of space, an island inhabited by cannibalistic mutants or the deadly cold of the Far North, but it has to be said that the vast majority of survival games are all too often content to rehash universes of tiresome banality, zombie apocalypse we’re thinking of you. Un terrain de jeu sous-marin was therefore a welcome innovation, a breath of fresh air amidst the hundreds of other, often too conventional, offerings.
In my career as a gamer, I must admit that survival games have never convinced me: the systems are often too obscure for me, and the tedious resource gathering usually discourages me from pursuing the adventure. Without getting too far ahead of myself, I think I can safely say that I’m not the only one in this situation, and yet I’m convinced that among the millions of gamers who are reluctant to survive, Subnautica has been an exception. Subnautica’s first strength lies in its original universe and, above all, in the way it is presented to us. The first moments of the game are spent setting the scene: a gigantic spaceship in which we were passengers has crashed on 4546B, the famous ocean planet. No need for lengthy explanations, we find ourselves almost instantly in control of our character who survived the crash in an escape pod.
We use the escape ladder to get out and see that the ocean surrounds us on all sides, as far as the eye can see. The huge, smoking hulk of the spaceship is the only disturbing element on the horizon. No choice but to jump in. And the magic happens instantly. The reefs around the capsule are absolutely marvelous. Clear sand, new coral shapes and a variety of fish, each more colorful than the last, greet us to the sound of music that invites us to adventure. We’ll skip over the details of the gameplay, but I think it’s important to underline one point. Subnautica is an extremely welcoming game. The famous escape capsule is equipped with a device that allows us to make all the tools we need to explore, and we quickly gain access to various means of moving faster and, above all, deeper. It’s a far cry from the harsh systems often found in survival games. In fact, while giving the illusion of infinite freedom of movement in its open-world, Subnautica will actually show us a clear path, with the help of distress signals from other capsules. These beacons hold us by the hand so that we come across the plans for the next tool we’ll need, but it does so so discreetly that we always have the impression of discovering everything for ourselves.
In this sense, I’m not afraid to say that Subnautica is less a survival game than a semi-linear Metroidvania with survival elements. No wonder it appealed to so many, including the survival-averse myself. I’d even go so far as to say that Subnautica may never have really been intended as a survival game, since before starting a game it offers the choice of playing without the limitations of hunger and thirst, two systems inherent to the genre and which constitute an additional difficulty that is more time-consuming than anything else, preventing you from plunging straight to the point, towards what Subnautica really has to offer: a Mystery to be solved.
As you move through the biomes, from the most magnificent to the most terrifying, you’ll discover elements that seem out of place in this natural environment. Architectural constructions, portals and power cables all seem to be the work of an unknown civilization. We suddenly realize that the surface isn’t entirely covered in water, with the discovery of a first island and the ruins of an abandoned settlement. Could other humans have lived on this planet before our arrival? These elements of history are provided to us little by little, without any real explanation, like clues, pieces of a Arianne’s thread that we’ll have to follow if we hope to get to the bottom of the truth, and perhaps one day leave this planet which, as the adventure unfolds, becomes less and less welcoming.
Subnautica’s real strength lies not in its systems. Certainly, gamers who are fans of survival and apprentice architects eager to build the best underwater base have loved playing it, but I remain convinced that the heart of the game lies in the secrets it wants us to discover, the mysteries it invites us to solve.
This fascination with the secrets of the deep is nothing new – we could go as far back as the legendary Atlantis, and in the case of Subnautica, it’s no surprise to learn that Charlie Cleveland, the game’s director, is a great admirer of the work of a certain James Cameron. The studio’s first Unknown Worlds successes, the 2 Natural Selection opuses, were openly inspired by the film Aliens, among others, and it was obviously his fascination with The Abyss, Cameron’s masterpiece in my opinion, that led to the project that gave birth to Subnautica. This contagious obsession with the deep is almost universal, and easily understandable. We’re a curious and creative species, so we’re constantly seeking to pursue the breadth of knowledge and, at the same time, create entire universes from scratch that feed the infinite field of fiction. The majority of science fiction universes tend to move naturally towards the endless possibilities offered by space, and similarly, when we talk about discovering the secrets our universe still has to offer, we think of the conquest of space. We often have the false impression that we already know our own planet too well and that the future, both in terms of discovery and fiction, can’t happen on Earth. But what if it took place beneath the surface of the ocean?
In his documentary film Aliens of The Deep, James Cameron takes us deep into the Abyss to meet creatures that seem to have stepped straight out of an SF novel, so different are they from the species we’re used to. They’re not light-years away populating distant planets, they’re simply below us, living an existence about which we still know very little. In Cameron’s film, we also learn that many space exploration programs regularly test their equipment on the ocean floor before sending it into space, since the abyss is the closest thing we have to an environment on another planet.
So, in its own way, under the guise of an aquatic survival game, Subnautica actually allows everyone to share a little of this universal fascination for the ocean depths and their mysteries.
Throughout the month of April, on the pages of this Kaleidoscope, you’ve tried to decipher ancient maps leading to the ruins of forgotten civilizations. You’ve explored the dank corridors of a sunken city and marveled at its distinctive architecture. Whether aboard a frail skiff or from the shores of the ocean, you’ve set out to meet the creatures that inhabit the world below, fish that will serve as meals for cosmic gods that we’d rather not wake from a long sleep. Finally, you plunged into the mysterious waters of an unknown planet, not knowing what secrets you might discover.
The theme we wanted to explore in this newsletter was ‘Water’, and we could have told you about the technical challenges developers face in modeling this very element in video games. We could have looked at the far more tangible problem of the water requirements of the ever-more-greedy servers that keep multiplayer games running at full capacity 24 hours a day. Or we could have tackled the case of survival games, in which it is often necessary to consume water to satisfy a thirst gauge, and Subnautica is no exception to the rule. However, without consulting each other, Loudic, Béné, Julien and I turned our attention to the mysteries that the abysses guard like precious secrets.
Using Subnautica as a telling example, my intention was to demonstrate that the seabed exerts an inexhaustible attraction on humans, a fascination that can drive a sane mind to insanity. From Lovecraft to Jules Verne, from James Cameron to Wes Anderson, not forgetting Tintin and Commandant Cousteau, many more or less fictional personalities have abandoned themselves to the depths. I’m personally prone to Thalassophobia, the panic fear of the deep. So getting to the bottom of the deep was an ordeal, but I became so obsessed with the game that it was impossible to divert my attention during the dozens of hours I spent under the ocean. And if I’m still afraid of the Abyss, I’m afraid Subnautica has infected me too. I’m drawn to the depths, I’ve got to get back there.