SUBNAUTICA
Brief Summary
Subnautica is a "terror game" in which the player character gets stranded on an alien planet comprised of almost 100% ocean after the space cruise ship they were on crashes into the sea. As the player explores more of the planet, they learn of a strange disease wreaking havoc on the wildlife along with remnants of a mysterious intelligent race that previously inhabited the planet and attempted to research a cure.The player also becomes contaminated at some point and embarks on a quest to piece together the answer to the cure for the disease, following the guidance of a mysterious telepathic and intelligent leviathan creature. With the help of the leviathan Sea Emperor, the player develops the cure, sets the Sea Emperor's children free, and effectively saves the planet's wildlife. Finally, the player exits the planet on a rocket ship and returns home (with a newly accrued debt of 1 trillion credits).
Analysis of Ecohorror Themes
Compared to other horror games, Subnautica is unique because of its lack of a main antagonistic force and its unconventional gameplay loop in which the player mainly seeks to avoid terror - not death. In this story, the player is closer to an "observer" role than in almost any other horror game. This observer role allows the game to provide an interesting perspective in which humans are not the underlying cause or antagonist in a disease centered work. This is interesting because the audience is more removed from this story than other ones in which humans are the ones at fault. Ironically, this could possibly make it easier for the audience to feel a sense of responsibility for real-life human caused epidemics. The distance between the player and the catastrophe on the alien planet allows for more feelings of pity leading to an increased sense of urgency concerning one's own environment. The story touches on some of the following common eco horror themes:- Optimism for change
> Unlike many eco horror works, Subnautica ends on an objectively and indisputably positive note. The game provides a fresh sense of hope at the end of its story while many other eco horror works try to instill dread in the audience.
- Retribution for mistreatment of wildlife
> Typically, humans in eco horror stories are being punished for their negligence towards the environment. Jaws shows a town being punished for not respecting nature's violence properly. Day of the Animals shows a party suffering the wrath of the wildlife affected by the damage humans directly caused to the ozone layer. In Subnautica, the player is the only human present in the story, and they are not the cause of any disaster in the story. Rather, the wiped out archaic alien civilization has already been punished. The Sea Emperor in the story is a passive creature that had been trapped in a tiny enclosure to be researched for a possible cure by the aliens. Due to this mistreatment, the Sea Emperor, despite holding the enzyme essential for the cure, refused to cooperate, and thus the alien civilization was destroyed by the disease.
- Reverence for nature
> This theme is explored in a more unconventional way. It isn't direct plot elements that evoke this theme throughout the game, but rather the atmosphere created through art, level, and sound design. The spookiest leviathans in the game can drive some of the most frightening jump scares in any game, yet they're never portrayed as malicious. The aggressive entities are programmed in such a way that they behave like real wildlife existing passively. The player can't blame them for being created as a predator and looking for food. Unlike other horror games in which the player acquires more weapons and ways to fight back against threats, Subnautica never provides the player with weapons. The player experiences the entire game as prey, and it's a humbling and profound experience.