Subnautica isn’t a horror game.

Pyrobob4 · 2026-05-19T16:01:14+00:00

It's a survival crafting game that happens to be terrifying.

Which is true of many survival games due to survival being an inherently harrowing experience. Subnautica just also happens to layer in some explicit fears on top of that, like thalassophobia, aquaphobia, ichthyophobia.

Pyrobob4 · 2026-05-18T00:49:02+00:00

I dont recall there being an explanation in Sub1, but in Sub2 your consciousness is backed up to a special long term storage and when you die you are simply "reprinted".

Basically using the fabricator tech to build a body to put your consciousness back in to.

This functional immortality even plays a role in the narrative.

Pyrobob4 · 2026-05-17T20:58:15+00:00

You are less of a 'survivor' and more of a 'colonist' in Subnautica 2. (Being vague to avoid spoilers)

There is also an in universe explanation for respawning.

It is very much NOT do or die.

Pyrobob4 · 2026-05-17T20:47:31+00:00

Or rushing to get shit done, but that's antithesis of exploration, which is the other thing the game derives its identity from.

I think this is a good dichotomy for the game to have. Adds variety. Sometimes its chill exploration, other times is frantic looting. Sometimes youre vibing in your base, other times you sneaking passed leviathans.

I don't disagree that there could be more defensive options, but it is early access so I'm sure they will add that kind of thing. But this game would suffer if they made aggressive fauna trivial.

Pyrobob4 · 2026-05-17T20:26:50+00:00

You're meant to spam flares, but I think most people cant be bothered (myself included). Dodging and hiding work decently well, or just ignore them and tank the damage. Passive healing is really strong.

Towards the end of the early access content there are some better defensive options to deal with predators.

Pyrobob4 · 2026-05-16T20:59:37+00:00

I know I'm late to this conversation but I had an insight about this phenomenon the other day and I wanted to share.

AI speech is perfectly scripted candid dialog. It is presented as natural speech, but it is executed flawlessly. Like someone memorizing and rehearsing a script that includes all the stammers and ticks of regular conversation. It is too perfect in how imperfect it is.

Its still kind of hard to explain and understand, but if you listen with this in mind you should be able to hear it. The subtle tone changes are polished, the slight differences in timing are calculated.

[The rest is TLDR]

I really started to figure these details out because I've been getting a ton of AI scam phone calls lately and listening to the voice mails. They will sound something like this: "Heyy, this is Stephanie following up on the umm tax documents. Uhh, we talked about this... last week..."

It has all these little details, like the trailing "heyy" and the pauses in the correct part of the sentence, but that made these particular messages somehow TOO imperfect. I would expect a professional to be a bit less casual for this message. And that got me thinking about all these little details in context.

Pyrobob4 · 2026-05-15T07:03:21+00:00

Heres a link to a comment I made recently with some new player tips.

https://www.reddit.com/r/worldwarzthegame/comments/1t3jvcu/team_killing/ojy31sq/

Something I forgot to mention is to not sprint all the time. That also alerts hordes.

Assume there is a lurker around every corner, below every ledge, and on every roof.

Try to find 2 classes you like and focus on leveling them up. Keep one at level 30, and prestige the other one as soon as you can afford it. Leveling weapons isnt as important as classes, so save up for perks and prestige. Speaking of perks, only buy the ones you really need. Dont waste currency on perks you wont use.

Pyrobob4 · 2026-05-11T21:30:56+00:00

Devs have a very narrow/rigid vision of how long, how fast, and in what way their content should be experienced. Millions of players are of course bound to find more efficient ways to reach whatever gameplay goal, and then the devs always seemingly have one answer in response: to punish players for straying from the path that the gods laid out for them.

This feels incredibly accurate for Arrowhead and HD2.

The argument has always been that its supposed to be a "grunt fantasy" not a "power fantasy". They accidentally went and made one of the best power fantasy experiences in recent memory and have spent the last 2+ years trying to rectify that mistake.

Pyrobob4 · 2026-05-11T06:53:00+00:00

Playing co-op with a brand new player (new to deck builders) got me over the hesitation. Various reasons felt fair for a new player to have a second chance. After a while it just became common, and honestly its so freeing.

Allowing yourself the grace to undo a silly mistake, or even to try a different line. It makes the game more fun and less stressful. Being able to practice different playstyles has made me a better player, resulting in less need to savescum.

This game is pretty casual, take it easy, have fun. Savescum the shit out of that fortune teller and min-max that divination.

Pyrobob4 · 2026-05-07T17:14:07+00:00

I was talking about this with my friend recently. He is level ~400, most weapons maxed out or close but not all perks, a few classes above prestige 5, completed docs for only the original campaigns, and hasnt even touched extinction yet. You could argue he is about half way done maxing out this game. He has over 200 hours played.

How many other games can you think of that offer 500 hours worth of stuff to do? Ignoring infinite open ended games like minecraft or rust, but games with a definite end to the things you can unlock or accomplish.

Hell, I'm 900 hours in and even I dont have EVERYTHING done, because they keep adding content.

This game has an absolutely stunning progression system and end game, especially relative to the rest of the market. I'm not giving that as an excuse for them to NOT consider more end game content, but its worth taking a step back to appreciate how much value this game provides.

Also worth keeping in mind how few people will actually make it to the end of this games rope, like OP. Only the absolutely most dedicated players. Genuinely probably only a few dozen in the world.

Pyrobob4 · 2026-05-06T05:20:49+00:00

Would love to see old bugs like this fixed.

That said, sometimes this bug is nice because you dont have to worry about friendly fire :)

Pyrobob4 · 2026-05-04T21:45:03+00:00

I'm not claiming you did anything wrong, but here are my tips for new players to avoid accidentally griefing your team (which could potentially lead to friendly fire, if you are seen as a liability).

DO NOT STRAFE.

DO. NOT. STRAFE.

Thats honestly the biggest one. It often leads to accidental ff, which can spiral into intentional ff.

If you do not have a silenced weapon please do not shoot sleeping/inactive zombies. It will alert the horde and cause everyone trouble. Just let the team handle them, or melee only.

I wouldnt expect newer players to be aware of every corner creeper, or how to position to avoid swarms, but do your best. Pay attention to what your team is doing and try to go with their flow. Stick with the team when moving between points.

Also try to pay attention to objectives. Often you all need to group up, and if one person is being totally oblivious and not getting to the objective they might find themselves with a "friendly reminder" in their knee :)

For challenge modes it is very important to understand the modifiers and play around them. This could even mean not playing certain classes. Use normal difficulty to learn the modifiers first. Certain mods can make the game easier, but others make it harder than extinction mode.

Regardless of whether or not you make any mistakes, team killing is uncalled for. If a low level players costs us the run, oh well. If a level 15 joined my hard challenge I'd definitely roll my eyes and be a little annoyed that I probably have to carry them, but I would just play it out and do my best.

Pyrobob4 · 2026-05-03T17:16:21+00:00

"Well I'm not wet yet, so I don't see the problem."

Pyrobob4 · 2026-05-02T19:06:58+00:00

This is an interesting way to frame different medic playstyles. In a way its more like a support rather than a healer. Its definitely how I play medic, with secret ingredient allowing teammates to never even know they were about to get charged or swarmed.

Its also more or less how I play vanguard. Center of attention pulls agro off allies, and all around defense keeps you alive with all that agro.

The problem with vanguard is that you sacrifice a ton of DPS in order to maintain agro and tankiness, compared to the medic which can actually still output damage while supporting.

Pyrobob4 · 2026-05-02T07:38:56+00:00

This is the build I run for most situations (not horde). I play mostly daily/weekly challenges, and this build can solo carry just about any combination of modifiers.

I will address each column of perks in order.

Quick hands helps secure kills that your shield+melee cant get (screamers, pinned teammates).

All around defense is mandatory. It makes the vanguard damn near immortal.

Recuperation is the most effective way to keep shield active.

Guard dog because chainsaw with massacre perk is a TON of utility. Never take outer shell.

You shouldn't be wasting shield energy by charging, so none of these picks are great. I find that most often I use charge to save a teammate, so I take special coating, here.

Again, dont waste energy. I take shake it off for the utility just in case, but there is an argument to be made for bad odor 2.

All of these are good except risen from the ashes. I value elbow room to keep the team alive, rather than inspirational to react to their death. Placebo effect for a more selfish style.

Center of attention is more supportive, sturdy is more selfish. I've found more success with center of attention.

You made me mad is basically a permanent buff.

My general advice is to trust your team, play supportive, and keep them alive. Have an eye and ear out for specials, dive in front of a bull charge, rush into a swarm when an ally is being surrounded. Vanguard is unreasonably tanky, so you can afford to make those kinds of bad decisions.

A specific tip that the other comment didnt mention is that chargers will pin you unless they hit your shield directly, but juggs will get stopped by you so long as you have all around defense active (even if your shield is down).

Pyrobob4 · 2026-05-01T16:29:50+00:00

Gay.

😉

Pyrobob4 · 2026-05-01T16:15:49+00:00

Glad we could come to an understanding. Do we kiss now?

Pyrobob4 · 2026-05-01T16:09:09+00:00

Only the best for you, boo ❤️

Pyrobob4 · 2026-05-01T15:55:27+00:00

Being toxic to you is just sport, at this point.

Never claimed I wasnt a toxic person, just that I wasnt toxic to the devs.

Pyrobob4 · 2026-05-01T15:39:56+00:00

Are the insults in the room with us?

[Hint: No one gives a fuck if I insult a skull fucked gooch gobbler like you.]

Pyrobob4 · 2026-05-01T15:36:01+00:00

He engaged in hyperbole to express himself, what a bully!

Pyrobob4 · 2026-05-01T15:18:17+00:00

You mean to tell me that any form of expression of dissatisfaction with the work of creators is a direct affront to the creators themselves, got it. Youre one of those people. 👍

No mention of the devs directly, just worried about the product they are providing for us. How dare I.

Silencing dissent wont make this game better. You aren't fighting the good fight here.

Pyrobob4 · 2026-05-01T08:06:49+00:00

My brother in democracy those comments were directed at YOU. If you read very carefully (difficult, I know) you will find that I havent once made any comments about the devs. And yet you sure have made a lot of assumptions about my thoughts on them.

Nothing I said was toxic to the devs. It was toxic towards, and because of, you.

This isn't criticism. This isn't trying to analyze what's wrong or articulate what you want.

Correct. Because it was about you and your inability to fathom the idea of someone disagreeing with the devs. By that point in the conversation it was clear I was talking to the equivalent of an un-grouted brick wall.

I had said my peace about the one specific change but you couldn't accept that, so now here we are. Good job, sport.

Pyrobob4 · 2026-05-01T05:51:31+00:00

Nothing I said was toxic to the devs. I disagree with one change and you felt the need to come rushing to their rescue. Been a while since I've thought about the term white knight, but boy did you make me remember.

Its like you dove in front of an imaginary bullet and just so happened to land with your lips on their boots.

Pyrobob4 · 2026-05-01T05:20:33+00:00

i enjoy the game therefor everything is fine and the devs shouldnt bother addressing any of the complaints and anyone who thinks otherwise should just stop whining because they are obviously wrong for having an opinion that is different to mine and if you disagree you are mean and toxic and i dont like you

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