the story at the beginning is unfinished, he actually heard them bang on the side of the boat the first time and tried to bang back but they didn't hear him who had to wait until they came in count bodies I believe a day or two later.
After I encountered my first reaper I was paranoid and terrified to go anywhere I also am afraid of the ocean and when I found a reaper I could barely talk and I was just filled with an awful feeling of horror it was awful
Yea, 3 things. The first was when i couldn't see what's ahead, even a rock formation was freaky. 2nd when i had to exit the colossus from below in the middle of the ocean, even worse when you hear a loud sound. 3rd swimming under a floating island, had to pause the game, gave me wet palms.
You should take a look at the game SOMA. SUbnautica was definitely scary at times and hearing sounds in the distance gave me anxiety. SOMA is one of the 2 games that made me feel broken. Everything makes you anxious, everything is terrifying and it’s done so well it’s honestly an incredible game
My boyfriend laughed at me for not being physically able to swim in the deeper levels of subnautica. I stayed in the shallow water with the nice, bright, colorful corals and fish... So glad to hear I'm not the only one found this game terrifying haha
I once went to the aurora on a sea glider and I saw the reaper which traumatized me a year and a half later and im still to scared to go get the multipurpose room blueprint even though I know the general area of where it is
Bro I dont have Thalassaphobia, but when I see a reaper swimming in the distance barely visible, or the screams of a reaper chasing right behind me, it is the most terrifying thing ever, no other game has been able to induce such fight or flight response in me.
Reapers just hit different for me. Whenever I'm in creative mode I'll go out and build ghost leviathan observatories no problem and just watch them swim around, the ones in the void give me some creeps just cuz that's literally all you can see but I just find them so incredible to watch swim around, and perhaps it's also that sense of comfort for me since you're able to see them easier. Reapers though, even in creative I struggle to go near them, they just activate that fight or flight response
@@venumbra1177 I think it might be the intentional design of it, bright red and white with talons on the front making the whole thing look bigger when its chasing you from the front, reds are known to stimulate are fight or flight and I guess the whites remind us of sharks which we might have some built in fear of.
@@venumbra1177 I think Ghosts don't cause the same feeling of unease because you can see them a lot earlier (except the ones in the Void which literally spawn close to you). With the Reapers...well not all of them hang out in murky waters - the Mountains biome has pretty good visibility during daytime and the Dunes are not that bad either during daytime. What I find much worse is that all three Reaper biomes are pitch black during night - if I get surprised by nightfall in the Reaper biomes, that's when the dread sets in.
@@HH-hd7nd True, perhaps murky wasn't the right term, though even during the day they can be tricky to locate for me, they just tend to blend in very well with the environment. I definitely agree with you though, nighttime in their biomes is the worst
It’s hard for me to imagine that kind of fear. I’m a dive master so I’ve spent literally hundreds of hours under the ocean. Yet, playing subnautica really tapped into a fear I was unfamiliar with.
Interesting. For me it's the other way around. When I am snorkeling in shallow clear waters for real, it is all good. But once I start not seing the bottom anymore I get that very unpleasant feeling of vulnerability. In subnautica on the other hand I was completely free of any fear of the depth. The Leviathans were scary of course.
@@LazerzZ for me, knowing that there are things around me in the water but not knowing where or what they are is worse that just being accessible from all sides (which you would be in either scenario). I would absolutely be scared of space but I am definitely more terrified of the ocean (or really any body of water). I played Subnautica, but I would rarely ever leave the area around my lifepod because I was so scared unless I was in my seamoth (even though I still felt fear).
"Treat this space as your home, but never forget that it is not." Hearing this as I was building my first habitat really struck deep and resonated with me. I've always found the ocean fascinating in the same way as space, but an almost bizarre way, more scary and much more ominous. Humans might well be masters on land, but the ocean has other ideas about that. And while I may have never had a 'phobia' of the ocean in general, seeing cliff edges and underwater caves that go sharply down with no perceivable bottom is one thing that without fail makes me want to back away immediately, never mind go down. I always felt comfortable being on the sea floor, no matter how deep it was in game. If I could clearly see what was under me and pseudo 'walk' on it, I felt safer. Looking down from the surface is scary, even seeing the craters edge is a nightmare that I made sure to never repeat after accidentally heading out foolishly expecting an invisible wall. Brilliant video, edited awesomely, and truly helped capture your mindset and set the tone with the introduction and real world parallels.
Yeah... I may have accidentally jumped off the edge while in the Prawn suit. While I wouldn't call it a phobia, I'm always uncomfortable about deep sea stuff and felt like I was going to have a very minor panic attack. There's no bottom that I found (it goes well past crush depth) and you fall faster than the Ghost Leviathans seem to swim, so it's just terrible falling for a decent amount of time before you hear that you went past the crush depth and the Prawn is destroyed. I could have abandoned the Prawn, of course, I just didn't want to go through the trouble of building a new one, so I ended up just reseting from my last save.
I had the exact same thing when I played this game and always stayed at the very bottom of the sea floor cause I'm terrified of having a large distance between me and the bottom in water.
I agree with this as well... Both space and the ocean are vast beyond comprehension, but the ocean is ALIVE. Someone is living here and THEY DO NOT WANT YOU THERE, that horrifies me ;-;
I remember watching Markiplier’s playthrough of this game from its days in early access to its eventual full release, and he had a very similar experience to you. It’s very impressive how well Subnautica was able to capture the fear and dread of being stuck in the ocean, somewhere where we’re not meant to be.
Back then, Mark's playthrough seemed completely alien to the game we have today... I may have been younger, but my memories of it were just... strange. Like vehicle, ocean, colossal depths, fin. Strange how it's a whole experience in itself now
Same here, him and Jack. I've got the little Septic Sam in my game that talks to me. So proud to have been there for thr making of this amazing game and its sister.
Alternate title: Man tries to justify his fear of water for 20 minutes. In all seriousness though great video, I think you might have given me thalassophobia.
his *irrational* fear of water thalassaphobia isn't a fear of the ocean, just like arachnophobia isn't a fear of spiders thalassaphobia is an *irrational* fear of the ocean, just like arachnophobia is an *irrational* fear of spiders A good way to ensure you'll never get over these irrational fears is by never voluntarily confronting them A good way to ensure you'll never voluntarily confront them is to convince yourself that your irrational fear is rational Typically with (sometimes highly amusing) bulls#^t rationale (say, like, I'm not crazy for fearing this (irrationally), everyone else is crazy for not fearing this (irrationally) "I'm not irrational, you're irrational", lmao) I have a simialr fear, but thankfully not to the extent he seems to. I can go swimming, as long as I don't look down (when I'm not able to see past a certain point (no prob if I can see say, the bottom of the pool)) Even in a man-made lake where I rationally know for certain there's nothing that can harm me in the lake, if I look down for too long, or even think about that which is beyond my vision in the lake for too long I freak out. These days not to the point where I just have to get out, I just have to think about / focus on something else Thanks to forcing myself to look down, and freaking out... less and less each time Pretty sure this is fear of the unknown / unforeseeable / uncontrollable (pretty sure same would happen in unfamiliar darkness on land) which the ocean would be one subset of
Everything about the reaper leviathan seems to have designed to perfectly trigger the purest form of fear any of us gets to experience. Whoever made the model is a genius
True, I have finished the game 2 times already and have 80 + hours in 1 of these saves but nothing scares me more than just going down somewhere without a visible seafloor or finding a reaper without veicles edit: don't forget those damn crabs with the emp in the blood trenches
My fear is being out in the open and being spotted by something BIG. One of my irrational fears is being trapped under ice, you look down and it’s nothing but black. Then something comes out of the darkness straight towards you. Other one is floating above a trench where you can’t see the bottom, just the fear of not being able to see if anything is around you while you’re vulnerable.
for me, its not being able to breath like your snorkle goes underwater, its valve closes and you exhaled right before so you dont got no precious o2 in your lungs
Just imagining being under the ice and I can’t hold on to anything and just sinking into the black nothingness is triggering my anxiety, that bothers me more than something coming to get me
Fun fact about the story from the beginning: divers were sent to that boat for body recovery. The survivor was discovered when he grabbed onto one of the divers, who he previously thought was a shark that had made its way into the boat. The divers were clearly not equipped for a rescue, but eventually they got the man an extra mask and the bare minimum of diving equipment to resurface with, and they got him out 🎉
The scariest thing for me in this game was when I first scanned the reefback, it made a leviathan tab in the PDA, meaning there would have to be more leviathan. I was terrified.
@@VeeTOHFan when I see that prompt I pause the game and try to guess what will happen, either an enemy comes running out, a mechanism tries to kill you Indiana Jones style, etc
As someone with thalassaphobia, and playing Subnautica a few months back for the first time, this video sums up the fear perfectly. The first time i went to the first island, and the terrain just drops off, my heart rate skyrocketed steadily. Never went anywhere I couldn't see land again
same. I have thalassophobia and megahydrothalassophobia, and I tried to play this game and didn't even go in the deep part, but I couldn't play it again. which is rlly frustrating bcs I love video games like this. but I just couldn't handle it, unfortunately. major props to this guy for even playing it
I'm a bit different but same idea. I was able to playthrough the game 4 times, get 300+ hours and through a combination of ingame scanning everything in sight plus reading dozens of wiki pages, I've become an expert on the game. I have a curiosity about the ocean that doesn't extend to thalassaphobia because I forcibly prevent myself from imagining a situation I'd be in where the phobia would be applicable, as sort of a mental self defense measure from actually fearing it lol. Anyways, as someone who has fully played the game through and knows literally all of the biomes and creatures, this is by far the scariest game I have ever played with nothing even close to it. Horror game with jumpscares? Meh, it's extremely scary in an instant, but also predictable. Subnautica though, oh boy. They picked the perfect audio and visuals to capture the feeling they were going for. The haze surrounding the crash site where multiple Reapers patrol, the sharp cliffs leading down to the Warper creatures, the absolute darkness in the Void until you see the glowing blue lights and hear **them** coming for you... everything about the game is designed to comfort you in one second and absolutely terrify you in the next. It's always a slow buildup, you see very small signs that something is not right but your curiosity drives you to keep exploring anyways. Something else I like is the complete absence of total protection. For the Cyclops submarine in particular, you're given loads of upgrades to choose from, including forcefields, torpedoes, and the ability to emergency speed away... but you're still not even close to safe. The creatures lying in wait are bigger, stronger, and faster than you, and if you're not careful you will end up fleeing an exploding submarine into the pitch black darkness while your attackers echo around you. The unpredictability is amazing too. ***SPOILERS*** When the Sunbeam shows up, you know it would be too easy for them to simply rescue you, plus the countdown to arrival sort of implies that something is about to happen. Will they crash into the ocean like the Aurora? Will they land and be attacked? Will they see something in the water- hey wait a minute, is the alien structure starting to glow? Then it happens and you realize you truly have no way off this planet. Absolutely the most 10/10 game I have ever played, even after playing it for over a year I still have not unlocked all the achievements so there are still mysteries hidden even to me. I hope the game series does really well, it deserves to be successful.
Side note on the 95% of the ocean not being explored thing, it doesn’t mean that we only know what’s in 5% of the ocean. In this context the word “explored” means that a human has physically been there. We have actually mapped out most of the ocean floor but in most of it there’s well, literally nothing but sand.
@@paigehc6659 that is about the exact shape of the ocean floor. we know whats on the bottom, but not how its laid out. the explored percent is also heavily skewed by mid-water. so if your on the bottom 100ft down, it only counts some of that as the water above you has technically not been "explored".
@@themimsy we actually did send a bot to the bottom of the trench about 2 years ago. Then a few months later a crew managed to make it down there as well.
I think the scariest thing that game put me through was in my cyclops I was attacked by two reapers that my cyclops at like 2 health left and so I had to go out and repair it at 300 meters down surrounded on all sides with blue with the roars of the reapers in the distance
@@justusP9101 Look, if we're discussing facts like these, we better have sources. and personally, I'm not gonna get into a scuba suit to asphyxiate myself just to prove a point that I'm not fully knowledged about.
@@DrHundTF2 Oops, sorry! Just trying to expand the matter here. I meant that at the beginning of the game, you have 40 seconds of breathing so your avarage amount of time surviving underwater is (ingame standards) your oxygen tank capasity + your last gasp of breath/natural holding-your-breath survivability. So if the oxygen In your lungs after the 40 seconds would have been disappeard, you would drown, yes? Thats where the blackin out part the "glitch" as mentioned in the original comment comes in. You of course irl don't drown immiedently after your lungs run dry so you start to slowly lose consciusness as the oxygen flow in your brain dissipates wich makes it hard for you to think straight. At this point only your survival instincs would only remain to push your body to swim upwards to the surface wich shows that the unintended purpose of the slow drowning system actually follows realism and real drowning quite well. Oh man this is a real monologue.
I remember hearing of this when it happened. It almost didn't seem real with how crazy it was, one person surviving way at the bottom of the ocean alone for 3 full days. That event has got to be one of the most traumatizing things that could happen
The ocean demands respect, it has beauty and horrors alike. I thought I was the only one who felt dread with the drop off scene in Finding Nemo. Also the scene with the trench gives me shivers. Underwater topography makes me feel uneasy. Hard to explain. I am not afraid of the Ocean, but the vast open spaces and depths definitely make me hyper aware of everything.
When I started Subnautica, I just thought it was an underwater exploration game; I was so wrong. Its definitely a horror game. I knew immediately I could not play it if I had to worry about food and water. I drowned a lot in the early days! I didn’t read or research much about the game, so I didn’t even know about the Leviathan creatures or base building. This game probably gave me an anxiety complex- between the jump scares and the creepy music/sound effects, I can only play 1-2 hours at any sitting, and then only in the daylight hours- in game. I have literally stayed in my Seamoth through the night until the waters got brighter! Creature encounters- at this time (33 days in game) I have not yet encountered the hostile Leviathans- but I know they are lurking! The first time I encountered a warper- I turned my seamoth around and headed back to my Lifepod/ base in the shallows…. Its going to take me a long time to venture deeper! I keep playing because its almost like exposure therapy- but I also really want to get the Cyclops!
I've had this game for years and still haven't beat it, even though it's one of my favorite single player games of all time. The hair on the back of my neck stands anytime it starts to get darker, any darkness under me, the sound design is perfect too. Love this game but yes it quite literally the scariest game I've ever played lmao. I'd love another remake with more terrifying, more dangerous monsters, though not sure I could play it myself lmao.
Yeah me too. I love the ocean but when he talked about the submerged structure at the Sunbeam's landing site triggering the ... whatever that phobia was called (something with mechanic?) - that actually gave me a shiver.
@@vaguelyexhausted Ah yes, that's the word, thanks. I am really lucky to not have any phobias (at least that I know of, who knows what might be waiting for me xD).
The scariest part I felt during the game was when I was trying to find a certain biome (forgot what it was called) to get to the caveway that led directly to the lost river. Somehow I over shot in the sub and heard nothing and when I exit out realized I had accidentally went to the crater edge and saw nothing but water. Never had my soul left so fast lmao
@@lordkfc1297I knew what the void was but today I first went near it. I was near life pod 12 in the mushroom forest when the water turned brown. I thought that I'd be safe in my prawn suit. Then I saw a big drop and the water got clearer. I hovered over for a bit and used my grapple arm. Then I heard THAT voice line. The realisation that I was near the void was horrifying. I bolted over to my base in the shallows faster than light and sat in place for five minutes straight. Doing nothing, just sitting.
The two things I remember most from my first playthrough: 1) Diving in for the first time and almost drowning because I was too busy looking at the gorgeous scenery. 2) Taking my Seamoth over the Blood Kelp Zone for the first time, looking down into the depths, and NOPE!-ing the fuck out of there. Easily in my top 5 favourite games of all time.
One thing I remember super clearly from mine was leaving the seamoth somewhere to explore a ship wreck, naïvely thinking creatures wouldn't pay any attention to a piece of metal, just to discover, as I left the wreck, my seamoth being attacked by several bonesharks and almost destroyed :) Lesson learned, now I hide my precious seamoth wherever I can
Mine two were both at night (in game and in real life) just pitch black all around me “Detecting multiple leviathan class life forms in the are. Are u certain whatever ur doing is worth it” And “Entering ecological deadzone. Adding report to database” Shit was terrifying
I was terrified of the continental shelf drop off for YEARS, even knowing it’s so deep that there’s no way I’d ever encounter it... Just the thought of something huge and previously hidden by that darkness terrified me so bad.
This might be one of the best videos you’ve ever done. That story at the start sent shivers down my spine. You captured the tone of this game perfectly. Well done James.
As someone who scuba dives I wholly understand why people are deathly terrified of the ocean I’ve swam near dropoffs in the pacific where it goes from about 500 feet deep to about 10,000 feet deep
I would give almost anything to experience this game for the first time again. For how much I hated the fear I got from this game I loved it at the same time
I feel like the fear only begins when you see the Reaper Leviathan. Like you said yourself after seeing it that you were more aware of your surroundings. I believe that the cause of fear in this game is that red devil fish.
I know the feeling. As much as I absolutely adore this game, every time I had to go to the island with the Degassi bases, I physically could not look down or I would panic. Just the sudden drop off and the deep void beneath you is just *shudder*
Now who remembers the eclipse? After hours and hours of terror I noticed that thing happened, the hole ocean becoming dark in a second. And then the relief....and the beauty of the event. This game is EMOTION !!!
My experience with arachnophobia is more akin to an intense feeling of disgust and repulsion, not necessarily fear. So yeah, I think you are right when you say thalassophobia is different.
I think the game captures terror over fear. Due to the fact that the leviathan’s attack pattern is that it attacks once but then gives a chance for escape witch only builds the terror you feel when you go back to that area.
part of what i love about subnautica is how it mixes beauty and terror. I find many of the biomes of subnautica to be beautiful, but they also have so many threats to keep you on your guard. It’s like they both compliment each other, being opposite in a way while also adding to the other.
This game utilises a completely different type of fear that I’ve never felt before. It’s almost like a merge of terror and curiosity. It’s so weird how I would be so incredibly scared whilst exploring unknown areas but yet still thoroughly enjoy that feeling and be desperate to continue feeling that way. Never before have I played a game where I have to mentally prepare myself before I do something to such a large extent and yet come out the other end hungering for more
Even after finishing subnautica 20 and spending almost 300 hours in it, I still get the hibbie jibbies playing it, it's incredibly authentic and unique, I just cannot get used to going to the floating island and going underneath it to reach the moonpool part without fearing that something is there and I just cannot see the bottom, even if I know that, exactly nothing roams that area
I've always had a fear of the deep deep ocean. There was a point in Subnautica where I realized that if something went wrong, I would not be able to reach the surface again. At that point, the world above the water became out of reach, and pushing further means submitting to the deep. I was unnerved, anxious, and apprehensive. That feeling came back again and again as I pushed deeper and deeper. But eventually Subnautica's deeps became the womb of a new world. I accpted it and learned to work within it. After a very long time down so deep, there came a moment when I returned to the surface... and it felt different. It was an easy life left behind. It was calm, quiet, familiar, and... somehow emptier than I remembered. At the end when you leave it all behind, I felt genuine cognitive dissonance. I knew I wanted to finally escape being stranded, but I sincerely did not want to leave the ocean behind... especially the deeps that I knew would not be seen by anyone for a very long time. What I once feared became a meaningful partner in my journey. Subnautica is transformative.
Yes. That feeling when you return to the surface after being in the lost river or lava zone for so long, where it doesn’t really feel like you’re actually underwater. The realisation that it’ll be over soon, the feeling of loneliness when you see the Aurora and sky again. It’s probably unintended(just like the terror), but it is definitely perfect
I’d like to share my experiences too. I love the ocean, well the bright parts of it. The dark is terrifying to me, and therefore the “void” was. I remember my partner watched me play it, and at one point i kinda went in a direction until he stopped me saying “Turn back. Turn back right now.” Later on he told me i was entering “the void” and i got goosebumps all over my body and felt pretty uncomfortable. Another time was when i was just minding my own business and was told i was near a leviathan earlier, knowing that i was so close to getting eaten was pretty scary.. i didn’t thankfully, but i remember a time when i saw my first reaper. I knew what they looked like as i’d seen videos, but the immense uncomfortableness i felt afterwards when i was attacked was really like no other.. i felt really weird.. Although that was nothing like what awaited me in subnautica bz. I personally didn’t enjoy that one much, but there was one part of it that will stick with me. At one point i realized i just wanted to see the leviathans as the story didn’t capture me all that much. So my partner showed me (i think) all of them. We eventually got to the void. And it was the worst feeling i’ve had in quite a while.. See the void in that game for those that haven’t been there takes a lot longer to get into the actual void. Meaning i swam and swam and it got darker and darker... i was so anxious, i felt like i couldn’t do it. I don’t remember the leviathans in this void all that well, but the feeling i got when i went into their territory was horrible..
One of the things I love most about this game. Is that it's a game that even someone who has a fear of the ocean can get into, and love just as much as someone who doesn't have that great, primal fear
I remember killing the reapers on the aurora and I was like "it'd completely safe now!" And then I saw another one and fear and confusion fused inside me
Thalassaphobia is a very interesting and certainly (in many cases) intense fear, mostly I think that humans developed it because of our heavy reliance on our sight and the fear of the unknown, making the fear of not being able to see below you not so unreasonable after all.
i think the perfect level of horror this game offers is when you first are able to explore the more dangerous reaches of the early game but not far enough to where you know what ot expect, are used to seeing horrifying things and have the gear to cope with it. when you first get a seamoth with a max depth of 200 meters you sit on the edge of the abyss - endless nothing beneath you - and you're able to really see how far you've yet to go despite feeling like you've just made so much progress, it's usually around this time you have your first experiences with the areas void of light and full of truly alien creatures... and also the Reapers
ive come back to this video just now, after i was wanting to listen to some videos on subnautica and the fear it builds. The most ironic thing to me about this game, is that it wasnt even meant to be a horror game, rather a survival. But the simple fact that the developers delved into the aspect of fear of the ocean was surreal, as they knew how to scare you. Thinking back to when you first got the game, that entire scene of not being able to see too far ahead of you made you wonder what was it that was out there. Im so glad the developers reached into this as it allowed us to have a game that we truly could never not be afraid of.
The earliest, earliest moments of this game are amazing. During the daylight, it's beautiful and interesting. Once nightfall starts in, you get a sense of dread and simply wait on the lifepod for daylight to return. Venturing out further and further every day, and then panic rushing back to the pod as night comes each time - I'm now many hours into the game and it's still as thrilling as those initial moments. More thrills, more foreboding moments, and the depths you must venture into get deeper and deeper. The unnerving moments never stop coming.
If you enjoy that sense of dread that the encroaching night brings then you should play Darkwood. It's different than Subnautica but has similar exploration and survival mechanics in a top down perspective with more horror elements. It doesn't hold your hand and the day/night cycle is terrifying!
As a person who has anxiety while being in water I cant even live I can literally see water flow and panic, It happened when I was a little child in the beach then i drifted away and got lost for a bit of minutes seeing big fishes and cold it was almost calming but also terrifying
I can’t believe this doesn’t have more views! This is a really good breakdown of the sheer /scale/ of this game from a unique but extremely relevant perspective. I’ve seen this game on the periphery, but now you’ve convinced me to play it- there’s something intriguing about being scared in a game that’s not explicitly set up to be a horror, and in my opinion, it makes the experience very interesting (and kind of cathartic).
Subnautica is one of my favorite games. I’ve only gone to about the Blood Kelp Forest in survival, but in the creative I’ve gone through the lower biomes. Not only is the storyline very original and engaging, the visuals and music are amazing too. The visuals are so pretty, and even though the lost River freaks the absolute shit out of me, it is GORGEOUS. The first ever video game OST I ever downloaded was Subnauticas, and it was the first game I’d ever personally owned on disc. Overall, this game freaks me out a lot, but it is so beautiful and it holds a very special place in my heart.
as someone who absolutely loves the mystery of the ocean, you did an exceptional job on doing the game justice. Very, very well made James, blew it out of the park with this one
I've played Subnautica before (I'm on my second playthrough) But I've NEVER gotten over the floating island. The island itself is not bad, but the shot of the abyss UNDER the island along with the ancient floaters and the tendrils of the island only reaching so far, that single shot of the bottom of the floating island has given me a genuine sinking feeling in my soul like i was falling a kilometer. I've never fully gotten over it. But hey, it sure is cool!
The first time I went into the dead zone I tried to go as deep as possible and saw a ghost leviathan. It was so weirdly scary for me that now I just can’t go in there without getting creeped out and seizing up.
Playing subnautica, only one time I was truly scared. I was driving my Cyclops and accidently left the map. Not knowing that I heard the warning about the leviathans. I shut down the engine and lights and prepared to wait it pass by. But being outside the map leviathans don't go away, but accumulate. Being there 150m below surface surrounded by three ghost leviathans truly scared me
12:24. Everyone that saw this was scared for their life. The moment of dread because the reaper was in front of you as you try your absolute hardest to get in the sea moth as fast as possible is terrifying.
For me the bastard glitch out and actually spawn in the opening in the mid ship (where you enter) So it scare the crap out of me literally pop out of nowhere noclip through the ship and destroy my sea moth
Everything about the ocean that scares me is the back of the aurora. It drops off steep, there is no secure ground and it feels almost like when you are high up. You feel a mental tugging to get back to the land. The water is so thick, I can’t see very far in front of me and the water colour is a sickly orange which feels unnatural. The reapers patrolling bring all of these fears together. I have giant things I can hear but barely see, they could jump me from ANY angle above below sides I can’t look at all of those at once so I know it is inevitable that they will get me. It feels like there is nothing I can do except sit on the sand with pure primal fear and observe intently for incoming attacks where nothing can get me from below it feels like weeping angels in doctor who where if you look away you are dead, even though it won’t make a difference if you look for reapers
I started playing subnautica recently. I then watched one subnautica video about how it conveys a sense of fear like no other game ever has. And now my recommendations are FULL OF SUBNAUTIC VIDEOS AND I COULDN'T BE HAPPIER!
I absolutely love the idea of there being a massive monster that lives in a cave at 3000 meters below or something. I love the fact that the ocean is so unexplored because it means the imagination can go wild
You mentioned how so many people think of nice beaches, shallow waters and coral reefs when they think of the ocean, like it being a nice place and here its sort of like that (at least during the summer) on some certain beaches. The water only goes up to about a few feet for like a mile or two depending, and then to 2 meters for another few miles .(this happens because where I live, the land is sticking out into the ocean in a sort of curved shape so lots of sand and stuff gets trapped in that area) then you start to get to these 'rifts' where there's sudden drop offs, some being only like 20 or 30 feet and others being hundreds of feet down, and its like that until you get past this protected area and its open ocean, it being hundreds of feet deep to the bottom now. There's also areas where there's these underwater dunes and they can get really big, but the way they look its hard to see they're gradually decling deeper and deeper, or sometimes they really multiply your sense of depth as you're looking at them. Those massive dunes are really scary to me. I don't mind the ocean but knowing that there's areas where its not so bad then a few feet away, slightly past where you can see is a massive drop off into the void.. but even worse than that is thinking of those areas as the edge of this sort of safe area and what is the open ocean, a terrible vast place with many dangerous things it.. massive storms, giant waves, creatures, and so on
I've never feared water, i was a competition swimmer for all of my childhood. As an adult i can became a diver, i dove deep water and caves. I've dove coral reefs, but the ocean still scares me. I enjoy the water life and wish to be aquaticly based but I can only do so much as a man. Having no fear of water, i still fully believe you are correct that being afraid of the ocean should be normal and not a phobia.
Dude, awesome vid! From the start you managed to captivate my attention (with the RL story of the sunken ship survivor), and straight thru to the ending, I found myself glued to your video not even realizing I had completely stopped doing what I was (I only intended to put a video on ‘in the background’ while I carried out some other tasks, which I unknowingly had put on hold in favor of what was playing on screen!) originally focused on until coming out of the immersion I was no doubt locked into.! Very well written and executed! I know this is about a year out from its original release, (and because of that you may not even see this comment) but I wanted to share what I felt about it anyway. Thanks for making this, you have managed to translate some of the feelings I experienced playing Subnautica with some uncanny accuracy! And you’ve gained a subscriber to boot..! I plan to dig into the rest of your catalogue after this. Take care and keep creating, if this video is any worthwhile representation, it suits you. ✌️
I really really appreciate the kind words, it means a lot, I really had fun putting this video together, I hope you find similar joy in some of my other stuff 👌🏻👌🏻
This just might be one of your best videos, really well done. Glad to see you pushed through that creative block and came out the other end stronger for it. Something did come to my mind however. Did Black Flag ever give you this sense of unease or fear? Specially the diving bell missions and sinking a ship. When you streamed the BF I don’t remember you having any sort of reaction to it.
Thank you! And I get it with BF if I jump ship and swim out into the ocean alone, but not with the diving bells. Mainly because they’re set pieces that are very bright and colourful, they don’t try to capture the depth or scale of the ocean, it feels like a small pond
If you have been on a big boat, standing behind the railing and looking down at the sea, you can only feel dread. I have encountered bears and climbed trees and rocks, but there is nothing that makes me panic more than being in the ocean. Its fine if im close to a shore, but if theres at least 50 meters of water on all sides i get struck with intense fear. You dont see me hiring a little boat to have a "nice plunge" in the ocean
I think Thalassaphobia is a legitimate phobia depending. I'm perfectly fine swimming on shore. It won't get me hurt or killed. Especially on the Coast of New England where Shark sightings and the like are rare. On the other hand I am fucking _petrified_ of the *DEEP* ocean. Even in a boat. Because god forbid, if something were to go wrong, I don't want to be isolated, no communication, no food, no water, freezing cold to die slowly with tens of thousands of feet of abyss under my ass, wondering if a shark I can't defend myself against will find me.
Don’t let anyone think your stupid or cowardly, I have all these things to, you explain it really well, I for some reason am also very terrified of the kelp forests. I still love the ocean though!
The intro with that survivor story was a great way to start the whole thalassophobia storyline. I remember reading about it in the news when it happened, truly scary stuff.
Dude so many of your movements were so damn relatable to me. The panicked jump out of water when the creepvine touched you, probably spamming jump just to stay as far out of water as possible, and seeing the massive, lost-to-sea alien structure and instantly dropping to the ocean floor (I LIVED in small patches of "grass" that I knew probably didn't hide me but somehow made me feel much less terrified so long as I was inside them). I never, ever let myself get more than a couple meters off the ocean floor except in the areas closest to the surface (which still took a very long time). If I ever needed to surface for air while 100-200m deep, I would freak out once I got that breath of fresh air. I'd be suspended far above the floor with vast emptiness surrounding me, nothing to hold onto, nothing to hide behind, nothing at all...
Absolutely loved this video essay James. Definitely convinced me to finally try out Subnautica, but probably only after I finish The Forest. You should try it! It's kind of like this game, but well - in a Forest. Definitely messes with your head haha...
The Forest is the only game that has made me fear quit and not play. The cannibals are so creepy that it sends my imagination into overdrive. I have played Dead Space, Alien games, Subnautica and been fine after initial scares, but the Forest is just a big NO from me.
i love how invested you got into this, really thinking things through while playing. having this phobia i could literally never. ever. play this game. just gathering the footage for the intro scene?? oml. such a well made video, i feel so validated. back when i played games i had two moments where thalassophobia struck me bad bad. once was in star wars online. you can as a side game build your own lil ship and fly around in space? i entered the minigame and once i saw the vastness of space, i was navigating through it on my own, i could go DOWN but down was just as black as everything else - i had to leave the room and force turn off my pc from behind the monitor. god it was bad. the second was when WoW just released an expansion, i forget the name, but there was a water world part. and you spawn into a colorful shallow area already below the surface so it's kinda fine, there's ground just below you and it's just a bit of fun navigating. but it gets deeper. by then you're used to it and you're swimming around and it's just grinding quests. but. my friends and i decided to try and swim to the surface to see if there was anything up there. and we swam up, and up, and up... and up.. it took so long. and once we popped our heads up it hit me that we'd been below. and looking around there was nothing. nothing at all. no shore, no islands, no boats or ships or anything. and then we were to go down again.. the switch between surface and below is the worst for me. especially when it's so deep. i can't. i just can't. but ya idk if this is phobia or just like. intelligent respect. or just basic instincs going off way hard. i don't think it needs to be treated past the point of being able to close out of a game without having to not look at the screen lmao. deep water. deep space. huge cave shafts and mines. anything real big above or below me. nopenopenope.
First time playing Subnautica was such an unique and amazing experience. Wish i could relieve these sensations again. Setting, music, atmosphere everything just came together to create this outstanding game that i didnt even know what to expect from it at first.
I was not really scared from this game at most but one day when I was exploring on the surface I get this message "you are now entering the ecological deadzone" I was not scared at first but when I decided to check what is under water the emptiness, the darkness of it and the ghost leviathan really scared me
As somebody who also is afraid of the ocean. I probably would’ve had a panic attack if I got stuck like you did. I hold my breath every time somebody is underwater in movies so I completely understand that part as well haha great video
I managed to get through Subnautica mainly by clinging to my Prawn. I never felt aftaid as long as I was in my Cyclops, and I could usually work up the nerve to head out in the prawn suit, because I knew the suit was extremely tough and I could fight off most things without top much danger. But so many times, I could hardly bring myself to get out and swim, even for a couple seconds. The Warpers are the most terrifying thing in the game to me for that reason, they're the only thing that can reach into your safe space and threaten you directly.
This one time I took my girl out at night to this long pier we got here in S.A and I remember having a moment of quiet when I looked out onto the ocean... not a sinfle star in sight,dark dark clouds and the moon was basically non existant... it was a very strange set of emotions I felt... I felt amazed at The Creator's Power but more so I felt lonely and somewhat anxious... The thought of being alone in that dark dark water... It looked like the earth literally just stopped there and streched into nothingness.... Damn... That was a beautiful sight...
@LazerzZ, this was a wonderful video! Thank you for sharing how you see the ocean and the game made you feel. I thought you captured the dangerous essence of this game quite well. I wanted to say that I'm a scuba diver, with over a hundred dives under my belt. I have only dived lakes but they quickly become very murky. Sometimes you can only find crystal clear water when you dive seven to nine stories underwater to get under the silt. By that point, though, you are in complete darkness and are completely reliant on your light/backup light. I say that to tell you even for someone who is comfortable in that situation, this game still had points where it got to me. Where you described being lost in the wreck and starting to panic, that happened to me several times in the game and it was sobering. After the first time, I made sure to be more careful in wrecks, but sometimes I'd get complacent and be reminded how easily the world can shift, and that at best you are a guest in this environment. So it's not just you for others who live with thalassophobia. I recall one moment that terrified me was when I discovered the cave where the Lost River is. At first I was uncomfortable even with the idea of going into it but realized it was necessary to progress in the game. I went into it and saw the haunting green river of "fog," the dead tree-things, the bones, and the ghost-reaper things (I forget their name just now) and without even thinking it, automatically I said outload in astonishment and horror "My God, it's a farm where nightmares are grown!" From that point on in the game I would refer to it to myself as the Nightmare Farm. I'm glad you played it, and I agree: you needn't get rid of a fear, just learn to share life with it.
I'm being incredibly honest when I say Subnautica helped me with my phobia of the ocean/everything in it. When I began, I couldn't even swim in small pools irl without images flashing in my mind of terrifying things. I couldn't dive into the water in the game at first; I had to close my eyes and then re-open them when I heard the splash sound. I avoided looking at the Aurora at all times because I got so scared - I once received a panic attack when I got too close without realising. I was so goddamn scared, so I decided to go into creative and just mess around. Sure, it ruined the story and mystery of it, but now I'm much less scared of both the real-life ocean and the Subnautica ocean.
One of the most defining moments of Subnautica, for me, was when I had returned to the surface after having spent a long stretch of time in the deepest region of the ocean. I decided to take my cyclops and prawn suit to the lava zone for some resource gathering, and stayed for quite a while (the cyclops is an excellent mobile base). By the time I resurfaced and began heading back to the shallows, I realized something had changed -- not in the game, but in me. Cruising across the surface of the ocean in my submarine filled with kyanite, nickel, and other materials, the shallows suddenly felt foreign to me; they used to be my safe haven -- my home. I had spent so much time within the deep recesses of the sea, having to constantly look over my shoulder, that this more relaxed, calmer environment now felt almost completely unfamiliar to me. It was a change that was both subtle and wholly unexpected... and it stuck with me. I felt like my entire journey through 4546B had been encapsulated in that single moment, and I had to take a few minutes to appreciate how far I'd come. Subnautica remains one of my favorite games. I had no idea what to expect when I started playing, and I was not disappointed when I finished.
Subnautica is a wonderfully unique game and I have fond memories of playing it. That being said, it took me a long time to complete it. I was too nervous to venture out and explore. I’m like that with most survival games (like the forest for example) but it was on another level with Subnautica. I’ve never been particularly fond of the ocean, it’s always creeped me out to be totally honest, and Subnautica plays into that perfectly. It’s the fact that you are out of your comfort zone to begin with, simply because humans are not supposed to be underwater, that makes it so nerve-wracking. Then there’s the fact that you have to venture deeper, and deeper, because if you don’t you’ll never progress. But then you start losing oxygen quicker, the deeper you go. You have to go further and further away from your lifepod, traversing all kinds of deep underwater caverns, and you have no idea what’s waiting for you in there. You get to 500m, 800m, 1200m, and you have no idea if there’s actually a bottom, or whether it just goes on endlessly. The seamoth doesn’t make you feel safe, the cyclops doesn’t make you feel safe. The leviathans can still get you. Just the knowledge that if I get out of my vehicle then I cannot breathe is enough to give me anxiety. I cannot begin to describe the immense relief I felt when I spotted my first island to reach the Sunbeam. Having my virtual feet on dry land made me never want to go into the water again. But I had to. Edit: the crater in the center of the map was a horrifying discovery. It truly is an endless void.
Great video essay, mate. There's a reason this game remains at the top of my all time favorite survival games. Heck, its my favorite horror game and it isn't even a horror game.
There's a popular video floating around that examines horror vs terror in the game. Honestly, the game is easy, the scary guys are easy to avoid once you know where they are, and even if they get you, they don't do enough damage to destroy your ship and kill you in one go. But even after playing this game for years, knowing most of the ins and outs, the fear never really goes away. I don't have these phobias, but I'm very impressed with your desire to keep going despite the fear. Thank you for sharing your experience in such a well made video. Made me feel like I was seeing the game with fresh eyes again.
Subnautica is a game I really like although and maybe because it puts me on edge. Most leviathans don't bother me this much and I can bear being near them. But man the Reaper Leviathan is the most cursed, disgusting creature ever created. It is the worst and most scary thing I have ever seen in a video game. I don't know what exactly gets me so frightened but whenever I am in Reaper territory my heart rate goes up. Maybe because it can sense you with its echolocation maybe becauee it can chew on your Seamoth, I can't really put it into words. One of the first times I was playing a Reaper somehow came in the safe shallows. The moment I saw it I Alt+F4ed and instantly uninstalled the game. I have played through it twice since then and I really like the idea of the game. Maybe it is because of the rush it gives me. Great video! Keep it up!
I don't have thalassaphobia, never had. Only time I get scared is when i'm afraid a fish will eat my toes. But this game triggers something within me. It has me holding my breath, tensing up and my heart racing. One of my first memories of this game was facing a reaper leviathan for the first time, I have never been more scared in a video game. I literally screamed at the top of my lungs, and when facing other things like the ghost leviathan I feel like I can't move. The beauty of this game is not the story, or the graphics, it's the ability to summon the primal instincts within you. To trigger the fight or flight mode. I cannot imagine playing this game with thallasaphobia. Truly a masterpiece!
Sir, you just gained a new subscriber. I have never ever imagined other people's perspective from this game. I was laughing all the time from Pewdiepie, Jacksepticeye and Markiplier and didn't understand the fear until I had a first-hand experience when I played this game. I never ever thought I had thalassophobia. I love the ocean, I'm always drawn to it. I love going to the deeper parts of the ocean and swim there. From time to time, I'd joke about a huge creature swallowing me from down under and sometimes, the fear would sink and I'd get out of the water but I'd say I never had the same intensity of the fear of water as you have. That being said, I was screaming in the middle of night when I played this game. Woke my family up, thought something happened to me. Finishing this game TAKES GUTS and is no small feat. I had to pause a few times and compose myself, too. I kept chanting "This is just a game, this is just a game." Sometimes, it works. Most of the time, it doesn't. You have earned so much respect from me for having the courage of even just playing this game. I aspire to be as brave as you are someday. Thank you for this content, I'm eternally grateful.
I'm really glad you touched on megalohydrothalassophobia. I suffer from thalassophobia, just a straight fear of the endless void that is the ocean, and to be honest I'm kind of annoyed whenever I look into it and find people claiming it's a fear of sea monsters. The complete lack of life and structure is what causes me anxiety, not what creature is living in it. The crater edge in this game gives me infinitely more fear than the ghost reapers that spawn in it. It's good to have a name for this phenomenon, so I can point out to people that they're different fears.
If you enjoyed this, check out my follow up video on BELOW ZERO: th-cam.com/video/IB4fYCoHjbA/w-d-xo.html
the story at the beginning is unfinished, he actually heard them bang on the side of the boat the first time and tried to bang back but they didn't hear him who had to wait until they came in count bodies I believe a day or two later.
Also, if you ever want to virtually face your fears to the fullest. Find the Void
After I encountered my first reaper I was paranoid and terrified to go anywhere I also am afraid of the ocean and when I found a reaper I could barely talk and I was just filled with an awful feeling of horror it was awful
I hate the void
@@Coclroach it's worse when it says "Are you ready to Die?" That shit makes me panic I swear
This game was scarier than most horror games.
Just that dread of not being able to see below you was really captured in this game
Yea, 3 things. The first was when i couldn't see what's ahead, even a rock formation was freaky. 2nd when i had to exit the colossus from below in the middle of the ocean, even worse when you hear a loud sound. 3rd swimming under a floating island, had to pause the game, gave me wet palms.
You should take a look at the game SOMA. SUbnautica was definitely scary at times and hearing sounds in the distance gave me anxiety. SOMA is one of the 2 games that made me feel broken. Everything makes you anxious, everything is terrifying and it’s done so well it’s honestly an incredible game
@@Savage-ok6rt I'll take a look, thanks :)
The best part? It wasn’t even intended to be a horror game
@@Savage-ok6rt But this is an actual horrorgame ^^
My boyfriend laughed at me for not being physically able to swim in the deeper levels of subnautica. I stayed in the shallow water with the nice, bright, colorful corals and fish... So glad to hear I'm not the only one found this game terrifying haha
I haven’t finished the game after almost a year cause I’m so terrified of where I have to go
be glad that you do not play barotrauma...
I once went to the aurora on a sea glider and I saw the reaper which traumatized me a year and a half later and im still to scared to go get the multipurpose room blueprint even though I know the general area of where it is
God im so glad im not the only one who does that
@@Jahabbeez the multipurpose room isnt near any reapers or leviathans
Bro I dont have Thalassaphobia, but when I see a reaper swimming in the distance barely visible, or the screams of a reaper chasing right behind me, it is the most terrifying thing ever, no other game has been able to induce such fight or flight response in me.
Reapers just hit different for me. Whenever I'm in creative mode I'll go out and build ghost leviathan observatories no problem and just watch them swim around, the ones in the void give me some creeps just cuz that's literally all you can see but I just find them so incredible to watch swim around, and perhaps it's also that sense of comfort for me since you're able to see them easier. Reapers though, even in creative I struggle to go near them, they just activate that fight or flight response
@@venumbra1177 I think it might be the intentional design of it, bright red and white with talons on the front making the whole thing look bigger when its chasing you from the front, reds are known to stimulate are fight or flight and I guess the whites remind us of sharks which we might have some built in fear of.
@@Im_AFK_Btw definitely, and the fact that they like to hang out in super murky areas makes it all the more terrifying
@@venumbra1177 I think Ghosts don't cause the same feeling of unease because you can see them a lot earlier (except the ones in the Void which literally spawn close to you).
With the Reapers...well not all of them hang out in murky waters - the Mountains biome has pretty good visibility during daytime and the Dunes are not that bad either during daytime.
What I find much worse is that all three Reaper biomes are pitch black during night - if I get surprised by nightfall in the Reaper biomes, that's when the dread sets in.
@@HH-hd7nd True, perhaps murky wasn't the right term, though even during the day they can be tricky to locate for me, they just tend to blend in very well with the environment. I definitely agree with you though, nighttime in their biomes is the worst
It’s hard for me to imagine that kind of fear. I’m a dive master so I’ve spent literally hundreds of hours under the ocean. Yet, playing subnautica really tapped into a fear I was unfamiliar with.
Dude, you have nerves of pure steel.
Interesting. For me it's the other way around. When I am snorkeling in shallow clear waters for real, it is all good. But once I start not seing the bottom anymore I get that very unpleasant feeling of vulnerability. In subnautica on the other hand I was completely free of any fear of the depth. The Leviathans were scary of course.
The fear of the ocean reminds me a lot of existential/cosmic horror. The fear of the unkown and uncharted overwhelming you and making you parinoid.
I feel like I’d be just as scared in space as I would be in the ocean
Ohhh this is a good comparison!
@@LazerzZ for me, knowing that there are things around me in the water but not knowing where or what they are is worse that just being accessible from all sides (which you would be in either scenario). I would absolutely be scared of space but I am definitely more terrified of the ocean (or really any body of water). I played Subnautica, but I would rarely ever leave the area around my lifepod because I was so scared unless I was in my seamoth (even though I still felt fear).
Paranoid*
Lovecraft used ocean as an inspiration.
"Treat this space as your home, but never forget that it is not."
Hearing this as I was building my first habitat really struck deep and resonated with me. I've always found the ocean fascinating in the same way as space, but an almost bizarre way, more scary and much more ominous.
Humans might well be masters on land, but the ocean has other ideas about that. And while I may have never had a 'phobia' of the ocean in general, seeing cliff edges and underwater caves that go sharply down with no perceivable bottom is one thing that without fail makes me want to back away immediately, never mind go down.
I always felt comfortable being on the sea floor, no matter how deep it was in game. If I could clearly see what was under me and pseudo 'walk' on it, I felt safer. Looking down from the surface is scary, even seeing the craters edge is a nightmare that I made sure to never repeat after accidentally heading out foolishly expecting an invisible wall.
Brilliant video, edited awesomely, and truly helped capture your mindset and set the tone with the introduction and real world parallels.
Yeah... I may have accidentally jumped off the edge while in the Prawn suit. While I wouldn't call it a phobia, I'm always uncomfortable about deep sea stuff and felt like I was going to have a very minor panic attack. There's no bottom that I found (it goes well past crush depth) and you fall faster than the Ghost Leviathans seem to swim, so it's just terrible falling for a decent amount of time before you hear that you went past the crush depth and the Prawn is destroyed.
I could have abandoned the Prawn, of course, I just didn't want to go through the trouble of building a new one, so I ended up just reseting from my last save.
I had the exact same thing when I played this game and always stayed at the very bottom of the sea floor cause I'm terrified of having a large distance between me and the bottom in water.
I agree with this as well...
Both space and the ocean are vast beyond comprehension, but the ocean is ALIVE.
Someone is living here and THEY DO NOT WANT YOU THERE, that horrifies me ;-;
I remember watching Markiplier’s playthrough of this game from its days in early access to its eventual full release, and he had a very similar experience to you. It’s very impressive how well Subnautica was able to capture the fear and dread of being stuck in the ocean, somewhere where we’re not meant to be.
It truly is.
Back then, Mark's playthrough seemed completely alien to the game we have today... I may have been younger, but my memories of it were just... strange. Like vehicle, ocean, colossal depths, fin. Strange how it's a whole experience in itself now
@@WildcardASMR yea they added a whole lotta stuff
Same here, him and Jack. I've got the little Septic Sam in my game that talks to me. So proud to have been there for thr making of this amazing game and its sister.
that game fucking scares me, i tried playing it. Too much anxiety lol
I just love how serious and nerve-wracking this video is, and then at 13:42 you named your Cyclops the S.S. Cum and I couldn't stop laughing
Haha, I Know I was so immersed in his description of horror that I was yanked out when I read it. 🤣
I just assumed I'd read the name wrong when watching the vid haha!
same, but for me it was seeing the crabsquid yeet itself across the screen
Alternate title:
Man tries to justify his fear of water for 20 minutes.
In all seriousness though great video, I think you might have given me thalassophobia.
The fear justifies itself imo
420 likes lmao
his *irrational* fear of water
thalassaphobia isn't a fear of the ocean, just like arachnophobia isn't a fear of spiders
thalassaphobia is an *irrational* fear of the ocean, just like arachnophobia is an *irrational* fear of spiders
A good way to ensure you'll never get over these irrational fears is by never voluntarily confronting them
A good way to ensure you'll never voluntarily confront them is to convince yourself that your irrational fear is rational
Typically with (sometimes highly amusing) bulls#^t rationale (say, like, I'm not crazy for fearing this (irrationally), everyone else is crazy for not fearing this (irrationally)
"I'm not irrational, you're irrational", lmao)
I have a simialr fear, but thankfully not to the extent he seems to.
I can go swimming, as long as I don't look down (when I'm not able to see past a certain point (no prob if I can see say, the bottom of the pool))
Even in a man-made lake where I rationally know for certain there's nothing that can harm me in the lake,
if I look down for too long, or even think about that which is beyond my vision in the lake for too long
I freak out. These days not to the point where I just have to get out, I just have to think about / focus on something else
Thanks to forcing myself to look down, and freaking out... less and less each time
Pretty sure this is fear of the unknown / unforeseeable / uncontrollable (pretty sure same would happen in unfamiliar darkness on land) which the ocean would be one subset of
Everything about the reaper leviathan seems to have designed to perfectly trigger the purest form of fear any of us gets to experience. Whoever made the model is a genius
True, I have finished the game 2 times already and have 80 + hours in 1 of these saves but nothing scares me more than just going down somewhere without a visible seafloor or finding a reaper without veicles
edit: don't forget those damn crabs with the emp in the blood trenches
My fear is being out in the open and being spotted by something BIG.
One of my irrational fears is being trapped under ice, you look down and it’s nothing but black. Then something comes out of the darkness straight towards you.
Other one is floating above a trench where you can’t see the bottom, just the fear of not being able to see if anything is around you while you’re vulnerable.
I can understand that fear, if there's one thing that freaks me out, it's the idea of something seeing you without you seeing it.
for me, its not being able to breath
like your snorkle goes underwater, its valve closes and you exhaled right before so you dont got no precious o2 in your lungs
Bring a tank of O2 then. Literally what SCUBA is all about.
Just imagining being under the ice and I can’t hold on to anything and just sinking into the black nothingness is triggering my anxiety, that bothers me more than something coming to get me
If you guys are scared of being trapped under ice, you should play the sequel, Below Zero
Fun fact about the story from the beginning: divers were sent to that boat for body recovery. The survivor was discovered when he grabbed onto one of the divers, who he previously thought was a shark that had made its way into the boat. The divers were clearly not equipped for a rescue, but eventually they got the man an extra mask and the bare minimum of diving equipment to resurface with, and they got him out 🎉
The scariest thing for me in this game was when I first scanned the reefback, it made a leviathan tab in the PDA, meaning there would have to be more leviathan. I was terrified.
“Hold shift to sprint” kind of energy
@@VeeTOHFan when I see that prompt I pause the game and try to guess what will happen, either an enemy comes running out, a mechanism tries to kill you Indiana Jones style, etc
@@VeeTOHFan I can't tell if this is a insult or you just making a statement lol
@@reaperdaboi4236 I had no idea that this could be seen as an insult, but no I was just making a comparison
@@VeeTOHFan okay good to know
As someone with thalassaphobia, and playing Subnautica a few months back for the first time, this video sums up the fear perfectly. The first time i went to the first island, and the terrain just drops off, my heart rate skyrocketed steadily. Never went anywhere I couldn't see land again
same. I have thalassophobia and megahydrothalassophobia, and I tried to play this game and didn't even go in the deep part, but I couldn't play it again. which is rlly frustrating bcs I love video games like this. but I just couldn't handle it, unfortunately. major props to this guy for even playing it
I'm a bit different but same idea. I was able to playthrough the game 4 times, get 300+ hours and through a combination of ingame scanning everything in sight plus reading dozens of wiki pages, I've become an expert on the game. I have a curiosity about the ocean that doesn't extend to thalassaphobia because I forcibly prevent myself from imagining a situation I'd be in where the phobia would be applicable, as sort of a mental self defense measure from actually fearing it lol.
Anyways, as someone who has fully played the game through and knows literally all of the biomes and creatures, this is by far the scariest game I have ever played with nothing even close to it. Horror game with jumpscares? Meh, it's extremely scary in an instant, but also predictable.
Subnautica though, oh boy. They picked the perfect audio and visuals to capture the feeling they were going for. The haze surrounding the crash site where multiple Reapers patrol, the sharp cliffs leading down to the Warper creatures, the absolute darkness in the Void until you see the glowing blue lights and hear **them** coming for you... everything about the game is designed to comfort you in one second and absolutely terrify you in the next. It's always a slow buildup, you see very small signs that something is not right but your curiosity drives you to keep exploring anyways.
Something else I like is the complete absence of total protection. For the Cyclops submarine in particular, you're given loads of upgrades to choose from, including forcefields, torpedoes, and the ability to emergency speed away... but you're still not even close to safe. The creatures lying in wait are bigger, stronger, and faster than you, and if you're not careful you will end up fleeing an exploding submarine into the pitch black darkness while your attackers echo around you.
The unpredictability is amazing too. ***SPOILERS***
When the Sunbeam shows up, you know it would be too easy for them to simply rescue you, plus the countdown to arrival sort of implies that something is about to happen. Will they crash into the ocean like the Aurora? Will they land and be attacked? Will they see something in the water- hey wait a minute, is the alien structure starting to glow? Then it happens and you realize you truly have no way off this planet.
Absolutely the most 10/10 game I have ever played, even after playing it for over a year I still have not unlocked all the achievements so there are still mysteries hidden even to me. I hope the game series does really well, it deserves to be successful.
Side note on the 95% of the ocean not being explored thing, it doesn’t mean that we only know what’s in 5% of the ocean. In this context the word “explored” means that a human has physically been there. We have actually mapped out most of the ocean floor but in most of it there’s well, literally nothing but sand.
Well... *hears reaper roar* RUN GET THE HELL OUT OF THE WATER
That's weird, because supposedly only about one-fifth of the ocean has been mapped out.
@@paigehc6659 that is about the exact shape of the ocean floor. we know whats on the bottom, but not how its laid out. the explored percent is also heavily skewed by mid-water. so if your on the bottom 100ft down, it only counts some of that as the water above you has technically not been "explored".
Except the deepest parts that even machinery can’t withstand the pressure
@@themimsy we actually did send a bot to the bottom of the trench about 2 years ago. Then a few months later a crew managed to make it down there as well.
I think the scariest thing that game put me through was in my cyclops I was attacked by two reapers that my cyclops at like 2 health left and so I had to go out and repair it at 300 meters down surrounded on all sides with blue with the roars of the reapers in the distance
I love how the slight moment of time to escape after the screen fades to black when you drown was originally a glitch but everyone loved it
Was it? I mean, You wouldn’t instantly die irl anyway, so it makes sense to me
@@DrHundTF2 No, thats why you have 40 seconds of holding your breath and conscius time after the oxygen tank runs dry
@@justusP9101 Look, if we're discussing facts like these, we better have sources. and personally, I'm not gonna get into a scuba suit to asphyxiate myself just to prove a point that I'm not fully knowledged about.
@@DrHundTF2 Oops, sorry! Just trying to expand the matter here. I meant that at the beginning of the game, you have 40 seconds of breathing so your avarage amount of time surviving underwater is (ingame standards) your oxygen tank capasity + your last gasp of breath/natural holding-your-breath survivability. So if the oxygen In your lungs after the 40 seconds would have been disappeard, you would drown, yes? Thats where the blackin out part the "glitch" as mentioned in the original comment comes in. You of course irl don't drown immiedently after your lungs run dry so you start to slowly lose consciusness as the oxygen flow in your brain dissipates wich makes it hard for you to think straight. At this point only your survival instincs would only remain to push your body to swim upwards to the surface wich shows that the unintended purpose of the slow drowning system actually follows realism and real drowning quite well. Oh man this is a real monologue.
I remember hearing of this when it happened. It almost didn't seem real with how crazy it was, one person surviving way at the bottom of the ocean alone for 3 full days. That event has got to be one of the most traumatizing things that could happen
The ocean demands respect, it has beauty and horrors alike. I thought I was the only one who felt dread with the drop off scene in Finding Nemo. Also the scene with the trench gives me shivers. Underwater topography makes me feel uneasy. Hard to explain. I am not afraid of the Ocean, but the vast open spaces and depths definitely make me hyper aware of everything.
This video is art. When the subnautica music first faded in, i got chills.
Truly appreciate that!
the ocean is a beast and everyone should be afraid of it. The ocean is undefeated.
I have to disagree a litle bit as i am a dutchman
The ocean is the world actually!
Caligula proved that...
When I started Subnautica, I just thought it was an underwater exploration game; I was so wrong. Its definitely a horror game. I knew immediately I could not play it if I had to worry about food and water. I drowned a lot in the early days! I didn’t read or research much about the game, so I didn’t even know about the Leviathan creatures or base building. This game probably gave me an anxiety complex- between the jump scares and the creepy music/sound effects, I can only play 1-2 hours at any sitting, and then only in the daylight hours- in game. I have literally stayed in my Seamoth through the night until the waters got brighter! Creature encounters- at this time (33 days in game) I have not yet encountered the hostile Leviathans- but I know they are lurking! The first time I encountered a warper- I turned my seamoth around and headed back to my Lifepod/ base in the shallows…. Its going to take me a long time to venture deeper! I keep playing because its almost like exposure therapy- but I also really want to get the Cyclops!
I've had this game for years and still haven't beat it, even though it's one of my favorite single player games of all time. The hair on the back of my neck stands anytime it starts to get darker, any darkness under me, the sound design is perfect too. Love this game but yes it quite literally the scariest game I've ever played lmao. I'd love another remake with more terrifying, more dangerous monsters, though not sure I could play it myself lmao.
I’m not really afraid of the ocean but this video was really atmospheric and had a great vibe. I could feel his fear, if that makes sense
Really appreciate that 🙌🏻
Yeah me too. I love the ocean but when he talked about the submerged structure at the Sunbeam's landing site triggering the ... whatever that phobia was called (something with mechanic?) - that actually gave me a shiver.
@@HexenkoeniginVonAngmar Submechanophobia, I have a fairly horrible case of it, this video was viscerally terrifying and I was shaking by the end lol
@@vaguelyexhausted Ah yes, that's the word, thanks. I am really lucky to not have any phobias (at least that I know of, who knows what might be waiting for me xD).
@@LazerzZ I have all of these phobias in the video. I can't believe you were able to explain it that well.
The scariest part I felt during the game was when I was trying to find a certain biome (forgot what it was called) to get to the caveway that led directly to the lost river. Somehow I over shot in the sub and heard nothing and when I exit out realized I had accidentally went to the crater edge and saw nothing but water. Never had my soul left so fast lmao
the void makes me uneasy too, and the message you get once you start moving towards it is still chilling
@@lordkfc1297I knew what the void was but today I first went near it. I was near life pod 12 in the mushroom forest when the water turned brown. I thought that I'd be safe in my prawn suit. Then I saw a big drop and the water got clearer.
I hovered over for a bit and used my grapple arm. Then I heard THAT voice line. The realisation that I was near the void was horrifying. I bolted over to my base in the shallows faster than light and sat in place for five minutes straight. Doing nothing, just sitting.
The two things I remember most from my first playthrough:
1) Diving in for the first time and almost drowning because I was too busy looking at the gorgeous scenery.
2) Taking my Seamoth over the Blood Kelp Zone for the first time, looking down into the depths, and NOPE!-ing the fuck out of there.
Easily in my top 5 favourite games of all time.
One thing I remember super clearly from mine was leaving the seamoth somewhere to explore a ship wreck, naïvely thinking creatures wouldn't pay any attention to a piece of metal, just to discover, as I left the wreck, my seamoth being attacked by several bonesharks and almost destroyed :) Lesson learned, now I hide my precious seamoth wherever I can
Mine two were both at night (in game and in real life) just pitch black all around me
“Detecting multiple leviathan class life forms in the are. Are u certain whatever ur doing is worth it”
And
“Entering ecological deadzone. Adding report to database”
Shit was terrifying
I was terrified of the continental shelf drop off for YEARS, even knowing it’s so deep that there’s no way I’d ever encounter it... Just the thought of something huge and previously hidden by that darkness terrified me so bad.
This might be one of the best videos you’ve ever done. That story at the start sent shivers down my spine. You captured the tone of this game perfectly. Well done James.
Patreon?
11:14 'i reached the ship wreck unscathed' *proceeds to lose a little less than half hp while landing*
James took the AC1 speed run too much to heart, now he’s afraid of a little water
lol
As someone who scuba dives I wholly understand why people are deathly terrified of the ocean I’ve swam near dropoffs in the pacific where it goes from about 500 feet deep to about 10,000 feet deep
I would give almost anything to experience this game for the first time again. For how much I hated the fear I got from this game I loved it at the same time
I feel like the fear only begins when you see the Reaper Leviathan. Like you said yourself after seeing it that you were more aware of your surroundings. I believe that the cause of fear in this game is that red devil fish.
I know the feeling. As much as I absolutely adore this game, every time I had to go to the island with the Degassi bases, I physically could not look down or I would panic. Just the sudden drop off and the deep void beneath you is just *shudder*
Now who remembers the eclipse? After hours and hours of terror I noticed that thing happened, the hole ocean becoming dark in a second. And then the relief....and the beauty of the event. This game is EMOTION !!!
My experience with arachnophobia is more akin to an intense feeling of disgust and repulsion, not necessarily fear. So yeah, I think you are right when you say thalassophobia is different.
same
Same but weirdly after I learned more about them I sometimes find some tarantulas and jumping spiders cute they are surprisingly smart
@@Lahhsn4j tarantulas is the worst type of spider for me and so as black widows
@@Ethangumz I'm Australian and our huntsmen spiders are the worst for me. I can't stand seeing them move.
Yeah my fear of deep bodies of water is more like an awe, fearful respect type feeling. My fear of bugs is just a YUCK 🤮 type feeling
I think the game captures terror over fear. Due to the fact that the leviathan’s attack pattern is that it attacks once but then gives a chance for escape witch only builds the terror you feel when you go back to that area.
A James video about my favorite game of all time...
My body isn't ready.
part of what i love about subnautica is how it mixes beauty and terror. I find many of the biomes of subnautica to be beautiful, but they also have so many threats to keep you on your guard. It’s like they both compliment each other, being opposite in a way while also adding to the other.
This game utilises a completely different type of fear that I’ve never felt before. It’s almost like a merge of terror and curiosity. It’s so weird how I would be so incredibly scared whilst exploring unknown areas but yet still thoroughly enjoy that feeling and be desperate to continue feeling that way. Never before have I played a game where I have to mentally prepare myself before I do something to such a large extent and yet come out the other end hungering for more
Even after finishing subnautica 20 and spending almost 300 hours in it, I still get the hibbie jibbies playing it, it's incredibly authentic and unique, I just cannot get used to going to the floating island and going underneath it to reach the moonpool part without fearing that something is there and I just cannot see the bottom, even if I know that, exactly nothing roams that area
I've always had a fear of the deep deep ocean. There was a point in Subnautica where I realized that if something went wrong, I would not be able to reach the surface again. At that point, the world above the water became out of reach, and pushing further means submitting to the deep. I was unnerved, anxious, and apprehensive. That feeling came back again and again as I pushed deeper and deeper. But eventually Subnautica's deeps became the womb of a new world. I accpted it and learned to work within it. After a very long time down so deep, there came a moment when I returned to the surface... and it felt different. It was an easy life left behind. It was calm, quiet, familiar, and... somehow emptier than I remembered.
At the end when you leave it all behind, I felt genuine cognitive dissonance. I knew I wanted to finally escape being stranded, but I sincerely did not want to leave the ocean behind... especially the deeps that I knew would not be seen by anyone for a very long time.
What I once feared became a meaningful partner in my journey. Subnautica is transformative.
Yes. That feeling when you return to the surface after being in the lost river or lava zone for so long, where it doesn’t really feel like you’re actually underwater.
The realisation that it’ll be over soon, the feeling of loneliness when you see the Aurora and sky again. It’s probably unintended(just like the terror), but it is definitely perfect
It’s just a game man
@@Chef1-z8p A really fucking good game
@@Chef1-z8p get outta here with that- the medium does not disqualify the transformative effect of art and we need to stop pretending it does
@@danculp3136 I’m just joking my guy, I acknowledge the emotions a video game can evoke
I’d like to share my experiences too.
I love the ocean, well the bright parts of it. The dark is terrifying to me, and therefore the “void” was. I remember my partner watched me play it, and at one point i kinda went in a direction until he stopped me saying “Turn back. Turn back right now.” Later on he told me i was entering “the void” and i got goosebumps all over my body and felt pretty uncomfortable. Another time was when i was just minding my own business and was told i was near a leviathan earlier, knowing that i was so close to getting eaten was pretty scary.. i didn’t thankfully, but i remember a time when i saw my first reaper. I knew what they looked like as i’d seen videos, but the immense uncomfortableness i felt afterwards when i was attacked was really like no other.. i felt really weird.. Although that was nothing like what awaited me in subnautica bz. I personally didn’t enjoy that one much, but there was one part of it that will stick with me. At one point i realized i just wanted to see the leviathans as the story didn’t capture me all that much. So my partner showed me (i think) all of them. We eventually got to the void. And it was the worst feeling i’ve had in quite a while.. See the void in that game for those that haven’t been there takes a lot longer to get into the actual void. Meaning i swam and swam and it got darker and darker... i was so anxious, i felt like i couldn’t do it. I don’t remember the leviathans in this void all that well, but the feeling i got when i went into their territory was horrible..
One of the things I love most about this game. Is that it's a game that even someone who has a fear of the ocean can get into, and love just as much as someone who doesn't have that great, primal fear
I remember killing the reapers on the aurora and I was like "it'd completely safe now!" And then I saw another one and fear and confusion fused inside me
Thalassaphobia is a very interesting and certainly (in many cases) intense fear, mostly I think that humans developed it because of our heavy reliance on our sight and the fear of the unknown, making the fear of not being able to see below you not so unreasonable after all.
"moving forwards though, I managed to reach the shipwreck unscathed." as the seamoth flies 20m out of the water
i think the perfect level of horror this game offers is when you first are able to explore the more dangerous reaches of the early game but not far enough to where you know what ot expect, are used to seeing horrifying things and have the gear to cope with it. when you first get a seamoth with a max depth of 200 meters you sit on the edge of the abyss - endless nothing beneath you - and you're able to really see how far you've yet to go despite feeling like you've just made so much progress, it's usually around this time you have your first experiences with the areas void of light and full of truly alien creatures... and also the Reapers
ive come back to this video just now, after i was wanting to listen to some videos on subnautica and the fear it builds. The most ironic thing to me about this game, is that it wasnt even meant to be a horror game, rather a survival. But the simple fact that the developers delved into the aspect of fear of the ocean was surreal, as they knew how to scare you. Thinking back to when you first got the game, that entire scene of not being able to see too far ahead of you made you wonder what was it that was out there. Im so glad the developers reached into this as it allowed us to have a game that we truly could never not be afraid of.
The earliest, earliest moments of this game are amazing. During the daylight, it's beautiful and interesting. Once nightfall starts in, you get a sense of dread and simply wait on the lifepod for daylight to return. Venturing out further and further every day, and then panic rushing back to the pod as night comes each time - I'm now many hours into the game and it's still as thrilling as those initial moments. More thrills, more foreboding moments, and the depths you must venture into get deeper and deeper. The unnerving moments never stop coming.
If you enjoy that sense of dread that the encroaching night brings then you should play Darkwood. It's different than Subnautica but has similar exploration and survival mechanics in a top down perspective with more horror elements. It doesn't hold your hand and the day/night cycle is terrifying!
Really loved this video it didn’t feel like 19 minutes because of how entertaining it was
So excited for this video! Been hearing a lot of good things about Subnautica and hoping this will make me get it ASAP :D
It’s such a great game I really hope games plays through the whole game
As a person who has anxiety while being in water I cant even live I can literally see water flow and panic, It happened when I was a little child in the beach then i drifted away and got lost for a bit of minutes seeing big fishes and cold it was almost calming but also terrifying
Even when knowing the game was made so well in so many ways, it still surprises me just how popular the game is three years after its release.
The worst is accidentally finding yourself stupid far in the void in the dead of night because you got turned around coming back up to the surface
I can’t believe this doesn’t have more views! This is a really good breakdown of the sheer /scale/ of this game from a unique but extremely relevant perspective. I’ve seen this game on the periphery, but now you’ve convinced me to play it- there’s something intriguing about being scared in a game that’s not explicitly set up to be a horror, and in my opinion, it makes the experience very interesting (and kind of cathartic).
Subnautica is one of my favorite games. I’ve only gone to about the Blood Kelp Forest in survival, but in the creative I’ve gone through the lower biomes. Not only is the storyline very original and engaging, the visuals and music are amazing too. The visuals are so pretty, and even though the lost River freaks the absolute shit out of me, it is GORGEOUS. The first ever video game OST I ever downloaded was Subnauticas, and it was the first game I’d ever personally owned on disc.
Overall, this game freaks me out a lot, but it is so beautiful and it holds a very special place in my heart.
as someone who absolutely loves the mystery of the ocean, you did an exceptional job on doing the game justice. Very, very well made James, blew it out of the park with this one
I've played Subnautica before (I'm on my second playthrough) But I've NEVER gotten over the floating island. The island itself is not bad, but the shot of the abyss UNDER the island along with the ancient floaters and the tendrils of the island only reaching so far, that single shot of the bottom of the floating island has given me a genuine sinking feeling in my soul like i was falling a kilometer. I've never fully gotten over it. But hey, it sure is cool!
The first time I went into the dead zone I tried to go as deep as possible and saw a ghost leviathan. It was so weirdly scary for me that now I just can’t go in there without getting creeped out and seizing up.
Playing subnautica, only one time I was truly scared. I was driving my Cyclops and accidently left the map. Not knowing that I heard the warning about the leviathans. I shut down the engine and lights and prepared to wait it pass by. But being outside the map leviathans don't go away, but accumulate.
Being there 150m below surface surrounded by three ghost leviathans truly scared me
Jeez man. That beginning story about that guy trapped made me shit my pants
12:24. Everyone that saw this was scared for their life. The moment of dread because the reaper was in front of you as you try your absolute hardest to get in the sea moth as fast as possible is terrifying.
For me the bastard glitch out and actually spawn in the opening in the mid ship (where you enter)
So it scare the crap out of me literally pop out of nowhere noclip through the ship and destroy my sea moth
@@MyH3ntaiGirl And thats why nobody loves reapers
Everything about the ocean that scares me is the back of the aurora. It drops off steep, there is no secure ground and it feels almost like when you are high up. You feel a mental tugging to get back to the land. The water is so thick, I can’t see very far in front of me and the water colour is a sickly orange which feels unnatural. The reapers patrolling bring all of these fears together. I have giant things I can hear but barely see, they could jump me from ANY angle above below sides I can’t look at all of those at once so I know it is inevitable that they will get me. It feels like there is nothing I can do except sit on the sand with pure primal fear and observe intently for incoming attacks where nothing can get me from below it feels like weeping angels in doctor who where if you look away you are dead, even though it won’t make a difference if you look for reapers
I started playing subnautica recently.
I then watched one subnautica video about how it conveys a sense of fear like no other game ever has.
And now my recommendations are FULL OF SUBNAUTIC VIDEOS AND I COULDN'T BE HAPPIER!
I absolutely love the idea of there being a massive monster that lives in a cave at 3000 meters below or something. I love the fact that the ocean is so unexplored because it means the imagination can go wild
You mentioned how so many people think of nice beaches, shallow waters and coral reefs when they think of the ocean, like it being a nice place and here its sort of like that (at least during the summer) on some certain beaches. The water only goes up to about a few feet for like a mile or two depending, and then to 2 meters for another few miles .(this happens because where I live, the land is sticking out into the ocean in a sort of curved shape so lots of sand and stuff gets trapped in that area) then you start to get to these 'rifts' where there's sudden drop offs, some being only like 20 or 30 feet and others being hundreds of feet down, and its like that until you get past this protected area and its open ocean, it being hundreds of feet deep to the bottom now. There's also areas where there's these underwater dunes and they can get really big, but the way they look its hard to see they're gradually decling deeper and deeper, or sometimes they really multiply your sense of depth as you're looking at them. Those massive dunes are really scary to me. I don't mind the ocean but knowing that there's areas where its not so bad then a few feet away, slightly past where you can see is a massive drop off into the void.. but even worse than that is thinking of those areas as the edge of this sort of safe area and what is the open ocean, a terrible vast place with many dangerous things it.. massive storms, giant waves, creatures, and so on
I've never feared water, i was a competition swimmer for all of my childhood. As an adult i can became a diver, i dove deep water and caves. I've dove coral reefs, but the ocean still scares me. I enjoy the water life and wish to be aquaticly based but I can only do so much as a man. Having no fear of water, i still fully believe you are correct that being afraid of the ocean should be normal and not a phobia.
Omggg I got goosebumps the way you set that up for 1:50! Such a great video, good job. 👍🏻
Dude, awesome vid! From the start you managed to captivate my attention (with the RL story of the sunken ship survivor), and straight thru to the ending, I found myself glued to your video not even realizing I had completely stopped doing what I was (I only intended to put a video on ‘in the background’ while I carried out some other tasks, which I unknowingly had put on hold in favor of what was playing on screen!) originally focused on until coming out of the immersion I was no doubt locked into.! Very well written and executed! I know this is about a year out from its original release, (and because of that you may not even see this comment) but I wanted to share what I felt about it anyway.
Thanks for making this, you have managed to translate some of the feelings I experienced playing Subnautica with some uncanny accuracy! And you’ve gained a subscriber to boot..! I plan to dig into the rest of your catalogue after this. Take care and keep creating, if this video is any worthwhile representation, it suits you. ✌️
I really really appreciate the kind words, it means a lot, I really had fun putting this video together, I hope you find similar joy in some of my other stuff 👌🏻👌🏻
Literally the scariest game I've ever played even movies never got me so scared. I cant stop playing it though
This just might be one of your best videos, really well done. Glad to see you pushed through that creative block and came out the other end stronger for it. Something did come to my mind however. Did Black Flag ever give you this sense of unease or fear? Specially the diving bell missions and sinking a ship. When you streamed the BF I don’t remember you having any sort of reaction to it.
Thank you!
And I get it with BF if I jump ship and swim out into the ocean alone, but not with the diving bells. Mainly because they’re set pieces that are very bright and colourful, they don’t try to capture the depth or scale of the ocean, it feels like a small pond
If you have been on a big boat, standing behind the railing and looking down at the sea, you can only feel dread. I have encountered bears and climbed trees and rocks, but there is nothing that makes me panic more than being in the ocean. Its fine if im close to a shore, but if theres at least 50 meters of water on all sides i get struck with intense fear. You dont see me hiring a little boat to have a "nice plunge" in the ocean
As someone with really bad thalassophobia, I really had to push myself to finish this game. The game was so good that I had to face my fears.
I think Thalassaphobia is a legitimate phobia depending.
I'm perfectly fine swimming on shore. It won't get me hurt or killed. Especially on the Coast of New England where Shark sightings and the like are rare.
On the other hand I am fucking _petrified_ of the *DEEP* ocean. Even in a boat. Because god forbid, if something were to go wrong, I don't want to be isolated, no communication, no food, no water, freezing cold to die slowly with tens of thousands of feet of abyss under my ass, wondering if a shark I can't defend myself against will find me.
Don’t let anyone think your stupid or cowardly, I have all these things to, you explain it really well, I for some reason am also very terrified of the kelp forests. I still love the ocean though!
The intro with that survivor story was a great way to start the whole thalassophobia storyline. I remember reading about it in the news when it happened, truly scary stuff.
I've been hooked on this ever since it went free on playstation, its so good yet scares the hell out of me, hard to find a game like that these days
Try dying light but at night (in game night)
Feel that buthole clench as you run from the hardest to kill zombies u can think of.
@@armandbarendesterhuize7606 I've got it, and I know exactly what you mean, night time on dying light requires lots of xanax to deal with the anxiety
@@LunaRose1312 haha exactly
Dude so many of your movements were so damn relatable to me. The panicked jump out of water when the creepvine touched you, probably spamming jump just to stay as far out of water as possible, and seeing the massive, lost-to-sea alien structure and instantly dropping to the ocean floor (I LIVED in small patches of "grass" that I knew probably didn't hide me but somehow made me feel much less terrified so long as I was inside them). I never, ever let myself get more than a couple meters off the ocean floor except in the areas closest to the surface (which still took a very long time). If I ever needed to surface for air while 100-200m deep, I would freak out once I got that breath of fresh air. I'd be suspended far above the floor with vast emptiness surrounding me, nothing to hold onto, nothing to hide behind, nothing at all...
Absolutely loved this video essay James. Definitely convinced me to finally try out Subnautica, but probably only after I finish The Forest. You should try it! It's kind of like this game, but well - in a Forest.
Definitely messes with your head haha...
The Forest is the only game that has made me fear quit and not play. The cannibals are so creepy that it sends my imagination into overdrive. I have played Dead Space, Alien games, Subnautica and been fine after initial scares, but the Forest is just a big NO from me.
i love how invested you got into this, really thinking things through while playing. having this phobia i could literally never. ever. play this game. just gathering the footage for the intro scene?? oml. such a well made video, i feel so validated.
back when i played games i had two moments where thalassophobia struck me bad bad. once was in star wars online. you can as a side game build your own lil ship and fly around in space? i entered the minigame and once i saw the vastness of space, i was navigating through it on my own, i could go DOWN but down was just as black as everything else - i had to leave the room and force turn off my pc from behind the monitor. god it was bad. the second was when WoW just released an expansion, i forget the name, but there was a water world part. and you spawn into a colorful shallow area already below the surface so it's kinda fine, there's ground just below you and it's just a bit of fun navigating. but it gets deeper. by then you're used to it and you're swimming around and it's just grinding quests. but. my friends and i decided to try and swim to the surface to see if there was anything up there. and we swam up, and up, and up... and up.. it took so long. and once we popped our heads up it hit me that we'd been below. and looking around there was nothing. nothing at all. no shore, no islands, no boats or ships or anything. and then we were to go down again..
the switch between surface and below is the worst for me. especially when it's so deep. i can't. i just can't.
but ya idk if this is phobia or just like. intelligent respect. or just basic instincs going off way hard. i don't think it needs to be treated past the point of being able to close out of a game without having to not look at the screen lmao.
deep water. deep space. huge cave shafts and mines. anything real big above or below me. nopenopenope.
First time playing Subnautica was such an unique and amazing experience. Wish i could relieve these sensations again. Setting, music, atmosphere everything just came together to create this outstanding game that i didnt even know what to expect from it at first.
I was not really scared from this game at most but one day when I was exploring on the surface I get this message "you are now entering the ecological deadzone" I was not scared at first but when I decided to check what is under water the emptiness, the darkness of it and the ghost leviathan really scared me
As somebody who also is afraid of the ocean. I probably would’ve had a panic attack if I got stuck like you did. I hold my breath every time somebody is underwater in movies so I completely understand that part as well haha great video
I managed to get through Subnautica mainly by clinging to my Prawn. I never felt aftaid as long as I was in my Cyclops, and I could usually work up the nerve to head out in the prawn suit, because I knew the suit was extremely tough and I could fight off most things without top much danger. But so many times, I could hardly bring myself to get out and swim, even for a couple seconds. The Warpers are the most terrifying thing in the game to me for that reason, they're the only thing that can reach into your safe space and threaten you directly.
Can y'all appreciate this video doesn't have any adds? Like seriously it's the first thing I noticed.
This one time I took my girl out at night to this long pier we got here in S.A and I remember having a moment of quiet when I looked out onto the ocean... not a sinfle star in sight,dark dark clouds and the moon was basically non existant... it was a very strange set of emotions I felt... I felt amazed at The Creator's Power but more so I felt lonely and somewhat anxious... The thought of being alone in that dark dark water... It looked like the earth literally just stopped there and streched into nothingness.... Damn... That was a beautiful sight...
Thanks for sharing such a beautiful memory with us.
@LazerzZ, this was a wonderful video! Thank you for sharing how you see the ocean and the game made you feel. I thought you captured the dangerous essence of this game quite well. I wanted to say that I'm a scuba diver, with over a hundred dives under my belt. I have only dived lakes but they quickly become very murky. Sometimes you can only find crystal clear water when you dive seven to nine stories underwater to get under the silt. By that point, though, you are in complete darkness and are completely reliant on your light/backup light.
I say that to tell you even for someone who is comfortable in that situation, this game still had points where it got to me. Where you described being lost in the wreck and starting to panic, that happened to me several times in the game and it was sobering. After the first time, I made sure to be more careful in wrecks, but sometimes I'd get complacent and be reminded how easily the world can shift, and that at best you are a guest in this environment. So it's not just you for others who live with thalassophobia.
I recall one moment that terrified me was when I discovered the cave where the Lost River is. At first I was uncomfortable even with the idea of going into it but realized it was necessary to progress in the game. I went into it and saw the haunting green river of "fog," the dead tree-things, the bones, and the ghost-reaper things (I forget their name just now) and without even thinking it, automatically I said outload in astonishment and horror "My God, it's a farm where nightmares are grown!" From that point on in the game I would refer to it to myself as the Nightmare Farm.
I'm glad you played it, and I agree: you needn't get rid of a fear, just learn to share life with it.
I'm being incredibly honest when I say Subnautica helped me with my phobia of the ocean/everything in it. When I began, I couldn't even swim in small pools irl without images flashing in my mind of terrifying things. I couldn't dive into the water in the game at first; I had to close my eyes and then re-open them when I heard the splash sound. I avoided looking at the Aurora at all times because I got so scared - I once received a panic attack when I got too close without realising. I was so goddamn scared, so I decided to go into creative and just mess around. Sure, it ruined the story and mystery of it, but now I'm much less scared of both the real-life ocean and the Subnautica ocean.
One of the most defining moments of Subnautica, for me, was when I had returned to the surface after having spent a long stretch of time in the deepest region of the ocean.
I decided to take my cyclops and prawn suit to the lava zone for some resource gathering, and stayed for quite a while (the cyclops is an excellent mobile base). By the time I resurfaced and began heading back to the shallows, I realized something had changed -- not in the game, but in me. Cruising across the surface of the ocean in my submarine filled with kyanite, nickel, and other materials, the shallows suddenly felt foreign to me; they used to be my safe haven -- my home. I had spent so much time within the deep recesses of the sea, having to constantly look over my shoulder, that this more relaxed, calmer environment now felt almost completely unfamiliar to me. It was a change that was both subtle and wholly unexpected... and it stuck with me. I felt like my entire journey through 4546B had been encapsulated in that single moment, and I had to take a few minutes to appreciate how far I'd come.
Subnautica remains one of my favorite games. I had no idea what to expect when I started playing, and I was not disappointed when I finished.
Subnautica is a wonderfully unique game and I have fond memories of playing it. That being said, it took me a long time to complete it. I was too nervous to venture out and explore. I’m like that with most survival games (like the forest for example) but it was on another level with Subnautica.
I’ve never been particularly fond of the ocean, it’s always creeped me out to be totally honest, and Subnautica plays into that perfectly. It’s the fact that you are out of your comfort zone to begin with, simply because humans are not supposed to be underwater, that makes it so nerve-wracking. Then there’s the fact that you have to venture deeper, and deeper, because if you don’t you’ll never progress. But then you start losing oxygen quicker, the deeper you go. You have to go further and further away from your lifepod, traversing all kinds of deep underwater caverns, and you have no idea what’s waiting for you in there. You get to 500m, 800m, 1200m, and you have no idea if there’s actually a bottom, or whether it just goes on endlessly.
The seamoth doesn’t make you feel safe, the cyclops doesn’t make you feel safe. The leviathans can still get you. Just the knowledge that if I get out of my vehicle then I cannot breathe is enough to give me anxiety. I cannot begin to describe the immense relief I felt when I spotted my first island to reach the Sunbeam. Having my virtual feet on dry land made me never want to go into the water again. But I had to.
Edit: the crater in the center of the map was a horrifying discovery. It truly is an endless void.
Great video essay, mate. There's a reason this game remains at the top of my all time favorite survival games. Heck, its my favorite horror game and it isn't even a horror game.
There's a popular video floating around that examines horror vs terror in the game. Honestly, the game is easy, the scary guys are easy to avoid once you know where they are, and even if they get you, they don't do enough damage to destroy your ship and kill you in one go. But even after playing this game for years, knowing most of the ins and outs, the fear never really goes away. I don't have these phobias, but I'm very impressed with your desire to keep going despite the fear. Thank you for sharing your experience in such a well made video. Made me feel like I was seeing the game with fresh eyes again.
Subnautica is a game I really like although and maybe because it puts me on edge. Most leviathans don't bother me this much and I can bear being near them. But man the Reaper Leviathan is the most cursed, disgusting creature ever created. It is the worst and most scary thing I have ever seen in a video game. I don't know what exactly gets me so frightened but whenever I am in Reaper territory my heart rate goes up. Maybe because it can sense you with its echolocation maybe becauee it can chew on your Seamoth, I can't really put it into words. One of the first times I was playing a Reaper somehow came in the safe shallows. The moment I saw it I Alt+F4ed and instantly uninstalled the game. I have played through it twice since then and I really like the idea of the game. Maybe it is because of the rush it gives me. Great video! Keep it up!
No game has terrified me more honestly. I grew up with horror games, and Subnautica tops em all.
Best description of Subnautica I've ever heard :D. I've been thalassophobia nearly permanent while playing, it was an incredible experience
Props to you for being able to make this video… I won’t be able to watch it, but I won’t mind listening!
I don't have thalassaphobia, never had. Only time I get scared is when i'm afraid a fish will eat my toes.
But this game triggers something within me. It has me holding my breath, tensing up and my heart racing. One of my first memories of this game was facing a reaper leviathan for the first time, I have never been more scared in a video game. I literally screamed at the top of my lungs, and when facing other things like the ghost leviathan I feel like I can't move.
The beauty of this game is not the story, or the graphics, it's the ability to summon the primal instincts within you. To trigger the fight or flight mode. I cannot imagine playing this game with thallasaphobia.
Truly a masterpiece!
Sir, you just gained a new subscriber. I have never ever imagined other people's perspective from this game. I was laughing all the time from Pewdiepie, Jacksepticeye and Markiplier and didn't understand the fear until I had a first-hand experience when I played this game. I never ever thought I had thalassophobia. I love the ocean, I'm always drawn to it. I love going to the deeper parts of the ocean and swim there. From time to time, I'd joke about a huge creature swallowing me from down under and sometimes, the fear would sink and I'd get out of the water but I'd say I never had the same intensity of the fear of water as you have.
That being said, I was screaming in the middle of night when I played this game. Woke my family up, thought something happened to me. Finishing this game TAKES GUTS and is no small feat. I had to pause a few times and compose myself, too. I kept chanting "This is just a game, this is just a game." Sometimes, it works. Most of the time, it doesn't. You have earned so much respect from me for having the courage of even just playing this game. I aspire to be as brave as you are someday. Thank you for this content, I'm eternally grateful.
I'm really glad you touched on megalohydrothalassophobia. I suffer from thalassophobia, just a straight fear of the endless void that is the ocean, and to be honest I'm kind of annoyed whenever I look into it and find people claiming it's a fear of sea monsters. The complete lack of life and structure is what causes me anxiety, not what creature is living in it. The crater edge in this game gives me infinitely more fear than the ghost reapers that spawn in it. It's good to have a name for this phenomenon, so I can point out to people that they're different fears.