7 Ways Subnautica 2 Proves The Ocean Is Scarier Than Space

If Subnautica 2 can prove anything, it’s that sci-fi doesn’t have to take place in space to be immersive, mysterious, and occasionally terrifying. After the Proteus crashes on Earth, your task is to survive and adapt to the environment, all the while finding out what is happening to the other scientists in the area.

Although the game doesn’t rely on its horror elements as much as it could have, there are still many things that cause a feeling of discomfort for the player. Whether it’s approaching a strange-looking shipwreck and knowing that thousands of lives have perished on board, or simply being caught in the great open sea as darkness takes over, these are the ways in which Subnautica 2 proves that the sea can be scarier than land.

7

Limited Visibility

Not Seeing Doesn’t Mean Out of Mind

One of the first things Subnautica 2 drives home is how distracting the lack of visibility can be. Even if your surroundings seem safe enough, you never know what might be lurking a few meters beyond the endless blue. This constant feeling of uncertainty can make exploring a daunting prospect, especially if you don’t have the right game items at your disposal.

As if visibility wasn’t bad enough on the best days, the prospect of nighttime makes it even worse. Although the waters of Subnautica 2 are full of all kinds of bioluminescent creatures, not all of them are exactly friendly. To make matters worse, many of the game’s most valuable items can only be found in the deepest, darkest caves, where your survival skills are sure to be tested.

6

Descent into Madness

Just Ignore the Whispers

The history of seafaring provides us with more than a few stories of madness. When you spend days, weeks, even months on the open sea, it’s not uncommon to start singing a popular shanty one second, and the next, you name a Wilson volleyball and talk about it for several years.

Subnautica 2 plays with the theme of madness by introducing the new Proteavirus, which infects certain parts of the body, causing players to hear human voices and bits of memories from long-drowned souls. Staying in space for long periods of time has the potential to drive a person completely insane, but no such case has ever occurred. As for divers, there have been many reports of those who, for some reason, lost their minds temporarily if not completely.

5

There Is Definitely Life Out There

And He is in Their Home

As the old saying goes, the scariest thing about space is that you’re alone or you’re not there. Out in the open ocean, especially on the hostile planet Proteus, you are no doubt surrounded by other organisms. The only real question becomes how many and how big are the most hostile.

The answer, for Subnautica 2 at least, is huge. In addition to leviathans and giant crustaceans, you will also have to watch out for a number of other hostile creatures, which are not limited to fish. There are plenty of poisonous plants and packs of fungi, which can hurt or disturb you or not kill you outright. The constant threat to other forms of life means that it has to be very complicated in the ocean, especially when you consider all the other factors at play, too.

4

Everything Wants to Eat You

It’s Not Your Thing

Not only are there many other strange and unexpected life forms that share your new habitat, but many of them also see you as another lunch if you cross their path at the wrong time. When you get to Proteus, you are nowhere near the top of the food chain. While small fish like Bluemoons and Geordies can make for a quick snack to stave off hunger, you can end up in the wrong ‘meal time’ position if you happen to be swimming in the wrong areas unprepared.

If mutated sharks, leviathans, and poisonous mushrooms weren’t enough to discourage you, how about the fact that the very Earth Tree at the center of the game is trying to destroy your mind and eat you? There are many things to worry about when it comes to exploring the area, but being eaten alive is usually not allowed as it is in the deep sea.

3

List of Written Phobias

There are too many to count, in fact

The laundry list of phobias that may affect players in Subnautica 2 is certainly extensive. From thalassophobia and megalophobia to trypophobia and ichthyophobia, you’ll encounter plenty to make your skin crawl if you don’t have your stomach. Another phobia, perhaps more niche but equally triggering in Subnautica 2, is that of megalohydrothalassaphobia: the fear of large, underwater, man-made objects.

Space certainly has its share of horrors out there, but there’s just enough familiarity with the ocean to cause a whole range of fears for players who are prone to them. Although I don’t suffer from any such phobias myself, I can’t help but feel a slight chill when I peer over the edge of an abyss or see the lifeless husk of a spaceship disintegrating on the ocean floor.

2

Intimate Security Abuse

So Close Yet So Far

One of the particularly frustrating aspects of underwater exploration compared to outer space is that safety often feels so far away. Unlike fully committing to a long-term stay on a distant planet, ocean exploration brings the desire to step ashore on dry land again.

Whether you’re exploring deep caves in a volcano or just planning a foraging trip, you always have the worry of getting back to safety somewhere in the back of your mind. Subnautica 2’s immersive game world can often tempt you to explore beyond your limits, leaving you suffocating from lack of oxygen just a few meters from the water.

1

No Way Home

Guess We’ll Never Get Off This Planet

Unlike a typical outer space mission, where the return journey is often planned in advance, the Subnautica series deliberately crashes you into outer worlds with almost no hope of escape. As a result, you are forced to not only survive, but literally adapt to your surroundings, a process that makes you wonder how long you can stay human.

Even with the possibility that you could blast your way back into space, Subnautica 2 does a good job of making that seem like an unappealing scenario. On top of the murderous and corrupt corporations, debt slavery, and general oppression, this game makes you feel like the society you were hoping to return to is, in fact, as bad as the one you arrived at.

Subnautica 2

Systems

Released

May 14, 2026

The ESRB

Everyone 10+ / Language, Fantasy Violence

Publisher

Crafton

Engine

Unusual Engine 5