Depth, Darkness, Danger and Mystery

BarleyLad

After playing Subnautica extensively, I noticed that besides Reapers, there is no real danger nor fear from the Deep besides darkness. Of course the game is WIP and enemies are added as we speak, but just more enemies isn't what this game needs (in my opinion). We all know movies about exploration of the Deep and the mysteries that lie there, but also the fears that it brings with it. I'm calling it the Deep, because it should feel like a whole different world in my opinion. And I feel these fears are lacking from the game, namely pressure, darkness and claustrophobia. Another issue is that the game lacks progression, a goal to work towards.

What I suggest is adding different layers of crushing depth. Currently you can go deeper in your swimsuit than the Cyclops can, this feels odd. The Cyclops is a huge reinforced sub, but it can't go very deep at all. It barely serves the function of a submarine and more so a mobile base. I suggest that there are a few stages of depth characterized as following:

• Stage 1: 200-300m, Decent visibility, the player gets damaged by pressure and cannot dive further than 300m, basically how the game is now. Increased air consumption beyond 100m is fine. Some dangerous fish here and there, and of course Reapers near the Aurora. Most navigation is done on vision and the 3D terrain scanner.
• Stage 2: 300-600m (or so, depends on content), bad visibility, the Seamoth is to be used to explore these depths. Headlights and scanners are useful to navigate, robotic arms on the Seamoth to interact with the environment and large enemies are a danger (Reapers, Sea Emperors, lava and plants). Mostly caves or deep biomes.
• Stage 3: Only the Cyclops can go deeper than 600m, the player can't go out. Large headlights, terrain scanners and sonar are required to to navigate the terrain/caves. Pitch dark, only some fish and plants that radiate light, little to no sound (save for the incidental roar from the deep). Some lava pools and gas geysers are also found here, it would feel like a different planet as a whole. Exploration can only be done via a Drone Submarine, interaction via robotic arms. Unique fish (think large Angler fish), maybe some non-fish mysterious fish/monsters/tentacles, not overly aggressive, but mysterious. Majestic plants. Most valuable items are here, as well as research items and possibly story related structures/items/fish/artifacts. Possibly this can be explored with an exoskeleton, which would not give much mobility, but some close and personal interaction.

What this would do is several things:

• Mystery: It would capture the magic and mystery of the deep sea that we all know from various films and books. "What is down there?" "What mysteries lie there?" These mysteries are all up to the devs, depending on where they want to go. Limiting the mobility down deep would give a sense of being merely an observer and explorer. Currently you can basically kill every fish and Reapers can be tricked and get stuck a lot. It kills the feeling of there being something that is stronger, smarter or larger than you. This mystery, which is one of the strong points of Deep Sea moves (giant octopus, alien ships, huge sharks) is something that is currently missing in my opinion. The Sea Emperor for example almost looks alien, but if it's just a bitey-bitey fish, it doesn't presents much more danger than a Reaper. Making it smart or sentient would give it that extra factor of danger and mystery. "Wait, why is it not attack?" "What is that, is it even a fish or something else?"
• Danger/Fear: It would add danger in the form of being so far from the surface, being confined to the Cyclops. The devs could add dangers that are not big fish such as the Reaper, but the idea of being stuck inside of a big metal prison that keeps you alive. You're exploring the deep with a Drone, but you yourself are stuck in the Cyclops. Dangers such as falling rocks, big octopuses that swim around and the terrain should be the main source of danger here. The danger would shift from being eaten to sinking into the dark abyss. I would like to see big fish here, such as the Sea Emperor or a big Angler Fish but ones that are not per-se aggressive, think something like luring in the darkness. A huge Sea Emperor that observes you from a distance where you can just make out its contours is much scarier and mysterious than 5 Reapers ganging up on you. Possibly you could even try communicating with lights and the horn. The sense of losing the engine or perhaps damaging your Drone Submarine and having to somehow retrieve would add a whole new level of stress/fear. Perhaps you should be able to combat them, but more so with repelling measures such a electric fields or something, not being capable to kill those huge entities.
• Progression: It would add a sense of progression. Currently, the progression is: Build a cyclops, fix the Aurora and build a base that serves no real purpose. Even if the base becomes more useful, what purpose does it serve other than food and recharging the Seamoth? By adding these depths and the end-game in the Deep, you're adding progression downwards. Underwater Bases now serve as resting points for your expeditions down the Deep. At 2000m deep you can't go up quickly, but you could bring supplies down there, build a small outpost with your Drone Sub, that has some farms, energy generation and maybe some research buildings. You might have to make several trips to build you base fully, requires preparation and effort, but at the end is really worth it. You can go back up to the surface, but it's basically a trip you would plan for, recharging the Cyclops and stocking up on food. Once fully prepared you can go down to the lowest point and explore that to your hearts content. You can capture the most exotic fish, explore ruins or build a base there. Of course you don't have to go down if you don't want, you can stay up at 200m and play the game like that. I would also like to be able to dock and recharge the Cyclops with bases. This would have to be the case if the player can't go out, but it feels weird that currently you can dock a Seamoth, but not the Cyclops. A base hallway could connect frontally to an airlock, don't need much else. Furthermore, the things found in the Deep could lead to end-game research. Currently Nuclear power plant plans lie somewhere on the floor in some random place, but having to research and build a cyclops, research and build a Drone Sub, dive all the way down to 2000m, overcome several dangers and finally find the plans after a huge effort would be much more rewarding and progression.
• Story: It gives options for the story. There is no story in the game at the moment that I'm award of, only a setting. I'm not saying there HAS to be a story, but I've read quite a few posts about alien structures or ancient structures, gateways. Well, if you have to put them somewhere, what better place to put them than a mysterious, hard to reach, almost different world? By placing it in the end-game, it could also serve solving a mystery or discovering the true cause of the crash (or something like that, I'm not a writer ) The story could be explained bit by bit with more revelations and information as you go deeper.

All in all, I think the game needs more deep sea content, less combat and more exploration, mystery and adventure. Shifting the focus from a combat-based, swimming-based bright world to an exploration-based, submarine-based darkness can improve this. By adding these crushing depth levels, progression is added because you need certain vehicles to proceed, mystery is added as the combat based gameplay does not apply down there. Fear is changed from big teeth to hazards to the Cyclops, story-options are opened and in my opinion the game could feel much more like those Deep Sea movies we all love so much. Of course you can take from it what you want, it doesn't have to be exactly like this, but something along these lines.

This change would not even require radical changes or huge overhauls, other than more content deeper, but a repurposing of existing assets.

What do you guys think?

Edit: I think I accidentally posted this in General Discussion, should've gone to Suggestions, my bad!