Arctic Expansion concept art megathread
RowletAlex
Eleventy-seven Nonexistent Street, Nowhereville, Outer Space. Join Date: 2018-03-16 Member: 239126Members
Eleventy-seven Nonexistent Street, Nowhereville, Outer Space. Join Date: 2018-03-16 Member: 239126Members
So as some of you may know Alex Ries is now working on Subnautica and has done a bunch of concept art, and we’ve been fortunate enough to see some of it. So far we have a peeper like thingamadoodle, an arctic reefback, and a creature called a pinnicarid (whose name is surprisingly significant, I’ll discuss it later) and of course we know we’re getting the Glow Whale and possibly Rockpunchers. Now, I’m gonna analyze each creature in turn and make a few theories on what role they’ll play in the basically confirmed Artic Biome.
Firstly, we have the Peeper-like creature, who we know literally nothing about:
Looking at this creature we can CLEARLY see it is a predator of some type. It’s smooth and streamlined, and doesn’t have much in the way of skin detail. Looking at it I’m estimating it’s about the size of a sandshark, or possibly a boneshark. I’m guessing it’ll be like a leopard seal and will prey on the penguin creatures, and of course, the player.
I’m not sure if it will be able to come onto land like leopard seals, as it doesn’t look very fit for walking. However, it’s pectoral fins are placed similarly to those of mudskippers, who can move on land with ease (I should know because I have one as a pet) so it may be able to crawl about on land and chase players across ice floes. In the water it’ll be fast, dangerous, and something you should definitely be worried about when going for a swim.
Speaking of ice floes, here’s the Arctic Reefback:
These guys aren’t totally new, but they’re still quite fascinating. The sail-like structure on their back is highly reminiscent of a by-the-wind sailor, so I’m guessing these reefbacks get around primarily by drifting. They look smaller, as well. Unless the space penguins we see on its back are actually huge, it’ll likely be smaller than normal reefbacks, unless the devs decide to make it bigger.
Finally, we have the Pinnicarid:
These guys are most interesting to me simply because of their name. Pinnicarid, when translated from Latin, means something along the lines of “Finned Shrimp” Now, what is so important about this name? Well, unless the devs just wanted to give the creature a scientific and rather obvious name, Pinnicarid is likely derived from Pinniped and Anomalocarid.
Pinnipeds are seals and their relatives, and they’re why I’m so interested in the Pinnicarid. If the pinni part of its name was indeed derived from pinnipeds, it means that Pinnicarids will probably spend a good deal of their time on land, possibly in groups. This theory is very far-fetched however, so don’t take it too seriously. It’s hard to tell what their temperament will be, but I’m betting they’ll be either neutral, or they are aggressive and pacified by feeding them fish, like stalkers.
Their tail is reminiscent of a thresher shark, so they may hunt in packs and use their tails to stun prey.
Oh, and they’ve got four possible color schemes, like Crimson Rays. I’m betting we’ll only see one in-game, and I’m hoping it’s color scheme C.
I almost certainly got something wrong, but who cares, making theories is fun. Feel free to discuss your own theories and opinions on these creatures, and I’ll update this thread whenever a new creature is teased. See you in the Arctic biome!
Firstly, we have the Peeper-like creature, who we know literally nothing about:
Looking at this creature we can CLEARLY see it is a predator of some type. It’s smooth and streamlined, and doesn’t have much in the way of skin detail. Looking at it I’m estimating it’s about the size of a sandshark, or possibly a boneshark. I’m guessing it’ll be like a leopard seal and will prey on the penguin creatures, and of course, the player.I’m not sure if it will be able to come onto land like leopard seals, as it doesn’t look very fit for walking. However, it’s pectoral fins are placed similarly to those of mudskippers, who can move on land with ease (I should know because I have one as a pet) so it may be able to crawl about on land and chase players across ice floes. In the water it’ll be fast, dangerous, and something you should definitely be worried about when going for a swim.
Speaking of ice floes, here’s the Arctic Reefback:
These guys aren’t totally new, but they’re still quite fascinating. The sail-like structure on their back is highly reminiscent of a by-the-wind sailor, so I’m guessing these reefbacks get around primarily by drifting. They look smaller, as well. Unless the space penguins we see on its back are actually huge, it’ll likely be smaller than normal reefbacks, unless the devs decide to make it bigger.Finally, we have the Pinnicarid:
These guys are most interesting to me simply because of their name. Pinnicarid, when translated from Latin, means something along the lines of “Finned Shrimp” Now, what is so important about this name? Well, unless the devs just wanted to give the creature a scientific and rather obvious name, Pinnicarid is likely derived from Pinniped and Anomalocarid.Pinnipeds are seals and their relatives, and they’re why I’m so interested in the Pinnicarid. If the pinni part of its name was indeed derived from pinnipeds, it means that Pinnicarids will probably spend a good deal of their time on land, possibly in groups. This theory is very far-fetched however, so don’t take it too seriously. It’s hard to tell what their temperament will be, but I’m betting they’ll be either neutral, or they are aggressive and pacified by feeding them fish, like stalkers.
Their tail is reminiscent of a thresher shark, so they may hunt in packs and use their tails to stun prey.
Oh, and they’ve got four possible color schemes, like Crimson Rays. I’m betting we’ll only see one in-game, and I’m hoping it’s color scheme C.
I almost certainly got something wrong, but who cares, making theories is fun. Feel free to discuss your own theories and opinions on these creatures, and I’ll update this thread whenever a new creature is teased. See you in the Arctic biome!
Comments
The only thing that puzzles me is how live survived the Kharaa Bacteria so far away from the Research Facility.
Without the Sea Emperor Leviathan and it's enzymes, or the Peepers to help spread it through the ecosystem the rest of the planet should have been devoid of animal life.
There's a pretty good chance that the Arctic biome is simply too cold for the bacterium to properly survive and infect enough creatures to be a significant threat to life.
Also, we’ve got concept art of the alien penguin!
I THINK that due to it’s striking similarity to concept creature 1, they are both concepts for the alien penguin, and we’ll only see one in-game, most likely this one here.
I do prefer this one.
The Arctic biome creatures shouldn't be brightly coloured unless they're white. That is why I hate the green and red versions of the Pinnicarid, but love the black one.
Of this being a DLC, (to be honest) are in hopes for a good amount of content this game already gives such as presented of these new creatures, (crazy idea which I love) I'm in hope of there being a predator being a part in the arctic region to which owns a huge part of the area in which roams in the ocean~[one of the prehistoric predators that survived upon this open water/icy area. (Scary atmosphere upon encountering a colossus being) suggestion~(area of creature being just dunes or flat/grassy lands)]
Just want to say thanks to the creators for being an awesome team to which had produce one of the best ocean games.
I'm just here scouting the released info.
Yes, and I'll add them to the updated version when I stop being lazy.
The little lights next to it's head are from a seamoth so it's really huge...
Plus it's been confirmed and it's pretty freakin' scary
That is fanart. Where the hell did you hear it's a confirmed feature? It doesn't even have the subnautica label the older ones had.
The little lights next to it's head are from a seamoth so it's really huge...
Plus it's been confirmed and it's pretty freakin' scary
It's not confirmed. It's fanart.
I tried to tell 'em, but they didn't listen to me.
However: it does have the skull of the lost river skeleton, although that makes me even more sceptical, because it’s extinct according to the lore and there aren’t many reasons to have one alive. (And it’d be a nightmare to model and animate with any sort of detail, and where the hell would it live besides the void, where it is mostly unnecessary?)
Even going so far as to confirm things that have never happened.
I swear, every Subnautica YouTuber follows this pattern...
(Despite the fact Cory said himself they take place in the same universe)
LIES, I mostly punch walls and crash the game after bitching at Bitching Betty and the interface after throwing way too much sarcasm at the game. Maybe the game is monitoring my mic and doesn't like my jokes
That monster squid creature has a tiny bit of Subnautica vibe TBH. Is it maybe different enough for the arctic perhaps, that is if it was made for Subnautica? However, why would those insanely huge creatures even be interested in a tiny Seamoth? Do you consistently see us go after random tiny creatures we encounter
Someone give upways a triple raise
The little lights next to it's head are from a seamoth so it's really huge...
Plus it's been confirmed and it's pretty freakin' scary