Please add another difficulty level, or adjust current difficulty levels

cels83cels83 Join Date: 2018-01-10 Member: 234929Members
edited August 2019 in Ideas and Suggestions
TL;DR - This game isn't challenging enough, and the threat of perma death if you completely mess up does not equal a challenge. There needs to be a game mode that actually makes you sweat a little. Whether you add a different difficulty level or adjust current difficulty levels is not a big deal for me.

Storytime:
When I first played Subnautica with my girlfriend, we were both pretty nervous. Well, I was nervous, she was terrified. We didnt know where the monsters were and after an initial feeling of safety in shallow waters, we inevitably began receiving telepathic messages from some alien life form. We also noticed that our base had structure points, leading us to think that it may be damaged by attacks or random events. Eventually, however, we started understanding the game and realized... there were no uncontrollable events in the game at all and no threat of attacks. Basically, as long as we avoided certain areas, we were safe.

Additionally, we realized that since our seaglider and vehicles were pretty fast, you could usually just escape danger by going full speed in one direction. Or normal speed, basically. So even if we did accidentally stumble into the wrong territory, we could just swim away rather easily.

We loved Subnautica, but when we really felt that there weren't any significant threats in the game, it totally took away some of the magic. It was not like when we played Alien: Isolation, and we felt like we were potentially in danger almost constantly (with a few breathers), right until the end of the game. Now, obviously this isn't an Alien-like horror game, but I do think Below Zero has a critical flaw if it never makes the player nervous that something unexpected might happen. After all, most of the Subnautica videos on YouTube are about suddenly being attacked by some sea monster and then screaming at your computer. Isn't that an important part of the game?

Some suggestions:
1) Please make it less predictable where the scary fish are. Whenever I build a base somewhere, I would like to live with the threat that a predator might be waiting outside the hatch the next time I exit. And whenever I swim in safe waters, I want the potential threat of something unexpected happening.

2) Please make the scary fish scarier. It's not scary if I can just drive away from them easily. It would be nice if they were faster, if they pursued us like a cheetah and you had to outmaneuver them a little (dodge their charge) until they got tired and abandoned the chase.

3) Please give the monsters the ability to attack your base. It would be simply amazing to see our bases attacked by leviathans, or even groups of smaller fish, like the energy-zapping creatures from the first game. I'm not saying a leviathan should devour your first base as soon as you're 10 minutes into the game. But if you build a base away from the initial spawn zone, it would be nice if there were dangers.

Please do keep up the amazing work. I love Below Zero a lot. I just wish it was a bit more unpredictable and challenging, giving me the scares and unexpected problems that I missed in the first game.

Thanks!

Comments

  • SSukeSSuke USA Join Date: 2019-07-30 Member: 254013Members
    edited August 2019
    I think you're looking for the standard horror game. There are plenty of those already.

    Alternatively: Play "The Long Dark". You'll enjoy the wolves and bears. It's survival like Subnautica, but a lot more hardcore.
  • MaalterommMaalteromm Brasil Join Date: 2017-09-22 Member: 233183Members
    I don't like the wolves at The Long Dark because they don't act like wolves at all.
  • cels83cels83 Join Date: 2018-01-10 Member: 234929Members
    edited August 2019
    SSuke wrote: »
    I think you're looking for the standard horror game. There are plenty of those already.

    Alternatively: Play "The Long Dark". You'll enjoy the wolves and bears. It's survival like Subnautica, but a lot more hardcore.

    No, I'm not looking for Subnautica to be a standard horror game. I'm looking for them to build on what many people liked about the first game. Go search for YouTube videos about Subnautica, sort them by number of views. On the first page, getting several million views, you'll see several videos that focus on fear / danger.
    Subnauticas Scariest Creatures, Swim For Your life, Damn nature you scary (the most popular one with 10 million views), Most Harrowing Journey Ever, Rescue Isn't Coming, Oh My God What Is That?, etc, etc.

    People who watched those videos weren't looking for Minecraft creative mode under water.

    Challenging / scary parts are a huge part of why Subnautica got so much attention in the first place.

    However, I do agree with you that the wolves in The Long Dark are a lot scarier than the biggest monsters in Below Zero. But that kind of proves my point, unfortunately.
  • cels83cels83 Join Date: 2018-01-10 Member: 234929Members
    Maalteromm wrote: »
    I don't like the wolves at The Long Dark because they don't act like wolves at all.

    I think the game explains that they've gone insane from the mysterious aurora borealis. Though it's been a while since I played it and I didn't finish. :/
  • MaalterommMaalteromm Brasil Join Date: 2017-09-22 Member: 233183Members
    cels83 wrote: »
    I think the game explains that they've gone insane from the mysterious aurora borealis. Though it's been a while since I played it and I didn't finish. :/

    That's a lame explanation for lame wolves. I haven't played it since forever too, and never got to play the campaign.
    cels83 wrote: »
    Challenging / scary parts are a huge part of why Subnautica got so much attention in the first place.
    Subnautica is a scary game, but nowhere near challenging.


  • Wintermute_TLDWintermute_TLD Join Date: 2019-07-18 Member: 253801Members
    *says quietly* we need more leviathans...
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