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Subnautica [official site] seems like a nautical holiday wrapped inside a survival game. Swim around a gentle ocean and meet lots of colourful fish, chill out in an underwater forest, sunbathe on top of a little escape pod it all sounds very relaxing. Don t be fooled. Subnautica is, in fact, absolutely terrifying.

I can t quite remember when I realised that the sea was actually a vast world of horrors. Whenever it was, this realisation was undoubtedly confirmed when I was snorkeling off the coast of Australia in my early teens. I broke the surface of the water to be greeted by blood. So much blood. Not mine, thankfully. It belonged to a man who had bumped into some coral, which proceeded to rip open his leg.

Coral! Nobody expects this of all things to tear chunks out of them, but that s what you get when you decide to visit the utterly alien sea. In Subnautica, this is even more pronounced because it s a literal alien sea, an entirely new world, that you re exploring. You re not meant to be there and you re definitely not welcome.

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