Oceans are cool.
But first, an aside about VR. This game seems like it'd be really fun and beautiful in VR, and in fact, was a pretty significant reason why I got a VR headset initially. but i went from 0 to vomit in a matter of minutes just by swimming down. Also, the UI is functionally only in the left corner of the left eye, which is unfortunate for me, because I have amblyopia in my left eye, and just fully could not see what was going on over there.
I told myself that I'd open the game up in VR every so often, just to see and feel the scale of the ocean above and below me. I did not end up doing this for a reason other than almost dying any time I tried to move in VR.
Something else I should add is that I actually played a ton of Subnautica in early access, and saw most of the game before release, but never came back to finish it once it left early access. This had the effect of me kinda already knowing where everything was and how to deal with various hazards.
While I wouldn't say I was, in essence, speedrunning, because there was definitely stuff I had forgotten (or never knew), but despite that, I tore through the game at such a ferocious pace that I totally forgot about wanting to just vibe in VR, surrounded by the ocean.
Still, it was a very cool ocean. There was this one part, near the end of my journey, where I was at the edge of the underwater plateau the game takes place on. I was minding my own business, trying to get me and my Cyclops back home after harvesting some goodies. I don't remember my depth, but it was dark, and I was curious. I piloted my sub over the edge of the world.
There is something about the depth of the ocean that is purely exhilarating. Just this pitch black abyss that stretches into forever, swarming with things that may have never been seen before. The possibilities, the strangeness that must exist beyond the reach of light, it has been and will always be something that I am fascinated by. Stuff like The Deep Sea just ignites this spark, this drive to explore.
Subnautica, sadly, is a video game, and clashes pretty immediately with my romantic ideal of the deep dark nothing when a Ghost Leviathan emerges from the void. Subnautica is, after all, a crafted experience, one that has limits. There was nothing in the pitch black beyond the edge of the play area. No grand possibility, no novelty. Nothing but this Ghost Leviathan who was there to shepherd me back to the rest of the game.
Luckily, the rest of the game is quite good! I made it back to my base without my sub exploding, made a prawn suit, used that prawn suit to jump into an inky black abyss, and beat the game. I thought the story was pretty neat.