The Reaper Leviathan is by far the scariest predator in the game, mostly because of its piercing, guttural roar that can be heard from up to five kilometers away - about a quarter of the map’s distance at any given point. I noticed in my playthroughs that, because most of the map is available from the start of the game, the player is liable to explore at their own whim. The screeching roars of the game’s leviathans - essentially mini-bosses - are absolutely horrifying the first time they’re heard, but Subnautica makes things interesting by employing them at strategic times. You REALLY don’t want this thing sneaking up on you. I could go on for pages on the way the design of the game lends itself to the horror genre, but what I’m here to talk about is how *Subnautica* uses sound to employ its terror and keep the player huddled around their lifepod as long as they can. Subnautica’s designed terror is a perfect attribution to Radcliffe’s definition - it enlightens the senses of the player by giving them just enough information to know that they should be cautious (scared), but not enough to claim mastery or know how the various predators function. A lot of this comes from the game’s design. There are a couple of methods by which publisher Unknown Worlds Entertainment goes about employing this sense of terror. This is where open-world explorer Subnautica capitalizes on its environment - by using the potential for danger much more than it uses jumpscares, NPC attacks, and other actually dangerous elements. It’s claimed that the idea of terror is unique to humans because we have the capacity to imagine, which when put to the test (say, on an alien planet with expansive environments full of things that *might* kill you) can run rampant with bad thoughts and premonitions on what might happen next. Terror, on the other hand, is much more than its face value. The oceans of planet 4546B are gorgeous and terrifying. While it’s much more “engaging” in this space, it’s often quite cheap - playing through Resident Evil a second time doesn’t have the same effect because we know what’s coming. Horror is primal - it plays on our instincts to react to threats that we gained from our ancient ancestors. Many horror games are just that - they employ jumpscares, timing, and ambiance to scare the pants off of their players. Because both terms have different applications, they are both used in different contexts, especially in video games. Terror, in basic terms, relates to the psychological effects of suspense, and the threat of danger, while horror is the actual act of being scared, or shown something gross. Gothic writer Ann Radcliffe had very different definitions when asked the difference between horror and terror.
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