Section 2: Subnautica’s Atmosphere - Visual Design, Sound Design, Behavioral Design
Subnautica and Atmosphere: Visual Design and Sound Design
The previous article in this series concluded the exploration of Subnautica’s story, and how the developers used the story to communicate meaning and create a horror experience. This article begins a new section of the series, exploring atmosphere through visual design, sound design and behavioural design.
When it comes to fear and horror, a key aspect of any game’s, or indeed any visual medium’s ability to create horror is through the atmosphere it can create: through music, visual design and the behavioural design of the alien monsters the player encounters through the game, Subnautica carefully evokes a sense of unsettling foreboding. Rarely is there a moment of genuine release of that fear, as you might get in a jumpscare, but rather simply a constant, underlying unease, that keeps you on edge whenever you explore a new area of the map. First, let's talk visual design: Early on in the game, there are many areas, like the ‘Safe Shallows’, which are unthreatening, and really quite beautiful: bright colours, teeming schools of vibrant fish and great kelp forests dominate this area, which rarely gets deeper than 50 meters.
A screenshot of the ‘Safe Shallows’ and its vibrant flora an.
And even as these areas become gradually deeper, only minor elements of the design contribute to any fear: for example, in the ‘grassy plateaus’ area, which has ‘sandsharks’ that lurk under the red grass of the sea-floor, jumping out at the player if they get too close. These might be initially slightly scary, but still overall these areas are pretty and easy to navigate: in the plateaus, the peacefulness is exemplified by the whale-like ‘reefbacks’ which glide their way majestically through the water.
A screenshot of Reefbacks swimming across the ‘Grassy Plateaus’ area.
However, as the player explores further from the start of the game, and begins to get deeper, lighting, flora and fauna and sound design all morph to create areas which are not nearly as welcoming. But again, what is crucial is that often the changes in appearance and atmosphere of an area do not necessarily correspond to actual changes in threats. The Blood Kelp Zone is an example of one such area in the game: it is a dark, murky area of cave systems and ravines, full of a plant the game helpfully names ‘blood kelp’ because of the combination of its rigid, bone-like stems that climb through the water and the glowing red seeds that grow at its base. There is absolutely no threat posed by this plant: actually, it is very helpful for the player, as the seeds can be used to build a number of important items for progression, but the atmosphere created by them is nonetheless creepy and ominous, as they slowly come into view in the murky gloom of the cave system.
A screenshot of the Blood Kelp Zone with bone-like tendrils climbing ominously.
Another area, the Lost River, is a cave system too, but unlike the open darkness of the Blood Kelp Zone, the Lost River is claustrophobic and far more hostile: 900 meters deep, the area is a maze-like network of tunnels and caves, full of acidic brine pools, snarling predators and fossilized remains: the fossils are the defining feature of much of the area, with the player often swimming past and through huge preserved rib-cages, skulls and other macabre body parts as they explore.
Above, concept art of the ‘Lost River’, teeming with uncanny animals and fossilised remains. Below, a screenshot of the same area in-game – the fossil pictured is gargantuan, the player being dwarfed by its huge fangs.
This works in tandem with the creatures in the area, including spindly eels with skull-like faces, and the translucent ‘ghost rays’ whose mournful cries can be heard throughout the area before they are seen.
Indeed, it is not just the visual design of these areas that make them scary, but also the sound design: Subnautica’s music and sound effects work perfectly together to evoke discomfort. The soundtrack is made up of largely ambient tracks which combine an electronic sound-world of synths and electric drum-machines, with uncanny noises which resemble that of the in-game cries and squeals of the alien creatures you encounter (linked here: SUBNAUTICA - Full Soundtrack OST - Music by Simon Chylinski). Consider the main theme ‘Salutations’, which opens with a slow, atmospheric introduction of mixing synth and choral voices, before hitting its ‘beat drop’ with a sound that almost resembles that of immersing yourself underwater. Ambient tracks within the game, like ‘Lava Castle’, in which a constant bass beat imitates the nervous heartbeat of the player, or the start of ‘What are You’ which resembles so closely a Leviathan’s roar, are cleverly misleading. They deftly mimic shifting diegesis, making the player question whether certain sounds they are hearing are part of the soundtrack, or part of something happening in game. This ambiguity in the sound-world of the game inevitably creates tension, but also immerses the player deeply in the world. They have to actively question whether or not they are hearing a diegetic in-game reality or a part of the ambient background, forcing a type of engagement with the game-world and its sound design that otherwise might go completely unnoticed.
The next article in this series will explore the behavioural design of enemies and threats in Subnautica, and how they contribute to the atmosphere of the game.
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