| dc.description.abstract | This paper is going to be a case study on the survival-crafting game Subnautica and its sibling Subnautica Below Zero. My research question: What keeps a man who hates scary games and has never finished one, from exiting the game when playing the Subnautica series? I want to try and find what makes this game series so interesting that even though I’m scared most of the time; I’m not exiting the game. Is it the narrative that keeps me interested? Is it the surviving and crafting that keeps me going? Or is it just the colors and the beautiful environment that ways heavier than the scary terror in the deep. The discussion draws on a comparison between Subnautica and Subnautica Below Zero up against the theories that have provided the necessary background for my research. These theories are Indie game theory, Flow-theory, and the theory around horror or terror games. There will be a word explanation for a lot of uncommon word that I’m going to use. I wanted to bring in some theory on indie games, since both Subnautica and Subnautica Below Zero are indie games. The point of this is to describe what indie games are. Subnautica is an open world survival-crafting game, the player will have to manage health, thirst, hunger, and oxygen. Since the game takes place on an alien ocean planet, the oxygen part is somewhat new for survival games. In Subnautica you play the non-essential systems maintenance chief, Ryley Robinson. He is the sole survivor of the Aurora crew, managing to escape the ship in Lifepod 5. Subnautica Below Zero is the second installation in the Subnautica franchise. Below Zero is at the moment in production and was made available on Steam as an Early Access game in January 2019. Thru this case study, I have found out what keeps me playing the Subnautica series. A dive through the theory and the game has made me aware of the differences between horror and terror. I have found out that I still hate horror games, but this game isn’t that, it’s a terror game, and it is one of my favorite games ever. | |
