10 Video Games Way Freakier Than You Thought
3. Subnautica
Though the open-world underwater survival game Subnautica was in no way presented as a horror game pre-release, it so perfectly captures humanity's innate lizard brain fear of the unknown lurking beneath the ocean surface.
As beautifully inviting as the game's undersea expanses are, perhaps implying a relaxing time not unlike Ecco the Dolphin, it isn't too long before reality smacks the player in the face with a reminder they're holidaying on an alien planet.
Though many of the creatures you encounter are totally harmless and docile, many others are not, and discerning that difference isn't always easy - such is Subnautica's genius.
It confirms just how bewilderingly isolating and terrifying the ocean depths truly are, where threats aren't generated by an overarching necessity for Plot or Story, but because that's quite literally the nature of the beast.
The fact that the game is now also playable in VR only makes it that much freakier.