Subnautica Meets Bloodborne In Terrifying New Open-World Survival Game

Oceanic horror games like Subnautica or SOMA have carved out an interesting niche within the context of players being stranded out at sea or forced to explore the depths and whatever lurks below. But while Subnautica is a survival game with an emphasis on base-building and resource gathering, most oceanic horror games do not permit players the indulgence of elaborate mechanics.

Here, players are adrift and terrified of falling off a boat separating them from an enormous body of water. Rather, there has been an increasing number of first-person horror games that cast players out to sea, which remains one of the most nightmarish landscapes that anyone could ever be stuck in.

A lot of what makes an oceanic game scary is the unknown, not unlike why people are afraid of the ocean in general, and, if you’re not already sure if you suffer from thalassophobia, this upcoming Steam horror game will be a good litmus test.

According to its Steam store page, the beauty of FluffyGameDev’s Open Waters lies in its simplicity. Players find themselves on a boat in the middle of the ocean’s black, rippling surface, with the sun unable to break free from the clouds and offer relief. Below the surface, should players be rocked from the boat, the ocean’s darkness is impossibly vast.

There aren’t many mechanics in Open Waters’ first-person survival horror gameplay besides using a compass and a handheld sonar device in order to navigate away from or toward whatever dangers or environments players can see in the distance, but being able to wield a gun suggests that they’ll at least be able to defend themselves from sharks and whatever other creatures may be looming like vultures.

That said, it appears as if players will be able to exit the boat and explore “abandoned sites” they find. As described, “these areas expand the horror beyond the open water, forcing you to face threats on both land and sea.”

As for how long this Steam horror game is, Open Waters is quite transparent. It’ll apparently take only two to four hours to finish, which is arguably a fantastic length for an indie horror game like this with such a refined yet limited scope—too short, and it might not be scary at all; too long, and its novelty and dread might wane.

Horror games set at sea will always have a strong niche to rely on, and there’s an argument to be made that it’s a subgenre yet to reach its full potential. Either way, just sitting in a boat looks petrifying in Open Waters, and the game itself will hopefully become a new benchmark for those like it. Open Waters is currently available to wishlist on Steam.