'We are not a killing game,' says Subnautica 2 dev: 'Go play Sons of the Forest or something if you want to kill'

3 weeks ago 12

A diver hanging off the side of a submersible craft in Subnautica 2.

One of the many tough aspects of creating things for public consumption—whether the great works of art of old or videogame news articles (which are the great works of art of the 21st century)—is dealing with public feedback.

So I feel some sympathy for the Subnautica 2 dev (spotted by GamesRadar) who's rankled a few fans by telling them that, if violent gameplay is what they're after, they'd be better off playing something else.

In response to a player on Discord lamenting the fact they can't kill anything in Subnautica 2, level designer Artyom O'Rielly was pretty blunt: "We aren't a killing game. Go play Sons of the Forest or something if you want to kill." I'm gonna go ahead and guess that O'Rielly wasn't intending to tell players to go do one, but that's kinda how it came across, and the comment attracted more than a few negative reactions from onlookers. It was not long before Reddit threads spawned from upset fans.

Perhaps the most material objection to O'Rielly's comment was the fact that players currently have no way to deter aggressive fish from their bases. Fair enough if Unknown Worlds doesn't want to make violence a part of its game, but you have to admit it's a tad frustrating to be smothered in angry fish you can't do anything about. But fear not, O'Rielly swung back to assure players that's not meant to happen, and "That'll be fixed in a future update too."

You ask me, I do think it's nice for a game to offer the fantasy of existing with nature rather than violently dominating it (you might say that nature contains plenty of violence already, which is fair, but all nature outside of humanity that I'm aware of also lacks the sapience to abstain from that arrangement), and I think little kerfuffles like this are just the price you pay for having this kind of immediate interface between devs and fans.

And hey, you get nice moments too. In response to another fan, a little later on, thanking the team for the game, O'Rielly replied: "I am glad you are enjoying the world we built and love. We want to keep updating and giving you more and more until 1.0."

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One of Josh's first memories is of playing Quake 2 on the family computer when he was much too young to be doing that, and he's been irreparably game-brained ever since. His writing has been featured in Vice, Fanbyte, and the Financial Times. He'll play pretty much anything, and has written far too much on everything from visual novels to Assassin's Creed. His most profound loves are for CRPGs, immersive sims, and any game whose ambition outstrips its budget. He thinks you're all far too mean about Deus Ex: Invisible War.

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