Logically, I know Unknown Worlds hasn’t crafted some hidden horror that will rise from the depths should I evade the beasts Below Zero calls “Void Chelicerates.” I’ve even looked on the Subnautica: Below Zero wiki, but when I think about that void, logic doesn’t matter. But it’s the memory of that first encounter that should make you think twice about trying again. With the exception of Subnautica: Below Zero’s Creative mode, where you’ve willingly stepped away from the story, trying to leave the map always ends badly. So, when I drove off the map into the Big Empty, I knew it was a death sentence. Run out of the latter and you’re walking. Take Mad Max, set in a post-apocalyptic landscape where water and gasoline are the two most precious commodities in the world.
What is infuriating, however, is when designers have a solution right in front of them and they overlook it. I’m not advocating infinite, procedurally generated worlds there’s enough busywork in open-world games as it is. But there are still areas where, if you roam far enough, you slam into an invisible wall, as is often the case with similar titles. Some games do attempt to use geography to corral the player Fallout: New Vegas, for example, has mountains that bar your progress. There are few things more immersion-damaging than seeing a warning message flash across the screen, followed by a near-instant game over. So how do you handle it? In the case of Subnautica: Below Zero, Unknown Worlds has devised a way of penning the player in without making it seem like an insult, a slap in the face that you’ve dared to wonder what’s “out there.”
It doesn’t matter how open your open-world game is - sooner or later your players are going to try breaking out of their sandbox. This article contains mild spoilers for Subnautica and Subnautica: Below Zero.
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