this post was submitted on 18 May 2026
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cross-posted from: https://lemmy.zip/post/64554515

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[–] WhatDoYouMeanPodcast@hexbear.net 22 points 4 days ago* (last edited 4 days ago) (1 children)

That's strange to me

with devs Unknown Worlds having been clear that strong feelings have propelled them down that path. Yet, as they've also acknowledged, not every Sub 2 player will agree: cue a mod that makes creatures killable quickly springing up now the survival game's out in early access.

"Getting into Subnautica 2 for the first time and then realising they took away the ability to kill made me angry," modder Domelll wrote in the description of their Killable Creatures mod. "Why take away a feature so simple, especially when it's a sandbox survival game?

Reggie Fils-Aime, ex-president of Nintendo of America, stays unbeaten with the philosophy of "if it's not fun, then why bother?" If you have an ideological position you want to glorify, even for good reason, taking out a core mechanic from the genre and not replacing it doesn't sound fun. When I put communist societies in my magic college novel it's not like they're devoid of magic because the union is more powerful than any spell. No! They're part of the fantasy and involved in the geopolitics that influence the main character! It's fun to have them and their idiosyncracies on the page.

So if nonviolence is so important, maybe the animals are more than terminator-style hurtboxes like you are getting at. Maybe you can influence them to fuck off when they're curious or befriend them as you adapt. Give them cookies and they'll reward you. Make nonviolence feel good and replace the core mechanic of enemy-obstacles with something else

[–] Sanctus@anarchist.nexus 10 points 3 days ago (1 children)

All they had to do was play a little rain world and they would have had all the ideas they need for interacting with creatures in the environment in other ways that hurting. Though I hesitate even there because, its not unique or hard to think of. Do we even need an example? Why are all these comments mentioning just stunning? You can't feed them to pacify them at the very least?

[–] WhatDoYouMeanPodcast@hexbear.net 5 points 3 days ago (2 children)

I think it speaks to the genre more. A stun gun is simpler to imagine than a feed-satisfy gun, but one of them is necessary of enemies are what keeps you out of certain parts of the map as is typical of survival crafting games. A sequel to a big game with a moral point to prove is the most perfect place ever to rethink the genre and how to make a fun and engaging loop for animals that may be aggressive to humans and tech

[–] Sanctus@anarchist.nexus 5 points 3 days ago (1 children)

What is a feed-satisfy gun? Just put the food in the creatures mouth or by it. Rain World has a full ecosystem to interact with, and I feel if they wanted more ways to interact with the environment that has some clues. What if Leviathans actually like specific shells and would gladly accept one to become non-hostile, or maybe even friendly to that specific leviathan (not the whole species) by gifting it and seeking it our over again? Rain World does that, and just because one Scavenger likes you doesn't mean the next won't spear your face in with no warning. It just seems like theres a lot of other choices here rather than "we only set phasers to stun". Since admittedly it doesnt sound fun that I can only stun things periodically and now have to babysit and reapply every couple of seconds.

[–] WhatDoYouMeanPodcast@hexbear.net 2 points 3 days ago (1 children)

A feed-satisfy gun is my way of wording something that simply bypasses the need to shoot enemies to access areas by feeding them instead. So in terms of gameplay loop it is equivalent to shooting them so they despawn except it's just reskinned so as to remove the violence and its opposite would be a shoot-kill gun.

The rest I agree with you. I think it's an interesting idea. I would want some transformation of the gameplay loop so as to not simply reskin the violence and its place in a survival-craft game and instead integrate non-violence in a new fun way.

[–] Sanctus@anarchist.nexus 2 points 3 days ago

I used to have a better breakdown but I feel.like a system like this would fit nicely in subnautica. Mind you one person programmed this and made the art (and migrated engines 75% of the way through the game). So its definitely possible to do.
https://rainworld.miraheze.org/wiki/Behavior

With this system you could show your message. Make the Leviathians slow to mature, and reliant on their parents until they are grown. Killing them eventually breaks your gameplay loop as the sea becomes devoid of them. It would send your message pretty clear and be a clever game mechanic. If you want to keep progressing and not swim in empty waters you have to live with nature, not subjugate it.

[–] Damarcusart@hexbear.net 2 points 3 days ago (1 children)

I do like the idea of getting to feed them, sounds like a really fun gameplay mechanic, like needing to find specific items to craft food for an animal and needing to learn their habits and behaviour to figure out what they like and how to pacify them, but then that would require them to actually have habits and behaviour and not just behave like Goombas from the original Mario Bros and just head straight towards you with mindless aggression.

[–] buckykat@hexbear.net 1 points 3 days ago (1 children)

There was a creature in the original subnautica that would attack you occasionally but if you gave it a piece of metal scrap it would focus on playing with that instead of attacking you, and in its play would drop a rare crafting resource

[–] Damarcusart@hexbear.net 3 points 3 days ago (1 children)

Yeah, the stalkers, right? I hope there will be more of that in the second game, and other creatures like bone sharks would eat a fish out of your hand and leave you alone as well.

The devs shouldn't make it impossible to kill wildlife and then also give the player no options for dealing with them properly. I think that's why a lot of players want to murder everything. They're prevented from doing things because of these creatures and given no ability to do anything about them, and the default in video games is "murder" which is why people have made mods focused on that.

[–] buckykat@hexbear.net 3 points 3 days ago

Yeah, the stalkers.

So far from what I've played the stalker equivalent in S2 is much more aggressive and willing to come back for more bites. Even without the scrap, stalkers would leave you alone for a while after one bite.