There's often a fine line between traditional survival titles and the survival-horror subgenre, both of which focus on giving the player limited supplies in order to fight the elements and some surrounding enemies. As a result of this shared space, games that are only intended to sit in the survival genre like the upcoming Subnautica: Below Zero can easily begin to dip into horror elements as the challenge heightens and progress moves towards exploration.
In the case of Subnautica: Below Zero and its predecessor, it doesn't even require players to be afraid of the dark or the deep ocean for that extra level of fear to kick in. This is brought on mostly by the low visibility in certain areas, combined with loneliness experienced in the original game, which is slightly offset in the upcoming sequel with a partner in protagonist Robin's head.
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Even though Subnautica: Below Zero has several key features that can keep the player from being entirely alone, such as an alien parasite invading Robin's mind and a looming human villain, the moment to moment gameplay is still solitary. This loneliness is a large part of the game's atmosphere, leaving the player alone to maintain their own health and safety while building bases in different locations. It winds up coming together with the hostile flora and fauna of Subnautica to keep the player on edge as not only is the entire world out to kill them, but there is no one and nothing there to help.
While it's true that plenty of other games in the survival genre leave the player completely alone, Subnautica goes the extra mile by removing any traders or villagers to occasionally break up the solidarity. This is one of the major reasons why a multiplayer mod is the most popular in Subnautica and players have long requested that Unknown Worlds might include the feature officially into the game. Attaining the level of dread that comes with exploring an area like the Deep Grand Reef with either a fragile Seamoth or blind Cyclops alone is something that many in the survival-horror subgenre try and fail to achieve.
With the new location of Sector Zero, Subnautica: Below Zero has introduced new flora and fauna that live in the frozen waters and glacial landscapes that players will be exploring. The result of this new location also includes all new leviathan-class organisms, the giant sea-creatures that act as the primary hazard for the majority of both games. While enemies like the Reaper Leviathan in Subnautica can cause the occasional jump scare, most enemies announce themselves to careful players, making avoiding and surviving them a more intense encounter of steadily ramping fear.
In the case of Subnautica: Below Zero's gameplay, the most dreadful of these is easily the Ice Worm, a nearly hundred meter-long ambush predator that will break through the ice the player is standing on in order to attack. It makes crossing any type of dry land in the game that much more terrifying, as moving too quickly and causing too much noise will trigger an encounter that will most likely end in death. Then there are Shadow Leviathans and Chelicerates, just in case the players was feeling more comfortable in the water than on dry land, which is all on top of the regularly sized aggressive creatures like the Squidshark that can also kill the player.
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At it's core, Subnautica and its sequel really aren't purely about exploration, or collecting data and materials, or even about facing off against massive monsters. The major drive to keep looking for all of these materials and try to explore the deepest reaches of planet 4546B is for the base building, which is a key part of both day-to-day survival as well as advancing through each new biome. However, one pro-tip for new Subnautica players is that there is nothing specifically stating that the player absolutely has to only make one base in the safe shallows and keep coming back to restock.
Forward bases can be a huge part of making dives down to places like the Lost River and Inactive Lava Zone, where players can bring supplies down with using a Cyclops or upgraded Prawn Suit in order to survive in the depths indefinitely. Of course, setting up camp in a new location comes with its own risks, as well as that constant pinging of dread that permeates through every other aspect of the game. Not only will players be out of reach of crucial building materials like Subnautica's illusive Stalker Teeth, but large bases in unfamiliar locations can attract predators who can destroy structures and strand players without resources.
Looking at the effect losing resources can have on players in the later sections of the game, it's important to also note how both games approach death in the early and later parts of the game. Unless a player is no hardcore mode, dying doesn't have much of an impact aside from losing a handful of materials and being sent back to base. It isn't until later in the game that the threats Subnautica: Below Zero has recently shown off start to become a major detriment to progress by destroying things like bases, or worst of all a Seatruck fully kitted with hours worth of materials and upgrades.
At a certain point, a death could mean regressing backwards dozens of hours at a time, as encounters with leviathans can be increasingly costly depending on how reliant the player has gotten on their vehicles. Masterfully farming all of the materials for Aerogel the world of Subnautica has to offer is of little use when a misjudged sprint through Leviathan territory can essentially send the player back to square one. Combine this with the fact that the player has limited ways to actually fight off some of the game's scariest enemies, and suddenly each dive into deeper waters becomes that much more terrifying the further someone is in the game.
Subnautica: Below Zero is set to release May 14th, for PC, PS4, PS5, Switch, Xbox One, and Xbox Series X/S.