I was watching the quick look for Song of the Deep, and in a moment early on, Dan piloted the submarine up into some open water where there was nothing but blue save for a monstrous looking shark thing and immediately my skin started crawling. It's a rather awful sensation that I've had in games before (like Tomb Raider Underworld).

I'm fine with underwater levels where you can see the ground, or you are in a cave (Uncharted, for example), but open water where there's just blue, or even with just a few sea creatures floating around, my brain instantly goes "nope, nope, nope, this is NOT okay!". It made wonder, how prevalent is this sensation with people? Anyone else have this problem?

No...though I can't think of a lot of games that do this. But I definitely wouldn't be uncomfortable in a 2D game since the thing that makes me most uncomfortable in 3D games is not knowing if I am going to be attacked from behind (obviously that may not be an issue depending on the camera.) I could definitely see feeling tense if I was in a totally open area of ocean being stalked or attacked by some creature, especially from behind, but I generally find open ocean pretty peaceful and relaxing, especially in a game like Song of the Deep. I generally think that's the aesthetic Song of the Deep is going for too.

Have you played Inside yet? What did you think of the water areas in that game? They could be pretty creepy.

Huh, interesting. I bet you REALLY hate the movie Open Water. ;)

Absolutely.

I was fine with Echo as a kid. But then Tomb Raider had crocodiles. Tomb Raider II had sharks. After that, going back to Echo was terrifying.

I swim all the time, but there was a period there where I assumed every body of water, no matter how irrational, would have something come bite my ass.

I'm more uncomfortable with underwater swimming segments than just large expanses of water on the surface. Drowning is not a good way to go. Trust me.

Nothing triggers my anxiety quite like looking down and only seeing an empty, inescapable void.

I'd actually love to see more horror games centered around the ocean since its one of the few things that can genuinely scare me.

@naive_appeaser: Did you play SOMA?

@bigsocrates:I was pretty okay with Inside, I did feel a little uncomfortable when you break through the wooden boards early in the submarine section, and you find yourself in that big vast expanse of water. But it's such a short section and you aren't really in danger, so I felt alright. The later parts of that are all indoor, and not in vast expanses, so I was fine, even though that mermaid was after you.

I had more trouble with SOMA, but since you are grounded, I was fine. It's just when they started introducing cliffs or made you look up that I went "nuh-uh".

@inresurrection: Yeah, that movie did not sound like a fun time...no problems with Jaws though, but that was closer to the beach mostly.

@csl316: I tried playing Ecco recently but yeah didn't really feel comfortable. I think back in the PS1 days it was worse because the draw distance wasn't great. I remember having trouble going into the water in Bugs Bunny and Taz: Time Busters. Didn't help that when you blew up the Piranhas in the water, they would turn into skeletons, which I also had deep fear of as a child. Which is funny now because I play pretty much any horror game

@lawgamer: Played much of Sonic back in the day? Still the most awful swimming/drowning sequence I've played yet.

I'm no doctor but I would say I have Thalassophobia to some degree or another, even if it's in a minor sense. When I see pictures of the vastness of the ocean and the creepier creatures that inhabit I do feel at unease and this is amplified greatly in video games. Whenever I have to traverse deep water (double it if it's explicitly going into the ocean) I have to psyche myself up to complete that section. I do it in a variety of ways with listening to loud music or just talking myself through it being the most helpful. I remember going through five or six albums doing all the under sea diving stuff in Assassin's Creed IV and even though it helped I was still barely able to do all of it. I would yell pretty loudly when a shark would sneak up on me or get grabbed by those damn eels.

I remember being terrified of the giant eel in Super Mario 64 and I played that game when I was eight so I have more or less been freaked the hell out by that stuff in video games. It's something I dread whenever I encounter it and whatever time it would take for the average person to complete that section, it probably takes me four times as long. Getting those under water collectibles in Far Cry 3 (especially one down a giant fucking sink hole, god that sucked) was also another bit of fresh hell for me.

I can watch horror movies and sometimes not even get startled, and can weather most horror games pretty okay. Once you introduce deep water/the ocean into a game and I immediately start to get uncomfortable. My feelings on this are pretty much why I will never play Subnautica ever, despite thinking that game looks pretty neat otherwise.

Depends on how the water is portrayed. I'm really afraid of sharks (not just because they are dangerous, but because they are creepy under water monsters that actually exist) so games that have them, especially open world games, make me feel super uncomfortable. Games like far cry 3/gtav are the best examples I can think of. It isn't a huge issue for me, but it's still uncomfortable.

It's strange, because in some games I'm absolutely fine with the water - someone mentioned Soma, and I didn't have any issues with that game whatsoever, same with World of Warcraft, Hell, I just cleared the entirety of the Vashj'ir zone recently which is almost 100% ocean. However, someone brought up Tomb Raider, and there was this moment in one of the older games of the series where you're in this gigantic underground cavern, and you have to swim across this massive lake of water, and the camera just pans out just so you can see how massive it is. It gave me such a horrible skin-crawling feeling, because I knew something could be in there and I'd never know about it.

@rongalaxy: The shark in Banjo-Kazooie gave me serious anxiety about swimming in that game.

Mentioned above that I had trouble with it, and now I'm wondering why I loved Critical Depth so much. That game was all about going into deep, terrifying water. Maybe that's how I got over my Tomb Raider fears? With sick, reverbed guitar?

@csl316: Yeah, I LOVED Critical Depth as a kid despite always having this fear of water in games. Maybe playing as the giant purple shark submarine and eating other submarines did a lot to help me forget about it? In any event, thanks for reminding me of that game and how dope the soundtrack was. Had so much fun playing that damn game with my friend back in the day.

Deep water with no visible end is the only thing in video games that can really triggers physical response from me. My heart race increases and my hands get clammy... I remember one deep water area of Far Cry 3 that I could never explore because I would get anxiety and turn around.

I just want to find an ocean planet in No Man's Sky with sea monster sized creatures, really lock in that PTSD.

I'm sure it goes without saying that Subnautica is completely unplayable to me.

@lost_remnant: I will say that playing as Joe Skullion, the scuba man, was kind of horrifying when Lockjaw was sneaking in trying to eat him.

That game was so good, man. Just the amount of exploration that could be done. Hidden alien temples, a giant eel, underwater train stations, a crazy science base... I loved it. Absolutely loved it.

Yep absolutely. The most prominent example I can think of is back when I use to play EverQuest. I once fell off a boat in the middle of the ocean and the sheer dread that came over me was unreal.

Not really, although I am pretty bothered by the idea of floating off into the void of space. Just spending hours, in a spacesuit, waiting to suffocate or die of starvation, with nothing to do except think and stare off into space.

What you're really doing is thinking about an infinite, endless void, which is really quite a Lovecraftian thing to dwell on. And what's worse is the fact that all you've got keeping you alive is a tiny, insignificant shell. Of course, oceans aren't actually an endless void, but you can't actually see all that much.

@ksck26: I very rarely get close to that feeling (and it is never as severe as yours) but Subnautica does it. I think the thing that amplifies it in that game is how you start in the shallows. You might be close to deeper waters, but you don't have to venture into them at first. You can always see the bottom, as it is just a few meters below you.

Then later you swim in waters where you are 100 meters down with no bottom in sight. Hell, I am getting this strange sensation of dread just thinking about it. It helps when you build both the small and the large submarine, and I have used both to build a base 500 meters below the surface near some underwater volcanic vents. Even there, near the base, I have areas of the ocean where I just can't go without that feeling creeping up on me.
The only other instance of this in a game I can remember was when I first played Super Mario 64, that damn eel in the sunken ship. Granted, I was nine years old at the time.

@dgtlty: The one under the pier with the Jinjo on Treasure Trove Cove? I had a mild panic attack trying to get that Jinjo every time.

i remember the underwater level with the eel in super mario sunshine used to freak the hell out of an ex of mine.

i do dread actually sitting down with SOMA, though it apparently isn't that scary from what i hear, more atmospheric and creepy than outright scary.

I used to be 100% ok with them. I never played the original tomb raider so I'm not sure if it's the same there (or if this one was an hd version), but in Tomb Raider Legend I believe it was I was replaying it for trophies and when I got to the England level, below the museum or whatever it was you fall into a big thing of water and I just remembered the boss fight that takes place there and just thought something along the lines of 'it's just sitting down there watching me and could grab me at any moment'. Been uncomfortable if I can't see the ground/bottom of a body of water in games and out since :(

Should mention that irl really deep water always freaked me out slightly just because I have an irrational fear of giant sea monsters existing, like the Kraken or Megaladon.

I'm generally totally fine with it because most games don't do anything with open water. Crysis however did something and playing it day of release it provided the scariest experience I've ever had in a video game. Swimming out there in the empty water was fine, then I began to hear a light 'swishing' noise I looked around to see what it was and nothing was there yet it seemed to get louder and louder I turned once more and was greeted with what's in the image below and a very loud noise of the shark opening its mouth. Unlike in the image however I was very deep and the water was significantly darker. This initially instilled a weariness in me, but now I'm the opposite in that I seek the thrill of what the deep ocean could contain in games rather than feel uncomfortable.

I'm just waiting for a game to put Cthulhu out in the middle of the ocean, I was hoping The Witcher 3 would do something but alas it didn't.

Never understood the visceral response people get from stuff like underwater levels and whatnot, and I don't think I ever will. Not to say I'm ignorant of it.

I have the same kind of response when I have to jump/fall from a really tall hight, especially in first person games.

@flashflood_29 said:

I also have never even remotely had this. Like "oh no, I'm falling from a big height in a video game, WHAT EVER WILL I DO". It's a game. I've never even remotely had problems with open water, small spaces, heights, etc. in video games, because it's just such a poor simulation in all games ever.

Sonic 2 has given me a real fear of water. But, like, rising water. A fear of drowning, basically. Not so much sharks or monsters or the unknown.

I get it really bad in realistic games. I had to struggle through the cave sections of Rise of the Tomb Raider.

Oh shoot, you know what? You actually reminded me that I have had a reaction to some kind of height in a first person game. I don't know if it was me playing or watching content on here, but it was just the slightest reaction, so I wouldn't call it visceral like what a lot of people here are describing. This has happened to me maybe once or twice but that's about it. It's not a regular thing. I actually have a desire to become immersed in a game to the point to want to feel the fear that the character should be feeling but it's damn near impossible.

Using the reaction to heights as an example has helped me understand what others may be feeling with other situations, even though I have never consistently felt a reaction to heights in games myself. I don't even have a fear of heights. I can now say I get it.

From reading the responses here, it seems that a lot of the effectiveness of these reactions comes from the context surrounding the stimuli itself. It's not just that you're in a specific setting but rather the situation involved with it.

My unease doesn't come with open water, but instead with large areas of empty stillness. Games where you can look into the unbroken horizon in all directions freak me out. It's one of the things that put me off learning to use Unreal, because I'd need to demo in open environment and I couldn't handle it: I physically feel sick.

Absolutely. I remember being terrified of using the submarine in FF7 when I was a kid. Emerald Weapon being imposing obviously didn't help either, but vast open water in general does that to me in games as well.

There are a thousand reasons to be scared of open water. Your ability to escape or get out of the way of something is impeded. Your senses don't function properly and things sound like they are really close by. Things are misshapen visually when you look at something that is underwater. Things can weigh a lot but still appear like they don't when underwater. Large objects that move underwater can crush you. You have very little reference to know whether something is moving or not. You can get stuck underwater and choke.There are large parts of the deep that are unknown to us. So the unknown plays a part. The idea of pressure can be scary. Gasses can bubble up very quickly underwater and make you lose any buoyancy. It's easy to lose your sense of direction. Water moves, there are undercurrents that can suddenly kill you.

I mean I can go on. Being in or even below a large body of water can rationally be a very scary thing. And then there are irrational fears like the fear for manmade things that are large. Or the fear for large empty spaces. I think any of those fears can translate into a video game world. Especially irrational ones.

I have more of a fear for large things in the water. If the water is empty I'm ok. But if there is a large balloon in the water, or a large (turned off) propeller that I am nearly touching. That stuff freaks me out. So mechanical man-made things and large objects in general underwater. I think it's because all my senses are on tilt. I feel like I don't know anything for sure anymore when underwater with a large object nearby. So if I would fall into water from the side of a ship I would probably pee my pants and wouldn't dare to go anywhere near that ship again XD In games I'm ok, but that Subnautica game really scares me. For me that is a horror game 100%.

Open water makes me uncomfortable too. Fuck, any water scares me little bit. I swear I'm gonna be eaten by Glass Shark.

No issues with open water in video game form but I never bothered to learn how to swim so it could be a bit of a problem in real life.

Yes, absolutely. In Crysis/Far Cry 3 I feel incredibly uncomfortable in the water, and try to get out as fast as possible.