u/OfficialDampSquid

Yes it leaves foot impressions

This might be super niche, but when wearing headphones the shot sound from the mythic bow sometimes creates like a distant echo sound of the shot, and I keep thinking it's widow footsteps somewhere behind me. Anyone else hearing what I'm hearing?

I'm a solo dev with a public playable demo of my game on Itch (And soon on steam). It's my first game and I have never pitched a game to publishers before, so I'd love to gather some advice and examples if possible from those more experienced than I.

I'm particularly interested in what sort of publishers I should pitch to, and what sort of deals I can expect to be offered (if any) and which ones are worth considering.

In case it's relevant to the advice:

My game is a first person Narrative psychological horror. Think; What Remains of Edith Finch meets Silent Hill 2. Probably the sort of game you'd expect from Annapurna, but leaning more toward the psychological horror side of things.

Thanks in advance! Feel free to ask questions

First, the sense of exploration feels really diluted. In the first game, every time I ventured further than the last I wasn't sure if I'd make it back, but I was so eager to see what else was out there. Every new biome or place I discovered was purely of my own volition to explore further. I had played for several days before I even knew there were alien structures and when I finally found one, it completely blew my mind. I felt small and alone and all I could do was explore. It probably made the game take longer, but to me that just made the world feel bigger. I didn’t even realize I was “missing” plot progression, and I knew there was always more ocean to explore, so I never felt stuck.

Subnautica 2 is on rails. You’ve got a machine constantly telling you where to go and how to progress. You’re not really exploring anymore, you’re just following instructions and discovering places because the game told you to. You're told what to expect to find, and where to find it. And after some extra minutes of exploring the new area, you're told you've got another message to come back and listen to.

The biggest issue for me, however, is the creature sounds. Tiny fish smaller than the player are constantly making these huge, deep, bellowing noises that sound like they should be coming from massive terrifying creatures. Because of that, hearing similar sounds from actually dangerous creatures doesn’t feel nearly as impactful.

In the first game, most sounds are subtle and their volume and frequency sounds relative to the creature making it, and then you hear a reefback for the first time and it’s like “holy shit, that thing is huge, is it dangerous or not?” It was scary to approach it but it was so majestic you had to find out. Then later you go deeper, hear a distant crabsquid, and instantly think “yeah, that thing sounds nasty.” In Subnautica 2, whenever I heard a big scary noise, I was mostly just wondering if it was actually something impressive or just another tiny fish. There was no contrast to differentiate between threat and inconvenience.

The creature music is another big problem. It fades in before you’re even close to danger. If I heard the danger music, I’d just swim backwards until it faded out again. I felt way too safe because the music basically warned me ahead of time that something dangerous might be nearby. There was no fear of suddenly seeing a massive creature because the game gently prepared me for it first. I ended up turning music off in the settings but the first time experience was already kinda ruined.

I want the safe shallows to actually feel quiet, with little fish making little sounds, so when I go deeper and hear something huge, it’s genuinely intimidating. I want the surprise of realizing a dangerous creature has snuck up behind me, or that I accidentally wandered into its territory. I don’t want the game warning me in advance that I could potentially face danger nearby.

I understand that it's a sequel, but that shouldn't mean that first experiences no longer matter. The first game was all about first experiences and the unknown. The second game is an entire new planet, with entirely new creatures. It's ripe with potential first experiences, but when I'm not discovering them on my own accord, or if they're prefaced with context or music, the impact of it is gone.

Anyway, obviously it's still a great game, but this is what stood out to me. And Early Access is all about constructive criticism.

EDIT: some of y'all clearly didn't read the last paragraph huh