just placing my opinion out there cause.. i frankly don't know but nobody is stopping me :3
subnautica 2
the creatures..
not a fan, i'ma be honest
now i'm not sure how much this makes sense, but compared to the first subnautica games they feel less "authentically weird"
the creature that made me realize this was the sandspear
i was already familiar with the sandspear before the game came out, i've seen the concept art for i think it was subnautica below zero??
i can't remember, but the point is that it was a concept originally for the first games
but then compare it to what's in subnautica 2..
the concept feels like in the style of the first games, so let's just use it as a base for this
the first game is authentically weird, it feels like it doesn't exist for the viewing of the player, just feels like an animal that happens to look kinda funky
but in the second game.. it feels like it was engineered to be weird, like they're actively trying to be "HEY THIS IS WEIRD AND FUNKY, LOOK AT IT!"
now i'm FULLY aware that.. these are creature designs made by humans, even if they seem more natural they're designed to be looked at, to invoke something
but the point is that in my opinion.. the first games sold the illusion of authentic weirdness better
for more examples of creatures that don't feel "authentic", there is the collector leviathan and the great jaw leviathan
the collector cause.. *Gestures* it's just Cthulhu, and the great jaw cause of the eyes.. it would've been so much better without the eyes
there are more but i feel these in particular are like top tier offenders in my opinion
for exmaples of creatures that do feel "authentic" in the first games, the crab squid and the reefback leviathan
i can't quite pinpoint what about these feels more authentic, they just do, they don't feel like they exist solely for your viewing pleasure.. and can't really explain it
now just to be clear, i'm aware some of this is likely down to nostalgia
so let me mention some creatures from the first game that don't feel "authentic"
the crashfish to i'm pretty sure nobody's surprise, and the reaper leviathan
the old games aren't perfect by any means, but i feel a higher percentage of them feel "authentically weird"
now, i don't want all of this to be negative, so i will give the new game some credit where it's due
i am a big fan of the reoccuring theme/idea of creatures blurring together on the genetic level, i really like that, give me more of that
it's just the creature designs i'm not the biggest fan of