The new Void Leviathans in Subnautica: Call of the Void | Deep Dive 

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I love how the lurker and mesmer in particular really make use of subnautica's untapped potential for true horror. also, the different hunting tactics make a lot more ecological sense than them all being variations on "big fish that bites you."

With all these new GIANT creatures and huge spaces, we might need the ability to move at MUCH higher speeds in certain vehicles even if only for short, panicked, and costly bursts. It would give the illusion of being able to escape if nothing else. REALLY hoping the algorithm doesn't screw you, this project is awesome.

This is wonderful ! Something that was missing from the Subnauticas was actual "interactions" with you as a character, it was like the world existed and didnt really care about you. You were interacting with it and disturbing it, not the opposite. Having the world actively interacting with you and disrupting YOU, the player, is absolutely great

with the lurker I only have one suggestion... we need to at least get an idea something is wrong, if you want the player to be paranoid when being stalked, we need to at least have the chance of glimpsing it, fliting through the shadows, vanishing back into the deep if we try to investigate, we need to feel like oh no, I did something wrong... otherwise it'll just randomly attack our base and that might get annoying.

Depending on the sounds the bird leviathan will make I think naming it the songbird leviathan has a nice ring to it

There's one simple method to prevent the lurker leviathan from attacking your base : you build your main base in your dream spot but you add an outpost on one of the islands, completely out of water and ideally on the heights. When you come back from the void, you head directly to your island outpost and live there for, like, 48h to see if a lurker leviathan seems to be hanging around and trying to find you (at night you watch the water to see if it's in it). If there's nothing, you just head to your main base. If during your quarantine you see the shadow of a Lurker trying to attack from the water at night, then you stay hidden on the island until it's gone

How about "Void Ray" as a name for the unnamed flock leviathans? Their shape and movement kind of reminds me of manta rays.

Excellent! Perhaps also a slight darkening of screen/vignette that gets stronger the closer the lurker leviathan is to attacking you? After all, it will certainly highten the horror aspect of the game, with these paranoid delusions. Maybe the survivor logs mentioning its existence could hint at its "extinction" so the player questions themselves. "It can't be a lurker leviathan, they're extinct! Must be getting paranoid"

I had a few possible ideas for the Lurker Leviathan. Its tail being able to pierce structures is a really good idea. If you could also figure out a way for it to pierce into vehicles, something you could do is add a poison effect to the tail strike. If it hits the player, it poisons them. For possible behaviors, the Lurker could patrol the edge of the void and could ambush the player if they get too close, poisoning them with its tail. Then the Lurker could back off, hide, and begin stalking the player. If the player continues exploring and gets too weak, the Leviathan strikes again. However, if the player retreats to their base, the Lurker stalks them back and attacks them once they are vulnerable. In such a case though, exactly why the Lurker goes through this much trouble does come up. Depending on the size of the Leviathan, going through all this effort just to hunt down the player may not make a lot of sense. The player may simply not be a large enough meal for the Lurker. Perhaps the Lurker could be semi-artificial, similar to the Warper, created by the precursors with the express goal of keeping intelligent creatures away from the Void. Moving away from that idea though, perhaps the Lurker evolved the ambush behavior because it simply couldn't compete with other Leviathans. Maybe if the player is being stalked by a Lurker and they enter the hunting grounds of, say, a Reaper, the Lurker may disengage or may act more cautiously in some way. I have no idea how easy ANY of this would be to implement, but I figured I'd give my two cents. In any case, what you've got cooking is REALLY cool and I can't wait to see where it leads!

I love the idea of the mezmer leviathan being the reason the emperors were nearly whiped out, it gives the base game more life. Love it

I hope the Mesmer Leviathan is an Architect experiment and not just some wacky evolution. I guess I could also see it being some "queen" where the ordinary mesmers work as a colony.

For the stalker: I’d say make it so that if you shoot a torpedo near it while it’s stalking you it will retreat into the void, due to being an ambush predator that isn’t used to its prey confronting it.

It would make sense if the organic path of the sub could make the bird Leviathans friendly, since your sub blends in more with the Environment because of the organic parts, they dont see you as a thread

You have to make sure to make encounters with the lurker especially scarce, otherwise it will just become more frustrating then frightening. You could maybe have a higher spawn chance for the lurker on the players first expedition into the void, and then keep encounters somewhat rare to guarantee its effectiveness as a horror device and a threat. Fantastic concepts all around though.

I've always wondered what the adult sea emperors would use their telepathy for in their natural habitat. The Mesmer Leviathan demonstrates a pretty good answer to that! I'm impressed by the amount of thought you've put into all this. I must be honest, if this project ever reaches the point of serious development, I can already tell it'll be a nightmare to decide which ideas can really make the cut (especially with other people's suggestions). But to me it genuinely looks like you have a strong vision here, and if there's a chance any of this can become reality, I'm all in! I hope this works out for you!

You made it your goal to make each leviathan unique, and something we've not seen before and man you nailed it! I love the idea of the worm not actively seeking to kill you instead its just territorial! And the Lurker Leviathan is SICK! I was always disappointed that none of the leviathans ever attack bases or venture out to find you and attack you when you are in a "Safe" biome!

I always thought that the scanner room should have had an upgrade or secondary use to have it be a radar room or a map room for the player. Incentivizing that the player should build a base with a scanner in each biome to fill out a map and assess threats and landmarks.

I see void leviathan, I click :D Great stuff!!

I'm so excited to start seeing this get developed, it looks really cool and is an amazing concept! (You should re open higher supporter tiers)

The lurker leviathan is so cute! I love this little thalassic goober

Super excited for Call of the Void! I've also had an idea that it would be cool for a leviathan to be a giant swarm of smaller but aggressive creatures, like wishiwashi from pokemon or real life siphonophores

I really like the design of the Lurker, but I believe the should be warned (for example through survivor logs) that it exists. Maybe certain audio cues could give away that you are being hunted so you can be prepared if you are observant enough.

Leviathan 1: I would suggest also applying the base destruction mechanic to other creatures, even existing ones. While this leviathan should be the best at it, it does stand out as a mechanical anomaly since it simply uses brute force to do so. Leviathan 2: One techique I would suggest would be reversing controls and inverting depth calculation for the HUD. While easily spotted in most cases, in a cyclops it might take time to notice that you're going down when trying to go up. Also switching beacon locations if when the player explores the void they do so by using a nearby beacon as a guideline. Leviathan 3: Voidgulls. Because their flapping fins make them like birds.

These leviathans sound so cool and I love how unique each one is. Also here's name idea for the bird leviathan, The Nomad leviathan

Man this is unbelievable, I'm surely not going to play due to thalassophobia, but I'm looking to see this project come to reality. Love subnautica and your content is mesmerizing!

I love the idea of the Lurker leviathan as for protecting yourself and home the idea of having a choice of natural alien or artificial defenses would be great idea. Like if you raise a school of bone sharks and let them loose outside your home they will attack the leviathan or maybe you build a anti creature turret that altera uses to scare off animals from work sites without harming them or maybe build a hologram that projects a reaper leviathan to scare it off

I feel like burrower leviathan would be a better name for the worm leviathan. Also I think a Spider leviathan jumping between islands close together would be really cool. There’s only one but as you’re in the centre of the islands, you know there could be one anywhere. Maybe that could be the precursor leviathan.

ok, but the actual horror I felt when i heard and saw the logs for the Lurker means it has done a very good job at being a creepy monster and the terror it would bring would rival the reaper oh lord

Hope this project gets enough interest to see it financially supported, it looks phenomenal so far. Also, to throw a name idea into the bird leviathan, I might suggest the name "Sea-Swoop". Since swoop means to move with a sweep, while sweep means to move swiftly and smoothly, I feel like it goes well with what you have described them to be.

I really love the lurker leviathan, the idea of a monster that follows you home is terrifying, can’t wait

lurker is SUCH a sick creature concept, even if it doesnt get to be made as a proper mod, its SUCH an amazing concept and i . chefs kiss ...but, i think it sounds like itd be way griefy and prevent you from wanting to make an interesting base, since itd perma destroy parts, or you'd maybe just... use a vehicle instead of making a base.

How about naming that bird thing a void glider? Like the reefback, its name explains what it is

The Mesmer leviathan is such a cool idea honestly I completely forgot about mesmers and that's so unfair to them really I think it really unleashes the horror potential, especially with the voice lines, cause some of the original PDA lines actually had a great effect on me And the design is so beautiful it's unreal

OMDG!!! I accidentally found out about this just a couple of hours ago, but I'm already completely fascinated I admire you, honestly. There are incredibly many interesting and complex ideas and it's VEEERYYY cool (I can't help but say that the designs of leviathans look very tasty 😋))

Idea: Make it so there is a "matter terraformer" that you can craft that allows you to gain the trust of a Worm Leviathan and eventually have it allow you in to its territory by expanding the islands it considers as part of it's territory, but make it have a fragile pride. If you destroy part of its territory it will immediately (no matter how much you have done for it) attack you. Secret use: If you expand it's territory close enough to another leviathan, the Worm Leviathan will rush out of it's hiding spot and attack the intruder. Just some cool ideas that could be implemented. Also, it would be cool to see a Lurker mistake one of the worm's islands for the Crater Edge and promptly get devoured as a way to show off how powerful it is.

I can't believe there are still more leviathans than this! The lurker sounds really cool in particular, are there ways of losing it or fighting it off before you get home if you do manage to spot it? Or do you just have to continue, knowing you will be attacked at any time. Amazing concept!

So thrilled for this. I have watched your videos for years, so seeing all this development is absolutely exciting. Can't wait to see where you go with this!

It's always such a joy working with you Aci! The editing of this video is so gorgeous and I can't wait to hopefully provide more art for this project in the future!

Good decision, telling us about the lurker. Its like telling someone that they have a stalker but not who they are or what they look like. Even in base subnautica ima be looking at every school of fish with a side eye now

Seems ambitious. I hope you're not overestimating what you can do. On another note: Good concepts, very intriguing. I look forward to see if anything will come of it.

I know it isn't super new, but can I mention how much I like your little png aci guy. The mix of reaper and human is really cool

This leviathan is a great addition! I do want to see something like a giant turtle. Something that treads along the ground to scavenge for food and can swim for long periods of time. Think a leviathan that’s always moving to a completely different environment and could take on smaller leviathans

I love the design of the Lurker Laviathan and the mechanics the idea of a shadowy leviathan that stocks you is creepy and it'll make the player very paranoid.

I love the idea of the Lurker Leviathan! I can’t imagine how terrifying it will be once the mod comes out.

BRO I CALLED IT the worm is a defence the ancients used against leviathans

Yo Aci I was thinking about that bird Leviathan and was like hey the spear tip leviathan sounds pretty cool and maybe instead of it being 100% peaceful it could maybe play a screech/noise that is original to every pack of them to confirm that your part of its “school” and you could maybe get a module that allows you to play the same noise it last recorded and you would have to sneak up near them so you could record the sound and the get in your vehicle and play it so they let you in there “school” for easy island hopping also maybe there very protective to there pack and if you play the wrong sound or a other packs sound they would attack you just a thought and please you need to see this project through I love the thought of a mod that’s like a dlc and it’s great that people like you still have faith in a game like subnautica especially after almost 10 years keep up the great work

Both the Lurker and Mesmer Leviathans sound incredible and terrifying!

As someone working on an underwater indie game inspired by Subnautica this is amazing and exactly what I want to see. I hope you are able to get the views you are needing because I want to see where you go with this.

Love the idea of a leviathan stalking you and following you home, base protection always felt like it should've been part of the game especially with the degasi logs

The lurker leviathan is already one of the best leviathans in the game and it's not even official yet, bro, your work is incredible, please continue, I'm looking forward to more!!

Feels like it'd be nice if there was a way to stop the stalker from attacking if you see him in the distance, instead of just waiting for the attack which would make the leviathan annoying instead of terrifying

If the Lurker is part of the story at some point, maybe the character can be seen muttering things like "I feel like somethings stalking me" to help give the player an idea somethings following them back home. Or maybe it can copy creatures noises to try and help throw the player off, or just add to the sense of dread if there are no creatures nearby, or maybe it mimics the wrong creatures at times. Wrong creatures, meaning it's in a biome where they don't naturally spawn

I don’t know if this is planned, but continuing to make more call of the void concept videos, or maybe reviewing community ideas, could keep this series doing well. Just and idea 🤔

Holly, all these concepts are amazing! I once thought about how cool it would be if a Mesmer leviathan existed, and now you are making it real! This is surely one, if not the best thing that has happened to Subnautica since release. I played the game on PS4 and now I am thinking of buying it just to play Call of the Void. Incredible job, please bring all those dreams to life.

This mod dosent even feel like a mod just with SOME of these ideas it feels like an entirely new game.. Cant wait for when it releases I will definitely try to download it!

The fact that Aci said in the beginning of the video that their will still be a lot of surprises makes me things theirs a few more leviathans in this mod or maybe even a super leviathan. Either way this mod is gonna be amazing and I can’t wait to play. This is pretty much a dlc to subnautica. Hats of to you Aci.

The new Leviathans look amazing! Something else is it might make sense for the Lurker to have a diet of eggs. This would make more sense for why it follows prey to its nest. The worm Leviathan is AWESOME and seems really fitting, reminds me a lot of the dessert worm from Dune.

I love how yo try to avoid spoilers as much as possible, I've seen all of the biomes and creatures in subnautica, and I'd love to just be able to explore new biomes with the sense of mystery that you can only get by playing subnautica for the first time and is never the same afterwords. Can't wait until I can play this, this looks awesome!

Ok I don't know why but there is something about the lurker leviathan that just makes it scarier than anything else in subnautica those cold white eyes, its weird jaws, and the fact it can basically Camouflage and look like a school of fish is FREAKING TERRIFYING it sets my thalassophobia off and it looks like it's smiling but great work man 👍

I haven’t played subnautuca in a while but after watching a couple of videos on this I will most definitely be returning to try this mod (university can wait) it’s clear you’ve put an insane amount of effort and passion into this project which has got me hooked. Before it even releases I’d just like to say thank you for giving the community a project like this!

A leviathans that stalks you has literally been on my wishlist ever since I got into Subnautica 11 / 10 ideas as always mate

Call the migratory creatures “Flow Whales”

I love the idea that the Mezmra leviathan evolves based on what you do countering that.

I am thrilled to see the differences in these leviathans vs the previous fauna. These feel much more aware and intriguing almost as other players in the game. Will be super exciting to explore everything new and the major differences to come!

I am very enthusiastic about this very intentional mod, this mod makes me can't wait to play it

Oh my GOD please keep all of these Levithans! They all have so much incredible potential and I'd love to see a cutscene with the songbird Leviathans and the worm leviathans if the songbirds unknowingly migrate to the worm's territory!!

I come from the future lol and had a cool idea for the mesmur (Idk if I spelled that right) lethivithan. The idea was the during one of its unique 'attacks' to bring you closer it could try and guilt you into coming closer, it could maybe do thus by using its surrounds, I'm not quite sure since this thought just came to me. In the video you did say it was super intelligent so maybe it has a way of playing on your emotions. Another thought was that it maybe has smaller creatures around it that it could send out to try and bring you closer to it before mesmerizing you and leaving you trapped.

I think that the Paint of the Hydra-Submarine would be a good tool to blend in with the "Bird-Leviathans"... This could work well with the Crystal-Upagrade-Path of the Hydra which I find a bit lacking next to the 2 other Paths Maybe the Crystals could change the Color to make the Hybrid appear less threatening?

The Lurker leviathan is already one of the most terrifying sea creatures I’ve ever heard of. Thats so frickin cool I’m gonna have nightmares

This is by far one of, if not the most ambitious Subnautica mods out there. It will surely be hard to pull off, but I cannot wait to see where it goes.

I love the idea of the mesmer leviathan but a mew name and a different look from the mesmer would loom better to mix it up and make it truly terrifying plus i think a bioluminescent trap would be cool

Yes yes yes, I love it, as long as it doesn't impact the main story in that is an additional content that can be played after all alongside the main story of subnautica

God, the lurker is the coolest Leviathan concept I think I’ve ever seen!

OK I’m not gonna lie that animation little bit of the beginning was awesome

This mod seems absolutely insane this is more than a dlc this might as well be a whole season pass of content just made by someone who loves the game its so insane to think that you brought these ideas into reality and all of the leviathan ideas in this video were absolutely amazing i rlly hope this gets finished and comes out

Wow, with all these different leviathans, I would like to see some of them clash, like Turf Wars in recent Monster Hunter games, where you could use one leviathan to distract a leviathan chasing you if you're desperate enough and quick thinking enough.

Imagine when the mod comes out, you dive in blind and come across that log that you hear in the beginning of the video in a destroyed base, that would make me shit my pants out of fear

With the friendly one you could call it the island hopper leviathan

The ideas are crazy i love the project, the first one is kinda cool but i think it's a bit easy if he attacks instantly or in a short period of time after you come home because if you want to avoid him you just need an empty house with a looked in one of the sides, when you come home you storage all you thinks in the looked and goes to the other sides to waits for the attack. I suggest to make he attack in a long period of time like, when you come to home he will attack after twenty minutes of you being there, then there is no change from a second empty base it won't be useful and if the creature attack in random periods of time that will make it even scarier like he will attack you from twenty to an hour of you being in home you will never know if he is hunting you or not until you have him attacking you.

I think that when you stray too far from the void clusters there will be a gargantuan Leviathan

This looks incredible! There is so much potential here and I would love to see this become an actual DLC/Mod for the game, more exploration of unchartered territory within the depths is very much welcome, just the thought of having a reason to explore into the "empty" and vastly open dead zone of the original map makes me very much feel like we're transitioning from a survival/horror game into more of a horror/survival game if you know what I mean, which I'm 100% here for, let's make this happen! :D

8:02 this leviathan looks like a combination of the glow whale and the head reminds of a shadow leviathan

You have such an amazing imagination to come up with all of this. We just need this as a game (Mod). You deserve a contract for this from the original developers of Subnautica. What you showed so far looks incredible and drew me in so much that my fingers are itching to play this, even though it would scare the living hell out of me to leave my comfort zones of normal subnautica. Keep up the good work!

This is a cool idea. Esp because the leviathans can generally be lost if you leave it's environment.

I think one of the ways the Mesma Leviathan can trick players is by doing fake life pod transmissions leading the player straight to them.

I’m thinking you can name it the detector as in it can detect other islands, and maybe add a kind of sonar thing on its forehead like a angler fish that can detect you and then run away Also it would be cool if you could recruit the worm leviathan, or raise its children to protect your base from lurkers, and to fight off the mechanical leviathans while you explore the research labs.

I think the name Voidsplitter would be a fitting name for the Bird Leviathan. But this seems like a really big project for "just a fanmade DLC". I hope it becomes reality.

Just the idea that it needs camouflage is terrifying alone, always leaves you wandering if there is something larger out there

'as if its being told what to do' makes me wonder if the mesmer leviathan is controlling the worm..

Man the guys who made Subnautica need to hire you This ideia of the shadow leviantan is so cool mechanic and so scary in the same time.

I am so in love with the lurker. The mesmer was always facinating to me in the base game but now its even more interesting

This doesnt seem like a Mod but like an expansion and i Love it. I would love "The Silence Leviathan" into the Void. The leviathan that cancels the sound of everything around you and try to go after you once reached its silence territory only to scare you to death roaring and attacking your vehicle

Everybody thinks the leviathans are scary and threatening, but we forget about the refracts and glow whales and the sea treaders

Who ever came up with the lurker is a fricking genius and has imagination, sorry reaper... You've been replaced.

One thing I'd add for the Lurker leviathan is giving it a good reason, energy-wise, to follow you back to your base. Maybe it's not *you* that it wants to eat, but your base and its power supply. Because leviathans chasing you super proactively as a food source is liking jogging for two miles for a single french fry. You just matter that little to these hulking monsters unless you're easy protein.

Here's an idea for a name for those Bird Leviathans. Void Guiders. In that they basically go from one island to the others, they're basically like tour guides for the void.

an idea on how to introduce the lurker to the players : have them see a flashing sos call on one of the islands. as the player approaches, they realize it’s the broken down base of marguerit (which can be revealed later). as the lights of the hydra flash the base, they notice a dark “sheet” laying ontop of the base, but as they come closer to examine it, the lurker opens their eyes, and vanishes into the darkness. the voice of the hydra could also try to convince them that they’re “only light/sensory deprived” with something along the lines of “The most common symptoms of light deprivation include vitamin D deficiency, depression, insomnia, and in worst cases, visual hallucinations. As a night shift worker, it is recommended to get 10-30 minutes of midday sunlight, several times a week.”

Thinking there should be a way to prevent a lurker attack so that defending isn’t inevitable. Maybe it hates being found out and hungers more for a good surprise/scare than a meal. You would have to find it a few times within a random time limit/ before it attacks. A deadly game of hide and seek. As for the Mesmer, you could easily trick the player in many ways. Getting the player to check the outside of a vehicle by manipulating the ai system to tell you you’ve received immense hull damage from debris would be a good method. Another would be tricking the player into believing they are being attacked by another leviathan when in reality it’s just a mirage herding you to the real threat. One last one I can think of is getting the mesmer to manipulate your hud so you end up thinking you’re a lot more hungry or thirsty than you really are. Then it hides itself close by waiting for you to approach the school of bladder fish it just created. Maybe you could even incorporate a peeper lure into its design. It dangles it’s temptation in the air while cleverly hiding in the sand like an angler fish. Edit: amazing showcase 👍

this might be hard to implement(i don't know much about modding) but a really cool thing would be if the lurker stopped stalking you after you got a bit far from the crater edge, and when that happens, there's an animation of it staring at you right at the edge then disappearing into the darkness