SubSide - the best ever underwater VR sim? Right now 98% positive ratings!

Beardo Benjo shows off the game using his Quest 3:

I was going to tone down the presence of great whites a bit, as this may easily scare off many users. There are no great whites in the first 2 levels, but yes, you will be able to say hello to great whites and whales too. 

SubSide probably will be beyond your wildest VR dreams, if you're into diving. And to me, having been traumatized by Jaws as a kid, SubSide really gets to me emotionally, lol. 

Found the canyon - this also shows how close SubSide is to Kayak VR: Mirage, which both have graphics on par with Alyx if not even better:

I've got swim feet now and can move fast - as you find coins on the riverbed, these can be used to buy equipment

The canyon waters are great - and there's a big fish too 🙂

As said, you can buy equipment for the coins you find, and I finally got the torch:

Remember not too look directly at the flame to not hurt your eyes 😎 😉

New levels open up as you find new drives with new locations in the water. Even if you have not fully completed and found everything in a level, a voice will tell you when new locations are available - you can just exit your current level (your progress will then be saved) and go to the new location. Right now I have like 4 locations about 50% completed, and I can just go from one to the other with no issues. In the first level there are boxes I could not open without a torch - but having gotten the torch in level 4, I can now go back to let's say level 2 and open the boxes I could not open before, you constantly have all your equipment available. So new levels and new gear make it possible to go back and complete older levels - this way the game really opens up as you progress. 

The experience works on several levels, for me especially psychological ones - like the fear of running out of air when taking a long dive in the deep caves:

See the yellow rope at the bottom? You can follow that in the caves, but some tunnels are completely filled with water with no option to breathe, and here you many have to swim fast or wisely to survive. If you drown, you can just start from the beginning again - you don't lose any equipment or coins

The fear of drowning is a powerful motivator in this game/sim. Then I have my fear of sharks and of the the very deep waters to work with, lol - but I got better - now I can even swim with sharks at night 😇

Swimming with sharks at night - at the surface there are thunder and lighting, it's somehow more cosy at the bottom of the sea

That said, I did get access to the great white shark cage diving location last night, but I was not really in the mood for that. Might grab a glass or two of red wine later this evening, before I go in the cage 🤔 😁 

Btw, you really cannot leave the water, so not easy to get a good shot of the water surface, but I did manage to take this screenshot to show the great quality of the water surface and waves:

An image just to show the quality of the waves

I've spent like 4 hours in the waters, and I'm still far from completing the game. I have access to 5 out of 8 locations now, but one is the shark cage I have not yet visited. I would not be surprised if it takes me about 15 hours to complete the game - but then you can always go back for a swim 🙂

There are always great experiences to have, and last night I finally found out where this dude lives:

The sea floor is big, and last night I finally located the moray eel - after having heard about it, but could not find it - sure it's not real, but that has some advantages too if you wanna get really close 🙂

UploadVR just published a short article about SubSide:

https://www.uploadvr.com/subsides-steamvr-release-delivers-eye-watering-graphics/

Quote: "Subside transitions from a promising demo to a fully realized VR experience that sets a new standard for underwater exploration. A2D’s creation is visually stunning and engaging, making it a testament to VR’s growing capability of blurring lines between virtual and real-world activities. If your PC meets the recommended specs, this game is a must-play, inviting you to dive deep into an exquisitely crafted underwater simulation."

I guess we all remember the cage diving scene in Jaws? 🤔 

Yup, looks like soooo much fun, really hard to resist a jolly good great white sharky cage dive! 😰  

That said, I'm so proud of my progress in the galeophobia course 🤗 (galeophobia = fear of sharks). Today I - after having considered it for about a day -  went into the cage 🤗

So far it has not spotted me

Uh-on, but all my fault, I should not have overdosed my tuna-perfume 😬

Kinda beautiful, note the scars on its skin

It's really big - especially when you're there - in the cage - here I'm trying to scratch the goood Mr. Sharky behind the ear - or gills 🤔

I guess beautiful friendships easily end when hunger strikes...

I could swim out of the cage pretending that the shark isn't real and that it's all in my head 😁

The Tooth-fairy might need some big coins if some of these teeth get lost 😎

As stated, you can swim out of the cage, but as a clever dude once said:

Btw, I did try to face my demons in South Africa, where I went cage diving with great whites several years ago - but VR kinda felt worse than the real thing, lol - also normal great whites usually are quite relaxed, not as aggressive as the big fellow in SubSide. That said, I did have a larger real great white bite the cage, but it only happened a few times during many hours. 

In short, I'd say the experience in SubSide is very close to being there in real life, even if the shark is more aggressive in VR. Water clarity and view distance is also better than I had in the real-world, where often you only can see like 10 feet away in the murky water.

You certainly get a great experience with the great white in SubSide. Cage diving with the great white was one of the most memorable experiences I've had in VR, and that says quite a lot. Surely, SubSide is not a 9/10, but a 10/10 - maybe even 11/10, but I need to get access to the whales first 🙂 

Do you happen to know if Subside is coming to the Meta Quest? 

I have now, after 10 hours, more or less completed SubSide - but it's like a giant aquarium, and you can always go back for a swim. 

I got access to the nice koi pool:

Got new gloves and a watch showing how many seconds of air I've got left:

I also got the jet pack, it's awesome - but was very expensive (50 gold coins, and you need to find them all, one at a time)

Finally I got to swim with whales - this was a big moment for me, and if you have not tried SudSide it can be hard to imagine the fear of just being in the deep blue sea - one dude wrote this:

swim with whales

Source: https://steamcommunity.com/app/2550040/discussions/0/4846526093721157172/

- I know exactly how that dude feels - so I'm very proud of myself taking these shots, lol:

Few VR experiences fool my brain like SubSide, but that's the greatest testament to the immersive power of VR when it's best.   

Yesterday I posted some screenshots on Reddit - and the feedback has been great - close to 100,000 views in a day:

VR REDDIT

https://www.reddit.com/r/virtualreality/comments/1fq23uo/subside_has_97_positive_ratings_on_steam_i_took_a/

VALVE INDEX REDDIT

https://www.reddit.com/r/ValveIndex/comments/1fq16fm/comment/lp7ef92/?context=3

So do visit Reddit for more info about SubSide - seems there are much more activity there than in here, sadly.

Btw, devs did listen when I asked for an animated whale eye - and here it is - the whale will now look directly at you:

- and I took a few more whale shots, not available in the collection I posted on Reddt:

Hey lenefa 

You can download the Steam platform online, here is a link on what steam games can run on the MacOS.

-> Steam Mac Store

-> Steam MacOS Games

Depending on your mac's specifications and software version, there may be certain games you can and cannot play as your mac may not be able to support or run it.

But hope this helps.

Seems there have been some great performance improvements:

https://store.steampowered.com/news/app/2550040/view/4656249643698191505

- but I've completed the game, haven't tested it yet. Maybe time to revisit the great white - the Koi level may be the most demanding (or least optimized). 

Average rating was down to 97%, now back to 98% 🙂