One unsuspecting Subnautica player found themselves riding on the back of a massive Ghost Leviathan above the terrifyingly deep void while attempting to pull off a well-known trick with the propulsion cannon which allows players to fly across the map. Subnautica is famous for its horrifying alien leviathans, which provide much of the fear aspect that is prevalent in the game and its sequel.
In this case, specifically, the player gets up close and personal with an adult Ghost Leviathan, one of the larger and more dangerous predators found in the tropical oceanic regions of planet 4546b. While the Reaper Leviathan takes the cake for what is generally considered to be the most terrifying creature in the Subnautica games and by extension, one of the scariest monsters in gaming as a whole, a Ghost Leviathan's presence is petrifying in its own way, as the huge bioluminescent sea monsters tend to lurk in some of the game's deeper and darker biomes and will close in on unsuspecting players while emitting a blood-curdling scream.
A player from the Subnautica subreddit by the name Severe_Ad_4922 shared their experience on the site, attaching the clip of their encounter with the leviathan. The player appeared to be far out of the map boundaries while they were attempting to use the propulsion cannon to manipulate an object, presumably so that they could use the flight glitch to quickly travel back to their lifepod. The player was taken by surprise when a Ghost Leviathan emerged from the depths beneath them, pushing them above the water's surface and onto the creature's back, where they were able to continue riding atop the creature for several seconds. It appears that the player was in the creative game mode at the time, hence why they weren't killed during the attack.
Players don't typically need to worry too much about sea monsters rising up from beneath them, as long as they're being careful. Since the player was experimenting beyond the boundaries of Subnautica's playable zone, they were in a biome known only as the void - an endless, 8000-meter-deep abyss containing no life other than Ghost Leviathans, where the pitch black is usually incentive enough for life-valuing players to turn back.
Although this isn't the first time players have gotten close to a dangerous leviathan to the point of standing on top of them, it's safe to say that it certainly doesn't happen often, even if players deliberately tried to accomplish the feat. Subnautica's creatures continue to instill terror in players whether it's their first playthrough or their tenth, which many players consider a staple part of the games. The game's tense moments and vast array of secrets hidden around the map add a lot of replay value to the series, which keeps players entertained as they wait for the next installment of the franchise - however far away it may be.
Subnautica is available on PC, PS4, PS5, Switch, Xbox One, and Xbox Series X/S.