History TearJerker / Subnautica

* The fact that Marguerit turns out to have survived the whole ''Degasi'' debacle means that, after getting the people she was hired to protect ''killed'' as a direct result of her actions, she suffers ''no consequences'' for it beyond having to live in the arctic. [[FromBadToWorse And then it turns out]] she did it ''again'', encouraging Robin's sister Sam to take the most violent response to the Frozen Leviathan, leading to Sam's death. Again, Marguerit ''suffers no consequences'' for this - Robin won't even confront her over this if you go back to see her after you learn the truth.

*** A subtle one: the mini-base where you find Bart's final PDA is also where the player finds the interior growbed--[[FlingALightIntoTheFuture an item without which Ryley would almost certainly never be able to make it]].

** The former fate of Lifepod Crew 6, which was changed upon the launch of the game. A paranoid and distressed Aurora passenger takes the sole radiation suit from an Alterra crew member, but the passenger fails to do up the zipper and dies slowly of radiation; her crew member partner is left (correctly) guessing she won't make it much longer either -- in other words, two people (likely) die a slow and agonizing death depending on how the Warpers treated the crew member. In earlier versions of the game, this gave a free radiation suit, but later versions deemed this was too much of a boon -- the crew member now mentions that there's lead around the area for the player to craft a suit themselves, and instead the pair die quickly from an accidental flare explosion from the passenger; the player can find a couple of leftover flares.

*** [[FridgeHorror Fridge Horror]] sets in when Bart mentions in his final log that "the visions are getting worse". He probably got the same visions you get--that of the Sea Emperor trying to communicate--but dismissed them as hallucinations brought on from the virus. [[InSpiteOfANail If he'd listened, he'd have been able to save himself and the planet, and the Aurora would have never crashed (nor would the Sunbeam have been destroyed)]].

*** [[FridgeHorror Fridge Horror]] sets in when Bart mentions in his final log that "the visions are getting worse". He probably got the same visions you get--that of the Sea Emperor trying to communicate--but dismissed them as hallucinations brought on from the virus. [[ForWantOfANail If he'd listened, he'd have been able to save himself and the planet, and the Aurora would have never crashed (and the Sunbeam never been destroyed)]].

** Digging through what’s left of the ''Mercury II'' in general has to be one of the most depressing parts of the game; the logs you find tell stories from a vibrant and lively environment full of people who clearly cared for each other, a sharp contrast to the twisted, rusted and empty halls and rooms of the wrecked ship. It won’t take long for it to dawn on you this isn’t another cave or biome full of resources you’re poking through, but a mass grave for people in the wrong place at the wrong time, forgotten and dead on a cold wet planet.

** The logs of the ''Mercury II'' crew members - in particular, the lovebirds and Elliot - are an equally sad account, the more so in that only the latter seems to fully grasp just how doomed they'd been from the moment their vessel came under Enforcement Platform attack.

[[folder:Subnautica]]

*** The worst thing about Bart and Paul's story? Marguerit makes it - she ''got them killed'' with her actions and, apart from living in a frozen wasteland, ''suffers no consequences'' for it. It goes FromBadToWorse in the sequel, where Marguerite [[spoiler:is revealed to have manipulated Robin's sister Sam into blowing up the cave in order to prevent the leviathan's body being used for research and viral manipulation, which inadvertently ended up getting ''Sam'' killed too. Again, she ''suffers no consequences'' for this - Robin won't even confront her over this if you go back to see her after you learn the truth.]]

[[folder:Subanutica: Below Zero]]
* The story of Al-An in ''Below Zero'' is a tragedy of errors he directly caused. Al-An was one of the researchers brought to 4546b to research a cure for the Kharaa bacteria as it tore a path of destruction through the Architect's colonies. Unfortunately while they were able to find that the Sea Emperor's enzyme was able to inhibit the bacteria, she was unable to communicate to them how to hatch her brood naturally in order to produce an enzyme potent enough to be a cure. With the clock ticking down to the Architect's possible extinction Al-An made the desperate decision to ignore his network's safety directives and took leviathan eggs from their hatching grounds to research how to hatch them manually. Unfortunately the Sea Dragon's attempts to retrieve her eggs destroyed the facility where the Kharaa was housed causing the containment to be breached and the bacteria to infect the planet. Now, after hiding in the network for over 1000 years, Al-An re-emerges to the fact that he might well be one of the last, if not ''the'' last, of his species alive in the universe and that his efforts to save his people were all in vain.
* On a smaller scale, Parvan's [=PDA=] logs in ''Below Zero'' reveals he has two children and didn't part ways on good terms with them. He expresses his regrets over how he didn't show his love for them, their family, and appreciate the life they had before, how he feels lonely in Sector Zero, and wishes to make amends and see his family again, but struggling to find the right words, he ends up not sending his message. Later, he dies alongside Sam, now his children are orphaned of their father, [[NeverGotToSayGoodBye without ever hearing what he wanted to tell them]].

*** The worst thing about Bart and Paul's story? Marguerit makes it - she ''got them killed'' with her actions and, apart from living in a frozen wasteland, ''suffers no consequences'' for it. ItGetsWorse in the sequel, where Marguerite [[spoiler:is revealed to have manipulated Robin's sister Sam into blowing up the cave in order to prevent the leviathan's body being used for research and viral manipulation, which inadvertently ended up getting ''Sam'' killed too. Again, she ''suffers no consequences'' for this - Robin won't even confront her over this if you go back to see her after you learn the truth.]]

*** The worst thing about Bart and Paul's story? Marguerit makes it - she ''got them killed'' with her actions and, apart from living in a frozen wasteland, ''suffers no consequences'' for it.

* On a smaller scale, Parvan's [=PDA=] logs in ''Below Zero'' reveals he has two children and didn't part ways on good terms with them. He expresses his regrets over how he didn't show his love for them, their family, and appreciate the life they had before, how he feels lonely in Sector Zero, and wishes to make amends and see his family again, but struggling to find the right words, he ends up not sending his message. Later, he dies alongside Robin, now his children are orphaned of their father, [[NeverGotToSayGoodBye without ever hearing what he wanted to tell them]].

*** The worst thing about Bart and Paul's story? Marguerit makes it - she ''got them killed'' with her actions and, apart from living in a Frozen waistland, ''suffers no consequences'' for it.

* On a smaller scale, Parvan's [=PDA=] logs in ''Below Zero'' reveals he has two children and didn't part ways on good terms with them. He expresses his regrets over how he didn't show his love for them, their family, and appreciate the life they had before, how he feels lonely in Sector Zero, and wishes to make amends and see his family again, but struggling to find the right words, he ends up not sending his message. Later, he dies alongside Robin, now his children are orphaned of their father, [[NeverGotToSayGoodBye without ever hearing what he wanted to tell them]].

* The story of Al-An in Below Zero is a tragedy of errors he directly caused. Al-An was one of the researchers brought to 4546b to research a cure for the Kharaa bacteria as it tore a path of destruction through the Architect's colonies. Unfortunately while they were able to find that the Sea Emperor's enzyme was able to inhibit the bacteria, she was unable to communicate to them how to hatch her brood naturally in order to produce an enzyme potent enough to be a cure. With the clock ticking down to the Architect's possible extinction Al-An made the desperate decision to ignore his network's safety directives and took leviathan eggs from their hatching grounds to research how to hatch them manually. Unfortunately the Sea Dragon's attempts to retrieve her eggs destroyed the facility where the Kharaa was housed causing the containment to be breached and the bacteria to infect the planet. Now, after hiding in the network for over 1000 years, Al-An re-emerges to the fact that he might well be one of the last, if not ''the'' last, of his species alive in the universe and that his efforts to save his people were all in vain.

* The story of Al-An in Below Zero is a tragedy of errors he directly caused. Al-An was one of the researchers brought to 4546b to research a cure for the Kharaa bacteria as it tore a path of destruction through the Architect's colonies. Unfortunately while they were able to find that the Sea Emperor's enzyme was able to inhibit the bacteria, she was unable to communicate to them how to hatch her brood naturally in order to produce an enzyme potent enough to be a cure. With the clock ticking down to the Architect's possible extinction Al-An made the desperate decision to ignore his network's safety directives and took leviathan eggs from their hatching grounds to research how to hatch them manually. Unfortunately the Sea Dragon's attempts to retrieve her eggs destroyed the facility where the Kharaa was housed causing the containment to be breached and the bacteria to infect the planet. Now, after hiding in the network for over 1000 years, Al-An re-emerges to the fact that he might well be one of the last, if not ''the'' last, of his species alive in the universe.

* The story of Al-An in Below Zero is a tragedy of errors he directly caused. Al-An was one of the researchers brought to 4546b to research a cure for the Kharaa bacteria as it tore a path of destruction through the Architect's colonies. Unfortunately while they were able to find that the Sea Emperor's enzyme was able to inhibit the bacteria, she was unable to communicate to them how to hatch her brood naturally in order to producing enzyme potent enough to be a cure. With the clock ticking down to the Architect's possible extinction Al-An made the desperate decision to ignore his network's safety directives and took leviathan eggs from their hatching grounds to research how to hatch them manually. Unfortunately the Sea Dragon's attempts to retrieve her eggs destroyed the facility where the Kharaa was housed causing the containment to be breached and the bacteria to infect the planet. Now, after hiding in the network for over 1000 years, Al-An re-emerges to the fact that he might well be one of the last, if not ''the'' last, of his species alive in the universe.

* The story of Al-An in Below Zero is a tragedy of errors he directly caused. Al-An was one of the researchers brought to 4546b to research a cure for the Kharaa bacteria as it tore a path of destruction through the Architect's colonies. Unfortunately while they were able to find that the Sea Emperor's enzyme was able to inhibit the bacteria, she was unable to communicate to them how to hatch her brood naturally in order to producing enzyme potent enough to be a cure. With the clock ticking down to the Architect's possible extinction Al-An made the desperate decision to ignore his network's safety directives and took leviathan eggs from their hatching grounds to research how to hatch them manually. Unfortunately the Sea Dragon's attempts to retrieve her eggs destroyed the facility where the Kharaa was housed causing the containment to be breached and the bacteria to infect the planet. Now, after hiding in the network for over 1000 years, Al-An re-emerges to the fact that he might well be one of the last, if not **the** last, of his species alive in the universe.

* The story of Al-An in Below Zero is a tragedy of errors he directly caused. Al-An was one of the researchers brought to 4546b to research a cure for the Kharaa bacteria as it tore a path of destruction through the Architect's colonies. Unfortunately while they were able to find that the Sea Emperor's enzyme was able to inhibit the bacteria, she was unable to communicate to them how to hatch her brood naturally in order to producing enzyme potent enough to be a cure. With the clock ticking down to the Architect's possible extinction Al-An made the desperate decision to ignore his network's safety directives and took leviathan eggs from their hatching grounds to research how to hatch them manually. Unfortunately the Sea Dragon's attempts to retrieve her eggs destroyed the facility where the Kharaa was housed causing the containment to be breached and the bacteria to infect the planet. Now, after hiding in the network for over 1000 years, Al-An re-emerges to the fact that he might well be one of the last, if not *the* last, of his species alive in the universe.

* Once you build the Neptune Escape Rocket, if you've hatched a Cuddlefish, you have the opportunity to say farewell to it. It's heartbreaking leaving it behind.

*** [[FridgeHorror Fridge Horror]] sets in when Bart mentions in his final log that "the visions are getting worse". He probably got the same visions you get--that of the Sea Emperor trying to communicate--but dismissed them as hallucinations brought on from the virus. [[ForWantOfANail If he'd listened, he'd have been able to save himself and the planet, and the Aurora would have never crashed (and the Sunbeam never destroyed)]].

*** [[FridgeHorror Fridge Horror]] sets in when Bart mentions in his final log that "the visions are getting worse". He probably got the same visions you get--that of the Sea Emperor trying to communicate--but dismissed them as hallucinations brought on from the virus. [[ForWantOfANail If he'd listened, he'd have been able to save himself and the planet, and the ''Aurora'' would have never crashed (and the ''Sunbeam'' never destroyed)]].

* After her babies hatch and leave, the Sea Emperor slumps over, clearly exhausted from staying alive so long to watch over her brood, and her words make it clear that she's ready for death. You can come back to find her laying on the floor of her enclosure, barely clinging to life.
* Once you build the Neptune Escape Rocket, if you've hatched a Cuddlefish, you have the opportunity to say farewell to it. It's heartbreaking leaving it behind.

** Finally, the Mongolian emissary who seems to get a good start. [[spoiler:Unfortunately, his life pod's systems fail before he ever gets a chance to survive, which he correctly guesses, and he goes down praying for his creators to receive him at last. It really goes to show that PC's survival is just pure luck and determination.]]

** The three are the only survivors of the Degasi, and manage to not only find one of the only above sea-level land masses on the entire planet, but with Bart's educational implants, manage to create a stable resource of food and water for them to survive on. Then the planet's violent monsoon season starts and destroys their food supplies and threatens their lives, forcing them to take refuge deep underwater in spite of the dangers. To make matters worse, Bart then discovers they are infected with the planet's virus that is slowly killing them. Marguerit attempts to assist Bart in finding a cure, but her heavy-handed ways to finding aquatic specimens cause them to become unfit for experimentation, leading to the point where she brings a dying ''Reaper Leviathan'' back to Bart, only for its mate (or possibly another leviathan altogether) to come looking for it and destroy their base, killing Marguerit and Paul and leaving Bart as the sole survivor. From the trailer, it's revealed Bart created a second base in the shallows and spent an unknown amount of time in isolation, wracked with guilt over his hand in the deaths of his father and friend. He eventually abandons his own safe base to venture back to the island base as he knows he's close to dying from the virus, and makes one last sad voice log talking about how he'll soon be joining his lost companions in the ocean's ecosystem once he finally passes.

** After her babies hatch and leave, the Sea Emperor slumps over, clearly exhausted from staying alive so long to watch over her brood, and her words make it clear that she's ready for death. You can come back to find her laying on the floor of her enclosure, barely clinging to life.
** Once you build the Neptune Escape Rocket, if you've hatched a Cuddlefish, you have the opportunity to say farewell to it. It's heartbreaking leaving it behind.
** The game is dedicated to the families of Newtown, Connecticut, particularly those who were affected by the 2012 Sandy Hook shooting.
** The fates of the other ''Aurora'' survivors.
*** The former fate of Lifepod Crew 6, which was changed upon the launch of the game. A paranoid and distressed Aurora passenger takes the sole radiation suit from an Alterra crew member, but the passenger fails to do up the zipper and dies slowly of radiation; her crew member partner is left (correctly) guessing she won't make it much longer either -- in other words, two people (likely) die a slow and agonizing death depending on how the Warpers treated the crew member. In earlier versions of the game, this gave a free radiation suit, but later versions deemed this was too much of a boon -- the crew member now mentions that there's lead around the area for the player to craft a suit themselves, and instead the pair die quickly from an accidental flare explosion from the passenger; the player can find a couple of leftover flares.
*** The Chief Medical Officer, while being a quack who cheated on his exams, was actually decent at his job because the computers and robots did all the work for him. He was more or less a glorified technician, but the moment he gets separated from his machines, he's doomed. He bitterly complains that he is not qualified to treat his bleeding wound and especially not the alien virus he contracts.
*** Another survivor ends up in Reaper territory and manages to scrounge up enough materials to make decoys that he believes can distract the beasts long enough for him to get back to the ''Aurora'', but he fears it won't be enough and that he will get eaten alive before he makes it. Again, he's right. Two others land in shark territory and get ripped apart. Another is killed by Warpers cutting into his lifepod before he can work up the courage to get out.

** The tale of the ''Degasi'' survivors, Paul Torgal, his son Bart Torgal, and their mercenary Marguerit Maida.
*** The three are the only survivors of the Degasi, and manage to not only find one of the only above sea-level land masses on the entire planet, but with Bart's educational implants, manage to create a stable resource of food and water for them to survive on. Then the planet's violent monsoon season starts and destroys their food supplies and threatens their lives, forcing them to take refuge deep underwater in spite of the dangers. To make matters worse, Bart then discovers they are infected with the planet's virus that is slowly killing them. Marguerit attempts to assist Bart in finding a cure, but her heavy-handed ways to finding aquatic specimens cause them to become unfit for experimentation, leading to the point where she brings a dying ''Reaper Leviathan'' back to Bart, only for its mate (or possibly another leviathan altogether) to come looking for it and destroy their base, killing Marguerit and Paul and leaving Bart as the sole survivor. From the trailer, it's revealed Bart created a second base in the shallows and spent an unknown amount of time in isolation, wracked with guilt over his hand in the deaths of his father and friend. He eventually abandons his own safe base to venture back to the island base as he knows he's close to dying from the virus, and makes one last sad voice log talking about how he'll soon be joining his lost companions in the ocean's ecosystem once he finally passes.