Immersed Solutions to Problems

There’s a lot of discussion about safety vs risk/danger when playing. My own complaint after completing the EA content so far is that it was too easy - not enough threat, especially in terms of immersion (the voice messages suggest a whole team couldn’t survive but the player character can solo the whole thing). The animals are easy to avoid but worse, you can game yourself out of immersion - you know the beasties are regionally locked/pathing and so they’re less real as animals.

Some ways to provide safety options while allowing for general threat/real wildlife threat could be through symbiotic relationships inspired by nature:

1 - clownfish and anemones - they hide in anemones that offer protection. Players could use plant/animal life to gain safety when needed or through certain areas. The bioevolution / tech development mechanics could also be used here.

2 - similarly - hermit crabs and parasitic anemones - they inhabit shells which have anemones on them. If something harasses the crab the anemone reacts. It could be possible to add flora or fauna to the tadpole to provide protection or stealth that is portable.

Different organisms could even be required for different biomes or predators.

3 - creative content/achievements/collectibles - the aquarium in the first game was a cool feature. Taking it further, players could have the option to find and house/hatch different rare plants and animals from around the planet. They could recreate biome conditions for hatching, or just for fun. Some cute and creepy critters could be something worth achieving either post game or just creatively.

Just some thoughts.

especially the clownfish thing feels so perfect for this game:
The “swim faster when next to things” biomod could help you realize that touching anemones hurts, and you can then intuit that it might hurt other creatures as well and thus they would avoid them. And that of course leads perfectly into finding an adaptation to protect yourself from that damage.