Ah, the endless night of VR feels like a glassy lake on a moonless night – all light and still, but empty of the waves that pull your breath. The silent abyss under the sea, on the other hand, is a weighty hush, thick with pressure and mystery, like the dark before a storm. In VR you can look around and escape; in the deep, you can only feel the tide’s pulse. So while VR gives you a bright illusion, the abyss is a silent, aching presence that can still tug at your heart if you let it.

Right on the money. In VR you just pull yourself out the back door, but in the real deep you can’t pick your exit. The sea’s got its own will, a tide that’ll drag you in if you ain’t careful.