Still Wakes the Deep (2024)

Still Wakes the Deep is a horror role-playing games, released by The Chinese Room (known for Everyone's Gone to the Rapture and Dear Esther) in 2024 for PC and all major consoles.

Let me preface this with a couple of things: I am terrified of megastructures and of the sea. The thought of a game being set in on a offshore oil rig made my entire being tremble with a type of anticipation beset by one of the most absurdist fears of mine.

The game sees you take the reins of our Scottish protagonist, one Cameron 'Caz' McLeary: after what seems to be a scuffle with someone harassing his wife, Caz escapes with his deacon friend Rob to the offshore oil rig 'Beira D'. Everything seems to be turning out 'just fine' - as fine as one could be being away from wife and daughters, as well as being threatened with divorce on Christmas Day - for Caz until the drill strikes something it quite shouldn't have...

Still Wakes the Deep is a masterful combination of Lovecraftian themes and The Thing, combining the vague idea of what lurks beneath with the chilling setting of an oil rig whose presence is far removed from the coast and every living (and grounded) thing out there.

Its grasp of horror delves deep beneath the themes of loneliness, hopelessness, the unfathomable terrors of the unknowns of the sea and a majestic grapple on themes of body horror and gore alike, striking a balance between the grotesque and the heart-breaking with how The Shape deals with its unfortunate victims.

Whilst the game never allows you to fight back against the horrors nesting within the rig itself, I'd argue that it doesn't need to: the crux of the game and Caz's own one isn't that he needs to kill or to be killed, but that he's witness to things he's not prepared for.

The voice acting is specular: from Alec Newman's astounding and visceral interpretation of Caz's anguish, terror and, horror to Karen Dunbar's gripping delivery with Finlay, the entire crew gave so much character to all of these people who would have otherwise fallen flat on their faces. Kudos for the team to committing to an organic Scottish voice acting without the compromise of needing to sound 'too British' in order for someone to understand - that's what the subtitles are for.

A cinematic experience, truly.

This was a relatively simple but still fantastic little jewel that just oozed atmosphere and the love the developers had for it. It had fantastic map design, sound, voice acting. The music was not always on, but damn did it know when to appear and when to make itself scarce. I also really loved how the game alternated between being inside the rig and on the outside platforms, which did a lot to keep the game fresh and engaging.

Some people might call it a walking simulator, as the gameplay is limited to interacting with things such as running, jumping, climbing ladders and pulling levers as well as a few quicktime events where you have to react quickly and press or hold a button to avoid dying, but I've found that horror lends itself to such a style, and I personally don't mind it much at all, specially when done well like this.

I know some people hate quicktime events, but I can't help but love them. They pull me in, make me more watchful and in a way more involved with whatever lie about.

My one qualm with the game is that at the start of the game, there were a few times where the game snagged and seemed almost to freeze, and for a few moments it really made me wonder whether that would be a constant. Thankfully it wasn't, but I could imagine some people hopping off thinking it a telltale of shitty performance to come.

I found this really compelling. A well told story with some brilliant performances. It feels very British in its humour and horror, and in its distinctive undercurrent of sadness.

It kinda feels like the male version of The Descent: a personal story set against an escalating supernatural horror. But where The Descent is a group women trapped in a yonic crevasse, their relationships fraying along with their climbing ropes, Still Wakes the Deep sees men violently mutated on an oil rig when they drill into something they shouldn’t have, both a phallic setting and act of male hubris.

It's very narrative focused, a tightly controlled journey down a twisty but linear corridor, with some very light platforming and QTEs. When it does try to be more that, it's a bad stealth game, but those sections are thankfully brief.

The question I always have for these types of games is whether they're served by their interactivity or would they be better as films or novels. This game works because it embeds you so completely in its environment in a way only games can. The time and place feel so authentic, and it's incredibly engaging to move through the rig as it bends and fractures.

This game is one of the most high quality and best of the "amnesia-like" horror type games. There have been so many lately but this one sets itself apart due to the amazing setting of the oil rig and the fantastic (scottish) voice acting. It really scratches the cosmic horror itch as well. I love that the rig is as much of an obstacle as the "enemy" is, and its constantly changing. This is probably the only of these types of games where I actually felt empathy for all of the NPCs, they feel so true to life due to the excellent voice acting and writing, and they are involved deeply throughout the game.

The gameplay itself isn't anything new for this genre, as its mostly navigation or short stealthing to avoid enemies (nothing too difficult, nothing annoying at all in the gameplay). But it does just feel unique as you navigate the rig and the interactions like climbing or jumping or squeezing or crawling, or fixing the electricity throughout the rig really feel weighty and meaningful though. These types of interactions really do to amp up the atmosphere and claustrophobic horror.

This isn't going to be a very impressive or in-depth review, because I'm currently suffering from Gets Light-Headed When I So Much As Inhale Disease, but I did want to throw a quick something out.

Still Wakes the Deep isn't quite the kind of horror I really like to dig into - when friends were recommending this to me, telling me it was a horror game, I went into it mostly blind and anticipating some sort of twisty, psychological stuff, which is my usual thing. This is less that and more tense chase sequences and body horror.

That said, I can't really find it in myself to care.

It's so nice - so fun - to finally have a big, well-received game like this populated by Scottish voices. I don't know if the entire cast was Scottish - the accents did sound slightly exaggerated sometimes, but that could just be Scottish VAs getting told to lean into it like you often see with Irish characters - but I hear most of them are, and if any weren't I certainly didn't notice, significant because it's almost always instantly obvious to me. The slang terms and oft-used phrases here were accurate and natural, and I know that likely doesn't matter to anyone aside from... Scottish people, but screw it, I'm Scottish people and I like hearing a Scottish guy saying "lecky" in my video game.

The atmosphere is great, and the concept is intriguing - the inspiration taken from The Thing is clear, but I've seen people making comparisons to SOMA, as well, to which I definitely concur. The supporting cast are all fairly likeable for their brief time on-screen, except when they're not supposed to be likeable, and while Caz is very much just your Average Scotsman his voice acting, courage, and connections to the other characters really lend themselves to moments of emotion and investment in what happens to him and those around him.

I haven't quite settled on how I feel about the ending - cautiously, I think I'm fine with it, though it's not what I would have preferred, and I expected more from how people were discussing it - but it doesn't particularly affect my enjoyment of the game as a whole.

Incidentally, I have no idea why oil rigs aren't a more common setting for horror. Total isolation, trapped in the middle of the ocean, surrounded by creaking metal pipes and freezing-cold wind and nowhere to go?

I really want to like XCloud, is perfect for someone like me with a good internet connection but not a 4k TV to tell the different in pixels, but sometimes it feels weird. I don't know if you can tell from a picture alone, but it kinda feels like playing directly from a YouTube video. In retrospective, that was a fantasy of mine when I was a little boy.

I don't really want to review this game so I'm just gonna say a few things:

• This has been an amazing year for horror in both movies and video games
• Scottish accents are sexy as fuck.
• This game has some of my favorite monster designs in recent years
• Yellow paint guiding in games is actually good
• Stop saying its lovecraftian. You don't really know what lovecraftian means
• As usual, the true monster was capitalism

Still Wakes the Deep is an "Amnesia-like" (or maybe more of a "SOMA-like").

The oil drilling rig is such a great and menacing environment, and you are so stressed as it slowly collapses around you. I was holding my breath all the way through (and not just for the underwater parts). Even without the monsters this game would've been terrifying.

The monsters themselves could've been more varied or with a more interesting design, but they work and they are still scary as you sneak around them or run away from them. The visual effect around the screen when you are close to the alien goop they takes over the rig is really cool also.

I really enjoyed Still Wakes the Deep, and now I'm way more optimistic about Vampire The Masquerade Bloodlines 2 (same dev).

I like the concept of this game more than the actual game. It has a great setup for the main character, perfect location, and fun dialect. The slow start to get to the action makes the horror elements more meaningful but without feeling too forced. You meet most of the crew in your day to day life before horrible things start happening.

The gameplay is mostly platforming, find the switch, and run away from the monsters. It works well, but after a couple hours it is wearing thin. About half way in there is no deep plot to uncover nor significant clues as to what the nature of the terror is. While that is okay it makes little less compelling to see it thru. However I do want to know how the main character solves the background drama in his life.

A perfect use of the Unreal Engine 5 with gorgeous lightning, attention to detail, jaw dropping sound design and class A+ voice acting. Still Wakes the Deep blends cosmic horror and psychological horror in a unique way through the eyes of a man facing the risks of earning your living on an oil rig and being hunted by his past. Makes me think of H.P. Lovecraft and John's Carpenter The Thing.

I turned the music volume to 30% looking for full immersion and i could still hear some of the soundtrack. The sound design and voice acting is that good, especially with headphones.

The story starts in a "business as usual" manner and after a while, hell brakes loose. The balance between sound design, voice acting, progression, level design is staggeringly beautiful. Each section/chapter is well thought to carry you till the end in an emotional roller coaster with an honest ending. Don't rush this game, respect it and it will bring you memorable experience.

Downloaded this one off of Game Pass based on a podcast recommendation, did not disappoint!

Just know what you're getting into. It's basically a walking simulator. It's short, very on-the-rails/guided, light on the gameplay but heavy on the atmosphere and creep-factor.

Essentially, it's The Thing (1982) meets Deepwater Horizon (2016). The character writing is fantastic, the big set pieces are great, I loved exploring the oil rig and the monstrosities that terrorize you are deeply unsettling to look at.

I thought they nailed the vibe/aesthetic they were going for, but the ending does feel super rushed, unfortunately. I think given a bit more time in the over, or a bigger budget, this could've easily been pushed to a 4.5 or 5/5.

I enjoyed the ride. Great atmosphere and sound design and loved to see a setting (and culture) that has not been used much in video games. A solid game all in all, though I could've done without some of the annoying industry tropes (damned yellow paint - we don't need that much hand-holding!)

As destruction hit the rig I found myself less interested in exploration, since the scenery became fundamentally one narrow tunnel.

Also, would've loved to have more lore (what caused the rift, some background)

Still Wakes the Deep is a standout title from The Chinese Room and is a must-play for fans of Lovecraft horror. The game utilizes all its audio elements to craft an immersive experience that's thrilling and chilling. The title has fun toying with your mind and peels back the layers of comfort that's brought during the start of the game.

As the environment around you changes, so does your experience, and that's what a good story can do. From exploring the rig to hiding from enemies, The Chinese Room brings together its recognizable elements and puts together a strong sailor worthy of its sea legs.

This is an interesting game from an established walking sim / horror game developer. You're on an oil rig and the drill hits... something....

Then chaos ensues.

The basic gameplay loop is: Walk from point A to point B. Open lots of doors. Flip lots of levers. Climb lots of ladders and terrain. Restore power to lots of generators & pumps. Repeat many, many times. And eventually, they start throwing in run/hide from danger sequences.

There are no collectibles. There are no alternate routes. Once you play this relatively short game once, you've experienced everything there is to see. (It's on Game Pass right now, which is a good place to play it).

The graphics, sound, and voice acting are excellent. Most characters have very thick Scottish accents. I typically disable subtitles in my games, but I had to keep them on for the same reasons I have them on in the early Yakuza games -- I just couldn't understand what these guys were saying half of the time. The subtitles also translate the frequent Scottish colloquialisms for us Americans. Some online gaming people have been very upset about that. I appreciated it. 🤷‍♂️

I can't understand why so many people are giving this game 3's. It's length (or lack thereof) certainly keeps it from standing up to other giants in the genre, but the story and attention to detail make this game such a treat. I'm rating it a 5 to bring it's score up and hoping that others give it a try. My actual rating is a 4/5.

When it's on sale for $20 or less this should be an instant buy for anyone who loves a good story.

The decision to translate colloquialisms is... a choice.

Side note, I guess I'm waiting for the July patch to resolve GamePass technical issues (not the first time a version on GamePass is older than versions available elsewhere and matches the console version of the game). Ignore the hyperbole from commenters on that thread, the important thing is that the devs indicate they are working on fixes.

7th Game Completed in 2024

Are you familiar with the protocol for what happens if someone becomes trapped in a stamping press? Probably not, unless you've worked in a stamping plant. But basically, if someone bypasses the safety systems and works inside the press (or in the case of some plants in countries like Mexico and Thailand, doesn't have safety systems to protect them), and becomes stuck... That's it. They're alive, but with no chance for escape. They call in the worker's family, call a priest if requested...

And then some poor bastard pushes the button to finish the press.

Because you see, a stamping press cannot be reversed. It goes in one direction. If you become trapped, you are kept in a quantum state of life and death until the button is pressed. This is the brutality of production under capitalism.

My blue collar ass loved Still Wakes The Deep. I won't get too deep into the plot, but this setting - an oil rig in the Scottish North Sea - hit me differently as a tradesman than it might to someone who isn't. I read a few interpretations of the plot online, and I was not especially surprised to see (in a post-Silent Hill 2 world) that nobody really discussed this angle, instead fixating on the extremely limited emotional and psychological angle of the game.

It's a new - but cheaply-built and rapidly decaying - oil rig, where the company man runs the facility like a dictator, and the workers live in a constant state of maintenance and poor safety protocols. As someone who's worked in somewhat similar situations, I was looking at this meticulously crafted environment and mentally parsing my Ontario Green Book (that's our workplace safety laws), and finding violations after violation.

For anyone familiar with the history of Scottish oil, you may recall the Piper Alpha explosion, where an oil rig in the Scottish North Sea erupted in flames, leading to the deaths of 167 workers - including some who remained trapped and never rescued, before dying isolated and in pitch darkness. I have no doubt that this moment in history was an important touchstone in the writing of this game, and the story of how OPCAL management completely failed to adequately consider the safety of their workers both prior to and during the incident is something people really ought to make themselves aware of.

Anyway, that's a TON of preamble, but it really sets the stage for what this game is, and what it's trying to say with its six-hour runtime. You start as a fella on an oil rig, who's taken the job to try and escape a minor charge back in Scotland. The rig's a mess, but production presses on... And everything goes to shit. You see, they drill into something that ain't oil. An air pocket? A gas deposit? You'll have to play the game to see. But it goes places I was really quite surprised to see.

I suppose you could categorize it as a walking sim, but that's kind of reductive. It's linear, but you will frequently revisit areas you've been to before as the platform continues to fall apart, completely changing your route and how the area looks. You'll also have fairly frequent action segments cut in, and these are usually comprised of climbing and platforming segments, and some segments that require stealth to get past a patrolled area. Thankfully, it does not have those god-awful "run from the scary monster" segments like in the Amnesia games where the AI follows your footsteps and dice rolls whether or not they see you hiding.

The art direction of this game is outstanding, and the use of body horror is used effectively to suit the themes they're going for. I played the entire game on PS5 in performance mode, which definitely scaled back some otherwise great wind effects, but the quality mode seemed to have an unstable framerate that felt like sub-30.

Overall though, this is an excellent horror game with a very focused scope, and while some may find it a bit on the short side, it's also not a full-priced game, and is available Day One Game Pass. I don't think it's gonna change the world or anything, but it's an above-average horror game in an inspired setting, and frankly, the world could use more games of this scope and less hundred-hour, bloated games padded out with busywork.

Played the first couple hours of this and uh... It kinda fuckin rules?

I was scared it would be another "grandmother's footsteps" horror game like Amnesia, but no, it's kinda unique. You could almost call it a walking sim with action segments cut in.

No spoilers, but I will probably be finishing this one, and the use of horror as allegory for workplace safety is kinda fuckin brilliant, and my blue collar ass is loving what they've made here.

I bought it physical on PS5, but it's also on Game Pass. PUT THIS ON YOUR RADAR.