Still Wakes The Deep
In the wake of Disco Elysium, I’ve been playing through several other games that have a focus on narrative and plot. I began with Call of Cthulhu which I shall write about in a separate post. Let it suffice to say that although I enjoyed the game, I wasn’t quite satisfied. This is not necessarily the game’s fault, as it makes a good attempt at depicting Lovecraftian Cosmic Horror. It’s just that any game following hard on the heels of one of the best RPG’s I’ve ever played, is likely to come up short in comparison. So I looked through my game library and found that I had Still Wakes The Deep, which enjoys a good reputation for having a strong story. I subsequently played through the game over two late night sessions and was left suitably impressed. So much so that I’ve bought the additional DLC, Siren’s Rest, in the hope that it maintains the quality of its predecessor.
Still Wakes The Deep is a 2024 psychological horror video game developed by The Chinese Room and published by Secret Mode. Set in 1975, the story centres around an electrician named Cameron “Caz” McLeary (voiced by Alec Newman), who finds himself trapped on a damaged oil drilling platform in the North Sea after a mysterious drilling incident. Caz has to rescue and aid work colleagues while being hunted by various arcane monsters. He is further hampered by severe weather conditions. Played in first-person, Still Wakes The Deep has no combat as such; instead, players must use stealth and solve straightforward puzzles to ensure their survival. As you progress through the storyline, the oil rig physically changes, although the overall gameplay remains predominantly linear.
Right from the start Still Wakes The Deep reeks of authenticity. The game environment, the oil rig BeiraD, is incredibly well realised to the extent it becomes a character itself. Not only is it technically accurate but it is embellished with authentic period details. Transistor radios, CRT televisions, even the empty beer cans are of the time. The game uses authentic Scottish regional accents making the dialogue very credible. The game subtitles are not actually verbatim, effectively providing a translation for those unfamiliar with the slang and dialect. The writing is strong, tapping into themes from the time such as trade union unrest and a cavalier attitude towards health and safety. The horror elements of the plot are not explained beyond the crew observations and there is no heavy handed expository conclusion at the game denouement.
The gameplay is mainly navigating a hazardous environment to find other crew members. This often requires solving puzzles to fix devices, open doors or otherwise access a safe route. There is a stealth mechanic and running at key moments in the game. The monsters are made up of the crew members that you met at the beginning of the game. This adds a layer of poignancy as they often retain facets of their personalities. Within the story, close proximity to the monsters causes hallucinations. In gameplay, if a monster is nearby there is a visual cue, whereby “floaters” appear in the corner of your first person perspective, which subsequently grow. This and the lack of any HUD adds greatly to the ambience. It should be noted that when being pursued there is an option to look back. This may afford you a better view of the monster pursuing but you may also run into an obstacle. Use accordingly.
I completed Still Wakes The Deep in six hours. I frequently bungled quick time events triggered by the structural integrity of the oil rig failing. I also took my time exploring. Although there is a superb atmosphere, the gameplay is mainly functional. If the game was any longer, it could potentially outstay its welcome without a wider variety of things to do. Yet despite the somewhat A to B approach and a story that uses familiar tropes, Still Wakes The Deep punches above its weight due to the tremendous visuals, sound design, outstanding writing and authentic voice acting. It has a strong sense of eldritch, cosmic horror and its grown up tone as well as its attention to period detail aids its credibility. Be warned, the language is justifiably ripe as you’d expect from people in this line of work and from this era. I’m looking forward to the DLC and hope it continues in exactly the same idiom.
