Still Wakes The Deep Review

Main Review - by Giles

The Nostromo, Nakatomi Plaza and now the Beira D oil rig. These aren’t just settings, they are almost characters in the stories in which they appear. And, like Ripley and John McClane,

Cameron “Caz” McCleary finds himself in for a very bad time. In contrast, and with some minor caveats, I had an absolute blast.

Still Wakes the Deep always looked like my sort of game. A spooky, much more action-orientated effort from The Chinese Room, the British developers of Dear Esther and Everyone’s Gone to Rapture. A gritty 70s period piece with a sense of place as authentic as the thick Scottish accents that give every swear word (and there are plenty) that extra punch. When things go south, you don’t suddenly gain superpowers and there are no guns or magic summons for you to call on. It’s a (mostly) grounded tale of a regular guy in extraordinary circumstances – which leads to a fair amount of tension and plenty of thrills.

That regular guy I mentioned is Caz, an electrician working an oil rig in the North Sea and whose relationship and legal status are both probably best described as “complicated” for the purpose of this review. When a major incident hits, Caz has to battle the elements, his past, an increasingly unstable structure and well – possibly something else?

If, like me, you’ve never wanted to step foot on an oil rig this is not the game to change your mind.

The first thing that hits you is that, while it’s a grim and grimy life at sea, Still Wakes the Deep is a very good-looking game. Using Unreal Engine 5, the personal quarters, hallways and walkways of the Beira D have a fidelity and satisfying physicality to them. It’s a claustrophobic and brilliantly dense world too with every inch of the structure seemingly used or useful for something and with service routes passing throughout that will see you criss-crossing your path without ever feeling like you are really backtracking.

Scattered with mugs, personal effects and equipment – the rig also feels authentic and lived-in. It’s Christmas, so the communal areas have that half-assed attempt at workplace decoration that we probably all recognise and the notices and scoreboards that are dotted around, show a group of workers trying to make the best of their not-a-lot in life. The characters you will meet are a fun bunch too – exactly the cross-section of friends, eccentrics and downright nutters that I’d expect to find on a hunk of metal in the middle of a cold and unforgiving sea.

The rig meanwhile, along with the sea and the weather also makes its presence felt – helped by some low-key but brilliant sound design that highlights the eerie creaking and clanking of ageing metal at sea. Add in the raging of the waves below and rain lashing against windows and external areas, and it all feels so … real.

So when things get pretty weird I was happy to just go with it, though I suspect there will be some who resist. After a leisurely introduction section, things rapidly spiral down and it’s a breathless but out-there adventure involving jumps, chases but also a fair suspension of your disbelief. It’s a cinematic experience but far from the passive one I think I imagined, and I was surprised (pleasantly) how much interaction and variety was involved.

That helpful “yellow paint” that we so often see in modern games is well used (but mostly in a clever setting-appropriate way I should say) as you’ll be climbing, grabbing, balancing and leaping your way through a fair proportion of the running time. With shades of Poseidon, Alien and Die Hard (you will absolutely start to know what a TV dinner feels like), it feels more in keeping with a classic thriller or action movie than the puzzler/explorer that you might be expecting.

But it can be touching too and I really enjoyed the game’s more character-focused moments. Although you’re alone for a good chunk of the 6 or so hour runtime, you’re never too far from a phone call, encounter and other reminder of those around you. And although there are one or two moustache-twiddling exceptions, the game’s cast has mostly believable people trying to do the right thing and with mixed results. By the time credits rolled, I was fully invested in Caz’s story and the people around him. Victories had been celebrated, the losses had hurt. Good ending too, in my view at least.

Overall then, Still Wakes the Deep is a spooky, sweary and surprisingly action-packed evolution of the “walking simulator” that may even be enough to convert those still who still sneer at the genre. It looks and sounds great and the Beira D is an oppressive, bleak but brilliant setting, packed with detail. The story might be a little hokey for some but it’s no more dumb or outlandish than many classic action or horror movies – and it delivers similar thrills along with some good puzzles and surprisingly emotional moments. It always looked like my sort of game but it still over-delivered.

Highly recommended.