Still Wakes the Deep
Still Wakes the Deep | |
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Single-player |
Still Wakes the Deep is a
The game received generally positive reviews, with critics praising the game's story, graphics, sound design and voice performance, while criticizing its gameplay, linear structure and overall length.
Gameplay
Still Wakes the Deep is a
Plot
Cameron "Caz" McLeary, a married man with two daughters, is on the run from the Scottish police for a violent altercation with a man named Billy Chamberlain. To avoid prison and risk his wife Suze and their kids losing their flat, Caz gets help from his best friend Roy, a cook on the Beira D oil rig. Despite no prior knowledge or experience in the oil industry, they hire him as an electrician; Caz hopes that the time away will let the situation cool down and he can convince Billy to drop the charges. Leaving for the job and running from the law strains Caz's marriage; he later receives a letter from Suze hinting at divorce. The Beira D is also poorly constructed and rife with issues, while its boss, Rennick, is unpopular, careless, and hot-headed. With Roy's support, Caz helps keep the rig operational along with his coworkers Finlay, Brodie, and others.
After finding out about Caz's incident, Rennick angrily fires him. However, before he can board a helicopter to the mainland, a drilling attempt despite issues with the apparatus shakes the facility, with Caz and several men falling into the sea. Only Caz, near-dead from hypothermia, is rescued. Once he recovers, he discovers the situation has deteriorated: the rig is beginning to fall apart, while mysterious masses of tendrils resembling blood vessels or ribbon which were attached to the drill begin infesting the lower sections. Worse still, numerous coworkers, having come into contact with contaminated oil, have become mutated creatures with tendrils and are hunting the rest of the crew. Sneaking around, Caz finds Roy in the kitchen and attempts to secure the lifeboats, but poor construction renders them lost.
Rennick orders an evacuation by helicopter, but he flies away without waiting and the chopper crashes into the rig. With the Beira D on its last legs, Brodie, Finlay, and Caz work together to maintain power, keep the rig from falling over, and prevent a gas explosion when the gas flare tower fails, all while being hunted by Rennick, who has become one of the creatures. Caz goes to rescue Roy, only to find him dead from diabetic ketoacidosis from having gone too long without insulin. After Brodie sacrifices himself to float the rig, a despondent Finlay snaps and attempts to blow up the platform, but is crushed by falling machinery. Before dying, Finlay convinces Caz to do it: the infestation has overtaken the rig and cannot be allowed to spread to the mainland. Wanting to save his family and avenge his friends, Caz ignites the Beira D, destroying everything on it; his last moments are reliving memories of meeting Suze and the birth of their children.
In Scotland, Suze writes a new letter to Caz, resolving to persevere in their marriage and wishing for him and Roy to come home.
Development
Development of Still Wakes the Deep was led by
As the game is set in
The game does not have a combat system, and the team emphasized that the player character is not an action hero. Reverend Frank Scott from The Posideon Adventure was described as the "perfect archetype" to McLeary, the game's "unathletic" main character.[3] This is an intentional choice to make players feel "powerless", so that every decision made by players will feel impactful.[1] Puzzle solving and traversal, therefore, become the main ways for players to progress. Early sections of the game focused on knowing the oil rig crew. This section of the game was inspired by the works of Ken Loach. These sections were used to juxtapose with the game's later parts which focus more on horror and action.[6] Players sometimes have to backtrack to certain areas of the game, though they will be changed as they are either destroyed or flooded, potentially opening up new areas for players to explore.[8]
Still Wakes the Deep was announced in June 2023 by The Chinese Room. It was released on June 18, 2024 for
Reception
Aggregator | Score |
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Metacritic | (PC) 76/100 (PS5) 73/100 (XSX) 84/100[10] |
Publication | Score |
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Destructoid | 8/10[12] |
Eurogamer | ![]() ![]() ![]() ![]() ![]() |
Game Informer | 7/10[17] |
GameSpot | 7/10[14] |
GamesRadar+ | ![]() ![]() ![]() ![]() ![]() |
IGN | 6/10[11] |
PC Gamer (US) | 86/100[15] |
VG247 | ![]() ![]() ![]() ![]() ![]() |
According to review aggregator Metacritic, the PS5 version of the game received "mixed or average" reviews, while the PC and Xbox Series X/S versions received "generally favourable" reviews.[10]
Tauriq Moosa from
Gameplay of the game received generally mixed reviews. Gould liked the game's pacing and its balance of action and horror, and added that the game was not as "exhausting" as other horror games available in the market.[15] Jamie Moorcroft-Sharp from Destructoid compared the game to Alien: Isolation, and liked the game's enemy and environment variety. He commended the enemy design, which was "ripped right out of nightmares". He concluded his review by saying that "outside of Dredge, I don’t know if a game has felt so uniquely Lovecraftian".[12] Eurogamer's Matt Wales disliked the gameplay, calling it "disengaging" and criticized its overly linear structure and its excessive use of visual cues to guide players forward, leaving no room for exploration.[16] Leana Hafer from IGN also found the gameplay to be uninspiring, and that it was "frustrating to play with its nearly on-rails structure that actively scoffs at the idea of exploration".[11] Jason Rodriguez from Game Informer criticized the game's enemy artificial intelligence for undermining the horror aspect of the game.[17] Several critics remarked that the game was short.[17][18]
References
- ^ GamesRadar. Retrieved March 3, 2024.
- ^ a b c Phillips, Tom (November 16, 2023). "Under the surface of Still Wakes The Deep". Eurogamer. Retrieved March 3, 2024.
- ^ a b Skrebels, Joe (October 25, 2023). "Xbox Partner Preview: The Unexpected Inspirations That Make Up Still Wakes the Deep". Xbox Wire. Retrieved March 3, 2024.
- VG 247. Retrieved March 3, 2024.
- ^ Blake, Vikki (August 27, 2023). "The Chinese Room reveals how Still Wakes the Deep's environment will evolve". Eurogamer. Retrieved March 3, 2024.
- ^ a b Packwood, Lewis (August 17, 2023). "'Trapped on an oil rig with an unknowable horror': Still Wakes the Deep is a dark 70s throwback". The Guardian. Retrieved March 3, 2023.
- Rock, Paper, Shotgun. Retrieved March 3, 2023.
- ^ Smith, Nat (February 15, 2023). "Still Wakes the Deep release date window, trailers, and gameplay". PCGamesN. Retrieved March 3, 2024.
- ^ Hester, Blake (June 11, 2023). "Still Wakes The Deep Is The Next Game From The Chinese Room". Game Informer. Retrieved March 3, 2024.
- ^ a b "Still Wakes the Deep reviews". Metacritic. Retrieved June 27, 2024.
- ^ a b Hafer, Leana (June 17, 2024). "Still Wakes the Deep Review". IGN. Retrieved June 24, 2024.
- ^ a b Moorcroft=Sharp, Jamie (June 19, 2024). "Review: Still Wakes the Deep". Destructoid. Retrieved June 24, 2024.
- ^ a b Murphy, Matthew (June 17, 2024). "Review: Still Wakes the Deep". Hardcore Gamer. Retrieved June 27, 2024.
- ^ a b Delaney, Mark (June 18, 2024). "Still Wakes The Deep Review - The Abyss Stares Back". GameSpot. Retrieved June 24, 2024.
- ^ a b c Gould, Elie (June 17, 2024). "Still Wakes the Deep review". PC Gamer. Retrieved June 27, 2024.
- ^ a b Wales, Matt (June 17, 2024). "Still Wakes the Deep review - astonishing artistry can't quite keep this oil rig horror afloat". Eurogamer. Retrieved June 24, 2024.
- ^ a b c Rodriguez, Jason (June 25, 2024). "Still Wakes the Deep Review: I Sea Dead People". Game Informer. Retrieved June 24, 2024.
- ^ GamesRadar. Retrieved June 24, 2024.
- ^ VG 247. Retrieved June 24, 2024.
- ^ Moosa, Tauriq (June 18, 2024). "Still Wakes the Deep makes the terror of the ocean more tactile". The Verge. Retrieved June 24, 2024.