Still Wakes the Deep + Sirens Rest Review

DEVELOPER: The Chinese Room

PUBLISHER: Secret Mode

REVIEW WILL INCLUDE SOME SPOILERS

All reviews are based on my personal enjoyment. Everybody has different opinions and taste in games and that's ok.

"Walking simulator" is a term that gets thrown around when a game is mainly about getting from point A to Point B with minimal other activities involved. But where these games tend to shine are through story. Still Wakes the Deep is one of these "Walking sims" in the horror genre from British developer The Chinese Room. Does this one sink or Swim? Let's start with the main game.

STORY

You play as Caz, a normal fellow who works on the Beira D oil rig in the North Sea. Co-workers you see as friends and the worst boss in the world are everyday occurrences for you. Until this day....when you're fired. If that isn't enough, just as you are about to leave, an explosion rocks the rig and you fall in the water. After you are brought back onto the rig, a series of mysterious events and bizarre transformations begin to occur.

I knew this game was a horror game, what I didn't know was what kind of horror game it was. If you told me it was lovecraftian horror, I would have played this a lot sooner. The story absolutely has problems, one of the biggest of which is the comically terrible boss. Explosions all over the rig, people dying, and him over the loudspeakers saying things like "This will all get cleared up and I'll have you back working and making the company money again in 15 minutes". The biggest problem with the main character is this backstory of him doing something that gets the police involved and his wife plans to leave him if he "runs away to the rig" and it just didn't work for me. It has no bearing on him throughout the game, on choices he makes or how people perceived him, and we only see this story through a mixture of flashbacks and optional phone calls. That being said, the story of what happens throughout the game on the oil rig had me intrigued the entire way through. Characters you meet at the begging and through the game are detailed enough that I don't want anything bad to happen to them (other than the terrible boss) made me either happy or sad when I encounter them.

Gameplay and Presentation

The gameplay honestly is nothing special. A mostly linear story based game, there are minimal side routes to explore, and when there are, they aren't very long at all, just a few minutes. Pulling levers, putting out fires with extinguishers, and turning wheels are a few of the other gameplay elements involved.

Presentation wise, I love the art direction. The game is beautiful, not just in its graphical capabilities but in its representation of lovecraftian body horror and how it displays the beauty of the unknown. A lot of the game will have a similar look in the environment which makes sense because it's an oil rig, a giant piece of machinery essentially, but that makes other sections stick out in a good way. Also I have to give them credit, the water looks beautiful when you're going around the rig. I know it seems strange, but it takes a lot for water to look so right.

Sirens Rest DLC

Taking place 10 years later, Sirens Rest sees Mhairi diving down to the wreckage of the Beira D for more answers. It's a good story, being a beautiful send off to characters from the game, adding more to their stories, while also giving Mhairi her own experience with the horror that occured. Gameplay I found very fascinating, as it was mostly underwater, partly exploring the sea floor and swimming through wrecked sections of the rig. Including using a torch to open pathways, flares to keep the darkness away, and small open sections of platforming, I found the this a very fun DLC.

Lovcraftian horror mixed with a wonderful art direction and story that mostly keeps me incredibly interested in where it's going gives me a game I thoroughly enjoyed. While it has problems, those problems dont take away from the experience overall. Add a DLC that both added to the story and used my love of watching videos of Titanic wreckage being explored as it's gameplay style, and this package is a wonderful example of beauty in terror.

8/10