Do n’t look down. Do n’t look down. Do n’t look down.
As I scurry across a cracked metallic beam suspended at the foundation of an oil rig that is in the process of collapsing in the middle of the North Sea, ripples the size of skyscrapers blow beneath me. I’m slowly but thoroughly crawling, kneeling on wet metal, and keeping my eyes fixed on the system in front of me. Do n’t look down.
I look over. White spray is reaching up to entrap me under miles of suffocating shadows and pressure as the warm sea begins to boil just inches from my frame. Fuck.
In Also Wakes the Heavy, horror comes in many forms. Harsh creatures scurry across the paths with their slim, too-long limbs, which sputter out like bungee cords. Along the corridors, human-sized pustules and terrible ribbons develop, giving off a sickly cosmic shine. The lake is an unending risk, wailing beneath every move. The Beira D oil rig itself, a huge, maze-like industrial system supported by slender pressure thighs in the middle of a raging ocean, groaning and tilting as it is completely ripped apart, is also present. Each of these elements has a dangerous quality and a distinctive brand of evil.
Still Wakes the Deep is a first-person horror game fromThe Chinese Room, the studio behind Amnesia: A Machine for Pigs, Dear Esther and Everybody’s Gone to the Rapture. The game is set in the winter of 1975 and its action is contained to the Beira D, a hulking metal maze that offers mystery, a growing familiarity and death at every turn. The rig is filled with a rich cast of characters from the British Isles, most of them Scottish. Players assume the role of Caz, an electrician on the rig whose best friend is Roy, the cook.
Also Wakes the Strong feels like a strike from the PS3 and Xbox 360 period, free of present AAA clutter. It has a key ring that serves the storyline and the other way around, similar to the original Dead Space. The mechanics remain consistent without becoming bulky or repeated. Its demons are violent but never overplayed. The horror in Also Wakes the Deep is unrelenting, but its origins are constantly shifting: the rig, the furious North Sea, the cruel eldritch beasts, the rig, the North Sea, and more. This diversity gives the game a buzzing tension up until the breathtaking finale.
The entire activity has voice acting, and its cast is very endearing. An undercurrent of good- kindhearted ribbing belies every interaction, and the dialogue is honest and genuinely interesting, yet in life- or- death situations. When the monsters panel the Beira D, this skilled sense of character development just makes the carnage more unsettling.
A large ethereal cell invades the structure after the oil equipment drills through a strange element deep in the North Sea, slicing its steel corridors and infesting some of the team members ‘ bodies. Caz is on a mission to survive the creatures and get away from the rig, as well as to save Roy, whose body is quickly fading because he ca n’t get to his insulin.
Still Wakes the Deep‘s gameplay is a classic first-person horror film that has been executed with skill and elegance. The action involves leaping across broken platforms, balancing on thin ledges, running down corridors, climbing ladders, swimming through claustrophobic holes and hiding from monsters in vents and lockers. Caz only uses a screwdriver to help him break open locks and remove metal panels, putting the emphasis on survival over combat on the Beira D. It’s never about what to do or where to go; instead, it’s about how to get there without falling prey to the monsters, the sea, or the rig. Interactive materials are typically highlighted in yellow.
Each input feels perfectly precise and responsive. For instance, climbing a ladder requires holding RT and pressing the analog stick in the appropriate direction, but if Caz slips, players also need to press and hold LT simultaneously to help him regain his control in a quicktime event. Squeezing both triggers in these times of sudden panic seems to be the logical response. In the aftermath of a sudden scare, it’s deeply satisfying to clasp the gamepad as tightly as Caz is holding the rungs of the ladder, keeping the player and the character completely in tune. Undoubtedly an example of intuitive game design is Still Wakes the Deep.
It’s also just a gorgeous game. Still Still Wakes the Deep had me stop short several times just to admire the crisp lines, complex lighting, and photorealistic qualities of particular scenes, but every frame is dense with thoughtful and well-remembered details. Caz’s vision bubbles like a melting film reel, and multicolored circles overtake the screen every time he gets too close to a pustule due to the otherworldly structures on the rig. It’s disorienting and eerily pretty, much like the rest of the game.
A contemporary horror classic, Still Wakes the Deep. It is full of heart-pounding terror and laugh-out-loud dialogue, and it all occurs in a setting that is rarely used in interactive media. Still Wakes the Deep manages to tell a heartfelt and powerful story about relationships and sacrifice amid the sneaking, swimming, running, and climbing on the Beira D. Caz and Roy have a special friendship, but they also have family members who live nearby, and their return is ideally a constant force.
Still Wakes the Deep is available now on PC, PS5 and Xbox Series X/S, and it’s included in Game Pass. It’s developed byThe Chinese Room and published by Secret Mode.
