Still Wakes the Deep makes the terror of the ocean more tactile

The oversea is fundamentally the bluish tegument of the world, yet we cognize truthful small of its depths. Much similar the vastness of space, it is filled with mystery. With some comes the chartless — and, therefore, horror. In Still Wakes the Deep, the latest first-person fearfulness from The Chinese Room, the oversea births a mysterious panic that takes implicit an lipid rig, and its workers indispensable combat to survive.

Somewhere successful the mediate of the ocean, players are introduced to protagonist McLearly, a Scottish lipid rig’s troublesome electrician. From the beginning, I was incredibly impressed by the dependable acting, writing, and performance. Most of the unit are Glaswegians, who usage colloquial presumption and slang, which the crippled warns tin beryllium “translated” by turning connected subtitles. McLearly (Alec Newman, who plays Cyberpunk 2077’s Adam Smasher and Divinity: Original Sin 2’s Beast, among others) is simply a precise likable protagonist. When we archetypal conscionable him, he’s fired for causing an onshore brawl that’d led constabulary to the rig, overmuch to his boss’s dismay. As he’s leaving via chopper, the rig strikes thing — oregon thing strikes the rig — acold beneath the surface.

From there, everything turns to chaos, arsenic bioluminescent tentacles and ample leaves that look similar seaweed statesman covering the full rig. But erstwhile it interacts with humans, it subsumes them, turning into horrific monsters retired of John Carpenter’s The Thing.

McLearly indispensable usage his skills arsenic an electrician to navigate his mode retired of the nautical nightmare. Environmental puzzles — involving turning levers and wheels, putting retired fires, and pushing and pulling successful the close series — marque up the bulk of your time, each the portion the rig is groaning and coming isolated and the screams of turned friends and colleagues echo done the metallic hallways.

The crippled is, astatine times, wonderfully terrifying, and I was impressed by the carnal designs. Friends who you conscionable aboriginal successful the crippled present shriek and loop retired threats and concerns they had portion afloat human, their soma permanently tethered to the increasing alien menace that has taken implicit the rig. (It’s ne'er explained what the menace oregon monster oregon microorganism is, lone that it comes from the sea.) When you’re stuck successful these hallways with the monsters, McLearly tin lone hide, propulsion objects, and sneak past. There’s nary combat and insta-death, which tin beryllium somewhat frustrating. You’re ne'er definite erstwhile oregon wherever a monster volition perceive you, and the crippled seems to person a precise strict, internally accordant thought of however to win successful cat-and-mouse levels.

The crippled is incredibly tactile. Intuitive fastener mapping meant I ever felt embodied successful McLearly, from pulling levers to climbing to sliding down ladders. The developers person done an fantabulous occupation putting you successful McLearly’s shoes, allowing you to spot his full assemblage arsenic helium climbs and crawls. McLearly unscrews vents, grabs to propulsion himself done acheronian water, slips and slides, cries out, and swears erstwhile trying to instrumentality leaps. Aside from feeling similar I embodied him, McLearly’s reactions to what helium was doing besides seemed similar helium was embodying me: taking a immense leap meant I sometimes swore and, hilariously, recovered McLearly shouting the aforesaid erstwhile helium landed.

As with erstwhile Chinese Room titles, the archetypal orchestral people is bold and large erstwhile you yet perceive it. But dissimilar Everybody’s Gone to the Rapture, wherever Jessica Curry’s people did truthful overmuch to archer that story, here, it’s muted, with fewer waves of euphony rushing in. Much of the ambience comes from the rig collapsing, the dependable of demolition serving arsenic the euphony of annihilation alternatively than a almighty choir. Jason Graves (composer for Supermassive’s fearfulness titles and The Order: 1886) does a bully occupation here, adjacent if it does not unrecorded up to Curry’s work. 

The lipid rig itself is impressively detailed, with its lifelike textures and due signage, aged switch-operated phones, and realistic monitors. While you can’t interact with overmuch of the world, it inactive feels lived in, a spot radical had occupied and made their ain — particularly erstwhile visiting idiosyncratic crew’s quarters.

The level of detail, combined with fantabulous dependable direction, truly made maine consciousness similar I was successful the rig. You volition beryllium forced to treble backmost to areas, and your familiarity volition assistance successful navigating a level: doors and passageways you walked done untouched are present blocked by debris, oregon your person has turned into a giant, tentacled monster. I appreciated the developers’ strict absorption connected 1 circumstantial location, with constricted areas, allowing them to show dilatory demolition successful a mode that was tangible.

Though it doesn’t propulsion the genre anyplace new, Still Wakes the Deep is simply a worthy summation to the fearfulness canon — and further impervious that the large void of the water is thing I privation to avoid.

Still Wakes the Deep launches June 18th connected PS5, Xbox Series X / S, and PC.