The aren’t many games that unflinchingly use the C-word. So, as soon as it was dropped in the Still Wakes the Deep Gamescom 2023 gameplay demo, I knew this was going to be my kind of game. Not because I’m some sort of swearing connoisseur, but because I knew, once again, British developer The Chinese Room is doing things its way. It’s doing something a bit different. Also, I’m Irish and we do love a good swear.
Its latest title is set in the ‘70s on an oil rig off the coast of Scotland. It’s an out-of-the-box concept from the studio behind Dear Esther and Amnesia: Machine for Pigs, but after watching the gameplay demo for Still Wakes the Deep, I am sufficiently hyped. In fact, it’s been my highlight of the whole show.
Authentic atmosphere
Still Wakes the Deep sees you playing as Caz, a guy who seems to have a bit of a troubled past and has escaped to an oil rig off the Northern Coast of Scotland to get away from it all. But, of course, Caz’s time on this particular oil rig will make run-ins with the police and an upcoming divorce seem like a walk in the park.
What The Chinese Room does best is lull you into a false sense of security. It presents you with beautifully detailed and authentic environments, before gradually increasing the sense of unease until you find yourself well and truly shaking in your boots.
Still Wakes the Deep appears to follow suit. The first-person game demo opens with Caz in his rig cabin. While the footage I saw is from early in development, I was still blown away by the environmental detail. From the tartan carpet to the wall paneling, Caz’s cabin looks authentically like ‘70s Scottish decor, while his table of clutter makes the room feel lived in. I could almost smell it: must and wool. Seems Caz and my grandad have the same interior designer. Likewise, the living quarters of the rig have this similar look and feel, while tattered lights and tinsel indicate these folk are spending Christmas out at sea.
It’s the characters themselves, however, that feel the most authentic. That’s not because of the liberal use of swear words, but instead because of how each worker uses their own regional slang. Whether it’s the abrasive, sturdy lady fixing the lights, and speaking what sounded like Doric at times (a native Scottish language) or the English Northerner who said phrases I frankly was a bit puzzled by, these characters feel realistic without becoming caricatures.
Slow-burn nautical horror
I know this doesn’t sound like a horror game so far, but that’s part of the developer’s plan. It wants you to form relationships with your fellow crew members because no doubt some very bad things will happen to them later, and being connected with them emotionally will make those moments hit harder.
And things do change for the worse in Still Wakes the Deep. Working on an oil rig is dangerous enough, but the crew has also drilled too deep into the sea, unleashing something sinister that will hunt them down–something you can’t physically fight.
The footage jumps to later in the game and I see Caz trying to evade something in the lower decks of the rig. Whatever it is makes sinister sounds as it climbs around the pipes Caz is squeezing through, a predator stalking its prey. It seems night and day from the chill cabin exploration shown earlier in the demo, and it’s only the tip of the iceberg, as the rig is slowly sinking too.
Jade Jacson, a senior game designer at The Chinese Room explains that, compared to previous games from the developer, this one has more active gameplay that is “dangerous” but not “punishing.” In other words, expect to feel vulnerable.
Still Wakes the Deep is what the studio thought you would get if you merged the films Annihilation and Poseidon Adventure, and the result so far seems to be an authentic, narrative-driven horror, that values storytelling as much as it does scares. I cannot wait to get my hands on it.
