Still Wakes the Deep Review – Troubleshooting

With the likes of Dear Esther, Everybody’s Gone to the Rapture, and Amnesia: A Machine for Pigs in its locker, British studio The Chinese Room is obviously no stranger to horror (or horror-adjacent) games, and given the fact that the studio has done a solid job with each of those games, expectations are bound to be high anytime it returns to that genre or that particular style of game. Still Wakes the Deep, The Chinese Room’s newest game, is very much part of that lineage- a first-person narrative-driven horror adventure game that’s light on gameplay and mechanics, and heavy on story and storytelling. And though it doesn’t reinvent or revolutionize the genre by any stretch of the imagination, for those looking for a solid walking sim, or a solid horror story, there’s quite a bit to like here.

Still Wakes the Deep is set in the year 1975, and has you playing as Caz McLeary, a Scottish electrician who has chosen to run away from troubles in his personal life by taking a job that’s put him on an oil rig in the middle of the North Sea. Wracked by violent storms and ridden with mechanical issues and equipment failures of all kinds, the oil rig isn’t an entirely hospitable home for the crew that works it, though that turns out to be the least of everybody’s issues.

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"Still Wakes the Deep doesn’t reinvent or revolutionize the genre by any stretch of the imagination, but for those looking for a solid walking sim, or a solid horror story, there’s quite a bit to like here."

After you spend the game’s opening minutes getting familiar with protagonist Caz, the problems he has in his life, and the people that he works alongside aboard the rig, Still Wakes the Deep quickly thrusts you into the meat and potatoes of its story. A drilling accident rocks the rig, damaging significant parts of an already creaking structure, while what follows after the accident is even deadlier- an otherworldly, nightmarish presence that seems to have started taking over the rig not just by sending strange, giant tendrils crashing through the structure, but also by slowly possessing members of its crew one by one, turning them into horrific monstrosities.

Now, it falls to Caz to unravel the mysteries of what exactly has gone wrong aboard the oil rig, but more importantly than that, try and find a way back home, all while avoiding the clutches of the horrors that stalk the rig’s halls and chase him through it. It’s a strong core premise, thanks in large part to the fact that, right off the bat, a failing oil rig out in the middle of nowhere is an incredible setting for a horror story. Still Wakes the Deep makes good use of it as well, using its tight, claustrophobic corridors to great effect with its decaying nature and how isolated it is to create genuine stakes and tension.

It does not, however, go one step above that into actual horror territory- at least not in any meaningful way that stands out in memory. Still Wakes the Deep certainly has a few moments and sections where it’s legitimately unsettling, but if you’re hoping for the game to outright scare or terrify you, it might come across as a bit of a letdown. What’s particularly disappointing is that the game actually does have a few gameplay sections that seem conceptually ripe for memorable scares, where the game tells you that you’re being chased or stalked by things that you need to avoid and stay hidden away from while finding your way out. These sections, however, often tend to fall flat, thanks in large part to an almost complete lack of challenge. I realize that difficulty and mechanical complexity aren’t necessarily things that you should be expecting from story-driven adventure games, but what’s even the point of having gameplay sections that implicitly promise something along those lines if you don’t intend to follow through?

"Still Wakes the Deep makes good use of its setting, using its tight, claustrophobic corridors to great effect with its decaying nature and how isolated it is to create genuine stakes and tension. It does not, however, go one step above that into actual horror territory- at least not in any meaningful way that stands out in memory."

Rather than making good on its conceptual horror potential, Still Wakes the Deep’s bigger strengths lie in the atmosphere that it creates, as well as its cast of characters. The latter in particular is propped up by strong writing and voice overs, with protagonist Caz McLeary in particular being one of the cast’s more compelling members. The overall lack of true scares is definitely a bit of a disappointment, but across its runtime of about 5 or so hours, the game does nonetheless do a decent enough job of keeping you invested in its story.

It’s a good thing it does, too, because beyond the story, Still Wakes the Deep doesn’t have an awful lot to offer, which, of course, is to be expected from narrative-driven adventure games. This is an experience that’s light on gameplay, with the bulk of its interactivity being limited to walking through its environments, engaging in some light stealth sections and environmental puzzle solving, and taking the rare chance that you get to explore branching paths and rooms for additional bits and pieces of story. If you’ve played a walking sim in the last decade or so, you’re going to have a pretty good idea of what to expect from Still Wakes the Deep in the gameplay department.

Still, in spite of its simplicity and straightforward nature, I wouldn’t say Still Wakes the Deep is not fun to play. There’s the obvious fact that the biggest draw here is obviously the story, and the story, as I mentioned, is engaging enough to keep you going even through some of the game’s less mechanically interesting sections. Beyond that, however, from a pure mechanics perspective, Still Wakes the Deep deserves credit for having you engaging with well-crafted environmental puzzle solving and navigation puzzles at a steady pace, so that there is, at the very least, always a feeling of constant forward momentum.

"Still Wakes the Deep may not be The Chinese Room’s crowning achievement by any means, but it’s certainly another solid notch on the studio’s belt nonetheless."

That’s also down to the strong design of the environments, especially from a visual perspective. Right from the game’s opening sections, where you’ll be admiring the attention to detail and crispness of visual quality when walking through the rig’s fairly ordinary looking interior and exterior environments, to the later sections, where you’re walking through rain, wading through flooded corridors, slowly creeping through vents, or feasting your eyes on some of the more otherworldly sights that you get to see later on in the game (which I obviously won’t be spoiling here)- Still Wakes the Deep has a clear sense of strong environment design, something that it backs up with similar strengths in art design and how impressive the graphics look from a technical perspective.

Still Wakes the Deep is, ultimately, unlikely to make a believer out of you if you’ve never been one for walking sims, or whatever it is you choose to call that brand of adventure games. Straightforward design and pared back mechanics make for what is, from a gameplay perspective, a serviceably yet unremarkable experience, while from a narrative perspective, the game fares significantly better. Even if it does let itself down in the horror department in several ways, it’s still compelling enough to push you all the way to the credits. Still Wakes the Deep may not be The Chinese Room’s crowning achievement by any means, but it’s certainly another solid notch on the studio’s belt nonetheless.

This game was reviewed on the PlayStation 5.