In a crowded genre, Still Wakes the Deep stands out not only as a horror title, but one of the best games I’ve played this year.
For this review, I played Still Wakes the Deep on the PlayStation 5 in Story Mode.
Set in 1975 on an oil rig off the coast of Scotland, players enter the game as Caz, an oil rig worker whose life is about to fall apart just before Christmas. Then an eldritch horror appears and makes things worse!
Still Wakes the Deep
Developer: The Chinese Room
Platform: PlayStation 5, Xbox Series X and Series S, Microsoft Windows
Release Date: June 18, 2024
The horror element in Still Wakes the Deep is an interesting one, in that a lot of it revolves around what the player doesn’t see; rather what they hear instead. And oh the things you hear in this game! I’ve said for years that a game’s soundtrack can make or break the experience. Still Wakes the Deep proves that’s exactly the case. The visuals of creeping through a half-destroyed oil rig are scary enough; but combined with the ominous music created by Jason Graves, it’s almost unbearable at times. Throw in some terrifying background noises and you’re in for one heck of an experience (I do not recommend playing this game in the dark).
The developers of Still Wakes the Deep really need to be commended for the number of accessibility features they’ve put into the game. Not only is there a Story mode (for those like me who are scared of dying too many times), there’s also a number of settings designed to make the game as relatively easy as possible.
For instance, one of the features lets the player toggle a setting to show onscreen which button needs to be pushed for a given action when it comes up. For players who struggle to keep the many commands in a game straight, this can be a lifesaver. Though, I can guarantee the mechanic to “look behind you” will have your hair standing on end before the game is over.
Speaking of unsettling game mechanics, there’s one issue I need to discuss and it has everything to do with the aforementioned game mechanic. As some of you know, I’m on the autistic spectrum, and that means (for the most part) that my brain interprets and processes information differently from non-autistic people. ‘ve played enough horror games to know that if a “look behind you” button is introduced, that means the player is going to need to use it and soon. Which is anxiety inducing in the worst way possible.
I worry about how this mechanic will affect neurodivergent people like myself, as my anxiety and paranoia rose to almost unbearable levels the moment it was introduced into the game. The fact it was introduced almost simultaneously with a “Hide” mechanic didn’t help either.
Now, I’m aware that horror games by their nature are meant to contain surprises and scares but there’s something about the “Look Behind You” mechanic that almost takes it too far, not least because it’s never quite clear when you should use it. That’s probably by design but, again, I worry how it will affect those whose brains are wired like mine.
There’s another detail I want to discuss, though I’m honestly not sure if it’s a flaw or not. As I played through the opening part of the game, it hit me that areas were difficult to navigate. That is, I frequently found myself backtracking to find the correct way from point A to point B. It was frustrating at the beginning before the scary stuff started happening, but it got even worse once the chaos begins. That’s why I’m not sure if this is a flaw or not, it could be the game developers wanted the pathways to be confusing, to add to the stress of getting through an area. If that was the plan, then they definitely succeeded.
There is one issue that proved an obstacle too far for me at least. This is a minor spoiler, but the game has a thing where if you get too close to whatever “weird” thing is happening to the oil rig, your vision literally becomes distorted, almost looks like a film strip glitching out. I understand what the developers were going for but I wish the accessibility features included the option to turn it off because it ended up affecting me very badly (similar to an issue I had with Hellblade: Senua’s Sacrifice), to the point that I had to stop playing. I’m sure this won’t affect everyone, but those who can get affected by visual stimuli should be aware of this aspect of the gameplay.
If you can get past those issues, you’re in for an unforgettable experience. I don’t often play first-person POV games, but when it came to the first time I had to venture into a dark corridor, I instantly realized why the developers had chosen that route. You, the player, are being plunged headlong into a nightmare and you have to experience every bit of it. It’s wild how quickly the environment goes from normal to “what the heck is happening?”
In conclusion, while Still Wakes the Deep does have a few problematic issues that might make gameplay difficult for some, it is unquestionably a brilliant horror game at it’s heart and is easily one of the best horror games to come out this year.
