There’s something special about a truly isolated horror setting. The Nostromo in Extraterrestrialoutpost 31 in The thing, and USG Ishimura in Dead Space. Well, you can add Beira D to the list because Still Wakes the Deep creates a distorted setting, dripping with seawater, oil and blood. Replacing the picturesque English countryside with an oil rig off the coast of Scotland, The Chinese Room has produced a taught, tense and often terrifying horror experience that is not to be missed.
The Chinese Room has always been a master of the mundane – and we mean that as a compliment. 2015’s Everybody’s Gone to the Rapture expertly captured a perfectly normal village and doused it with a bit of ethereal surrealism. That same deft touch is applied here in Still Wakes the Deep, a much more focused and all the more entertaining linear horror experience.
It’s Christmas 1975 and Caz McCleary is trying to get off the Beira D. There is a slight narrative mystery as to why Caz is on board the platform and why he is trying to leave it, but before he can jump to board a helicopter to safety. , something arrived. There’s a lot of mystery and uncertainty throughout the premise of Still Wakes the Deep, and since it’s a fairly short experience – around 5 hours – we recommend going in as blindly as possible. There won’t be any major spoilers here, though.
The first thing that will strike you about Still Wakes the Deep is how it captures its setting with pinpoint accuracy, both through its near-pristine photorealistic presentation and its incredibly authentic voice work. At the start of the game you will have the opportunity to explore the small cabins of your colleagues, and here we get an overview of the time period and the characters, in the most naturalistic way. From the posters on the wall to the ruffled sheets, you can immediately feel the lived-in character of Beira D, and you can practically smell the mustiness of its tartan carpets and the sensation of the salt air in each of its corridors. . Honestly, we’d like a horror-free version of this platform so we can just explore at our leisure, taking in every detail. The Chinese room spent a lot of time making sure that Beria D was credible.
It also works hand in hand with horror. Still Wakes the Deep has one or two horrifying things to show you during its runtime, but much of the horror is in what you hear and what you assume is in front of you. Diving deeper into Beira D is a daunting task before including all the spooky things that go bump in the night. The platforming exudes an oppressive feeling of claustrophobia that will keep you in suspense before the first drop of blood is spilled.
You’ll also notice how decidedly Scottish the game is, with its authentic and natural accents, rarely found in games. With part of the team here at Push square hailing from the Bonnie Lands – and even close to the town where some of the main characters come from – it’s exciting to hear the natural Scottish dialect without it ever being harmonized to Braveheart levels as is usually the case . It’s a brilliant touch of authenticity that goes a long way to selling the decor.
When Still Wakes the Deep begins to look at the weird, This is where you might be surprised at how well The Chinese Room channels pure horror. It’s filled to the brim with nail-biting sequences, pulpy body horror, and audio design that could do the heavy lifting on its own if necessary. Our minds immediately turn to those horror movie classics we mentioned as we make our way through the corridors of Beira D, not only through the aesthetics of the game, but also the pace at which The Chinese Room distributes his fears. It’s here though that we suspect there will be a split between the players.
Previous Chinese Room games have often been derogatorily referred to as “walking simulators”, and in many ways this could also apply to Still Wakes the Deep. Granted, things are a bit more complicated than what you’ll find in, say, Dear Esther, as you’ll be climbing walls, wiggling along ledges, and even doing a jump or two. However, it’s a strictly linear experience, with large amounts of yellow paint clearly indicating where you should go at most points in the game – there’s even an update coming to reduce the yellow paint. Gameplay never replaces a focus on story and setting, but we’d say we prefer The Chinese Room to focus on what it does best, rather than imposing tedious gameplay mechanics.
That being said, the stealth sections are the weakest part of the game, as after a few similar encounters the limited margins for error become blatantly apparent and the horror loses some of its spice. It’s pretty hard to die in Still Wakes the Deep, so if you think about it too much, you’ll start to see the rails that lead you forward. However, it is Never boring, and while the stealth may be mechanically mundane, narratively there’s still something to be afraid of. This is also where visual and immersive features come into play.
On the one hand, the sound design is spectacular. Whether it’s the creaking hull of the Beira D, the constant shimmer of the rain, or even the haunting screams coming from afar, there is a palpable sense of place and danger at every turn. Even the soundtrack masterfully balances when to stay quiet and when to go in with its eerie sense of dread. This is definitely one of those games that you should play with headphones.
There’s also a selection of game settings to personalize your experience, such as controller changes, audio customization, an impressive haptic implementation, and a quality and performance mode option. We opted for a smoother frame rate rather than a higher resolution, but Still Wakes the Deep is still a fantastic game. It also runs well for the most part, with the odd framerate stutter between cutscene and gameplay being the only issue in our experience. Unfortunately, the game includes loading screens cut to black between each area, which, while brief thanks to the PS5, reduces immersion.
Luckily, you’ll forget about most of these technical issues when you’re ushered into the next set piece. As we mentioned, the gameplay isn’t as engaging as something like Alien Isolation, but combined with its visuals and audio, it still does a lot to keep you engaged. The chases and some underwater sequences are incredibly effective, and there are a few moments that will have you clutching that DualSense as the game tightens its grip around you.
It also has that classic horror game feeling of “oh please don’t make me go there”, which is exactly what we love about the horror genre. Whether it’s the oil-filled innards of the rig or the direction of some haunting screams and thuds, The Chinese Room never really lets up once the tension starts to build, and it keeps always keeping things visually fresh as the Beira D transforms around you. – once again mixing the mundane and the surreal.
Conclusion
Still Wakes The Deep may not stick around for long, but it will have a firm grip on you throughout its runtime. There is clear inspiration here from horror film classics such as Extraterrestrial And The thing, and we loved seeing those inspirations manifest through its highly detailed settings and salt-of-the-Earth characters. It may not be the most engaging gaming experience on PS5, but The Chinese Room smartly lays a solid foundation in the Beira D and its group of teams, which will keep its horror viscerally focused in your mind long after the generic.