GamesHorrorStill Wakes the DeepI played Still Wakes the Deep and it feels like Outlast with a Lovecraftian twist, all set on an oil rig that’s trying to kill meWhen you purchase through links on our site, we may earn an affiliate commission.Here’s how it works.
GamesHorrorStill Wakes the DeepI played Still Wakes the Deep and it feels like Outlast with a Lovecraftian twist, all set on an oil rig that’s trying to kill meWhen you purchase through links on our site, we may earn an affiliate commission.Here’s how it works.
When you purchase through links on our site, we may earn an affiliate commission.Here’s how it works.
(Image credit: The Chinese Room)
I know I’ve been hiding in the same locker for far too long, but the choked guttural ramblings of an unseen horror still sound way too close for comfort. It’s the first time during my two-hour hands-on session with Still Wakes the Deep that I’ve had to employ these Alien: Isolation or Outlast-like tactics against a patrolling enemy. Still, the oppressive isolation of its setting on an oil rig makes the game feel plenty terrifying on its own, even without physical foes. With no weapon in hand, nothing to throw as a diversion, and the ominous directional cues of bubbled, burned film stock still edging one corner of the screen to indicate an enemy’s presence, I steel my nerves and force myself to press on.
Summer Games PreviewWe are diving deep into the hottest upcoming games out of Summer Game Fest. To find all of our coverage, visitGamesRadar’s What’s Hot 2024 hub.
Summer Games PreviewWe are diving deep into the hottest upcoming games out of Summer Game Fest. To find all of our coverage, visitGamesRadar’s What’s Hot 2024 hub.
Summer Games PreviewWe are diving deep into the hottest upcoming games out of Summer Game Fest. To find all of our coverage, visitGamesRadar’s What’s Hot 2024 hub.
Summer Games PreviewWe are diving deep into the hottest upcoming games out of Summer Game Fest. To find all of our coverage, visitGamesRadar’s What’s Hot 2024 hub.
Summer Games PreviewWe are diving deep into the hottest upcoming games out of Summer Game Fest. To find all of our coverage, visitGamesRadar’s What’s Hot 2024 hub.
Summer Games PreviewWe are diving deep into the hottest upcoming games out of Summer Game Fest. To find all of our coverage, visitGamesRadar’s What’s Hot 2024 hub.
Death, stranded
(Image credit: Secret Mode)
Everyman for himself
(Image credit: The Chinese Room)
Still Wakes the Deep’s first-person perspective aids the immersion, letting me delve into the lives of Caz and his colleagues – fellow “merchant marines” sent away for months on end – as I pick through their personal cabins. Examining items in a point-and-click manner adds further grounding in the political, social, and economical realities of the workers' lives back home on mainland Scotland. “It’s a time when there were less safety nets in place,” says McLachlan. “There’s no satellite phones, no GPS, no radio communications. So we wanted it to feel like a more dangerous [twist on the] Wild West.”
(Image credit: Secret Mode)
Before we even talk about the entity that has taken over the oil rig, Caz has to maneuver yet more traversal and platforming puzzles to reach the engineering department. Flames engulf part of the vessel to block my path, the rough sea having torn chunks out of alternate routes. The mechanical groan of metal jars against the angry ocean spray as I leap and climb to my destination, and that juxtaposition of nature versus man-made entity is a deliberate one, according to audio director Daan Hendricks.
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The horror! The horror!
(Image credit: Secret Mode)
I’m not allowed to talk much about what these “creatures” are, exactly – nor am I entirely sure of it myself. But as Caz finds a head-mounted flashlight amid the detritus of the engineering department, and as he opens a door to a dimly lit, partially flooded room of water tanks, I hear it before I see it. Hence why I’ve been hiding in this locker for quite some time, praying the enemy leaves me alone long enough to warrant me sneaking away.
But it doesn’t budge. Maybe the creature is programmed to stay put without attacking to teach me to push past my fears? Perhaps it’s a simple case of coding whoopsie that’s giving the enemy AI razor-sharp detection skills? Or maybe it’s because Caz keeps muttering panickedly to himself and potentially giving his location away, which is both hilariously naturalistic and has me shouting at him toshut up, please. Any of these instances could be the culprit behind the monster’s omnipresence, but in the end I dare to drag myself out of that locker and into some very unpleasant-looking, oil-slicked water – which I still think might be a nefarious entity in itself.
(Image credit: Secret Mode)
McLachlan nods in agreement, describing the game’s approach as taking the “purposeful obscurity” tack. But fear isn’t only in the unseen, according to tech director Louis Larsson-De Wet: “It’s also in the mundane. The fear is coming from just the environment of being in a rig, – the height, the water, the cold, the dark, all of the basic things.”
And that’s just it. Still Wakes the Deep effectively applies its brand of creeping, unseen horror to put me in a permanent state of alarm. I’m doubtful and distrusting of everyone and everything on this oil rig, and aside from a few object collision issues that saw limbs going through shipping container walls or a thrown spanner getting stuck on a metal cage, Still Wakes the Deep is already a thrilling, immersive narrative horror game that just needs a lick of polish here and there ahead of its June 18 release date. See you in the lockers then.
There are a wealth ofupcoming horror gamesto keep track of this year, from Still Wakes the Deep to the Silent Hill 2 remake.
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