Still Wakes The Deep: Horror Out On The North Sea.

Racula
Jun 23
6 min read

Are you looking for a horror game that will knock your socks off and keep you on the edge of your seat until the final credits roll? Well, you are in luck. Still Wake the deep is a magnificent game with outstanding graphics and textures that bring out the nostalgia of the early 70’s and the brilliant use of the Scottish language with dialogue that doesn't seem forced or Unnatural and an unforgettable setting, there is little to dislike about this game.

The story

At the start of the game, we are introduced to the character of Caz, who is the character that the player will be controlling. The game is set in the December of 1975 and starts with a cutscene as the voice of Suze narrates a letter that she has sent to Caz, from this letter we can tell he is the husband of an off-screen character called Suze and also a father to unnamed children. He also got himself into some “mess” and is trying to run away from it.

After the first 5 to 10 minutes of gameplay after exploring part of the accommodation and cafeteria, the main character Caz gets called to speak to the boss of the rig, after exploring the outside portion of the rig, helping and talking to the other workers you get to the boss’ office where after a heated chat Caz gets fired. During the heated conversation, the boss gets a phone call where we as the player can start to see the main story emerge as we hear the boss talking to someone who works at the drill on the rig. We hear how something isn't right and how “something feels off” about the drill. After getting fired we are pushed out of the boss’ office and have no option but to go to the helicopter and to leave the rig.

Whilst approaching the helicopter the drill explodes and we see a character fall off of the helipad, Caz runs over to try and save him but because of another explosion Caz and the worker both fall into the sea.

During this part of the story I forgot that the game was a horror game as it seemed calming as if it was leading the player into a false sense of security. The first explosion caught me off guard, shocking me as I saw the character fall and the second explosion had me in awe as you can see Caz fall into the sea from the first-person point of view.

From this point forward the story starts to take a terrifying turn as Caz wakes up onboard the rig. Realising he is safe, he walks out of the room that he was in and discovers someone in the submarine bellowing a painful scream. From this point in the game, we as the player get a series of phone calls throughout the game, that give us small pieces of information on what the monster is and also by talking to the manager we are advised on how to escape.

Now I won't go on too much about the story as in my opinion, this is an amazing game that you should experience without any spoilers.

The gameplay of Still Wakes The Deep

Before starting the game you are given the choice of game mode, you can choose from standard and story mode. Standard is the recommended mode of the game as it is described as a “balance of challenge and story” where the player has to “use caution or speed to survive”, Story Mode is more for the players who want to experience the story with a “reduced fear of death”. You will be able to switch game modes anytime throughout the game.

You are given the choice to enable hints and prompts that can help you navigate through the game easier.

After leaving the accommodation and going outside before getting to the boss's office it feels like you have to complete a mini puzzle just to get over to the other side of the rig, i feel like this is amazing attention to detail as a rig that has been lived on will be messy with pathway seeing blocked off by people working on fixing broken grates, The use of hidden loading screens when opening doors, squeezing through tight areas and during cutscenes adds a smoothness to the game that most games nowadays lack.

As you progress further in the game, the puzzles and challenges get harder as you will need to complete what feels like a maze most of the time and in the later game, these “mazes” will also have monsters in them that will track you down. I personally found some of these challenges difficult and it did take me multiple tries to complete a few of the objectives. During these challenges, the controls do start to feel a little clunky as there is a lot of running and crouching needed to be done and when you are trying to switch from crouching under a desk to sprinting down a narrow hallway, I personally felt like the game couldn't keep up with my controller inputs, but this is only my opinion and it could have been something wrong on my end so please do not let this opinion change if you are going to play the game or not.

Graphics and audio

From the start of the game, the graphics for Still Wakes The Deep look phenomenal. From the perfect use of fog and smoke to the nostalgic implementation of film grain to give the visuals of the game that 70’s film aesthetic, but if the film grain isn't for you or the motion blur is hurting your eyes you can easily change the setting to your own preference. The game also has a quality preset setting where you can choose from quality mode or performance mode; in the quality mode you are given the best quality of graphics that your system can handle but this does come with a reduced amount of frames per second, alternatively, you can choose the performance mode that will make your game run as smooth as possible but it does come at the cost of the graphics not being the highest quality.

For the audio, the majestic voice acting brings a personality to this game that is unmatched. The use of the ambient creeks of the rig and the awful screams of the monsters mixed with the voice of the person who they once were is just the horrifying cherry on top for this magnificent game

Controls and accessibility

The game has 13 languages to choose from including English, French, German and Chinese. The game also has the ability to enable subtitles and gives the player the ability to modify the size, colour, opacity and speed of the subtitles, these settings are given to you at the beginning of the game and they can also be changed throughout the entirety of the game.

Achievements and easter eggs

For achievements they mainly follow the story. For example, the first achievement that I got was “ALL BEANS AND FORGIVENESS” which was rewarded just for making it to the canteen and talking to Roy which is a needed thing to do to progress in the game, on Xbox most achievements are hidden to avoid spoilers and even after completing my first playthrough of the game I still had several hidden achievements left to unlock. So if you are a completionist, I'd advise you to unhide the hidden achievements after your first playthrough so you can 100% the game. Still Wakes The Deep has 37 achievements in total, and through my first playthrough, I found out that you can at least roughly unlock 21 achievements without looking at how to get them. The game also comes with some quirky achievements that also add a fun challenge to the game for example, the achievement “Walking simulator” which entails the player complete the game without sprinting for more than 10 total minutes, I have yet to complete this achievement as I lack the patience.

Final thoughts

As a massive fan of horror games, Still Wakes The Deep feels like an inspired take on the first-person horror formula. I really enjoyed the time that I took to play this game, the unforgettable ambience causing me to sit at the edge of my seat mixed with jumpscares, that haunted me throughout my playthrough. This game is not one to skip, this game is one to add to your collection.

Thank you to everyone who took time out of their day to take a moment to read this review, your support is always appreciated and means a lot to us.

Still Wakes The Deep is available to play on:

Steam

Playstation 5

Xbox Series X/S

XPN Rating 4 out 5