There’s something special about a truly isolated horror setting. Nostromo in AlienForward base 31 inches Thingand USG Ishimura in Dead Space. Well, you can add Beira D to the list, as Still Wakes the Deep creates a twisted environment, drenched in seawater, oil and blood. Swapping the picturesque English countryside for an oil rig off the coast of Scotland, The Chinese Room has created an enlightening, tense and often frightening horror experience 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 sprinkled it with a bit of ethereal surrealism. The same deft touch is used here in Still Wakes the Deep, a linear horror experience that’s much more focused and fun.
It’s Christmas 1975 and Caz McCleary is trying to get out of Beir D. There’s some light narration as to why Caz is on board the oil rig and why he tries to leave it, but before he can jump aboard a helicopter to safety. , something happens. There’s a lot of mystery and uncertainty throughout the premise of Still Wakes the Deep, and since it’s a fairly short experience – about 5 hours – we recommend going in as blind as possible. But there won’t be any big spoilers here.
The first thing that strikes you about Still Wakes the Deep is how it captures its environment with pinpoint accuracy, both through its near-flawless photorealistic presentation and incredibly authentic voice work. When you start the game, you will have the opportunity to explore the small cabins of your collaborators, and here we get a snapshot of the time and characters in the most natural way. From the posters on the walls to the ruffled sheets, you can immediately feel the inhabited nature of Beira D, and you can practically feel the mustiness of its tartan carpets and the pain of the salty air through each of its corridors. . Honestly, we’d like a non-horror version of this platformer so we can explore at our own leisure and consider every detail. The Chinese Room spent a lot of time making sure Beria D was believable.
It goes hand in hand with horror. Still Wakes the Deep will show you a rough thing or two during its run, but a lot of the horror is in what you hear and what you think is in front of you. Delving deeper into Beira D is a daunting task before including all the scary things that go bump in the night. The rig has an oppressive sense of claustrophobia that will keep you on edge until the first drop of blood is spilled.
You’ll also notice how unapologetically Scottish the game is with its authentic and natural-sounding accents that aren’t often seen in games. With some of the team members here at Push Square Hailing from the Bonnie Lands – and even from near the city some of the main characters come from – it’s exciting to hear the natural Scottish dialect without ever being pushed down to the level of Braveheart as it usually is. It’s a brilliant touch of authenticity that goes a long way to selling the setting.
When Still Wakes the Deep begins to lean into strange, here you might be surprised how hard The Chinese Room channels pure horror. It’s packed to the brim with nail-biting sequences, mushy body horror, and sound design that could do a lot of the heavy lifting on its own if needed. Our minds are immediately drawn back to the classic horror films we mentioned as we walked through the corridors of Beira D, not only through the game’s aesthetics, but also through the pace that The Chinese Room breaks. However, this is where we suspect the players will be divided.
Chinese Room’s previous games have often been derogatorily referred to as “walking simulators”, and in many ways the same could be true for Still Wakes the Deep. Admittedly, things are a bit trickier than what you’d find in, say, Dear Esther, as you’ll be climbing walls, hopping ledges, and even double-jumping. However, this is a strictly linear experience with a lot of yellow clearly indicating where you should go at most points in the game – there’s even an update coming to reduce the yellow. Gameplay never replaces a focus on story and setting, but we’d argue that we’d rather The Chinese Room focus on what it does best than impose tedious gameplay mechanics.
That being said, the stealth sections are the weakest part of the game, as after a few encounters like this the limited room for error becomes apparent and the horror loses some of its sting. It’s pretty hard to die in Still Wakes the Deep, so if you think about it too much, you’ll start to see tracks that lead you forward. However, it is never boring, and while stealth may be mechanically banal, narratively there’s always something to fear. This is also where visual and immersive features come into play.
First off, the sound design is spectacular. Whether it’s the creaking hull of the Beira D, the constant flashing of rain, or even the haunting screams from afar, there’s a palpable sense of place and danger at every turn. Even the soundtrack masterfully balances when to stay quiet and when to come in with its eerie sense of dread. This is really one of those games that you should play with headphones.
There’s also a selection of game settings to customize 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 over a higher resolution, but Still Wakes the Deep is still a fantastic looking game. It also runs well for the most part, with the only hiccup in our experience being the odd framerate stutter between cutscenes and gameplay. Disappointingly, though, the game features cut-to-black loading screens between each area, which, while short thanks to the PS5, chip away at immersion.
Fortunately, you’ll forget about most of these technical hiccups when you’re introduced to the next build. As we mentioned before, the game isn’t as engaging as something like Alien Isolation, but combined with the visuals and audio, it still keeps you on the edge of your seat a lot. The chases and some of the underwater sequences are incredibly effective, and there are a few moments that make you want to hit that DualSense when the game pushes you hard.
It also has that classic horror feel of “oh please don’t make me go down there” which is exactly what we love about the horror genre. Whether it’s the oil-filled bowels of a rig or the direction of some haunting howls and massive rumbles, The China Room never quite lets up once the tension starts to rise, always keeping things visually fresh as Beira D morphs around you. — again mixing the mundane with the unreal.
Conclusion
Still Wakes The Deep may not last long, but it will hold you tight throughout its run. There is clear inspiration from classic horror films such as Alien and Thingand we loved seeing those inspirations play out through the highly detailed settings and salt-of-the-earth cast of characters. It may not be the most engaging gaming experience on PS5, but The Chinese Room cleverly lays a solid foundation in Beira D and his crew of staff that will keep its visceral horror on your mind long after the credits roll.