Summary
- Still Wakes The Deep is a masterclass in game narrative, blending survival horror with incisive storytelling and well-developed characters.
- Engaging monsters and intense stealth sections reminiscent of Alien: Isolation make this a harrowing experience worth experiencing.
- The game's minimal interactivity may not appeal to everyone, but its well-paced narrative and fantastic performances shine through.
Many of my favourite games fall under the loose genre of “a guy has a really bad day”. Dead Space puts Isaac Clarke in a series of alien-infested spaceships, Uncharted has Nathan Drake falling off everything, and Left 4 Dead has more plane cr🍨ashes and broken-down cars than zombies.
168澳洲幸运5开奖网:Still Wakes The Deep falls firmly into this category, with an oil rig rapidly falling into the sea. It’s got the gore, it’s got the explosi⭕ons, it’s got the swearing, it’s got the monsters. But this isn’t just a mindless survival horror hoping to step on Dead Space’s coattails – it’s an incisive masterclass in game narrative you owe it to yourself to experience.
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Set in 1975, Still Wakes The Deep ꦿputs you in the rubber wellies of Caz, a man fleeing his chaotic home life to work aboard the Beira, an oil rig in the North Sea. Before you know it, things go a bit Dead Space-meets-the-Poseidon Adventure, as the rig begins to sink and mutat﷽ed crew mates try to tear apart anyone still living.
Still Wakes The Deep shares a lot in common with The Chinese Room’s last major game, the superb 168澳洲幸运5开奖网:Everybody’s Gone To The Rapture. They’re both deeply voyeuristic experiences that ha🍃ve you pꦐry into the histories of every character you encounter, using a sense of British nostalgia to contrast with the horror of what’s happening.
A poster of Barnsley F.C., a prim and proper shipping forecast announcement, a crew bunk done up with the 🌳tackiest decorations the 70s had to offer; these all help build the Beira up tജo feel like a real environment full of people worth caring about before things go to hell.
I🌳t’s a game about ego,💫 class, masculinity, violence, religion, and isolation, but it never feels overstuffed or at odds with the survival at its core.
Above all else, it's the characters that really make Still Wakes The Deep. Realistically written and performed by a fantastic cast that includes big names like Neve McIntosh and Shaun Dooley. The crew are more than just bags of meat that fall victim to monsters. Otherwise throwaway personalities have depth to them too – especially if you take the time to snoop in their bunks and have a mooch.
Tꦡhe monsters you encounter are engaging beyond pure spectacle (which, don’t get me wrong, is grotesquely impressive). They could’ve so easily been nothing more than spooky creatures to run away from, but I found myself hiding in vents just so I could listen to them mutter and mumble to themselves as they paced around. I wanted to understand them better, in the same way I’d connected wi❀th the crew just a few hours earlier.
In a few choice moments, Still Wake🎃s The Deep manages to channel the likes of Alien:🎃 Isolation and Amnesia in the intensity of its stealth sections. Tucked away in an air vent as an enemy slithers by inches away from you is a thrill.
Much like Everybody’s Gone to The Rapture, Still Wakes The Deep is a minimally interactive “walking simulator”. It isn’t quite a traipse through rural Shropshire, as the tighter confine🍌s of the Beira and its more immediate threat of disembowelment do force you into light stealth and rudimentary platforming here and there, but for the most part, you’ll be walking from objective to objective and having the story unfold before you.
For plenty of people, this is going to be an immediate turn-off. It’s a short game, taking me just over four hours to finish, and you don’t do a whole lot. The most interactive element is being able to pick up and throw objects to distract the monsters. There’s a lot of climbing up 168澳洲幸运5开奖网:yellow-painted ledges and turning yellow-p🌞ainted bulkhead handwheels and, while the game isn’t long enough for this to outstay its welcome, it manages to simultaneously feel like not enough ‘gaminess’ for some, and too much for everyone else.
St🍒ill Wakes The Deep is The Chinese Room’s story crafting at its best. It’s a g💧ame you’ll want to go through a few times just to fully digest, as each character, each line of dialogue, and each new environment manages to pull closer together the game’s themes with expert execution. It’s a game about ego, class, masculinity, violence, religion, and isolation, but it never feels overstuffed or at odds with the survival at its core. Long after I’ve put it down, I’m finding new angles to perceive it from and reevaluating my time aboard the Beira.
This is The Chinese Room’s best game yet. It has the bombastic set pieces, unflinching gore, and intense stealth sequences that make it a harrowing experience that deserves to stand alongside other games about guys having really b🉐ad days. But it also offers a well-paced, meaty narrative with excellent performances that I’m going to be chewing on for months to come.
168澳洲幸运5开奖网: Still Wakes the Deep
Reviewed On PC
- Top Critic Avg: 77/100 Critics Rec: 68%
- Released
- June 18, 2024
- ESRB
- M For Mature 17+ Due To Inte🀅nse Violence, Blood and Gore, Sexual Themes, Use oꦜf Tobacco, Strong Language
- Developer(s)
- The Chinese Roo🐽m
- Publisher(s)
- ✱♎ Secret Mode
Still Wakes the Deep is a psychological horror game from The Chinese Room. You have to escape the collapsing Beira D oil rig, all while deali𒈔ng with a terrifying supernatu✃ral entity.
- Incredible, layered story
- Fantastic cast of characters
- Some of the coolest monsters I've seen in a long time
- The lack of interactivity will put some off, even though it shouldn't
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