A great example of how setting a good rhythm that makes you think you are in danger (when in reality you mostly aren't) is sometimes a better approach for a horror game than putting the player in actual, mood-breaking danger. I call it (endearingly) "horror games for chickens", more worried with setting a tone and a theme and conveying them through a story than with jumpscares and difficulty spikes.
Think Annihilation meets The Thing in an offshore platform and you will have a good idea of what this game is about. Despite being pretty linear and scripted, I didn't feel the typical constraint from the terrible ghost-train-games from the awful Bloober Team, for instance -- probably because an oil platform is an amazing, unique setting and you are allowed to move in relative liberty, interacting with characters and places and getting to know a bit of them at your own pace.
I have to say, though, that this was unfortunately where the game kinda lost me: the characters. It asks me to care about them, but in all honesty I don't think we are given enough time or reason to even remember these people. That includes the protagonist, whose development arc comes to completion in a rather anticlimactic manner. This ultimately hurts the game -- some people may find this sort of failing unforgivable. But I, for one, was too entranced by the beautiful abomination that takes the Beira D Oil Rig and the existential dread it unleashes to be bothered.

Megalophobia. Thalassophobia. Claustrophbia. These are three things I am afraid of, and all of them are present in this game. You play Caz McCleary, an oil rig worker. The Scottish oil rig began operations in the mid-1970s. The game starts out just fine, with everything being peachy. You explore your cabin and get a phone call from your boss to report to his office. We also come across a less than pleasant letter from Caz's wife. There are problems back home, and the story only touches on this every so often. 

As you arrive at Rennick's office, you learn about the game's little mechanics. You can grip and hold on to ledges and ladders, press buttons, and break open locks and vents. Outside of interacting with objects, there isn't much gameplay. There aren't even any puzzles here. The stealth sections when you are hiding from monsters and the scripted events are the biggest gameplay elements. The game is well-paced, and I didn't want to put it down. There is a good balance between running around, climbing things, and hiding from monsters. There are primary areas where you can conceal yourself, such as vents, holes, and various containers. To send the monster running in the opposite direction, you can throw objects, and any form of running or walking will alert the monster. These monsters are truly amazing, and the entire entity you encounter is a blob of flesh with twisted faces and limbs protruding everywhere. There are multiple monsters, each with their own unique appearance.

Most of the game has you just going from goal to goal, climbing around on monkey bars, ladders, opening doors, popping vents, flipping switches, and answering phones. A couple of times I had to grab a fire extinguisher, put out a small fire, or turn on a heater to warm up. This experience goes far beyond the typical walking simulator that The Chinese Room is known for. There are numerous ambient sound effects and moments of terror, which extend beyond just the presence of monsters. Being stuck on a crumbling hunk of steel in the middle of the ocean will terrify anyone. At times, the prospect of climbing around on the rig and even swimming in tight spaces during floods can evoke a sense of panic. The lighting effects also help, with your flashlight not reaching the surface of the water and barely lighting up small crawl spaces.

The story, sadly, doesn't really go anywhere. Caz's backstory remains largely unexplored, focusing only on domestic issues, and the presence of side characters is insufficient to pique our interest. Caz has a lot of inner dialogue, but it's mostly just cussing at himself and situations. The game's opening effectively established a potential deeper narrative. The voice-acting is great, and I really wanted more from this game. The game never touches on the origins of this monster and its existence, which I find intriguing. I enjoy games with a lot of scripted events and cinematics, and I don't mind the lack of traditional gameplay. But I need something else for the payoff, and that's usually a story. The visuals are excellent, utilizing Unreal Engine 5 to its fullest potential, but they fall short of making this game something I will remember for a long time or want to revisit. There are no collectibles or ways to explore. This is a very linear game, and you can only go down one path.

Overall, Still Wakes the Deep is fun, but it lasts with a very tense and terrifying atmosphere, from the monsters to the closed-in spaces and lack of hope. The exploration of Caz's backstory falls short, leaving us uncertain about the nature of the monster and its purpose. The stealth sections don't overstay their welcome, but the lack of traditional gameplay may turn a lot of players away. The visuals are fantastic, with lumen lighting effects, great water effects, and creepy sound effects.

This one stings... So the Chinese Room is back...

I'm not new to Chinese Room games, I know their deal, I knew what to expect, I knew not expect steller performance or much actual 'gameplay' I've been on the offending end of the criticism, I've also been a vehement defender of interact experience/narrative at different points... so why did this one hurt me?

It's hard to articulate just how conflicted this game made me feel, far more so than any other title from this studio, it simultaneously made me want to swear them off eternally, and go back and play their entire backlog for a second time...

I'm going to do my best to actually break this game down in a way that I don't normally go into for other games.

Let's start with the obvious, this game released in an inexcusable state: I won't go too deep into my setup but lets just say I have a couple options for current gen games, and all of them had HEAVY issues running this game. It's pretty damn clear that Chinese Room got some kickback from the hardware manufacturers as this game is pushing all that new FSR upscalling bullshit, and it's absolutely dreadful for it. The performance chugged regardless of settings on hardware well beyond the specs for this game, entirely because of garbage optimisation. The bullshit upscalers make the whole thing look disgusting, and for much of the game, the visuals were extremely important. I could easily go on a rant about the hardware-driven graphics inflation of the 4k generation of gaming, but instead I have a question for devs: what the fuck do you think your game actually looks like? because if you think it looks like photorealistic AI upscaled immersive bliss you are out of your gourd, for the vast majority of players it looks like blurry experimental claymation and ITS ENTIRELY YOUR FAULT. You have the power to OPTIMIZE YOUR FUCKING GAME for realistic hardware so that it actually fucking looks good. Art direction is a choice and developers have been making it since before games had what we could even generously call graphics. I've seen games running on osciliscopes with a hand painted clear printout over top just to have art direction... I'll stop ranting now, this game does have some decent art direction, I'm just baffled that a game about walking forward couldn't manage to spend some time optimising performance, how much work could possibly have been in the way, because I know it wasn't the gameplay. Beyond that, the menus are terribly laid out, half the features didn't work consistently, the subtitles kept turning themselves back on which I personally despise, the gamma adjustment fully didn't work on my AMD system and defaulted to all-bright. There was a ton more but none of it game breaking.

By the time it was way too late I realised why they offered a 'story' difficulty, because the gameplay is the same tired 'horror stealth' that was shit in every other conceivable instance. Only this time it's extremely unpolished. Throwing objects was extremely unreliable, it was also visually pathetic, as it resulted in objects litering the floor in EXACTLY THE RIGHT PLACES. There's also some lockers you can hide in but they're never used, like they intended a ton more stealthing around monsters but but it when they realised how shit it was. You end up just crouching from convenient hole to convenient hole while a babbling soma monster 'patrols' above you. I can't comment on horror because (and I know how this sounds) horror never works on me. I don't know if I lack the imagination or the instinct, but fictional threats have zero effect on me, so I won't complain about the monster sections feeling more frustrating than scary because I'm not the judge of that. I will however, judge the underwater sections. Frustrating controls is not what makes people fear drowning. the parts where I got lost underwater were great, that accurately depicts the dangers of swimming in indoor scenarios, but struggling to get the hit detection to grab the stupid yellow painted handhold is not a part of that, and I give it zero credit. The chases worked great, I don't care if they're obviously on rails, they feel fine and that works.

My final complaint was the overall predictability. I guessed the ending in literal minute 16, I actually checked. Obviously there are only so many ways to skin a cat here, but some games need to take the other option, some games need to surprise you so that you don't take for granted that you know how the game will end. It's not just the overabundance of dismal games with bleak endings, but the fact the Chinese Room basically always kills their protag... I'm not even sure that's a spoiler it's so damn predictable. But in the end the narrative of this game did win me, which takes me into some major positives.

I said I was conflicted and I meant it. The narrative is superb. The game brilliantly introduces a world full of real people that I actually care about, (not that I could name half of them, but I'm not British so maybe that's a me problem.) The vocal performances are genuinely top notch and actual writing of characters was extremely successful throughout. characters have arcs, specific strengths and weaknesses, quirks, etc... Most of them aren't just fodder either, all of the monsters are named people that transformed from contact with the entity and all of the babbling speaks to a complex life they had that has been cruely taken from them, all while leaving them vaguely conscious enough to care about losing it. I genuinely teared up at losing my brother-in-law, the dude played his card right and stayed safe, his fucking diabetes is what killed him. My two capable companions were compelling and actually pulled their weight, I almost wish the one engineer lady had been stringing me along to blow the place up from the start, she seemed so unflappable that I almost didn't believe her when she broke in the end. The pieces of Caz's life are excellent and the ending is genuinely heart wrenching. I still think someone could have fucking survived that, in spite of everything that went down I really think Chinese Room needs to take some fucking prozac and give SOMEBODY an actual happy ending, it definitely cheapens the effect when I instantly predict that nobody makes it out. I can't root for people I know are doomed if you don't ever give me reason to hope for anything but a heroic death scene.

The atmosphere was the main reason I even played this game. I REALLY love games set at sea or under water, I have the literal opposite of thalasaphobia and claustrophobia, I love the beautiful isolation and endless wonder of an oil rig, or a submarine and this game did not disappoint. I was grinning through so much of this game. I'm sure I'm fairly alone on that one but I guess the same atmosphere I love has the inverse effect on others, and thus is successful horror... probably. Much as I dissed the graphics as being a crutch for bad art direction... this game actually has pretty damn good art direction. Even on my PS1 graphic settings the game looked pretty damn good at times, which is why I was all the more frustrated at the graphics. The 'entity' it paradoxically beautiful. it's not some lovecraftian horror, it's a glowing red and green crystalline plant. Like some toxic flower, it looks surprisingly innocent, like it really isn't doing anything on purpose, it's just defending itself with a disgusting toxic effect. I'm fairly certain the Chinese room did this deliberately since they had multiple scenes of us watching the thing peacefully, enjoying the glittering spores as we rise from the depths.

I suppose I have to try and come to some conclusion... The Chinese Room aren't new at this, they make walking sims and they're proud of it, they've had issues with graphics and performance in past games and chose to make it worse with this game. They continue to show talent at writing and voice casting but refuse to refine in the basic elements of walking games, they could easily have learned from other exemplars like 'What Remains of Edith Finch' by now and improved. I can no longer forgive their blatant shortcomings and it makes me all the more frustrated by their potential.

I deeply wanted to like this game, but in the end my experience was entirely mixed, with frustrations sounding in my memory as loudly as ellations. I will still be buying and playing the next game from this studio, but this is the last time I will be forgiving the overwhelming issues, if the next one doesn't run smoothly out of the box I'm refunding and moving on with my life.

Chinese Room: I love your work, now actually finish it.

Wish we had more short, sweet, dense on-the-rails experiences like this with minimal collectibles or time-wasters. It is refreshing, and Still Wakes the Deep does it all with excellent voice acting and solid character building behind the protagonist.

Besides that, it really wasn't anything special. Don't expect Amnesia-style puzzles (or any puzzles at all). There is enough gameplay to keep you physically engaged including QTEs, jumping, and very occasionally hiding/luring monsters, but it's clearly far from the focus of the title. It's one of those moments where I wonder "did this need to be a video game/is a video game the best platform for this story?" but in this case I think it was successful enough.

Man this game made me feel something, I think it's brought back my love for story games, the gameplay wasn't anything special and I'm glad it was on game pass for its length but wow.

The setting, voice acting and story hit like a truck, it's not too scary but has that awesome world setting horror.

Great game.

Still Wakes the Deep is a very good game. I really liked it! And I absolutely recommend it. However, it is not perfect. I think it has some big problems that stop this game from truly reaching its fullest potential.

First, the good. Still Wakes the Deep absolutely nails its characters and setting and choking the player in its oil-slick world. Set on an oil rig in the North Sea, off the coast of Aberdeen (the scariest thing about this game), you play as Cameron "Caz" McLeary, a man running from his problems. Speaking as someone who has lived in Scotland their whole life, I have known a Caz. I've known people who I see represented in this game. Hell, one of them has my surname. If you live in Britain and are aware of its history, then there is a lot to unpack in the game's seventies setting.

There's Trots, the proper seventies trade-unionist, working on the rig. A homage to a better time of worker's rights in the UK; the kind of man who voted Labour, back when the party actually had worker's interests at heart. Then there's Addair. He has a Britain First poster in his room, and the symbol of the National Front. He's a racist piece of shit. There's Finlay, the only woman on the rig, and our closest friend it feels. The dynamic between Finlay and Caz is so strong and realistic, I felt right at home. Next is Brodie, a hard worker and dear friend who gives his all. And finally, there's Rennick; the self-interested, unforgiving boss of the rig.

Once shit goes down, the beautifully haunting gore and viscera and... sinews of whatever you have awoken is able to really evoke a sense of terror and helplessness. Just as colossal and incomprehensible is the sheer size of the rig. Standing impossibly in the sea; a towering hunk of metal and concrete, burning gas in the sky. The game's environment artists have really focused on details, and pushed themselves. The game is simply beautiful. Lastly, I also appreciate the game's further representation of Scotland by actually have the game available in Scottish Gaelic (that's gah-lick, not gae-lick). Such an uncommon sight, but greatly appreciated (even if I can only say hello and introduce myself).

Now, the problems. While the beat-by-beat plot is easy enough to follow, and leads to some tense scenes, the overarching narrative is confusing, and a lot is not explained. There's a theme of running away and of regret, featuring flashbacks of Caz and his wife arguing. But that's about as much attention as this plot gets; a few flashbacks. Then it comes back at the end. It just feels underdeveloped. I feel these themes could have taken the stage a bit more, and have actually been elaborated on further. This problem of underdevelopment goes a bit further.

A character who I won't name dies, and it's a very emotional scene, with a moving performance from Caz's actor. But... it just falls a bit flat. The character who dies means a lot to Caz, and so the reaction is justified in that sense. But to the player, we have a few good moments with them, but that's it. We don't really see them again until their death. The game expects you to care for the death of a character you shared all of five minutes with.

Furthermore, Rennick, the big bad, isn't all that big. He is set up in the game's coda as this big threat, and you really start to worry. But his death is so uneventful. You see him about three times in the whole game, and the rest of his presence is through dialogue. I was really expecting a scarier finale with him, but that simply didn't happen. And I guess that's due to the game's walking-sim nature.

While I appreciate walking-sims, I can't help but feel the game could have been improved with some player defence. A better finale could have been done if, for example, we had an Alien: Isolation style flamethrower, or a deterrent of that nature. We could actually fend off Rennick while completing another task and ending him. I dunno.

All in all, Still Wakes the Deep is a five to six hour experience, with immense levels of world-building and polish, for £26.99 as of writing. It has some issues, but overall, I would seriously recommend it. Especially given its price. In a world where games with gigantic budgets are asking for gigantic prices, Still Wakes the Deep is a prime example of bang-for-your-buck indie titles putting the triple A industry to shame. You will not regret buying and playing this game.

Semmiképp se vethető össze az Alien: Isolation velőtrázó, kimért félelemérzetéhez, egy kézi kamera mentes Outlast rip-off, némi The Thing beütéssel sokkal inkább helytálló. Hangulatában, hangeffektjeiben egészen igényes, a paráztatás mérsékelten munkálkodott, a QTE-k nem zavartak, karakterek és sztori terén korrekt. A helyszín adta terep okán a feszültség simán átjött még úgy is, hogy a menekülés túlsúlyban volt a bujkáláshoz képest. A gyakran szájbarágósan feldobott útvonalmutató ellenére is marhára tudtam élvezni ezt az 5 órát.

Un juego que me sorprendió gratamente. El estudio que lo desarrolló es también el encargado de hacer uno de los peores juegos que jugué en mi vida (Amnesia: A Machine for Pigs), así que obviamente tenía mis prejuicios antes de empezar este. Con mis prejuicios en contra y todo, me terminó gustando mucho, creo que tiene una ambientación original y muy conseguida, un manejo del terror muy correcto, y unos personajes que están mucho mejor de lo que creía. Por supuesto que tiene sus errores, pero en general, lo recomiendo a cualquiera que le gusten los juegos de terror o narrativos.

This review contains very mild spoilers

I very rarely play any form of horror games as its something I would much rather watch than play but something about this game got me really interested from when I saw the first trailer a few months ago. Played it through game pass and I'm really glad I decided to try it because I loved this game from start to finish.

You play as Cameron "Caz" McCleary who is working as an electrician on an oil rig set of the coast of Scotland whilst on the run from the police. While on the rig, the drill hits something that causes these weird tendril looking things to start taking over the rig and all the crew working on it. Caz has to work alongside his crewmates to try and get off the rig. First off, setting a horror game on an oil rig is an brilliant idea as it serves as creepy lonely location that is both claustrophobic enough to bring that feeling of tension whilst being open enough to give some variety. I really like how they didn't make the whole game crawling through tight dark corridors as that would of got boring really quickly, instead Caz is always on the move across the entire rig which keeps the objectives feeling fresh. Speaking of Caz, he serves as a pretty good protagonist, no characters are given any major development besides him and his motives of wanting to get back to his family are good ways to make him sympathetic. Other notable side characters include Rennick, the boss of the rig who is a complete dick from the first time you see him and Roy, the rig's chef and Caz's best friend who got him the job on the rig.

The monsters that start to roam the rig are aboslutely horrifying to look at. I heard that a lot of inspiration came from the movie "The Thing" which is one of my favourite horror movies. Each crew member is completely unrecognisable as they get turned into amalgamations of blood and tendrils. The fact that the monsters still talk using the voices of the crew members they have took over is also terrifying as hearing a human voice come from these things is very unsettling. I like how it is left very ambiguous about what the monsters actually are and how it spread to so many of the crew.

The gameplay is very simple with no form of combat outside of being able to throw distractions. Very walking simulator esq with a lot of climbing sections as well. It isn't a game that requires more than that as there is no believable way that Caz could fight the monsters. I do think more could have been done with certain mechanics as they seemed very pointless, primarily the ability to hide in lockers as I really never found a need to as you could just distract whatever is in front of you and run. Also I think they were too quick to kill off a lot of the characters as by the half way part of the game almost all the crew members are dead. What I liked a lot about the early game is getting the random phone calls from crew all over the rig all in total bewilderment as to what was happening and it made the atmosphere so much more tense to me.

Visually the game is breath taking. Making use of Unreal Engine 5 the rig looks like it was ripped straight out of real life. I'd also like to commend the voice acting from the entire cast especially Alec Newman in the leading role. It was cool to see pretty much a full Scottish cast and use of authentic accents, not that stupid hollywood Scottish accent that you see all the time in movies. Nothing to note really in terms of score, no tracks of note as the game makes great use of sound design to build tension. The rig is constantly making noise as well as the creatures on it which serves as great tension building.

No major complaints at all really. I do think it is a bit short especially for the £30 price tag, I beat it in just over 4 hours. As I already mentioned I think they were too quick to kill off a lot of the side characters as I would have liked to see a lot more of some of them.

Overall a great short but sweet horror experience. Very highly recommended

I think the way this game handles phobias was great, I was on edge in the water, tight spaces, and the DARK!
The story is relatable in terms of what the character is going through with his marriage.

Ending I think was bittersweet, I was content with it.

Game became a slog towards the end though, there is only so much you can do with hiding mechanics take Alien Isolation, the hiding mechanics in that were near perfect! If the enemies in this acted more like that game, I think this would have been a higher ranking.

Graphics were great and I can see myself speedrunning this.

When my Scottish brother in law visits home from weeks of working as the head cook on an oil rig just like the Cadel, he often speaks to me of the loneliness of day-to-day routine, trapped on this giant industrial beast within miles and miles of angry waves and cruel storms. He perseveres through this petrochemical hell of creaking oil machinery with the camaraderie of his colleagues, who become an off-shore family you stick your neck out for, and the promise of his real family welcoming him home with open arms every time. He doesn’t admit to it, but he gets emotional at all that thought.

Well anyways he can get right tae fuck because now I have Still Wakes The Deep to relish in all those feelbad vibes and existential horror.

While I’ve appreciated The Chinese Rooms’ wonderfully nuanced depiction of UK environments in previous games, Dear Esther and Everybody’s Gone To the Rapture, I always found them to border on tedium gameplay-wise. Still Wakes The Deep, which is undoubtedly their best game, matches their gorgeous level design with just the right amount of gameplay - stealth, chases, platforming and puzzles - and is a great deal more terrifying than their own Amnesia: A Machine for Pigs.

More essential to horror games than perhaps any other genre, the voice acting, storytelling and writing of characters and dialogue are all top notch, making you care for each member of the rig and how they relate to the unlikely hero, Cameron "Caz" McLeary. I almost wept at a good handful of crew members lost to the “Thing-like” antagonist.

The few sections in which you hide from the monster in vents under machinery are as tense as anything in Alien Isolation or Outlast; but rather than just hiding, it’s much more fun to throw objects to distract the enemy and navigate around them, giving these moments a looseness that helps to swing the tension (based on your distraction skills). The chase segments are pretty much what you’d expect from this sort of game, but the grotesque monster design, plus the fact they can still hurl verbal abuse at you, help force the player to squirm and dash for their lives. There are some great platforming sections that find you clambering between various parts of broken railings and machinery - they sometimes veer into Uncharted-tier silliness but work well due to being weighty and feeling appropriately tasking on the hero.

Gameplay-wise, the only thing really lacking is the puzzle design, which is usually as simple as finding levers and keys or lowering elevators. I enjoyed how it became clear that our main character Caz was a humble leccy slowly picking up essential rig skills through sheer will of survival. But surely there’s a huge missed opportunity for proper electrician-based puzzles, such as circuits and balancing levels of watts or something. But perhaps it would have added to the grumble I had for the already present horror game cliche of “we need to restore power in the generators” etc.

Another big cliche is giving the main character a troubled past, bookended by letters from a wife. I feel like this is not a huge issue, but I think learning about our hero’s background through interaction with present characters such as best friend Roy and dickhead boss Rennick would have been enough. That said, I very much love the presentation of these segments with the oily chemical overlay that only otherwise appears during encounters with the eldritch horrors - it really adds to the classic Lovecraftian atmosphere of ‘the more you look at it, the worse for wear you will be.’ And shoutout to the sound design, which is incredible with headphones, full of creaks and cranks of the rig and haunting screams in the distance of friends before and after their ‘transformations’ - it’s really as good as it gets.

On a general note, it’s nice to see horror games becoming more popular than ever these days. But in their current majority, of either triple-A RE2 clones or a PT inspired walking simulators, it’s hard to get surprised by a new original title. Still Wakes the Deep doesn’t drill into any new ground for the genre, but is rather exceptional at just doing it right. It’s crazy how much good writing, pacing, atmosphere and giving a shit about the characters makes the world of difference.

To get out the bad out of the way first, the gameplay is pretty middle-of-the-road. Based around Outlast-esque hide and seek mechanics, (I groaned when I saw "Get in lockers to hide" prompt on screen), scripted chase sequences and navigating environments with the much-loathed splotches of yellow paint. I think it does serve its purpose with minimal frustration though.

However, the game excels at creating a fabulous atmosphere with great art direction and graphics, a strong of sense of place of its setting on an oil rig in 1970's Scotland and a poignant narrative featuring Scottish VAs all over the country and some of the most natural sounding dialogue and performances I've encountered in a game. While being marketed as a horror game, I don't think the game is particularly scary but the narrative is what kept me playing. I also feel that the ending caps it off strongly with a bittersweet message.

Highly recommended on Game Pass. If you're keen on purchasing the game, I'd maybe wait til some of the technical issues are resolved.

Still Wakes the Deep was supposed to be a test. A test of patience on the player to see if they can stomach this journey, to see if they have the patience to withstand the fear and the horror, the oppressive atmosphere literally collapsing around them, to test the player to keep going, to push through their fear.

What we got though, at least in my experience, was anything but that. I've never been less scared, never felt less tension than I did playing this game. And me? I don't do horror. It literally scares me too much. I remember as a kid playing Silent Hill 1 in my parents' basement with the lights on full bright at 2 AM, still scared shitless. I haven't even played that game again 20 years later! In real life, I can't swim and am kind of afraid of water. Certainly, the idea of being on an oil rig in the ocean waters would be nightmare fuel, so I naturally expected this game to build on my real-life fear, but it never did. There's just not enough 'tense' moments, not enough of what we see in these games—the cat and mouse, hide from the enemy trope that actually works well to build tension, because you can't just fight your way out of the encounter.

Furthermore, I'm sorry, but this is the most abusive use of yellow paint I've encountered in a video game yet. OK, OK, hear me out, because I'm with you—when they complained about RE4 remake having yellow tape on breakable boxes, I laughed. When they pointed out FF7 Rebirth made sure all climbable objects were yellow, I ignored them. But this game? This game says we will paint yellow on everything. And I mean fucking everything. And it's so unnecessary that it completely ruined the 'game' part of this hallway treadmill. I mean, literally they use the paint to show you where to hide, show you where to climb up in a literal one-way hallway, show you everything.

An imgur album for context. No spoilers.

Here's the thing—I grew up on PSX games, I haven't forgotten how we had it. Beautiful pre-rendered backgrounds where anything interactable was pixelated and stood out a mile away that you needed to interact with it. I get where this comes from. But a game like this, I want to experience it through trial and error, not just paint by numbers. And that was how I felt so often, just following the yellow-paint-road. It's kinda like how some games overwhelm you with GPS navigation, sometimes with trails on the ground or just straight up through your compass/minimap, but often those are possible to be disabled and you can experience the adventure at your own pace. Because this is baked into the game's background, there is no option (as of yet) to disable. Just. So. Frustrating.

The story was bland, the setting was bland, the 'monster' was okay I guess. Overall, very disappointed. This isn't my gaming jam, admittedly, but my last encounter with it was SOMA" and Still Wakes the Deep doesn't even feel like it's in the same genre...

Esse jogo me surpreendeu positivamente pela qualidade do que entrega. É um terror que não se escora em sustos para causar medo. A ambientação e uso dos recursos de áudio criam um clima assustador. O hitmo acelerado da caminhada e interações com o cenário tornam o jogo engajante. Mas o que torna o jogo realmente diferente é a qualidade do texto, com a curta duração do jogo é naturalmente difícil entregar uma grande história. Mas a qualidade da escrita e dos personagem tornam o enredo marcante, apesar de curto.

De pontos negativos, só destaco o desempenho no Xbox SS. Não é ruim, mas sacrifica muito visualmente e ainda não entrega estabilidade de fps. Talvez mude futuramente.

Também talvez seja fácil demais. O que pessoalmente não acho ruim, mas realmente a maior parte do jogo é só seguir em frente.

Playtime: 5 Hours
Score: 7/10

An interesting narrative horror game from The Chinese Room! So I have played a few of The Chinese Room’s games, and I have generally enjoyed them, even though most of them are just narrative focus and don’t have much gameplay mechanics. I had heard of this game through all of the Xbox showcases and when I saw it would be day one on game pass, I thought I would give it a go!

The story I thought was fairly good if a bit predictable in some places. The atmosphere is very tense and I love that they had an oil rig as the game's setting. Much of the game uses body horror to scare you, with some big influences from the film, The Thing, which I thought was cool. The gameplay is akin to something like Soma, with some basic stealth mechanics and a lot of QTE segments. I’ve come to expect this from The Chinese Room, I just wish they would expand their gameplay formula, as just walking around and clicking on things can get boring after a while. Especially since they're doing the Vampire the Masquerade Bloodlines sequel, which I’m a little concerned about.

The voice acting is pretty good overall and the game looks very realistic in Unreal Engine. But I’ve always been more of an artstyle kind of guy and while good graphics are nice to have, it's not going to impress me as much, since I care more about story and gameplay. Though I will say I loved the art direction they took when it came to the monsters and how the rig will change in strange ways because of them.

As for technical performance, the game ran smoothly for me most of the time, though there were some instances where the frame rate dipped a bit. Also what I found odd was that when it came to graphical settings, there were only two options of: high or epic (basically ultra) with no medium or low settings, which I found weird. But otherwise a good experience.

Overall, it's another narrative walking sim, horror game from The Chinese Room and you're either going to love or hate it. I enjoyed it, but that's mostly because it was on game pass and I didn’t have to pay for it, which is what I would recommend most people do or wait for a sale. The game is fairly short and outside of a good narrative experience for a few hours, there’s not much beyond that.

All Games I have Played and Reviewed Ranked - https://www.backloggd.com/u/JudgeDredd35/list/all-games-i-have-played-and-reviewed-ranked/

A beautifully atmospheric game set decades ago with dated gameplay and narrative to match. None of the sci-fi trappings feel fresh (with shades of The Thing, Solaris, and Soma). While the conversations between characters feel pleasantly natural, the two big emotional peaks in the story fell completely flat for me. One was trite and the other was so cringe it made me laugh. Most of the gameplay is walking down the only path available - condescendingly marked in yellow. There are no puzzles.

There are a few sections with enemies, one where you get chased and run down the only path available, and one where you're in a room being hunted. Fortunately these places are littered with vents that make you untouchable even if you're barely inside the one square meter entrance. There's no real danger in either scenario, and little tension. One of the enemy designs I can't imagine was intended to be anything but comical.

Where the game shines though is the atmosphere and sound design. It takes place over the course of a day, and as the wheels start coming off the weather changes appropriately, the rig starts creaking and groaning, the waves become more violent, the lighting gets more and more dramatic as night falls. Revisiting areas and seeing them changed as you trek all over the shop was well done. It's just a shame the presentation wasn't in service of a more engaging experience.