What a wonderful surprise this was. I haven't lived in Scotland for many years now, but with the weather in Australia currently, I was right at home. Being sat in my oh so cold room that never gets any sunlight definitely helped to immerse me, as if the disarming and familiar accents weren't enough. Genuinely some of the most authentic and lovely dialogue and banter I've heard in a game in some time. I can imagine some being a bit confused or put off by constant (very unique) cursing and slang, but for me I of course loved it.

As if that wasn't already great, it also doesn't hurt that this is one of the best settings for a horror game ever. As soon as I read that synopsis and saw 'oil rig in Scotland', I instantly downloaded the game. If the game was just a walking simulator (which I suppose it is) around this oil rig, I'd have probably still felt the same dread throughout. I can't recall many games being set or even including oil rigs in this way, it's an absolutely menacing and horrific almost megastructure to traverse. (Megastructures have been on the mind since Daryl Talks Games' most recent and excellent video on them, they bloody terrify me, so they do.)

Another small detail I loved is how realistically timed the phone calls were. That's very specific, but often times I'd already left a room when a phone would ring and I'd have to go back in to answer it, as opposed to a perfectly convenient phone ring mere seconds after a beat. It's also worth mentioning that I was concerned the game would eventually devolve into Amnesia/Outlast hide and seek style gameplay, but it really doesn't at all. There are lockers to hide in, but the moment-to-moment encounters are brief enough that it doesn't become frustrating at all. I'm pretty sure I only entered one locker and then just braved it from there on.

Good game, though I will say it doesn't have the lasting story and existentialism of a SOMA, but what does?