Still Wakes the Deep has a great premise: an oil rig drills into a cthulhu monster, chaos ensues, and you have to survive. Unfortunately, this premise is held back by the fact that the game is developed by The Chinese Room, the studio that popularized the walking simulator genre with Dear Esther. Now walking simulators aren't inherently bad, but they are handicapped by the fact that there main method of player interaction is walking. While you'll find yourself sprinting, jumping, crouching, and flipping switches in Still Wakes the Deep, a bulk of the run time is still unfortunately walking from place to place. No different and no more exciting than it was in Dear Esther 12 years ago.

The game is pretty I will give it that. Looking at the paint bubbles on the rigs many yellow ladders and the grotesque details of the horror monsters definitely adds to the immersive, horror atmosphere the game strives for. But the gameplay comes right back with rubberband-like whiplash as the tired horror game trope of hiding under tables and lockers while waiting for the enemy to pass by serves as the main gameplay hook for the game's action sequences. There are a few chase sequences that involve sprinting down linear hallways and sometimes even crouching through linear vents to spice things up though. The linearity and lack of player choice in these interactions saps all the tension and potential horror out of them

It could have all been saved by the story as it is the focus of the game and the developer as a whole. The focus on Scottish actors and languages gives the voice acting and writing a unique flair on the surface like the oil rig does for the level design. Unfortunately, characters are given too little screen time for you to care about them before they meet gruesome ends. And that's kind of the problem with the game as a whole. It doesn't really make me feel anything. Save for the interesting setting and level of environmental detail, there isn't much worth noting about Still Wakes the Deep.