Still Wakes the Deep review

What is it? A first-person horror game where you have to navigate a sinking rig and an incomprehensible monster.
Release date June 18, 2024
Expect to pay $35/£30
Developer The Chinese Room
Publisher Secret Mode
Reviewed on RTX 3070, Core AMD Ryzen 5 5600G with Radeon Graphics, 16GB
Multiplayer No
Steam Deck Not verified
Link Steam 

Going into Still Wakes the Deep, I was confident in my ability to withstand the horror cliches that I knew were about to come my way. But, instead of just dealing with your typical chase scenes and jumpscares, The Chinese Room decided to pull something out of its sleeve that I hadn't experienced before—the most traumatic dialogue and voice acting I've ever heard in a horror game.

You play as Caz McLeary, an electrical engineer on the Beira D oil rig running from the law and some stupid decisions. Despite his past mistakes, Caz is a breath of fresh air for a few reasons: he's likeable, funny, and quite pragmatic when making life-and-death decisions, which happens to be what I value in a protagonist. But the best part of playing as Caz is that he's already been on the rig for a while, so you don't have to worry about getting to know your co-workers—meaningful relationships have already been established. Still Wakes the Deep skips the usual slog of tutorial-like character introductions and just throws you into the meat of the story, and all of the interactions feel natural and worthwhile.

Entering the canteen for the first time was surprisingly sweet. Sitting down at a table with Brodie and Rafs, I found out that it was Rafs' first dive and that he was more than a little scared. While I wouldn't trade places with him, he seemed like he was in good hands with Brodie, someone with more experience. Then there was Trots' passionate speech to Gibbo and O'Connor about unionisation and how the Beira D was falling apart because Westminster was too greedy for its own good. These short interactions told me everything I wanted to know about my place on the