Spoilers would rather stay in the mainland.

It’s not my intention to start reviewing video games. I’m certainly not going to go about gameplay, frame rate or performance. I’m jumping into this one because I saw a full walkthrough of this game and fell head over heels over the story. This review might be a one-off onto this medium, but this is only about the movie aspects of this game. And yes, the story and the character development is excellent. Not to mention, that this is a horror game that includes one well-crafted horror story.

(Credit: Secret Mode)

Still Wakes the Deep (2024) is a video game by developer The Chinese Room and published by Secret Mode. The game was directed by Dan Pinchbeck and John McCormack, based on a story written by Dan Pinchbeck and Emma Beeby. This is a first-person single-player game for Windows, XBox and PS5. It is, for the most part, a linearly progressive game. You have challenges in front of you, but as far as I can tell, not really a way to change the course of events. Those are all the technical aspects you’re going to get. I’m only here to address the experience of this game’s playthrough.

Welcome to Scotland, 1975. Cameron “Caz” McLeary (Alec Newman) is our protagonist, an electrician hired to do work in the oil rig “Beira D” off the coast of Scotland. After an altercation that might’ve landed him in jail, he’s managed to find this job away from the mainland hoping things will cool off. He’s married with two daughters and unfortunately things haven’t been too fortunate for him and his wife, Suze (Neve McIntosh). His boss, Rennick (Clive Russell), is not too fond of him or anybody else in the crew, and the feeling is mutual. As you meet all his crew mates, you get a sense of real people dynamics accentuated by the excellent performances of the cast. The rig itself is an entire live universe to navigate.

When the game starts to show its colours is when the drill hits something. Defining what that is and what it entails for the people onboard is what the game does as trouble goes from serious to worse. Caz will have to start performing tasks to save or keep people alive while climbing, jumping, putting out fires and operating machinery just to keep things afloat. There is no combat system, but plenty of thrills and chills as the damaged environment will seek to impede his approach. Worst of it all, Caz will sound find that whatever they’ve hit has started mutating his comrades in horrific ways, becoming very hostile to him and anything in their path. There is an unmistakable sense of Lovecraftian cosmic horror.

It works. Otherwise I wouldn’t be breaking the theme and introducing this feature just to review it. The storytelling is really good, using an accident that Caz suffers early on to introduce a plot device that allows us to see flashbacks of his life. The visuals are limited only to first person perspective, meaning that any all things revealed must be witnessed by the protagonist. This also allows for fearful situations in which we can hear something coming close without being sure where it is. The suffering and the stress of the situation are conveyed through very realistic character voice performance. This makes for an extremely realistic experience in which you feel very much invested in each character’s fate.

Highly recommended for horror game enthusiasts. This is not a game for those who just want to put the story background aside and concentrate on the gameplay. There are heart-wrenching moments when we witnessed a dear character’s death wishing we’d be able to save them. The horror of realizing a former comrade has become now a cosmic aberration feels very real. Worth playing once or spectating a full playthrough to experience. As to this being the one and only instance in which I’ll review a game, we’ll see what the future brings.

That will do for now.