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.