Still Wakes the Deep: A Haunting Journey on a North Sea Oil Rig
Horror Gaming at Its Best: A Look Behind the Scenes of Still Wakes the Deep
It's always a good sign when a horror game has a dedicated button for looking behind you. Just the idea that there could be something skulking out of your line of sight is enough to have you scanning over your shoulder, whether or not anything is really there. In Still Wakes the Deep, the narrative horror title from British developer The Chinese Room, someone or something is invariably hot on your heels.
Setting the Stage: December 1975
It’s December 1975. Wind and water strike the windows of Cameron “Caz” McCleary’s tinsel-strewn bedroom on a North Sea oil rig. Down in the canteen, the workforce is unhappy, and talk of industrial action swirls stronger than the seas outside. McCleary, the rig’s electrician, is running from an altercation on the mainland, from the police, from a looming divorce. “You cannae run forever,” his wife tells him in a letter. But for the foreseeable future, at least, he’s going to have to try.
Chaos Unleashed on the Beira Rig
All too soon, the mainland is going to seem like a paradise compared to the dark corners of the Beira rig. When the drill strikes something it shouldn’t one morning, chaos engulfs the platform: some sort of spindly, phosphorescent biological terror begins to stalk the halls, possess the staff, and damage the rig. Contingency plans prove ineffective, and management wants nothing but to wash its hands of the whole affair.
A Vulnerable Hero
The best part is that it is not immediately clear what you, playing as McCleary, can do about any of this. You have not been sent to sort things out, you are not equipped to fight the monstrosities, and your main priority seems to be getting the hell out of Dodge. It leaves you feeling vulnerable, expendable, and very sweary — the dialogue and its delivery are some of the best you will find in the medium, painting vivid portraits of the rig’s workers over the course of the game’s short, six-hour duration.
Navigating the Nightmare
Your boss, Rennick, is part of a management that wants to wash its hands of the affair. Your environment doesn’t do much to promote a positive working attitude either: the rig is a warren of slippery ladders, unstable gantries, and temperamental steam valves. Posters and signs present a facade of order and structure in a world that cutbacks were already eroding before hell was unleashed on it. It doesn’t help that every other door is locked; for all the helpful maps pasted about the place, it’s rarely a case of getting straight from point A to point wherever the terrifying monsters might not be.
Flaws in the Fear
The only real flaw I encountered is that your enemies can prove a little erratic — if they do catch you, they will occasionally glitch out, writhing on the floor but not actually attacking. Being charitable, I’d attribute this to the last vestiges of humanity in the victims they’ve possessed; more skeptically, it’s an occasional oversight that detracts from the cleverly paced — if occasionally clunky — balance of running and hiding.
Facing Fears and Responsibilities
For all of its emphasis on evasion, Still Wakes the Deep is about taking responsibility and facing your problems head-on. As the rig slowly succumbs to its demons and the past catches up with the present, you and McCleary must learn not to look over your shoulder anymore — even if there is a button for it.
