Still Wakes The Deep Review (PS5)
Still Wakes The Deep Review (PS5)
Still Wakes the Deep shows hints of greatness in between the gamified moments when the story is able to breathe, the performances are able to shine and the composition is able to set the tone. Unfortunately, these moments are fused together with the same problems that plague the horror genre: Repetitive missions, tired gameplay mechanics and predictability.
WHAT LIES BENEATH
When it comes to horror games, the meaning usually lies deeper than the surface and Still Wakes the Deep is no exception. The double meaning here is obvious with how water is often referred to as an analogy of the human emotions with what’s happening on the surface being what we are expressing and what lies beneath being feelings that we tend to repress.
The reasoning for the time period and setting of Still Wakes the Deep became quite apparent as the story unraveled and began to reveal itself. There is almost no better representation of burying your feelings and distancing yourself from others than an oil rig hundreds of miles from the rest of humanity especially in a time when burying your emotions down deep was considered the better option or maybe its just about a guy trying to survive an other worldly lovecraftian event. Whatever you decide, this speaks to the depth of the emotional complexity of the game to even debate its meaning.
Without combat and weapons, the focus of Still Wakes the Deep is about the story of one man and his decision to run away from reality. This isn’t a traditional survival horror game. It’s a very story focused horror game with the voice acting doing a lot of the heavy lifting with some excellent performances. Pro Tip: Keep the captions on, unless you understand Scottish slang. The dialogue feels conversational, which adds to the authenticity of the game.
The audio of Still Wakes The Deep is sublime across the board. The voice acting is top tier, the atmospheric audio is excellent and the score is extremely versatile enough to ratchet up the tension with its other worldly industrial sounds but also provides the right backdrop for the intimate moments as well.
There are some eye popping set pieces, especially those that take place on the outside of the rig, but unfortunately, most of the game feels like any other horror title with dark, claustrophobic areas and a dim flashlight. Sometimes the game required the cliched sneaking sections and as expected, these were a bit tedious as the enemy ai was a bit frustrating to work with.
Trigger alert, most things on an authentic offshore rig would be yellow for cautionary purposes, but if you don’t like being guided by the invisible yellow hand on where to go next, Still Wakes The Deep will not be your cup of tea.
Like almost all horror games and movies, most of the fear is removed once you see what was causing the fear to begin with and Still Wakes the Deep is no different.
The setting of Still Wakes The Deep is already a bit of a nightmare. Stranded on an offshore oil rig hundreds of miles from the coast, detached from civilization, claustrophobic, dark and loaded with deeper meanings. The atmosphere of the rig was tense enough and holding off the reveal until later in the game likely would have went a long way in keeping the tension at a higher level for a longer period of time.
VERDICT
Still Wakes The Deep doesn't break any new ground for the genre, outside of the setting, which was novel, and the audio, which was incredible across the board, but unfortunately it falls victim to the same problems of many other horror titles: Repetitive missions, tired gameplay mechanics and predictability. Make no mistake, Still Wakes The Deep is a slow burning physchological horror with a story worthy enough to push past some genre cliches