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Recommended
0.0 hrs last two weeks / 11.7 hrs on record (5.5 hrs at review time)
Posted: 16 Jul, 2024 @ 3:43am

Still Wakes the Deep is a great entry into the horror genre, more specifically centered around themes such as body horror, Lovecraftian elements, claustrophobia and thalassophobia. You play a character down on his luck working on an oil rig off the coast of Scotland, before the rigs drill hits an unknown entity that sets off a chain of horrific events that results in both the crew mutating, as well as the oil rig itself distorting. While being set in an environment as industrial and bleak as an oil rig, some of the cosmic horror elements in the form of the entity itself bring a slew of strangely visually pleasing aesthetics to the game, despite being hostile and quite frankly disgusting.

The story elements are well done, as is the voice acting; it’s fairly uncommon to hear British and Scottish voice actors in a game, but in a strange way it adds a level of authenticity to the games storyline in my opinion. The main character is likeable and the writing is very authentic to the Scottish. You’ll hear a lot of swearing and banter between the crew, and a lot of colloquialism that I personally really enjoy in a game.

The horror elements are great, the body horror specifically is quite magnificently gross, yet you can’t help but take a look and really examine the brutal transformations that the entity causes on board. I found myself going out of my way to find most of the dead (or not dead) crew members to see their fates. Most of these dead crew members are essentially either set pieces or hazards, but there are a few notable enemies that force stealth sections. I didn’t mind them too much but some areas did get frustrating, as the enemies movements are actually very hard to predict as they moved around the areas like giant legged spiders almost.

In terms of the gameplay, we’re really looking at loop that incorporates walking simulator elements, light parkour and a few stealth sections between, with some very minor puzzle elements of remedial tasks like turning switches off or moving carts out of the way of your path. At its core, it’s a pretty basic game and mostly an enjoyable horror experience, but due to this I can’t really imagine doing multiple playthroughs. Despite that, I would 100% recommend this game but only perhaps during a sale and not for full price – it’s a short experience but a good one nonetheless.

Pros
Excellent voice acting
Original concept and setting
Great visuals and weather effects

Cons
Not much replayability
A little on the short side
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