mystic Mode
As someone who loves both gaming and movie house , I ’m always sex when those two worlds tie in . Sometimes that ’s with great film adaptations of games or vice versa , but I ’m even more interested when I can palpate the influence of movie theater history in a game ’s deoxyribonucleic acid . Something likeUntil Dawn , for representative , calls back to the golden age of gory slasher flicks with memorable results . It ’s rewarding for me as a fan of both mediums , countenance me draw verbatim connections between them .
I recently got that experience thanks toStill Wakes the Deep , a young repulsion game from developer The Chinese Room now available on PlayStation 5 , Xbox Series X / S , and personal computer ( it ’s also available onXbox Game Passright now ) . While it ’s a totally original title , it feels like a playableJohn Carpenter film . ThinkThe Thingon an rock oil fishing tackle , but importantly more Scots . While it does n’t fully live up to that pitch , its unretentive runtime and immaculately gory vibes make it deserving checking out .
Secret Mode
Still Wakes the Deepis a full point firearm set in 1975 about an petroleum rig off the coast of Scotland . musician take control of doer Cameron McLeary , who quickly finds himself at the center of a nightmare when a catastrophe damages the carriage . He ’s leave trying to escape the wreckage — a hard task made more hard by the fact that he ’s being stalked by some kind of supernatural frame beast .
The John Carpenter influence is apparent the second the first monster come out . The mysterious creature take aim control of other workers on the rig , plough their body into heavy puppets that haunt the deteriorating ship . The Thingprobably comes to mind straight off , and it should . Still Wakes the Deepcaptures that same sense of paranoia as Cameron find out as his colleagues are slowly infect with the plague . It ’s grotesque in all the right ways .
There ’s a lot to love here , though there are some missed chance as well . On the positive side , it ’s an efficacious horror game take with tense chase scenes and pulse - pounding stealth episode . The latter institute me back toAlien : Isolationas I huddle under metallic element grating while an quicksilver lump of flesh hovers around me . The formless designing of its behemoth particularly adds to that tension since I ’m never too trusted when it has its back sprain to me or is looking straight at me .
As for the repose of its gameplay , you have to go in bang what to expect . The Chinese Room is have a go at it for biz likeEverybody ’s Gone to the Rapture , which have been paint as “ walking simulator ” over the years ( uproariously , there ’s an achievement send for Walking Simulator here that ’s grant for not sprint too much during the game).Still Wakes the Deepis a number more involved than that with a focal point on first - individual traversal and fundamental interaction , but it ’s slender on ideas . It repeats its few gameplay bits like closing valve , pulling levers , and gripping on for dear life while scale the rig over and over . By the end of its second hour , you ’ve mostly done everything the secret plan has to offer . That repetition cuts into the anxiety , giving it a mechanical flow at time .
Its promising story apparatus does n’t entirely give off either . At first , it feels like the story is going for a meaty social commentary on grievous labor conditions . Cameron and his colleagues are overworked and dealing with implausibly life-threatening conditions with no protections . The launching of a behemoth ratchets that idea up in the same way the best musical style film use horror as comment , but it stops unawares of in reality saying much on the topic . Perhaps less is more and the palpable tension of cross a death trap is forte enough , but it still feels like a layer is missing at times . It feels halfway between a brainy horror moving picture and a fun but schlocky blockbuster likeDeep Blue Sea .
Even with some underwhelming execution , Still Wakes the Deepscratches a specific itch . It has the energy of the form of gory ’ eighty horror movie that ’s occupy with nightmares born through pragmatic event . Its tale may not stick in my judgment , but its fleshy lusus naturae sure as shooting does . That make for one of this class ’s most anxiety - stimulate horror games — one that ’ll make trusted you never ill-use foot on an oil rig for the residue of your life story .
Still Wakes the Deepis usable now on PS5 , Xbox Series X / S , and PC . you may toy it through Xbox Game Pass right now .
