Still Wakes The Deep is the latest psychological horror game released by British game developer The Chinese Room. The game, which takes place on a remote oil rig in the middle of the Black Sea, has been making major headlines since it premiered on June 18. Still Wakes The Deep was built in the ultra-realistic Unreal Engine 5, and is currently available for all users on the PlayStation 5, Xbox series S and X, and PC. Since the entire claustrophobic experience of Still Wakes The Deep is a non-stop thrill ride from beginning to end, many players have found it too scary to even reach the final cutscene.
So, let’s take a brief moment to examine the plot of Still Wakes The Deep, unpack the skin-crawling terror, and explain the events and implications of the game’s harrowing final moments. Needless to say, there will be heavy spoilers for the entirety of Still Wakes The Deep ahead, so please be sure to bookmark this page and come back after you’ve played through the game if you don’t want to go in as blind as possible. For everyone else, let’s take the plunge.
The Game’s Plot & Setting
As stated, Still Wakes The Deep takes place on a fictitious oil rig called the Beira D, situated among the famously volatile waves of the North Sea. As the player, you take first-person control over a Glaswegian man named Caz, who works as an electrician on the structure. The game is something of a period piece, taking place in the Winter of 1975, before modern equipment such as cell phones and computerized electrical gear were the norm. While Caz is a perfectly competent electrician, he isn’t really cut out for life on a rig. In fact, he only got the job because he was on the run from the authorities back in Scotland, and leveraged his connections with his best friend Roy, who serves as a cook on the Beira D.
One night, while the rig is operating with a Christmas-time skeleton crew, a catastrophic drilling malfunction causes Caz and several others to fall into the treacherous surf. Of the men who fell overboard, Caz is the only one who manages to climb back onto the rig, though he nearly succumbs to hypothermia. After warming up, Caz quickly learns that things onboard the vessel have gotten out of control, with chunks of the rig breaking off and crashing into the sea, and terrifying Lovecraftian monsters spreading their tendrils throughout the lower decks.
What Are The Monsters In Still Wakes The Deep?
Since Caz isn’t an experienced combat veteran, the player can only do so much to keep him safe. Still Wakes The Deep has no weapons or hand-to-hand combat systems in place, leaving players to rely on puzzle-solving and stealth to run, jump, swim, and climb their way away from the mysterious creatures. The origins and motives of the Lovecraftian tentacle monsters are never fully explained, but it can be assumed that they are an otherworldly force of nature, which have been disturbed by the drilling of the Beira D. The game never reveals any kind of Umbrella Corporation-type conspiracy lending additional background for these monsters, so players are left to interpret their existence with little context. In fact, it’s this precise lack of information that builds the atmosphere of the game to such a terrifying conclusion, as players are forced to confront their own fear of the unknown.
The Lovecraftian monsters aren’t the only foes in the game either, as several of Caz’s coworkers find themselves turning into mutated zombie-like creatures after facing exposure to some kind of contaminated radioactive oil substance. These uncanny, zombified men begin hunting the surviving members of the crew, while retaining a mild semblance of their true personalities underneath the infection. Still Wakes The Deep clearly pulls out all the stops in terms of terrifying monster design, as each enemy offers a nightmare-inducing escape.
How Does Still Wakes The Deep End?
The conclusion of Still Wakes The Deep sees Caz and his remaining compatriots completely surrounded by the encroaching forces of the monsters, the mechanical failures of the rig, and the harsh weather conditions. After each of his friends are picked off one by one, Caz resolves to blow up the rig in order to eradicate the monstrous scourge, as a last-ditch effort to ensure these creatures don’t somehow make it to the mainland and wreak havoc on general populations. In his final moments, Caz ignites the entire Beira D, blowing the rig to smithereens, and heroically sacrificing himself for the good of humanity. Before the game cuts to the closing credits, we see flashbacks of Caz with his wife, Suze. Caz reflects on his loving marriage, the birth of his children, and the good times that he had before taking the risky job on the rig.
The player never gets to see the aftermath of Caz’s sacrifice, so it remains unclear whether or not he was successful in his pursuit to destroy the tentacle-clad creatures that had overrun the rig. As a result, fans across the web are split on what they think happened, with some fearing that the monster could return in a possible sequel game, while others assume that the creature was successfully turned into calamari. The best way to determine the theory that works best for you is playing the game yourself and guessing from your own experience.
What Is Still Wakes The Deep Based On?
Still Wakes The Deep is a wholly original idea first conceived by The Chinese Room’s co-founder Dan Pinchbeck. Pinchbeck originally pitched the game as a reimagining of John Carpenter’s classic 1982 horror movie The Thing set on an isolated oil rig. The co-founder served as the lead director of the game throughout most of development before he departed from the Chinese Room team in 2023, handing the reigns over to art director John McCormack. The decision to place Still Wakes The Deep entirely on an oil rig arose due to the many different fears that one could have in such a remote environment. As a result, players are subjected to the fear of drowning, heights, vertigo, claustrophobia, and more. Other influences which helped game developers to curate the vibe for Still Wakes The Deep include films such as Midsommar, Suspiria, Annihilation, and Rosemary’s Baby.
While the dev team haven’t stated as such in interviews, it’s also quite clear that they were inspired by the works and imagery of H.P. Lovecraft as well. The design of the tentacle monster resembles that of the ultra rare giant squid, or even the mythical kraken, which makes the game’s North Sea setting the perfect place to explore this imagery. Furthermore, videos of life on the open ocean have been routinely going viral across social media apps such as TikTok lately, with many users expressing that they wouldn’t work aboard a Black Sea vessel for all the money in the world. While this may be a pure coincidence, it sure provides a helping hand in viral marketing the hit new game.
How Long Does It Take To Complete Still Wakes The Deep?
Like all games, Still Wakes The Deep can be played at a myriad of paces depending on your proficiency with the controls, familiarity with the plot, and tendency to explore every nook and cranny of the game, vs running for your life at the first sign of danger. According to How Long To Beat, the average time to follow the game’s narrative from beginning to end is about 4.5 hours. Still, if you’re interested in scouring the Beira D for every possible collectible and earning a 100 percent completion rating, you can expect to spend upwards of 6 hours white-knuckling your way through the terrifying horror game.
While this might seem a little on the shorter side, Still Wakes The Deep is an indie creation, made by a small studio with a much smaller staff than traditional AAA developers. If you’re interested in checking the game out but aren’t yet sold on playing it for yourself, there are tons of exciting playthroughs happening every day on sites such as YouTube and Twitch. If you do decide to bite the bullet and try your hand at the terrifying experience, just remember, there’s no shame in opening up the blinds and only playing in the comfort of daylight.
