Gamescom 2023: Still Wakes the Deep Presentation Impressions

Horror game Still Wakes the Deep was unveiled behind closed doors at Gamescom. It’s the latest release from The Chinese Room, a studio you might know as the creators of Amnesia 2 or Everybody’s Gone to the Rapture. And while their latest project might seem like just another “walking simulator” out there, it offers some interesting differences.

What interested me most was the setting, which is truly unconventional. The action takes place in 1975 on a Scottish oil platform, in the middle of the sea and far from civilization. We take on the role of an ordinary worker whose daily routine is disrupted by some kind of incident. No one is safe, and something dangerous has infiltrated the oil rig, a classic day gradually turns into a fight for survival.

You won’t have any weapons or anything to protect yourself with, but the game puts a lot of emphasis on movement, almost like parkour. The oil rig is slowly falling apart and of course you’ll have to do everything to stay on it, which won’t be easy at all. At least from the few minutes I managed to see, it looked very interesting because it’s not just a classic and often quite boring walk.

In addition, the game looks very beautiful, the developers tried to make the whole complex quite realistic, and I must say that they succeeded very well. It all looks very dirty, the details are great, and the atmosphere is very strong, of course, including thanks to the excellent sound system. There were a few glitches in the demo, but the creators warned about this in advance, everything should be fixed before the release.

Characters and relationships are supposed to be a big part of the game, and that’s what I’m really interested in. The main character has some trauma from his past, and his wife wants to divorce him. I can’t judge how well this aspect is handled yet, but the demo had very well-written dialogue and great acting. This is also helped a lot by the carefully designed character models and facial animations, which are very high-quality.

I only saw a small portion of the game, so it’s hard to say what the whole game will be like, but I was left with very positive impressions from the presentation. I’m really looking forward to Still Wakes the Deep, and if you love horror movies as much as I do, you should definitely put this game on your watchlist. It’s coming out next year on PC and current-gen consoles.