Review of the Game Still Wakes The Deep – Eviralnews

Today we’re going to review Still Wakes The Deep and see how it can stand out from the crowd of horror walking simulators.

Still Wakes The Deep was a work that from the very beginning of its introduction made me eager to experience it, because the overall scenario and also its atmosphere was very different from other works of this genre, and from where the creators of this work, Chinese Room Studio, titled Amnesia: Machine For They also had Pigs in their portfolio, and while that work struggled with sometimes serious problems, it performed very well in one department, and that was the narrative discussion, which led to at least the expectation of a better narrative-oriented work than the majority. I have works of “walking simulator” genre of horror.

Fortunately, I must say that Still Wakes The Deep exceeded my expectations in this regard and presented a very engaging and touching narrative that makes the player’s hair stand on end, and perhaps it can be safely said that it is one of the top titles among the works of its genre. takes, which of course does not necessarily mean that it is perfect. Stay tuned with Gimfa and reviews of this work.

The destruction of the oil platform and the screams lost in the raging waves

As you probably know, Still Wakes The Deep is a first-person horror work and a subset of the “Walking Simulator” titles category. Today, you only need to blink to see a new work in this branch of the horror genre. The reason for this is that generally the creators have an easier job in creating a work that does not need deep gameplay mechanisms and generally can attract at least the more casual audience of the genre by implementing the concepts of fear very superficially.

But on the other hand, there were creators during the last decade who made great innovations in this genre and did not just settle for the minimum, and the reason was to use the specific potential that this branch of the horror genre offers. Walking simulator titles, since they don’t necessarily have deep gameplay, are mostly based on their storytelling, atmosphere, and sound, and they use these dimensions in order to implement their fear concepts, and the best examples for this structure are works such as Amnesia: The Dark Decent and are Soma.

Now we are witnessing another work which, in my opinion, is an attempt to follow in the footsteps of the aforementioned works; Still Wakes The Deep is narrated in 1975 and puts you in the role of an employee of the Beira D oil platform in Scotland named Caz Mcleary. The game begins with Caz reading a letter from his wife, which actually tries to establish the background and reason for this character’s presence in this oil rig. After that, Caz is summoned by the manager of this oil platform named Rennick to go to his office, and along the way, the game introduces you to some of Caz’s colleagues and the secondary characters of this work, and it can be said that the game does a very good job of establishing the world and believable characters. has

When you get to Rennick’s office, you will notice that Caz has apparently caused the police to enter the oil platform, and that’s why Rennick angrily asks him to leave his platform. While Caz is approaching the helicopter to leave Beira, suddenly a terrible sound shakes the platform and causes one of his colleagues to fall, and it doesn’t take long before Caz also falls from the platform to the sea due to the strong vibrations. .

Caz was rescued by some of his colleagues after falling into the sea, and when he woke up, he realized that the platform was in complete chaos due to the damage caused to various parts, and apparently the big drill of this oil platform caused the explosion by drilling something. has been At first, everything is normal and you go to different parts of the oil platform to repair different parts and help your colleagues and friends, but it doesn’t take long that the situation starts to change.

You hear strange noises and encounter traces of blood that it is not necessarily clear who it belongs to or where its owner is, and this process becomes more intense as the game progresses until you find yourself in a situation where you have to try to survive yourself and your friends and colleagues.

One of the commendable things about the narrative process of this work is its very good suspension and its steady and ascending tempo, which never rushes to use its fear elements and is very important to the process of injecting and increasing the dose of fear gradually but steadily.

This issue alone is a very big point of distinction between this game and many similar works, because the majority of games forget the subtlety and precision of how to increase it logically and quickly turn their hands to extract sudden fear from the player. It makes the game quickly lose its mysterious sense of danger.

Here, while you are in danger, the game does not introduce it to you quickly, so that it can advance the player’s psychological anxiety through the creation of space, environment design and sound. On the other hand, the voice acting of the game’s characters is done skillfully and it can be said that it carries a lot of the impact of the game’s narrative on its shoulders.

Thanks to the excellent voice acting, the various characters of the game are portrayed very realistically and like real people in the existing conditions. Caz is an excellent motivator and bridge between the player and the events of the game world, and since he is portrayed very believably and so-called Grounded, the conditions in the general process of the game can be touched through him.

You are not necessarily going to face characters with very deep characterizations and extensive twists, and perhaps this is one of the biggest reasons for the appeal of this story, because you can easily put yourself in the shoes of the protagonist and understand his feelings. Actually, this work gave me the feeling of the movie The Thing and during the experience I was strangely reminded of this movie.

The narrative process of Still Wakes The Deep is generally very well paced and suspenseful, and because of the environment and scenario it portrays, it can engage you from the very beginning. Of course, the beginning of this narrative may be a bit slow, but when the gears of the story-telling of this work start moving, you really feel like you are watching an attractive and gripping mini-series, the situation of which not only does not calm down, but also gets worse and worse all the time, and that’s the problem. It makes the fear in this game maintain its stability and weight to a great extent and is constantly in action and reaction with the narrative process.

Caught in the death trap of the ocean

The gameplay of Still Wakes The Deep is pretty much what you’d expect from a “walking simulator” in the horror genre; You don’t necessarily have a means of defense against the dangers of the game, and you should mostly try to sneak past them, which shows similarities between this work and Alien Isolation. The enemies of the game are sensitive to sound, and therefore it is possible for the player to use various items in the environment in order to create sound and remove dangers from himself.

Of course, it must be said that the gameplay serves the narrative to a large extent, and like Alien Isolation, you are not always in danger, and as I mentioned, the game tries to use its direct fear elements in an optimal way, and the background and foundations of its fear stimulus are based on atmosphere and The game’s voice acting is focused. During the events of the story, you have to enter different parts of Beira, and sometimes these environments are parts that the game has previously laid the groundwork for its dangers, and therefore not only Caz is afraid of returning there, but this fear is completely transferred to you. is also transmitted.

You are constantly moving in this oil platform and passing through narrow and small places that can narrow the field for you, and if there is a danger in that environment, it will make your stress levels multiply. One of the issues that I think could add more depth to the gameplay were the puzzles, but unfortunately we don’t see any kind of puzzles during this experience.

Of course, this issue is somewhat logical considering that we are on the side of a narrative-oriented process, because solving puzzles can reduce the narrative tempo at times, and Still Wakes The Deep almost does not allow such a thing in its entire experience, but nevertheless, if the puzzles They were used in an integral way in the service of the narrative, maybe it even helped the overall suspense, but in any case, unfortunately, this work lacks any meaningful puzzle.

One of the dimensions that is implemented in this game very well and helps the gameplay to be smoother is the design and implementation of game animations; The creators have designed a special animation for almost every action you do during the gameplay, which not only makes the game more integrated and immersive, but also makes the gameplay process more realistic. The motion animations are very smooth and elegant, and since during the experience of this game you are constantly crossing narrow edges, climbing structures, or making deadly jumps from the ruins of Biera, these motion processes are very smooth and coherent. Give an opinion and don’t look so-called clunky.

Despite these positive things, there is still one annoying thing in the gameplay, and that is the problem that the majority of such horror works struggle with, and that is the lack of interaction with the environment and the goals of the game in general. While SWTD is somewhat more vibrant in this field, unfortunately, its interactive parts still end with opening doors, pressing keys or pulling handles, and unfortunately, after some time passes, this cycle becomes repetitive to a large extent, and the process of interacting with the environment and objectives It makes Kelly boring.

In fact, it can be said that during the experience of this game, the path to reach the goals is more attractive and dense than the end point. In fact, this problem is not related to the interaction points present in the game, but to the general lack of these points during the experience.

On the other hand, the stealth scenarios of the game do not offer a particular challenge and unfortunately they are extremely linear and simple, and despite the fact that the enemies and their voices inject a very good percentage of adrenaline into these sequences, but if we only consider the gameplay issue, the challenge or There is no special depth in these scenarios and sometimes it is very easy to bypass the enemies.

In general, in terms of gameplay, SWTD works very well in general, but in average details, so that the animations and movement in the oil platform and crossing obstacles always look attractive and have a little cinematic spice that can give more weight to Caz’s actions and the challenges behind You can be forgiven while there is not much subtlety used in parts such as how to implement the stealth sequences and the lack of puzzles also reduces the vibration and overall interaction of the game to some extent.

As Beautiful As Fear

Still Wakes The Deep works as well as in the excellent and captivating narrative section, in terms of environment design and atmospheric creation that can complement the peak moments of the narrative in the field of fear. Biera’s overall design is very well done and sets the overall tone of the game right from the start.

You are trying to survive on this oil rig in the midst of stormy ocean, heavy rain and thick fog. Biera consists of several different parts that you step into during the game experience, and sometimes we see these environments intertwined with strange organisms that slowly take over the game environment.

Biera gradually descends more and more into chaos throughout the experience, and this is clearly reflected in the environment design. The overall graphics and details in this work are also at a very desirable level, and for this reason, we can say that in the graphics department, we are witnessing a very heavy and immersive presentation that immerses you and contributes greatly to the overall fear of the game.

SWTD’s sound design is also another strong point, blending well with its overall atmosphere and creating a dynamic fear mechanism that thankfully remains largely effective until the end of the game.

The voice acting, as I mentioned in the opening section, carries a lot of the impact of storytelling and characterization of the experience, and we can safely say that all the voice actors have been able to make the scenario in this game touchable and relatable to a large extent, so that it is easy to understand. You can also imagine yourself in the scenario.

There is no heroism and no narrative immunity here, everyone is at stake in this scenario and no one is portrayed as more than human, thanks in large part to the game’s excellent voice cast.

The music and soundtrack of the game is also well combined with the overall theme of the game and injects a sense of isolation and desperation into the overall experience of this work, which is again connected to other dimensions such as the atmosphere and narrative and adapts to them.

The design of the game’s monsters and how they were implemented was also very attractive to me personally; As I mentioned, the game does not turn its hand quickly in this field, and even your first encounter with the dangers of the game is in a very dark environment with low light sources, which makes it difficult to identify their general appearance, and this mysterious aura that surrounds these creatures for a while. It depends largely on that “fear of the unknown” feeling.

But when you finally get a chance to look at these creatures, you realize that each one is complex and different in its own way, focusing on the theme of “physical fear”. Also, these creatures are not just some brainless monsters and they have dimensions of identity that are evident in their presentation and add more ruin to the overall presentation of these creatures.

This game has been tested on PC