Still Wakes the Deep Game Review

Still Wakes the Deep is a survival and adventure horror game by The Chinese Room studio developed and Secret Mode has been responsible for publishing it. This game is on Xbox Series X consoles Xbox Series S, PlayStation 5 and PC have been released; Players can also experience this game by using the Xbox Game Pass service. A work that tells a simple story with its beautiful appearance; A scary story that keeps the player going deeper to find the why of all the events, but is the story told properly?

Story plays an essential role in Still Wakes the Deep. The story takes place during the conflicts between Great Britain and Ireland, and the main character leaves his family to work on an oil rig named Cadal to escape the legal consequences of his work. Kadal hosts workers with some of whom the players will feel close to, but this closeness is not enough and in most cases the fate of the members of this rig will not matter to the player. This rig wakes up a strange creature after drilling too much of the deep ocean; A creature that causes terrible changes in people in Kadal.

This unknown creature is growing in Cadal, and this issue is considered a great danger for its employees; The increasing trend of the growth of this creature has caused various technical problems in Kadal, and the risk of explosion of this rig is increasing over time. The main character is trying to find the surviving members of Kadal and is worried about the fate of his friends, but the low pay for these characters means that the player does not feel any concern for them.

The only disappointing point of the story and its overall narrative is its abrupt and seemingly worthless ending. A narrative that excites the player to discover the secrets of Kadal, but does not lead to the end. This ending does not create any sense of achievement in the player and only causes him frustration. It should be kept in mind that this game does not have much time to explain the events or the nature of its various creatures, and the short duration of experience of this work can be considered as a reason for this problem. It should be kept in mind that the story of the game is told through its linear gameplay; To some extent, this can also justify the flaws in the narration of the story.

The gameplay is closer to a walking simulator than any other style, and due to its first-person camera, the player gets closer to the atmosphere of the environment. The low diversity in facing different enemies of the game will make the player a little sad, especially in the final encounters. A situation where the audience knows in advance that the only way to deal with these characters is to hide and escape from them after a while; An escape that repeats over and over again and the gamer knows exactly what to expect. Of course, it should be kept in mind that this escape will never be enjoyable.

The main character's slow running speed is annoying, and this will help create more dread in various environments, but this run is more like running through a nightmare; A nightmare where running seems equally slow and difficult. Next, the feature that makes the gameplay and game experience more enjoyable than anything else is the graphics and visual effects of this work.

The visual effects of the game appear beautifully thanks to the Unreal Engine 5 game engine. Different textures of objects designed with high detail and thanks to good lighting create a spectacular environment for the audience. Seeing the rust of the iron surfaces and its difference with the healthy parts provides an attractive image to the players. The design of different parts of its environment has been done beautifully and seeing different parts will never be repeated; Environments that undergo changes according to the happenings of the game, and all these small and large changes are presented in the best possible way.

All the visual effects of the game and the graphics are beautiful, but this does not apply to the design of various characters and NPCs; An image that reduces the overall believability of events and stories by observing 90% of the game characters in the environment. Watching these characters next to the game's enemies, which are designed in an unexpected and attractive way, will make the player move away from its atmosphere. It should be kept in mind that all the mentioned beauties are seen next to the good performance of the game; The optimization of Still Wakes the Deep makes it possible to provide a smooth and beautiful experience.

The technical graphics of Still Wakes the Deep are in an acceptable state, and it is possible to run the game on Performance and Quality mode as smoothly as possible; Because the game is optimized in the best way, but this does not mean that this work is free of problems. Things like lighting problems in glass objects, creating incorrect shadows, small bugs and frame drops in the animation of some items are noticeable; Also, the wrong physics of some game components makes the experience unrealistic. It should be noted that in addition to the visual effects and the smooth performance of the game, the sound design also plays an important role in the impact of the game.

The sound design creates an atmosphere that alone can engage the player. The sounds that depend on the environment and the reflection of sound waves are played in it; These sounds describe the exact location of monsters or various events and add to the effect of Kadal's terrifying environment. The only problem in this section is the sound effects of thrown objects; Objects that are thrown sometimes make no sound at all or make a completely unrelated sound. On the other hand, the music also does its job well. Music pieces create a beautiful image along with all the positive features of the game; Or even in certain cases, it makes the game space more frightening. The music of the game along with the voice acting and the attractive performance of the actors make a memorable experience. The narration of the story has been done beautifully thanks to the extraordinary voice acting of various actors. The writers have properly provided the story process and various dialogues to the actors, and this provides a tangible experience to the players.

In the end, regardless of the average or weak ending of the game, the small problems of Still Wakes the Deep are not noticeable. A work whose graphics and beautiful appearance along with a good story, extraordinary voice acting and attractive sound design provide players with an unforgettable experience. This game narrates its simple story in a short time in the best way, but its characters do not get a chance to be important and their fate will not have much value. Players try to find a way to save the characters while trying to survive and deal with enemies and terrifying moments of the game, and this issue can sometimes be considered pointless. This game is available for 34 dollars and 99 cents on 9th generation consoles and PC; Also, users of the Xbox Gamepass service can experience this work.

The game has been reviewed on the Xbox Series X console