Still Wakes the Deep

About Still Wakes the Deep

Still Wakes the Deep came out in June 2024 from The Chinese Room, the studio behind Dear Esther, Everybody's Gone to the Rapture and Amnesia: A Machine for Pigs. It won three BAFTA Games Awards, for Best New IP and for its leading and supporting performances. You play Caz McLeary, a Glaswegian electrician on the Beira D who is about to be sacked when the drill hits something below the North Sea and the night goes wrong.

It plays as a linear first-person journey. You run, climb ladders, edge along ledges over the black water, squeeze through vents, swim flooded corridors and work broken machinery to open a way forward. Yellow paint marks where you can go, and a later update lets you turn those markers off. There is no gun and no fight: when one of the changed men is near, you hide behind cover or in a vent, throw something to draw it away, or run. There is no on-screen display; you carry a torch and read the danger from sound and from what you can see.

The fear comes from two places at once. The rig itself is a hazard, groaning, tilting and tearing in a storm so that a walkway might drop into the sea, and the water brings fears of height, drowning and tight spaces. The thing aboard spreads through the structure as glowing growths and flesh, while the crew you knew by name come back as something that still calls out in their voices. A cast of Scottish actors, including Alec Newman and Karen Dunbar, carries those voices, with music by Jason Graves.

An optional Story Mode lowers the threat for players who want the story with less pressure, and Chapter Select lets you return to any part. A paid expansion, Siren's Rest, came out in June 2025 and sends a dive team back to the site over a decade later.

It suits players who like story-led horror such as SOMA or Amnesia more than combat, and anyone who wants a horror game they can finish in an evening or two. Players looking for resource management or hard puzzles will find it gentle, and some critics found its play too linear and short; its strength is atmosphere, setting and performance.

How to play Still Wakes the Deep

1. Start the story and explore the rig's canteen, decks and offices as the night begins.
2. Follow the yellow paint on ledges, ladders and pipes to see where you can climb or squeeze through.
3. When a changed crew member hunts you, break line of sight and hide behind cover or in a vent.
4. Throw objects to pull a creature away from the path you need.
5. Swim through flooded sections quickly and look for the way up before your breath runs out.
6. Repair or operate machinery when asked, to open the next part of the rig.

Tips

• Yellow paint means you can climb, grab or squeeze through there; you can switch the markers off in the options if you want less guidance.
• If the stalking sections are too tense, Story Mode lowers the threat so you can follow the story.
• If you are seen, run for the next vent or hiding place rather than doubling back, and look behind you as you run.
• When a quick prompt appears on a slippery or shaking walkway, answer it at once or you fall.
• Listen to the crew's voices and the noises around you; they tell you where the danger is.

Questions