For his or her newest sport, Nonetheless Wakes the Deep, builders The Chinese language Room are taking a dip into the sub-genre of horror generally known as aquatic horror. Normally, aquatic horror and creature options go hand in hand, however that isn’t at all times the case. Sorry readers, however all these low-budget shark assault horrors don’t depend! For my cash, there aren’t sufficient aquatic horror films, video games, or books. Whether or not it’s on a ship, a submarine, or, as within the case of Nonetheless Wakes the Deep, a drilling rig, the sense of isolation, lack of locations to run, and no assist inside calling vary provides to the horrific thrill of panic and dread that powers these tales.
Nonetheless Wakes The Deep takes all of those themes and plot units, chucks them right into a blender and goes one additional by including the catastrophe film style into the combination. Not solely are you operating in your life from one thing nasty, however the collapsing surroundings round you can also be seeking to do you in.
Set on an oil rig on the coast of Scotland, Nonetheless Wakes The Deep transports you again to the 12 months 1975. You’re distant from the security of land in an inhospitable and uncaring surroundings the place one mistake may value you, and the lads subsequent to you, dearly. As electrician Caz McLeary, you’ve run to the ocean from the regulation and are simply scraping by on protecting the rig’s electrical programs operating. Simply if you’re about to be despatched packing, the rig’s drill breaks into one thing unknown and catastrophe ensures. Every little thing that may go incorrect on a rig does however the true nightmare is just starting.
That’s the idea for The Chinese language Room’s cinematic horror journey sport. It could be incorrect to name Nonetheless Wakes The Deep a survival horror, regardless that you do should survive, as the sport is extra occupied with throwing you into the bowels of a horror film and tasking you with enjoying by way of what’s, primarily, an interactive film.
Now, initially, I assumed that Nonetheless Wakes The Deep’s linear gameplay and lack of exploration was a disservice to a incredible setting. And the idea of interactive films nonetheless has a foul style within the mouths of avid gamers, however as soon as I realised what The Chinese language Room was aiming for, Nonetheless Wakes The Deep blossomed into one in every of this 12 months’s finest horror video games.
You see, the builders need you to reside a horror film with this. And a catastrophe film too. And identical to these films, there’s a ticking time bomb propelling you from one set piece to a different. You’ll be able to’t simply escape. Every little thing has to interrupt right down to type an deadlock for you. Must get to that lifeboat? Positive however it’s a must to swim by way of oil, however earlier than you are able to do that it’s a must to shut the facility down or danger changing into a crispy critter.
After which there’s the horror film side, as associates and foe begin to mutate round you, dying horrible deaths or changing into unrecognisable issues seeking to tear you limb from limb. From the heights of the oil rig to its water-logged depths, it’s a must to clear up the rig’s issues whereas operating and hiding from what your mates have turn into.
Pitched as “The Factor on an oil rig”, Nonetheless Wakes The Deep influences are plainly seen. The Factor, Leviathan and a complete host of gloopy, gory 80’s physique horror films permeate the sport together with motion and catastrophe flicks similar to The Poseidon Journey. It’s an incredible hodgepodge that works splendidly with the sport’s character-centric narrative. There’s a good quantity of psychological drama at play right here, blended in with a vaguely Lovecraftian, cosmic horror aesthetic that retains a definitive rationalization as to the organism invading the rig wrapped in thriller. It’s a story transfer that I recognize because it retains the thriller intriguing.
The sport performs out from a first-person perspective. You’ll be able to run, soar, crawl, climb and work together with particular objects. There isn’t any fight within the sport with enemy encounters counting on stealth, hiding and pace to keep away from dying. There’s additionally little or no in the best way of exploration with the paths it’s essential to observe clearly highlighted for you. A lot has been mentioned about signposting interactable elements of the surroundings in yellow not too long ago, however right here it really works as a result of nature of the surroundings. Yellow railings, lockers and vent covers match completely in with the surroundings’s industrial design, changing into as a lot part of the surroundings as purple gantries or flickering work consoles.
As such, Nonetheless Wakes the Deep is a really linear affair that depends on its cinematic design and character work to maintain you engaged. The builders have used their earlier expertise to craft a tense, pulse-pounding affair steeped in dread.
Whereas the precise story beats is probably not shocking, the character work is well-written and acted. The sport sports activities some incredible voice performing from Scottish actors that retains character curiosity alive.
Nonetheless Wakes The Deep can also be a really lovely sport that includes some attractive, realistic-looking visuals within the surroundings design, incredible lighting and completely gorgeous reflections. The rig and climate are characters themselves, with splashing waves and fog-filled visuals paving the best way. The sport is probably not utilizing RT reflections, however the high-quality SSR on water and oil are breathtaking to behold.
The good visuals and set design do come at a value within the extra expansive views although, as I may see some body drops within the out of doors places, particularly later within the sport when the mix of fog, flame and out-of-this-world lighting mix to create an eerie, alien panorama. There are solely three visible choices out there on the console: Movement Blur, Movie Grain and Chromatic Aberration.
Movement Blur is the very first thing I disable in any sport and switching off Chromatic Aberration helped to easy out the frame-rate in these sections a bit. Disabling the Movie Grain might have helped as properly to disable the post-processing load however I favored the ambiance it lent to the sport.
Nonetheless Wakes The Deep is probably not the expansive survival horror title I hoped for, however I really feel that the builders have achieved what they got down to do by dropping you right into a horror film. As such, not solely have they created a gnarly physique horror title, but in addition one in every of this 12 months’s tensest and most atmospheric horror video games.
Nonetheless Wakes The Deep Trailer
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