Virtual 100 – Game 24
Apparently I didn’t capture any footage for Still Wakes The Deep, nor did I take any screenshots. Which sucks because I’ve been trying to include some media in my blog posts, like I used to. It’s probably for the better though, since the reveal of the creatures is probably one of the better parts of the game, and anything here would probably spoil it.
Still Wakes The Deep was a bit of a surprise. I remember seeing it at one of the gaming showcases and I was pretty hyped for it. I didn’t know at the time that it was essentially a walking simulator, and I will admit it was a little bit of a bummer at first. But I’m not inherently opposed to walking sims, and there are a few that I’ve thoroughly enjoyed. But when you’re a walking sim, you really have to bring it.
Luckily, Still Wakes The Deep brought it. It wasn’t perfect, and there were a few times when I genuinely felt the “just one more” fatigue. You know what I’m talking about, that moment when you feel like you finally accomplished the thing you were supposed to accomplish, and the game throws that “one more thing” at you. Oh, you finally climbed your way to the top of the tower, and the magic chalice is almost within reach, but wait! The floor just gave out from under you, and you fell all the way to the bottom! The Callisto Protocol did this a few times, to the point where it was almost comical. But Still Wakes The Deep gives Callisto a good run for its money.
The thing about SWTD (ew?) is that the environment is rather small. The game takes place on an oil rig out in the middle of the ocean. There’s not a whole lot of places to go. So that means re-treading a lot of familiar ground. As the game progresses, the state and stability of the oil rig is deteriorating at a rapid pace. So just because you might be going through an area for the fourth time, it looks slightly (or dramatically) different each time. That helps to break up the monotony, and at times it was pretty cool to see how it has changed. But that only goes so far to hold back the groan when you realize you have to activate the bilge pumps, and in order to do that, you need to go through the crew quarters. but the crew quarters are blocked off, so you need to get to the maintenance shaft. But to get to the maintenance shaft, you have to activate the crane. The key to the crane is on the dead guy in.. I dunno, the bathroom. You get the gist.
This is all fine at first, but man, when you start getting toward the end, you really start to feel it. To be fair, the protagonist feels it too. He’ll argue with other NPC’s about why he has to do something or he’ll bitch about having to go back to X location. And in a weird way, it makes him more relatible. He doesn’t want to do that shit any more than you do.
One of the funniest (and coolest) things in the game is that the characters are Scottish. Irish? I think Scottish. And they speak… Scottish. There’s probably a term for it but I’m just an ignorant American so we’ll just call it that. It’s English they’re speaking… but damned if I knew what the hell they were saying. The funny part is that they know you don’t know what the hell they’re saying, as there are subtitles at the bottom and the subtitles essentially just paraphrase.
Like, the VO will say something like “Guh ge’ th’fuckin kis in put’n th’durlack a’ready.” And the subtitle will say something like “Get the key and unlock the door.” I know that’s a horrible attempt at dialect but I’m doing this from memory here. I suppose the truly adventurous could play the game with the subtitles disabled, but I wouldn’t have had the foggiest idea what I was supposed to do most of the time, much less any sense of the story.
I’ll admit. This game stressed me out. This guy’s life just kinda sucks. Not just the situation, but his life in general. Apparently he took the job on the oil rig to kinda get away from the authorities after… a fight? Really? Isn’t that like, a way of life in Scotland? Anyways, he must have really fucked the guy up. He took the job on the rig to lie low, hoping that by the time his six-month stint or whatever was done, the cops would’ve forgotten about him and he could go back home. The flashbacks to his home life were nothing but arguments with his wife about leaving. They really drill it home too, with virtually every memory about his wife being an argument. She cares about him and doesn’t want him to leave, so it’s not like hates him, but that doesn’t do much to change up the tension in the game. I would’ve liked for the flashbacks to add some serenity to the game. Some moments of calm. To really give us the desire to really want to go back there. But his home life and relationship with his wife is almost always shown in a tumultuous way that doesn’t really mesh with his love and desire to get back to her. I don’t know, maybe I’m missing something here, or maybe it’s just been about a month since I wrapped up the game and only remember so much.
One thing I really kinda hated were some of the controls though. Not everything, but it was one of those games where you don’t just tap a button to activate a thing, you have to “grab and pull down” for a lever, or “grab and rotate” for a wheel. I have never been a fan of this mechanic, and it’s one of the main reasons I still have yet to play through Amnesia: Rebirth. But the biggest gripe I have is with the climbing. Jumping and grabbing a ledge, or climbing a ladder, requires you to alternate button presses, or hold one button while pressing another, or some other over-complicated shit. I died so many times because I forgot that I needed to hold a certain button before letting go of another button. It’s one of those interaction decisions that’s supposed to make the game more “immersive” but it never feels that way. I’ve griped about this mechanic in other games and I’ll gripe about it here. It’s just not fun.
There’s not a whole lot else to talk about in Still Wakes The Deep. It’s not a very long game. I think I finished it up after a few sittings. Probably about six or seven hours? Maybe ten at the most? It’s hard to say because games like this always tend to feel longer than they are. If you’re a fan of narrative-driven games, I’d say this is probably one of the better ones.
And hey, it was on Game Pass, so there’s that.
