So, I fired up my GamePass.

Aye, I’m well into atmospheric games. Love the whole horror genre, but especially the isolation horror. When “Still Wakes the Deep” came oot, I had to gie it a go. Plus, with The Games Fund backin’ some horror game devs, it felt right up my alley.

So, I fired up ma GamePass.

Here’s whit I think efter 5:30 to beat the game. Heads up, there might be some spoilers.

The game is a stunner in 4K HDR, fully unleashed on the 4090. The settin’ on a falling apart oil rig in the North Sea is class. Even though ye’re stuck in wee boxish compartments and technical rooms full of pipes, it never gets old. Every bit is well-crafted, givin’ ye the best claustrophobic feel on the market. And a thalassophoby when you go get a breather on a deck.

But the baddies are just blobs of flesh with tentacles is kinda tired in 2024, innit?

The atmosphere is spot on! The location design, lighting, unique setting, sound design, and voice actin’ all work a treat together. I like how the level designers play with volumes, light, and architectural forms. It’s really an outstanding job, especially with such a limiting setting.

The artists nailed it, turnin’ plain metal boxes into scary, fiery, oil-filled chambers that’ll leave ye breathless, just like the hero leggin’ it through flooded rooms that feels like a thin niche as ye’re pressed to the ceiling by the oil-seawater mix, the rhythm of tiny corridors and the open, raging sea.
I still feel that.

Gameplay is a bit odd. The game’s pretty much a straight line wi’ some button-pressing or phone-picking here and there. I don’t usually watch games on YouTube, but this one made me wonder why I should bother actually playing it. There’s nae exploration, nae side rooms, nae getting lost, and hardly any hidden items to find. It’s a mix of a few simple actions: open doors, run from one yellow marker to another, jump, and press the right mouse button tae pull up. It’s not even a walking simulator, it’s more like a horror ride at Disneyland.

Still, I had a blast! One of the best horror rides oot there! From a development point of view, the team did a dam crackin’ job and I hope THE CHINESE ROOM LTD got a good deal from MS.

The story was too shallow for me, wi’ nae twists or hooks. Something attacks the rig, the crew’s stuck, the thing’s picking them off, and only ye can stop it. There’s almost nae personal backstory on the characters. At the start, ye can look around the crew’s rooms and see their stuff, photos, posters, notes, personal items. Ye find oot one’s a union activist, another’s a right-wing nut. There’s a bad boss and yer wife’s brother who got ye the job. And that’s it. Nae more details, nae deeper story. Just ye against some abstract sea evil.

Is it worth $32? I dunno, but 90% of players on Steam think so. Most people got it on Game Pass anyways (and are missin’ DLSS because of Microsoft’s policy).

But it was definitely worth my 5:30 and we need more such amazing games!