Analysis of Still Wakes the Deep, unique tension and atmosphere

The Chinese Room presents us with Still Wakes the Deep, a title with narration and staging worthy of the best.

Always awakens the depths is the new proposal from the studio The Chinese Room, creator of Dear Esther or Everybody’s Gone to the Rapture. With this new title, the studio enters its comfort zone, since it is a master in creating video games with great and deep narrative experiences and unique atmospheres.

And that’s ituntil the depths wake up It doesn’t disappoint in terms of atmosphere. We will play Caz, an oil rig worker who is not having his best moments. He is under pressure from a family he left at home to embark on this adventure and who forces him to return home.

Terrifying atmosphere

We are temporarily in 1975 in the platform Biera D oil field, located in the North Sea, near the Scottish coast. The raging sea leaves no respite and neither does Caz’s boss. This turns the entire crew against him and in Caz’s case, even more so. After an incident that puts the Beira D platform in trouble with the police, his boss fires him, but Caz will not have time to bring the helicopter home.

A strange event causes the platform to collapse and much of it is destroyed. Through the drill rod, something has invaded the drilling machine and transformed part of the crew into deformed and voracious beings.

Story and platform

Right now Case He must fight to advance through the mass of iron that everything has become and save a good handful of his companions. To do this, you must travel through all parts of the platform without being detected by enemies. Caz must be very skilled. Avoid the creatures by making noise to distract them, hide at the box office and a long etcetera of alternatives among which does not face them.

Even if the gameplay is not the strong point of Chinese rooms, where some new proposals are missing, the initial story and the atmosphere of the title are spectacular. It’s true that as we progress the story declines a little. But the framework only gets better with every step we take.

This is one of those titles that you have to play with headsets no matter what. have to resort a half destroyed oil rig, with leaks, noises, clanking metal, gas leaks and the noise from the bar makes you want to run away 99% of the time. And this is a point in favor of Always awakens the depths

The game implements a button that allows you to look back without stopping running, something that is appreciated when running away from an enemy to know the time or margin we have. This gives even more of a feeling of agony and tension. And that’s it Always awakens the depths Don’t make the mistake of playing with fear “jump scares” (sudden fear). But it moves us all the time with the constant fear of being devoured to death or of falling into the frozen sea and perishing without cure.

Remarkable technical section

This part of platform The game is well done, the character performance is quite docile and we won’t see traffic jams in invisible corners or similar things. And technically Always awakens the depths This seems like a well-crafted game. Graphically if you play in mode quality you will appreciate a quality of textures and very, very high-end models.

The decor and design of the different levels of the platform do not skimp on the details and dirt which give it that extra realism. It’s true that the facial animations are where the title limps the most, but in general the balance is very good.

In the sound section, the title has nothing to envy of the major references in the sector. It doesn’t reach the levels of Alan Wake 2, but as is often said, you can’t see the seams in this section. In addition, the graphic and environmental atmosphere perfectly complements the work at the audio level.

CONCLUSION

Always awakens the depths It’s a title that fans of terrifying atmospheres will love. Its tuning couldn’t be better, the technical part doesn’t disappoint at all. Graphically it looks great in quality mode, although in my case I decided to play it in repurchase mode. And its gameplay is focused on platform and move quickly and nimbly to avoid enemies, hence my need to play more fluidly.

A section where Always awakens the depths The difference lies significantly in the gameplay, the studio has not focused on the mechanics or combat systems. It is true that The Chinese Rooms has accustomed us to this, but the title sometimes seems like a walking simulator of “owner” where you just have to press buttons when asked. This blurs And product which, although good, could have been sublime.