Still Wakes The Deep Is Alright

[@gabe1298]

Oil rigs are such a good setting for a horror game

[@EggBastion]

Like MGSV?

[@BenPlaysGames]

100% agree, the setting really, really works. Both in terms of the mix of open air adventure and horror in the maintenance areas, as well as how the story and the sea gets more aggressive as night draws in. Phenomenal.

[@orbitaloutcast9878]

To me the game isn't about the gameplay, but it's about the people you meet in the game. People can look at the game for what it is, but for me I was in love with the environment, the body horror and the characters. The game was merely just a vessel for the story and the deliver of everything else. Sometimes a game doesn't have to be everything it "should be" to sell the message of the story, or to make you attached to the characters, or to feel the weight of the hopeless situation caz is seen struggling through. The environments are wholly unique in every portion of the map, it's wrought with immense detail, every part of the game is wholly unique and independent from one another, there's brilliant story telling that mirrors the moments in the intro segment of the story. I don't think every story must follow a strict narrative recipe to be good, and I certainly don't think that should be the case for this game either. People loved tattle tale's the walking dead because of the characters, not for its"gameplay" I genuinely cried through a lot of the emotional moments in the story, it made me feel something, and that's what matters ultimately. I only have one complaint: I wish I could've been given the choice to somehow save everyone on the rig, but I believe to some extent that wouldnt've worked out at all for the people on the mainland. It's evident that our trio of survivors were sick with whatever this *thing* was that had killed all their co-workers from the very beginning. I believe a single ending communicated the hopelessness of the situation much better than 3 or 2 different endings would've, it made the overall conclusion of the situation sit just that much heavier on the soul. Another thing I wanted to mention was "The lack of agency" If you were given a ton of agency in the gameplay to do as you pleased the player the game's story would've lost its potency, the story would've taken a backseat as you went on expeditions throughout the rig. And don't get me wrong, that sounds fun as hell, but I don't think this is the kind of game that needs that when the story itself and the immersive environment is meant to be the main appeal to the game.

[@hafirenggayuda]

Aye. The game feels more like interactive story telling than usual survival game, where he have a "choice". As a "game" SWTD lacks a lot, but as a horror drama story, it delivers near perfect. Probably the best acting and direction of this year (so far)

[@orbitaloutcast9878]

@@hafirenggayuda Exactly, said in fewer words than I had.

[@Pdasniper]

When inevitably another walking sim releases I often think to myself - why wasn't that a movie instead? Still Wakes The Deep could be a movie. In my opinion it should've been. It's not that this game doesn't have survival horror tropes or gameplay elements we've come to expect of horror genre. It's that the game has none of the characteristics that would prohibit it from being something else. The only benefit of Deep being the game is the ability to walk around the rig in your own pace. But every gameplay element makes this experience less enjoyable. Every surface the player needs to interact with is covered in yellow paint, the player can't find or determine a single thing for themselves. Every corner you turn the yellow paint meets you, even when the path is a straight tube. And the path is absolutely always a straight tube. Often shamelessly so, with blocked doors all around. Climbing actively contributes to players carpal tunnel syndrome, with how it forces to hold the button. Game has not more than 10 QTE specific animations and they keep repeating over and over and over again. Grunt over that ledge, spin another big yellow valve, hold the button while you ascend the stairs, reorient yourself while nearly falling. Monsters are extremely dumb and easy to juke except for the scripted chases, but there the player is always forced into a single corridor. There are a few situations where the monster could easily get the player in a nearly open "hiding place" or simply having an open door between them and the player. But game logic forces the monster to never do so. I don't feel rewarded by driving Caz on his journey. I feel hindered and bored each step of the way. The "gameplay" keeps me away from great atmosphere, voice acting and environments. And if the game is great in every aspect but the gameplay - it could've been a movie.

[@orbitaloutcast9878]

@@Pdasniper It costs more to make a movie than it does to make a game, even when the game is cutting edge in fidelity and graphics and *buzzword buzzword buzzowrd* you get the point. But I might be wrong

[@mattfransen1551]

It’s perfect for what it is and set out to do- a 4-5 hour story/setting driven horror game that leaves you with no answers and a depressing ending. I wasn’t impressed with games like Alien Isolation, but I played through this one in a single seating. Awesome experience. Seeing Caz fight so hard to make it back to his family, only for it to all be for nothing and realizing it at the end was particularly impactful.

[@TrueHey]

caz does actually make his own choice when he choice to get roy at the roof, i do have to say things absolutely feel "too" convenient, everything breaks after you've already crossed them with them rarely breaking whilst you are on them, and telephone calls happen exactly when you walk in except for a couple. The yellow paint also feels a bit overdone with the random paint splatters on the path you have to walk or jump when it's already a very linear game, there isnt really any yellow walls or flooring either that'd require yellow paint so it gets confusing where all of the paint comes from. The last thing i want to mention is how linear it is, which yeah i get it's how it was meant to be played, but there are just so many rooms that are unopenable yet it doesnt make sense why, some show that they are blocked and ones like the cabins make sense being locked but normal doors just cant be opened, i know having more explorable areas would cost a lot of time but that many doors just feels off no matter what happens tbh. Also the monster sections feel extremely linear, you're given a large area to sneak around yet there's only this conveniently pathed hiding spots to get to where you need to go, rather than multiple branches, also just something that puts me off a little

[@TrueHey]

oh yeah, the side story with suze, Roy literally tells you everything at the start of the game which really just leaves nothing in the dark, tbh it would've been better off if they made Roy more vague about it

[@tacdragzag7464]

I only now realized... The protagonist is called McLeary, which reads sorta like McReady...

[@BenPlaysGames]

Oh wow, how did I not clock on to that - good catch mate!

[@pchurch692]

Thanks for the video, great content as always Ben!

[@BenPlaysGames]

No wozzas pchurch, hope all is good with you mate!

[@dylives7667]

They made a game of Deep Water Horizon, that's crazy.

[@DJ88Masterchief]

It’s on game pass! And it takes about 4 hours to beat. I enjoyed it for what it was, yea the ending was disappointing], but I really enjoyed the atmosphere and characters.

[@BenPlaysGames]

Glad I played as I did have a good time other than being slightly pet down by the ending. Perfect game for the service really, would have felt short changed if I'd paid for it but as part of the subscription it's great.

[@levi22es]

Just finished this one. I definitely enjoyed it. Did you look in the accessibility settings? There was an option to reduce the yellow paint. While it wasn’t a complete removal, it was toned down a bit and helped with immersion a little. I understand why games slather everything in yellow nowadays, but I think this being an option in the settings going forward for games would be a nice touch.

[@burge117]

Damn, Ben. You knocked this together quickly and still a banger. 😊 After watching your entire stream, this games only real highlight is the amazing voice acting and the OST. As you said. I honestly cannot believe we are still getting walking simulators in 2024 and what is worse is the game tries to so hard to hide it. Honestly, even the story was a major let down, I think we were all bummed out when you finished it 😂 Sure, have some mystery...but to give us nothing 😅 Had the story been there, like one of the people said watching the stream, it would have made for a good horror film. Can it be classed as a game, if you know, it lacks gameplay?

[@BenPlaysGames]

If I didn't get something together quickly, I'd forget all of it within a week haha. There are several games I've played with the intention of writing about them but have then got fuzzy on the details as I didn't start writing quick enough. Decided to strike while the iron was hot with this one. It would definitely make for a good movie and I think the lack of answers would probably be less of an issue in that format too. I'd have loved more notes after the first 30 minutes, where most of them are, to help flesh things out a bit more. Maybe some hand written observations about the Monsters which gave us some clues about what was going on. All in all, it was fun enough, but I'm also glad with this video it's out the way!

[@burge117]

@BenPlaysGames Looking forward to the SPV stream. Hope you make it further than me, I really enjoyed the first three levels, but weirdly, it started to tank for me on the Silent Cartographer. I ended up quitting on AOTCR.

[@peterondrus7065]

@@BenPlaysGames I don’t think having notes about monsters would fit. I mean just some smuck working on rig and finding Lovecraftian monster is not going to go “Dear diary... ”.

[@TyCollage]

The Thing traumatized me as much as the Blob did before that and I will *NEVER* play this game from the Chinese Room because they do NOT disappoint...good lord the Rapture and the feels. I WILL however recommend this game to tons of people...and I will forever hate that I won't know more about whatever the hell this thing is...great video man... Gonna watch some Old School sesame street then sleep under my kids old crib in the shed

[@schools6555]

I get the horror of the unknown especially in Lovecraft and in my opinion this is definitely a Lovecraftian Horror game. I just wanted a little more explanation with what was going on and a better ending.

[@BenPlaysGames]

Subscribe: kzbin.info Support the channel: www.patreon.com/ben_plays_games As the game's very new, I've written this avoiding spoilers, with 90% of footage taken from the first 30% of the game.

[@regularphill]

The voice acting carried the game.

[@BenPlaysGames]

It's so, so good, to the point it makes me sad a lot of other parts of the game didn't have the same quality. A survival horror game with the same setting, premise etc but with a lot more gameplay and the same standard of writing/voice over work would be amazing.

[@regularphill]

@@BenPlaysGames yes!

[@amsgame7148]

SPOILER SPOILER The game would have been remarkably better if Caz survived the ordeal. It would be great sequel territory if he had. But his death is not deserved, especially since he stopped running from problems and went back for Roy's insulin. Those facts together should have been enough to spare him a gruesome fate (at least in this game).

[@Lonewolf360gaming]

With how bad the situation had gotten where caz,Finlay and brodie had to flood the ballasts causing the rest of the rig to be on it's last legs (literally)with the rest of it was submerged in the freezing waters and oil. there's only so much caz could've done in order to prolong the invetiable unless that one guy which managed to escape on a lifeboat somehow managed to find a way back at the last minute while still finding a way to blow up the entity which practically consumed the rig at that point.

[@judgedread9724]

I feel like it needs other hour to fit the rest of the story in. Things felt a tad compressed toward the end. Then again I worry the gameplay might of ended up overstaying it’s welcome a bit. Dunno.

[@khujohjr]

Finley said it’s not going to stop with them the entity took the rig and killed everyone it was a extinction level event it sucks but it’s also psychological horror considering Finley is happy and believes they will survive while caz is optimistic by the end they both realize what needs to be done like when caz says “fuck we never had a chance” the support ship would have gotten overruned just like the rig they where doomed from the start

[@cartiercat]

the parallels with the thing are very distinct, like the 1982 film the last standing characters are also presumably left to freeze to death and there’s an unsureness lingering if it’s really dead. I think a bleak ending is perfect for this kind of thing since it really plays up the sheer power and vastness of the entity and humanizes our protagonists further

[@lh2775]

All I can say about this is thank god it was on gamepass. I enjoyed it for what it was but I'd have been furious if I put money down on it

[@BenPlaysGames]

It's exactly the kind of game suited to a service like Game Pass, isn't it? If I paid 30 quid for it, I'd feel a tad letdown.

[@Mavvyd96]

"Nationalist propaganda" You say this as if its a bad thing. Addair is based.

[@paulallen2680]

Gameplay was disappointing, but everything else was good