June 2024 marked the release of many expansions. Making it a particularly great month for the gaming industry. Games like Monster Hunter Stories 2 come out, and expansions like Elden Ring: Shadow of the Erdtree were released.
Yet one thing that was lacking was discussions about the horror games that were released alongside the other games. They were mostly ignored, and sometimes outright called worthless. But is that true, or were people too judgmental about Still Wakes the Deep?
What Is Still Wakes the Deep?
Still Wakes the Deep was released in June 2024, making it one year old at the time of writing. Yet, even still, not many people talk about it, due to it dropping with some massive titles in gaming.
Many reasons could point to why that’s the case, but one that can’t be ignored is its genre being horror. Horror games have been lacking recently, with many saying horror games are simple jumpscare games or a Dead by Daylight clone.
While there are many cases like this, this game feels and plays more like a popular horror game, Outlast. The feeling of not being able to fight back against what’s trying to hunt you down is great for horror games!
That isn’t the only fear factor about this game, as it uses one of the greatest fears of today: thalassophobia. Thalassophobia is the fear of large bodies of water, and the setting for the game takes place at an oil rig.
The setting only makes it worse, as oil rigs have two ways to leave, by boat or by helicopter. Because oil rigs are also meant to house people, players know they can’t leave anytime soon, forced to accept it.
Still Wakes the Deep isn’t done yet, as it has one more ace up its sleeve, and its cosmic horror. Cosmic horror isn’t something that games try to do, as it’s hard to do well with its limitations.
Call of Cthulhu and Amnesia are games that have good cosmic horror. So, to see another game, doing it is great! Not being able to know what truly is hunting you and what it’ll do makes the fear stronger.
Finally, the story is well written, and it doesn’t clash with itself in any of the chapters. The characters are written well, with each feeling unique, and the voice acting for each works well with how they look.
There’s not much to complain about, as it has at least a few hours of gameplay, allowing people to enjoy every detail. If it sounds like your cup of tea, get it, and remember to bring a life jacket should you fall off!
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