Still Wakes the Deep: Siren’s Rest Review

Rating – Do Not Recommend

It’s not often that a horror game that hits so many positive points for me as Still Wakes the Deep did comes around. The offshore Scottish oil rig setting was unique and compelling, oozing atmosphere with a believable 70s setting with a varied range of characters and thick, believable Scottish accents. The continued destruction of the oil rig as you escape, and its use of eldritch horror, something us mere humans can’t understand, was fantastic. The mystery of the unknown is a core concept in horror; the more we don’t know, see, or understand, the more terrifying it is, as the human imagination fills in the blanks. I was initially surprised when a story expansion was announced, I never thought it would receive DLC never mind story DLC, but I was onboard and looking forward to it. Unfortunately, after playing Siren’s Rest, I’m disappointed and wondering what its purpose was.

The eerie, lonely atmosphere is still present here and will truly play to someone that has either the fear of the unknown or fear of the ocean.

After the events of the base game, the oil rig, Beira D, has completely collapsed into the ocean, and any surviving crew members and the horrifying monster inside met watery graves. You play as Mhairi, a diver exploring the remnants of the oil rig to collect memorabilia from those on board and confirm the fate of any trapped remains, giving families closure. To do this, Mhairi, her diving partner Rob, and the voice-only coordinator, presumably above the submarine, Hans, delve into the unknown waters in a small submarine they call the “Nest.” You connect a large umbilical cord which facilitating communication between Mhairi, Rob, and Hans, to your diving suit and descend into the dark waters.

This is where we begin. We gain controller of Mhairi and can freely swim around where the Nest landed and explore surrounding areas. The eerie, lonely atmosphere is still present here and will truly play to someone that has either the fear of the unknown or fear of the ocean. The vast, spread-out ocean quickly instils quiet loneliness, broken only by Rob or Hans warning you about straying too far from the objective or commenting on something found, like the helicopter that blew up at the beginning of the base game. At this point, we’re introduced to the main collectibles, which feels weird to label as such as they’re a combination of mementos from those who perished on the oil rig and photographs of their remains since within the story they make a big deal about the importance of gathering any mementos and confirmations of those dead. These are told to us to be the story objective, but in gameplay, they’re optional collectibles. After exploring and following a set of flares, we’re given an underwater blowtorch. We need this because harsh saltwater rusts the ship’s doors and vents; using it, we can blast off the rust and enter the destroyed Beira D.

At this point, dread started to set in, not from expected horrors I might encounter, but from realizing the entire game would most likely take place underwater. Underwater movement made sense outside, providing atypical freedom, but it’s only good outside the ship. Sadly, that’s exactly what happened. Manoeuvring the tight corridors and claustrophobic rooms of the Beira D with sluggish, floaty swimming became tedious quickly, which became worse as probably 90% of the expansion takes place underwater. There are small breaks where you unhook from the umbilical cord and exit the water to solve a quick puzzle or two, but soon you’re back underwater, attached to the umbilical cord. While the gameplay was a disappointment I can’t say the same about the audio, The Chinese Room have done great work here, as they did with the base game. The slow creaking of the ship as you move from area to area is creepy, and the voice acting stands out with authentic accents that sound like the person I would be chatting to in the pub. I can appreciate what The Chinese Room aimed for gameplay-wise; unfortunately, it didn’t land with me. The movement falls into the trap of typical water-based movement in first-person perspective games: it feels clunky, and there’s no way to move up and down without aiming the camera that way. Finding collectibles is made more difficult because they can be hidden higher up, out of view, like the one I found inside a pipe on the ceiling, points for realism, I suppose.

Manoeuvring the tight corridors and claustrophobic rooms of the Beira D with sluggish, floaty swimming became tedious quickly

As mentioned before, one of Still Wakes the Deep‘s biggest draws was its eldritch horror. The horrific monsters created from the main character’s co-workers, magnifying and warping their personalities into something inhuman. Siren’s Rest fails in this regard. You only encounter 1 monster, which I believe is the mutated Rennick from the base game and it’s not until the last 15-20 minutes that this encounter matters, there’s little challenge in getting past him due to swimming ultimately inhibiting hiding, can’t hide within lockers, can’t crouch under some grates. So, you propel yourself from pipe to pipe and throw flares to distract the monster.

The expansion’s length looks to add to my disappointment as it very much feels like it’s only just beginning as the credits start rolling. My playtime was around two hours, including collectible hunting. The plot is kept quiet for most of the expansion. We believe this group of divers are giving families closure, but we find out Mhairi is the daughter of Brodie, a character from the base game who valiantly sacrifices himself to keep the rig afloat. While they might be doing this to help other families, this is Mhairi seeking closure for herself and looking to understand what happened to her father. The ending is also quite ambiguous, leaving open the possibility of continuing Mhairi’s story as we know the monster is still alive but we don’t know what greater ramifications that could have, could Mhairi go back to try and kill the monster she encountered? Or is it possible that the monster has now been awoken and can look to go towards land? It’s hard to tell what the plans are for Still Wakes the Deep going forward but I would be lying if I said I wouldn’t be on-board with whatever comes next.

Still Wakes the Deep: Siren’s Rest was ultimately a disappointment for me. The underwater focus and predominantly swimming movement bogged down any enjoyment I tried to have with the expansion. The game continues to look, perform and sound phenomenal, and I enjoyed the introduction of Mhairi and her connection to Brodie. I know The Chinese Room is extremely talented, and their next game will be on my radar, but Siren’s Rest is a miss, and I can’t recommend it unless you enjoy clunky, floaty movement where nothing really happens until the end.

If you do think that this is up your alley it can be found on Epic Games Store, Steam, Xbox PC & Series X|S and PlayStation 5