I feel like Finley being so distraught about Brodie not making it was because she told Caz to flood the Platoon. I think that's what was the final straw for her. Aside from realizing they weren't going to make it off the Rig.
I really appreciate the representation of Scottish language and culture which is usually left unexplored in the gaming industry, it made the story feel more real and personal to the characters. It also tells a deeper story due to the setting in the 70s as this is the era when oil was discovered off the coast of Scotland in the North Sea which gave rise to radical local political movements and at that time UK was in a terrible state economically. Most of my comments regarding gameplay and other technical aspects are already well covered by John but one thing I want to add is the ending letter. I know comparisons to Team Silent are unavoidable when playing psychological horror to the point of exhaustion but the final letter read by Suze reminds me of letter from Mary in SH2.
Seconded! The Scottish flair gave it an authentic 'lived in' feel and made the characters so heart-breaking *real* that even now I can't stop sniffling.
This games monster design is such an excellent example of show dont tell, you just dont see it done as well these days. I like being able to pick it apart and figure it out myself instead of being forced fed information. That and the concept of the creature alone is terrifying. The fact that your friends and coworkers still seemed to be alive and conscious while absorded in this hivemind was horrifying. I probably would of jumped in the ocean cuz that thing looks worse than death.
While I agree that the mystery around this creature is very intriguing, I still feel like I wanted a little more context. I wish they showed a helicopter view where you can see the silhouette of the whole thing beneath the water or something. Is it an actual creature? Or is it really just a fungus like growth? I don't need to know where it came from or anything, no backstory just a little more visual context of that thing as a whole would have been enough for me. Maybe they could've shown a gigantic maw or the heart itself, since it has a pulse after all. Idk, I'm just super fascinated by giant creature designs.
@@OoTZOMMMoO I assume it was done like it was so you would only know as much as your character would know. I'm not sure how you'd get a birds eye view from Caz's perspective without breaking immersion. I'm glad they didn't fall into the typical trope of giving the enemy so much screen time that it just loses its edge. But I did catch myself at times pausing the video to get a better grip at what the hell I was looking at lol
The voice acting is beyond superb. Great graphics and gripping story. Finley is my favorite. An interesting effect is when u look out the cabin windows in the end you see multiple windows repeating as if your seeing them through a mirror. I guess it's a kind of hallucination. Absolutely wonderful overall.
I actually did not expect to get teary eyed at the deaths of some of these characters. The writing and voice acting was incredible. I usually roll my eyes at writing in horror games because everything just feels like it IS written. So many of the lines and actions in this game feel like natural banter and you really grow to enjoy hearing from the characters. I also really agree with what you said about not over explaining everything. There doesn't need to be some deep lore or predictable twist about someone was looking for it the whole time, or the origins of where it came from. The horrifying thing about it is how unknown and mysterious it is, and that it's most likely just an unfortunate chance that it happened to be where the rig was drilling. It's a simple eldritch story but the characters and the setting really made it interesting and compelling, well done to everyone that worked on it
I expected everyone to die, cause you know, this is heavy inspired by the Things and 80s horror in general, but this was a well done game. The Chinese Room needs to continue on this path!
@@PrincessRomi1 you should watch Roanokes video explaining the entity in the game the TLDR is that the entity connects everybody it touches to a hivemind fusing them together because it breaks down cell walls like a cancer, this is why different monsters can have multiple body parts is because they absorb other people, and likely as it does this is floods the brain with serotonin and hallucinations, that's why all the different infected people talk about they're loved ones or other things. So if the entire entity isn't destroyed by the fire, then everyone who was conscious when they got connected to the hive is going to live forever eternally suffering.
I'm glad John found a new horror videogame that he enjoyed. Still Wakes the Deep proves that you can definitely make good horror games, nowadays. I liked this just as much as Johns playthrough of Amnesia the Bunker. Already looking forward to the next hidden gem you find John :)
The character monologuing how to deal with the grief, and talking out scenarios, after you encounter Roy, fucking got me man. This game is too good and keeps hitting bar after BAR.
The overexplaining bit at the end, P R E A C H. When everything has a (a concrete explanation) conclusion, nothing has a conclusion, further muddling the possible answers we can get at, by accidentally limiting oour scope in the other ways that things can work!~
I think these are some of the most artistically impressive monster s I've ever seen. I feel like I've seen a lot of eldritch meat growth things, but the swirling shapes, the mix of bioluminescence against black oil, and the different bespoke ways they distort each person you knew differently, it's really impressive, it shows a lot of care about making things sort of horrifically beautiful. The writing is also really nice, amazing for a horror game haha.
Such an amazing game. Sound design, dialogue, the details, the enemies, the atmosphere, and even the emotional appeal were all excellent. There's no way this won't be game of the year.
His wife saying that last line. It sounds almost like something you would say at a funeral. I never realized that till now and it made me tear up a little more than the last time I watched a game through.
The VA on this game were excellent, and I think it made Roy’s ending all the harder to go through. I was so hopeful when you snagged the insulin! Loved watching your playthrough of this and I appreciate the company while I work!
It's been a long time since a horror game made me actually feel something for the characters involved. All of them actually felt like people and I was legitimately tearing up at the end. Awesome playthrough John, thank you!
Anyone else singing "Blinded by the Light" towards the end, or was it just me? Loved this game's journey, the dialogs, and the environmental. Who knew we needed a game about an oil rig in the ocean? Well done.
I'm not normally a commenter but I commented on both 2 and 3 because I have REALLY enjoyed this game - the atmosphere, the storytelling, the characters were all amazing. Thank you for this series John! Video spoilers I enjoyed the section when you had to get past the guy sat in the chair in Marine control. The way he was talking like he still was in yhere was very creepy and well done. Gutted at the end - but i knew it had to happen, i mean what was gonna happen if a boat picked them up with no idea wtf is going on? They probably would have just called in the military and gotten rid of it anyway, and this way Caz and Finlay got to be our heroes from start to end. I had forgotten sbout caz lending her the lighter and getting goosebumps now. Fantastic game! Thank you john for playing it!
I definitely agree with your explanation of how the story was. It gave me massive "Thing" vibes, and im glad it wasn't explained. You're right about waaay too many things in horror trying to over explain how everything is. It gives me much more of a eldritch horror vibe with how the entity/disease/god acts with no explanation. Plus, i love nautical horror, so this was fun to watch
Wow, I LOVED this. I especially loved that they didn't rely one notes to flesh out the story, instead having actual interactions - or memories of interactions - for progression, word building, and establishing relationships. It made the stakes seem so much higher and more real. And it couldn't have been done without that superb voice acting. Some of those death scenes were a gut-punch. Thanks for playing it!
I really enjoyed the game! The creatures were so good and I loved that there was other characters present throughout. Sad they all died but I kinda knew that was coming 😔 Thanks for playing it and glad you enjoyed it!
Everybody's Gone to the Rapture also has some light eldritch horror elements, but it's not a horror game, it's a walking sim closer to previous Chinese Room games. With right expectations it can be a cool experience too. I personally really adore it and it put Chinese Room on the map for me. This was really impressive step up though and now I'm really curious how they'll deal with that Vampire: The Masquerade they're making.
Im curious about that end monologue since the game starts and suze isn't happy with him, i wonder if thats like a letter on route to caz? Delayed because its Christmas
Usually games like this don't use poor ruffneck-types so I don't usually feel like this, but hot damn coming from a family of salt-of-the-earth people this one GOT me. Plus the messages about capitalism and killing our world-this is a good one for sure
Spoilers at the end if you haven't finished the video. But I absolutely loved this game. I haven't been this invested in a new episode in a series in a while, and I'm sad it was only this long. It was suspenseful, you never knew when something was going to come crashing in. The design was great with utilizing the yellow markings to guide through the areas but without big obvious flashing signs, as the yellow caution markings would be expected on a rig like this, so just just blended into the environment. The creatures were each terrifying in their own way, knowing that the people absorbed by it were still somewhat alive and sentient and in pain, it created a fear that it was to be your fate. The tentacles gave me War of the World vibes a bit (tripods). And then the core of the creature was awe creating and unknown, which makes it more scary. Part of me wishes that there was some kind of understanding at the end of what the creature was (mostly just because I want to know more because I'm super invested), but I also know the value of leaving it a mystery because it leaves you to ponder it long after (like I know I will) and keep talking about it. And I know that makes for a good game. The ending made me cry, I was really routing for Caz (and Finley!) to somehow survive. I can't imagine being in a hopeless situation like that and having to just choose your end. When Caz surviving was out of the question, I thought we might find out that Suze was actually dead this whole time and they would be united. I guess in time. But this was an amazing experience that really kept my attention. Well done devs, and well done with the play through John.
The game did a lot of things right, and as everyone's said, the voice acting, sound design, visuals, monster design, horror setpieces -- all immaculate. There were so many twisted and nearly unrecognizable corpses (some not even corpses!) making incredible scenes. My only real problem is it doesn't feel like there's any real development, not for plot, story, character, anything. The only thing that changes is the rig gets worse over time. Otherwise you're just running from one maintenance problem to the next, in sequence, prolonging the life of the dying rig a little longer. I would have loved some sort of growing or developing but we get none of that, everything just happens instantly and then that's it. When the problem breaks out it goes from 0 to doomsday almost instantly, rather than gradually getting worse. There's no moments of calm or planning, which helps pace similar stories like The Thing. When Rennick's chopper crashes, we *immediately* see him as an angry monster. When you finally decide to destroy the thing, it takes 1 minute from bringing it up to agreeing. And then when it's decided, the heart is two feet away. Pacing problems and a lack of rising action don't automatically destroy a horror story, but with how much love and polish went into this game in other aspects I think just a little more planning could have made it leagues better.
I thought the game's breakneck pacing and tension propelled the story forward in a very effective manner. Every episode felt like it was a narrow step closer to a slim chance of escape. I wonder how the story would've been different with some pauses built into the action.
Personally I disagree with your problem being a problem. I don't think anything needed to be changing, the rig getting worse is simply that, but it makes sense. You're in the middle of an ocean on an oil rig (which is already dangerous enough) drilling into earth and something god knows what starts killing people/making them into monsters that kill others. You simply do not get multiple hours let alone days to prolong the inevitable. In The Thing, as per your example, they had the privilege of not being on an oil rig. Their main enemy was the alien thing, but here, it isn't just that. Everything happens fast because in an environment like that, even without an alien or whatever influence, things would happen fast. The development we get is of the main character, and he develops pretty much a lot for this whole thing to happen in what I assume is only a few hours. Everything happens instantly and then that's it, but that's what makes it so scary. The fact there is no time to think, no time to rest, no time to do anything but what you think is the best next step, no matter if it just prolongs the life of the rig you know is going to collapse, where you literally know every minute counts, that's what makes the fast pace so powerful.
@@chillcreep4926 I don't know, I don't feel any of those "chances" were believable. I never believed we were getting on the life rafts or the helicopter when they were proposed; the setting was never going to change like that.
@@PrincessRomi1 In The Thing, the cast is still stuck in a single location; they may as well be in the middle of the ocean for as much chance they have of leaving. I don't think MacLeary (only just now realizing this is a nod to MacReady) even develops much, himself. He still seems like the same man from the start, and while you could argue he seems a little braver, he seems headstrong (too much so even; thus the fight) to begin with and most of his heroic actions are out of necessity or other people telling him to do it. I guess his utter lack of agency is a big problem too, he pretty much never comes up with his own ideas or actions, he spends the entire game just being told what to do by someone else and then doing it.
Of course Caz doesn't come up with his own ideas. He's new to the rig, it would make no sense for him to know what to do. Also this is a 4 hour game. How can they put Caz through some massive character development when we only knew small bits about him? There's not always some lesson to be learned, especially when it was fairly obvious all they were doing was delaying the inevitable. This game didn't need any of what you say.
To me, a walking sim is a story you walk through. You might need to read notes, collect items to solve puzzles or find keys to open doors, but there are no threats, no time limit, and you can’t die. Once you introduce threats and the possibility of death, either through environmental hazards you have to jump, climb, run or swim through, or mobs that you have to fight or hide from, it’s no longer just a walking sim. If you refer disparagingly to this game as a walking sim, I can only assume you feel the same about games like Outlast and Amnesia. I’d argue that this game is a bit ahead of those even, because it also has swimming, and no bloody notes to read. (Telling the story through scattered notes is a thing everyone copied from Amnesia - where it made sense; you left them for your future amnesiac self - and I am delighted they decided to *show* the story in this game rather than using that lazy trope to tell it.) The story itself was solid. I’m fairly desensitized to things that want to kill me in video games, but the areas where there was a risk of falling into the ocean or getting trapped underwater and drowning scared the crap out of me. And as someone who gets disoriented easily in first person games, I thought the use of yellow as a visual guide was a stroke of genius - unobtrusive, yet reliable. I’d love for _that_ to become a popular trope. [SPOILERS BELOW] As for the ending, I was kind of hoping it wouldn’t end the way it did - finding Roy’s insulin was a vicious tease - but the writers did a good job of bringing you around to accepting it through the final conversation with Finley, so I’m okay with it - more so than I might have been otherwise. All in all, excellent game. Thanks to John for sharing it with us.
Nah man I'm angry about what they did to Roy, HE DESERVED BETTER. Ugh. my heart. I knew it was coming but still!!! But then i guess that means the games writing is good hey because I got attached to Roy and thus heartbroken and angry over his death so I cant be THAT mad at the game
Spoilers RIP Finlay, the bad bitch who was always fucking right. Jokes aside, I really loved this game and it was the first time I prayed for characters to survive but well, Jesus, sacrifices must be made from time to time.
52:00 On this point what I found interesting is that whenever " Suze " called you on the telephone it always came from zone 1 which was the Oil Derrek ( The Drill ) Whatever this entity is it was 100% messing with you telepathically
@@OkamiNoNamida =) What I also thought was neat was that during the opening while you were in the accommodation zone before everything went bonkers The Tartan carpet was realistically worn by foot traffic I thought that was a nice detail that wasn’t actively picked up on by people
@@OkamiNoNamidathere's one poster that has an advert for the oil company that says: "Awakening Scotland's Sleeping Giant Under the Sea" which is a fun tongue in cheek foreshadowing
I like that the game is hopeless but not completely hopeless. Because yeah, everyone dies. But you still get the chance to stop things. You can't save yourself, but you can save everyone else
Caz gets his arc. Able to face a hard reality for himself to do what his family needs instead of running from his mistakes at their expense like his origin.
They do a great job letting you connect with these characters. That's usually my biggest complaint with horror games but easily one of the strongest aspects when it's done right
I didn't understand what Trots meant by saying "I have to make it like it was" but now that you mention it, it does seem like he was arranging the bodies! When I played I found it weird how some of them were dead in their bed or sitting in front of their desk since they would've been probably either working or trying to evacuate. Pretty neat
Did you notice when Trots said that, it was his normal speech? His voice wasn't distorted by the biomass. That was Trots coming through to speak his final words. Poor guy probably knew what was happening but couldn't control himself until then.
He even put the dude from the beginning back into the shower area and removed his clothes (There's no way that dude remained naked and showering for over 12 hours while the rig was exploding, falling apart around them, and monsters walked the halls). He apparently even tucked one guy in and put pictures of his family on his chest. When you were trying to reach Roy's room to get his insulin you can hear Trots say "you can't have it!". Poor Trots didn't deserve any of this. His obsession with putting things back to where they were kept Roy (who's a lot bigger and clumsier than skinny Caz) from getting to his meds even though he was trying for literal hours to get there.
Lot of interesting moments within this game from Caz giving Finley his lighter early on in the game to her giving it back once she could no longer carry it. Desperately trying everything they could to try and delay the inevitable until they no longer had any other options. Once they ran out of options they realized there was no hope for them or anyone on the rig, but there was still hope for everyone back on the mainland and that they could at least save them.
I did not expect to get so emotional at the ending, wow. That voice acting was superb, that cannot be stated enough, it really made everyone feel like real people. This ending just hit me so hard in the feels, like actual tears in my eyes lmao
This game was utterly gorgeous. The voice acting and writing was great, the atmosphere was amazing -- you can believe that the rig is a place that is lived in, worked in. I really loved the way it mixed the mundane and the Lovecraftian. In the end, both the rig and the entity fuse together as the same dangerous environment, something not hostile but unlivable, where ordinary people try their best to survive still -- heck, half the perils you encounter partly owe to the fact that Rennick was a cheap bastard, probably because he had managers to please. Never forget the lifeboat... That was a super good catch about Trots! I didn't understand the reason he'd set the glasses on the corpse, but he was indeed trying his best to "put everything back". The writing on the fused humans -- the way their brains cling to irational patterns and spun wildly from that point, from "don't leave me" to "go fetch [my loved one] or "protect me" or "I'll sort this", was super interesting. Thank you for this let's play (and for putting the subtitles in British English!) Your commentaries are always a delight, and your final words were very interesting to hear!
The underwater scenes are so beautiful with the lighting and colors, same with the final confrontation scene. I think Rennick's encounter being so short in comparison to Addair's highlights how he was all bite while Addair was bite and bark. He gave Caz a whole speech about him being the king, just to be as scared of death as everyone else. Also, he's crazy for asking Caz not to leave him when he left Caz and Roy. I think Roper had the strongest grip to his humanity (being helpful and scared of Rennick) until the monster overpowered him and made him attack Caz. It's crazy to tell Caz to be brave for once in his life when he's been brave this whole night. I loved the writing and the voice acting for this game. I agree about being sad that everyone died, I at least wanted Caz to be able to survive, and I like how the monster isn't explained. The CinemaSins/unnecessary explaining could've killed his game.
I watched with a biologist friend and they compared the creature to a centipede. It got me thinking about the creature as an animal that has no special powers. It actually works. The monster has no conscious thought. It just runs on instinct. Its' instinct is just to consume biomass to grow. It can sense organic matter near it and instinctively reaches out with it's tendrils. Notice that it never assimilates non-organic matter. It just punched holes through the sheet metal of the rig. If it is some sort of animal it would have tools specific to how it eats. It assimilates conscious beings. It isn't particularly mobile which means it would need to trap it's prey. Something that causes paralysis and hallucinations. Maybe it secretes a venom. The prey trips balls muttering about the important things in their life. A lot of the moments where Cas hallucinates happens after he comes into physical contact with the creature, or when he's swimming through water. With how far the creature has spread by the game's end all that water was probably yeeted to the gills with psychedelics. Like any other illicit substance different people have different tolerances. This could explain why some victims just get assimilated in place and why others become a monster. The easily assimilated show the simple tendril behavior. The ones that have a high tolerance maintain shreds of consciousness. It explains the differences in their behavior. The ones that were aggressive had a shit attitude to begin with or a grudge against Cas.
One thing I keep thinking about is if the rig wasn't so cheaply made, then maybe people would've survived. If the threat wasn't an eldritch abomination, and just a failure of the rig itself, those people would still be in danger. Scary.. Cutting costs in these areas of work is a killer, and management who cares more about the product/money than the workers themselves. A real example would be the Chernobyl power plant explosion.
Yeah, there's a note on the wall by the lifeboats noting that lifeboats 2, 3, 4, and 5 were all unusable long before the event happened and they'd told Renneck about it. In Trots' room you learn the oil workers guild has been trying to get Cabal and Renneck to fix all the safety issues and they've ignored them. If Cabal hadn't cut so many corners in a race to get a rig out there first and maximize profits at least half of the crew could have been safe on the lifeboats within an hour or so. But as it was the lifeboats were damaged, there weren't enough life jackets, exits and corridors were locked or blocked, there was unsecured equipment EVERYWHERE, malfunctioning electricity and pipes, cheap metal scaffolding and rails ready to buckle and tear at the slightest bump, they were understaffed, and Renneck made them drill even when all their equipment and experience were saying stop and reassess. Cabal and Renneck murdered them before the creature ever touched them.
@@Momo_Minomo True. It really shows when you see dead people flow out from an area after you manage to remove the thing that was keeping them locked in.
The first Chinese Room game I thoroughly enjoy! Sorta reminiscent of SOMA with the ending where it's left extremely vague and ominous about what happens after the credits, which is a plus in my opinion. SOMA left be in a weird malaise for days after I beat it, that ending got me.
I knew it wouldn't end well since that's how eldritch horror plays out but I loved the characters so much that it broke my heart to see them suffer so much before hand. But at least we can feel better knowing Caz dies a hero, blowing that crap up before it takes the world!
yeah, although i wish there was a way that the rest of the world would know about his sacrifice, would make things a little better, although i guess you as the viewer are meant to see it
@@hooptyscoopty "no one will know your deeds" is also a common trope in eldritch horror, which is what gives us another layer of sorrow/dread. Though I'm glad you took that message out of it, too! Gotta look for the silver lining sometimes.
I liked this game and I enjoyed the playthrough. I agree with John's opinions, except I REALLY LOVE the ending. It's tragic, sad, hopeless, yes, but to me, it's the only ending that makes sense. I kept asking myself "What's the end game here?" ever since the membrane emerged from the depths but I did not want to guess or speculate as to how the game will end -- I did not want to be disappointed or have any expectations. When Finlay started convincing Caz it's the only way I got really excited, although the very end scene when Caz woke up next to Suze scared me because I thought maybe they'll go with the "it was all a dream" twist 😂 and that would suck imo
someone in the comments said that the ending could be just a hallucination and Caz became a part of the hive, which I feel like is a possible possibility as well as him simply dying, except it would give it more angst!
The fact that the membrane arteries are animated like they're pulling something out of peoples' bodies makes it that much more horrifying. It's pretty to look at from a distance, but also constantly reminding you that it's feeding on live humans with that animation.
the amount of people on the rig probably allowed it to prosper as much as it did. i wonder if it's not able to get up from the bottom of the ocean on its own, and then the drill pulled it out, and after the first few victims it managed to get strong enough to start really destroying the rig and getting the energy to grow
1:57 Electrician here, no you would NEVER try and walk on that ceiling. It's called a grid or drop ceiling (it's called a few things but this is most common) and the grid is only made of flimsy aluminium braces while the ceiling tiles are made of this almost paper mache material compacted into uniform squares that fit into the grid. Both the grid and the tiles could maybe hold 5kg ok but nothing over 10kg barring a miracle. Seeing the "good with the leccy" Caz get straight up onto the grid without concern is funny as.
I almost wish the story said something about what the parasite was, why it was climbing the tower, but at the same time having it be an ambiguous THING from the deep, cosmic horror is the best direction for the story - especially for a group of average people that didn't go looking for it. Just in the wrong place at the wrong time. Unrelated to anything, I always chuckled when the death slideshow ended with the seagull for no reason.
Instead of taking from it, I thought the linear nature of the game really lends itself to telling an amazing narrative. I was much more invested than I expected to. Love the monster designs and voice acting as well. Top notch stuff all around. I got goosebumps at so many parts.
Diabetic here…. That isn’t how insulin works 😭😭😭 I really thought I must’ve misunderstood what was going on earlier in the game but no he DOES have low blood sugar… Insulin LOWERS blood sugar. He should have just eaten a sugary snack earlier. If Roy had high blood sugar, the insulin would’ve helped. But given that they’re making him out to have low blood sugar, giving him insulin would’ve been a terrible decision. If he hadn’t been dead when Caz showed back up to give him the insulin he would have died shortly after being injected anyway. Such a bizarre oversight in an otherwise great story. Edit: I was informed the wiki page clarifies he dies of ketoacidosis, which is caused by high blood sugar. The story and dialogue wasn't very clear about that lol but at least they weren't actually wrong
interesting you commented this bc i was thinking the same thing when he was asking for his insulin but mentioned low BG LOL i thought i misheard. only thing that took me out of the immersion a bit
according to wikipedia he dies of ketoacidosis, meaning he had high blood sugar. so the insulin WOULD have helped him. ive seen people say he could have just been in a coma when Caz found him and not actually dead. he also could have just not had his insulin for long enough (it gets delivered at the beginning of the game meaning he hadn't had it for an unknown period beforehand) and it just caught up to him with the stress of the environment.
@@BrookieC Ohhhh! that makes so much more sense! They shouldn't have included the "sugary snack" line if they weren't gonna have him correct Caz though. Like I know he told him he needed his insulin not a snack but he should have explained why to make it more clear for the audience. It's already a huge misconception about diabetics and insulin so to just not explain that when Caz made that comment is questionable writing. But I'm glad it's at least canonically listed somewhere as keyoacidosis and not low blood sugar lol! Thank you for informing me!
I agree, it felt unclear just what the BGL situation was. Still bugs me that Caz doesn't at least try to give him a shot, or at least take off a glove so he can actually check Roy for a pulse. Ketoacidosis is also known to produce a unique smell, so even a line where Caz mentions smelling something would have helped to clear it up. He gives up on Roy real quick.
@@toxxicpill I think it makes more sense for the writing not to included it. Because of the personality of the two people. Roy knows what he needs, but he also knows Caz doesn't understand and that he doesn't need to understand it. Caz gets that Roy needs his meds and also offers his help to get it for Roy, but Roy believes at the time he will be able to get it, not knowing mutated Trots is in his way, which is not made easier with the cabins being closed and him not being able to fit into small areas like Caz. It was just unlucky, which makes it so much more sad.
The more I think about it, the more impressed I am with this game. It has a very interesting and unique setting, well developed characters, very few notes, really cool monster designs, it shows more than it tells and when it does introduce the dreaded psychological horror elements it keeps it to a minimum and explains them! This is a game where the character actually realises he's hallucinating! Amazing! There's no science man trying to explain the monster, no secret Umbrella plot where it turns out Rennick is testing a bioweapon, it's just an unknowable organism that seems to assimilate organic matter; very reminiscent of The Thing which is a GREAT thing (hehe) to take inspiration from. Fantastic stuff and I hope they can keep it up.
the game started good AND ended good. I really enjoyed it!! the story kept on being interesting and I could feel how logical everything was. the characters did what they could to even just survive. It really broke my heart to see roy die. the admiration and love each characters have with each other was so good. these people are coworkers who REALLy get along and it shows.
That was excellent. Great, yet simple story, amazing character writing, very well-thought-out emotional beats, visuals that are kind of typical yet fresh (The whole body-horrory alien concept has been done to death but they still made it unique in its own way) I love that there's an undeniable beauty to it that the game acknowledges a couple of times, like there at the end.
This was a really fun ride! I loved the whole eldritch vibe. Very few pieces of media know what to do with it and fumble the mystery and horror aspect of it. I think this game did a great job with the genre. And as always, experiencing it with John just makes it 100x more entertaining. Great series, once again.
Gosh, the ending of this game gets me. Lol I've watched multiple people play it but I've cried every time and this time was no different. I *really* enjoyed it. Loved watching you play this John! Keep on Keeping On, and thank you so much for doing what you do~!!
I love how John's like "At this point I'd just jump into the ocean", as if that stuff isn't coming out of the ocean and you wouldn't be S.O.L. either way. 😆 I gotta say, I do like 'The Thing' vibe. I loved the movies. ❤️
It is a great example of how the game worked to get you immersed at 15:10. John is more interested in seeing the creature than walking on the ledge. We have seen similar behavior from the characters (lightning in the washing machine and the person staring at it, Caz being mesmerized by it at the beginning of the story, etc.). It is almost like we are part of the game as we are also magnetized by whatever that is through the screens. Very cool.
I'm so impressed by this game, the voice acting, the graphics, I actually cried at the ending, I don't remember the last time a game like this actually hit that way well fucking done
I was not expecting this ending to hit so hard. I'm very glad they valued character development in this because they felt real while being in such a wild experience.
The narrative of this had me on the edge of my seat, and as someone who is always sold on a narrative based on the characters, this one really brought it home. I'm gonna be thinking about this for ages.
The Chinese Room really hit it out of the park with this one. I hope they keep making horror games! I really enjoyed the lack of explanation on the "creature" too. You're just A Guy (tm) trying to keep things afloat and survive. If anything, being left in the dark makes the player bond with the clueless character better.
I really like how the other characters, even in their infected eldritch forms, still seem to have a sliver of humanity left in them. They're able to form coherent sentences while clearly being in a state of delusion, trying to grasp at any hope of being able to survive this ordeal, but just end up harming everyone around them in the process because it's far too late to save themselves. I think they become blinded to the horrific state their bodies and minds are in but still fight to try and get away from it. Alternatively you could just see this as the "infection" using their bodies to try and trick uninfected people into becoming victims as well? (Similarly to The Thing)
I really liked watching this - so much so that I couldn't wait to see what happened after part 2 came out and I went and found a no commentary playthrough because I needed to know what happened. Still watched part 3 and 4 of course just to see John's reactions. It's been a long time since I've watched any horror media that gave me the fear tingles, and ironically enough the last couple months now I've been thinking about rewatching The Thing lmao. I saw a theory somewhere that whatever it was fed on aggression, or at least aggression fueled it/made it stronger or more fast-acting, and it made sense that most of the immediate monsters/threats were pretty aggressive people to start with - Rennick and Addair, and we saw Muir shouting at the beginning, that kinda thing. Meanwhile Roper was more lax even after it got to him. I don't know what that means for Caz though; putting someone in the hospital out of anger, you'd assume aggression is in his nature as well.
![Ending [Still Wakes the Deep - Part 4]](/img/logo.svg){kind=logo}
