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[adamsapple]

Developed by The Chinese Room.

I played Still Wakes the Deep and it feels like Outlast with a Lovecraftian twist, all set on an oil rig that's trying to kill me​

I played Still Wakes the Deep and it feels like Outlast with a Lovecraftian twist, all set on an oil rig that's trying to kill me

Preview | The Chinese Room melds gritty domestic drama with hide-and-seek terrors to build "experiential narrative horror" in Still Wakes the Deep

www.gamesradar.com

Still Wakes the Deep gets the fundamentals of horror just right while also having an incredible location and grisly action​

Still Wakes the Deep gets the fundamentals of horror just right while also having an incredible location and grisly action

Never look back.

www.pcgamer.com

How Still Wakes the Deep Makes You Care for a Doomed Crew​

How Still Wakes the Deep Makes You Care for a Doomed Crew - Xbox Wire

Still Wakes the Deep follows through on its cinematic inspirations as we go hands-on with the first two hours of the game.

news.xbox.com

Gameplay trailer from a few months ago:

 

[Punished Miku]

No idea it was Lovecraftian. Kind of wish I didn't know that.

And I'm out. Don't need to see a word more considering it hits in 2 weeks.

 

[Thick Thighs Save Lives]

Good stuff from The Chinese Room. Gonna grab it day one.

 

[adamsapple]

Hope they include a 'no monsters' mode just to focus on exploration like some other games of this kind have started adding

 

[Skifi28]

Hope they include a 'no monsters' mode just to focus on exploration like some other games of this kind have started adding

I played Soma in the passive mode or whatever it was called, no regrets.

 

[Bartski]

sweet, I'm in

 

[adamsapple]

I played Soma in the passive mode or whatever it was called, no regrets.

That is my preferred way of replaying the game now, honestly. The monster encounters actually distract from the incredible atmosphere the game has.

 

[bender]

Developed by The Chinese Room.

 

[TerribleAtThisGame]

I read Outlast and I'm Outfirst. One of the lamest trends to ever befall gaming has been Hide & Seek Horror to me. They all consist of waiting around for shitty AI that gets stuck in transparent loops to hopefully fuck off or having to reload boring segments of crouch walking.

 

[adamsapple]

Is that good or bad?

 

[Humdinger]

I thought their earlier game, Everyone's Gone to the Rapture, was pretty good. Not great. It was very much a walking sim, with slow walking, no people, the story transmitted through notes and weird apparitions. Spacey atmosphere and music. It was a quality effort.

I'm looking for shorter games lately, so I've got this one on my list. I'll have to be in the mood for it, though.

 

[TerribleAtThisGame]

Hope they include a 'no monsters' mode just to focus on exploration like some other games of this kind have started adding

I wish devs would finally come up with ways to make these types of encounters engaging, like robust stealth mechanics or just something, instead of acknowledging how shit their design is by offering "yea fuck it" modes like this.

 

[rm082e]

I'm confused, is there some combat in this game, or is it a hide-and-seek-like?

 

[Giallo Corsa]

Please God, let this be more like SOMA than Amnesia: a machine for pigs.
The former is proper horror, the latter was a walking sim (even compared to amnesia).

"Press forward for awesome" never did it for me, I fookin' hate walking sims...

 

[adamsapple]

I'm confused, is there some combat in this game, or is it a hide-and-seek-like?

No combat. Run, jump, hide, stealth, puzzles etc.

 

[bender]

Is that good or bad?

How much do you like walking simulators?

 

[TerribleAtThisGame]

Please God, let this be more like SOMA than Amnesia: a machine for pigs.
The former is proper horror, the latter was a walking sim (even compared to amnesia).

"Press forward for awesome" never did it for me, I fookin' hate walking sims...

Watching the gameplay video, this is straight set piece YouTube Horror. The protag yells "what the fuck!?", predictably slips at scripted points but of course there are no stakes, things screech and he goes "Jesus!".

I came in for Lovecraft but this looks like yet another haunted house walking sim.

 

[Giallo Corsa]

Watching the gameplay video, this is straight set piece YouTube Horror. The protag yells "what the fuck!?", predictably slips at scripted points but of course there are no stakes, things screech and he goes "Jesus!".

I came in for Lovecraft but this looks like yet another haunted house walking sim.

Aaaand...I'm out

Thanks for saving me some time brother

 

[TerribleAtThisGame]

Aaaand...I'm out

Thanks for saving me some time brother

I've noticed across many threads that we have several hates in common...

 

[GrayChild]

I'm really burnt out from all the samey hide and seek/walking sim titles (most of which I found lame) and I absolutely hated "A Machine for Pigs", but at the same time I'm a sucker for everything that's Lovecraftian.

Might give this a chance if it turns out to be at least decent.

 

[AeonGaidenRaiden]

Oh and its day one on gamepass.

 

[Mr Hyde]

I'm down for anything Lovecraftian. Love the setting with the oil rig. Hopefully they knock it out of the park.

 

[SpearHea.:D]

hyped for this

 

[CherryFalls]

How much do you like walking simulators?

They do them really well though.

Dear Esther and Everybody's gone to the rapture has great writing, tension and atmosphere.

 

[delfrickintree]

Hoping for a soma successor but I hate the hide n seek horror "gameplay". I never finished their Rapture game, it felt like a beta version of whatever full game they were designing. Lovecraftian is always cool but Im getting the sense that lately its become a crutch to attract / appease fans of the ~spooky~ instead of just creating a non-tropey lore.

Oh and gotta love the yellow paint interactive ledges.. fugg

 

[The Cockatrice]

Hope they include a 'no monsters' mode just to focus on exploration like some other games of this kind have started adding

Ofc you'd be that guy to like this. Just dont play horror games? "I hope they add no monsters feature in Elden Ring" Fucking lmao.

 

[adamsapple]

Ofc you'd be that guy to like this. Just dont play horror games? "I hope they add no monsters feature in Elden Ring" Fucking lmao.

Yes, add a Story Mode difficulty to ER while they're at it, would love to play it like that.

 

[The Cockatrice]

Yes, add a Story Mode difficulty to ER while they're at it, would love to play it like that.

 

[bender]

They do them really well though.

Dear Esther and Everybody's gone to the rapture has great writing, tension and atmosphere.

Terrible games though. Machine for Pigs too.

 

[adamsapple]

Terrible games though. Machine for Pigs too.

They're not shooters that's for sure, but for what they are, they're pretty good. Especially Esther (I've never played Machine for Pigs)

 

[Arachnid]

I read Outlast and I'm Outfirst. One of the lamest trends to ever befall gaming has been Hide & Seek Horror to me. They all consist of waiting around for shitty AI that gets stuck in transparent loops to hopefully fuck off or having to reload boring segments of crouch walking.

Agreed. Worst fucking trend ever. Outlast used to be bottom of the barrel horror. It's wild that horror games have managed to get even worse than that. Some of these titles make me look back on Outlast almost fondly.

 

[bender]

They're not shooters that's for sure, but for what they are, they're pretty good. Especially Esther (I've never played Machine for Pigs)

Everyone’s Gone To The Rapture couldn’t even get walk speeds down correctly which is funny all things considered. Machine For Pigs has most of the strengths and weaknesses of their other games, which, as a whole, doesn’t make for a good Amnesia game.

 

[TerribleAtThisGame]

Agreed. Worst fucking trend ever. Outlast used to be bottom of the barrel horror. It's wild that horror games have managed to get even worse than that. Some of these titles make me look back on Outlast almost fondly.

The problem with these games is that they substitute no engaging mechanic that causes dread based on your own failure. They simply axe combat leaving you with shoddy-as-fuck AI that OHKOs no matter what. It doesn't feel tense to not be able to fight back to me, it feels boring and like a flimsy haunted house. You see the seams of the AI everywhere and the illusion is instantly broken anyway.

Outlast just felt like Condemned but eternally stuck in that first minute of a training level before you're taught the mechanics. I still can't wrap my head around how this awful trend essentially usurped Horror games and made "helpless" the standard instead of dread-inducing odds etc.

 

[mckmas8808]

No combat. Run, jump, hide, stealth, puzzles etc.

NICE! I liked that one game they made for the PS4 exclusively. The game where the world ended and it was set in some British country side town.

 

[adamsapple]

NICE! I liked that one game they made for the PS4 exclusively. The game where the world ended and it was set in some British country side town.

 

[mckmas8808]

YES! It was great.

 

[Badlucktroll]

Why hasn’t anyone made an Event Horizon game like this

 

[raduque]

The problem with these games is that they substitute no engaging mechanic that causes dread based on your own failure. They simply axe combat leaving you with shoddy-as-fuck AI that OHKOs no matter what. It doesn't feel tense to not be able to fight back to me, it feels boring and like a flimsy haunted house. You see the seams of the AI everywhere and the illusion is instantly broken anyway.

Outlast just felt like Condemned but eternally stuck in that first minute of a training level before you're taught the mechanics. I still can't wrap my head around how this awful trend essentially usurped Horror games and made "helpless" the standard instead of dread-inducing odds etc.

Failure isn't dread-inducing though, it's frustrating. If you give the player the ability to effectively fight back, it becomes Doom/Resident Evil/Silent Hill/FEAR, etc.

The point is that you are not a typical gaming protag with all the abilities and weapons of one. You're supposed to be playing as a normal person that is set upon by this situation. "Helpless" is the typical state of most normal people, especially when thrust into a horror situation. In general, an average person is going to get one-hit killed by a horror monster.

Dread is knowing that the creature is going to kill you if it catches you. Dread is wondering if it will find you inside the locker or under the bed. Dread is not knowing where it is when you hear it clanking or banging about. Dread is hoping that you can stop it by pushing over a shelf or if you can stun it with a pipe long enough to run away.

Dread is not shooting it 372 times and dying during your 43rd magazine reload because you didn't twitch skill your OPed avatar to the side fast enough.

 

[TerribleAtThisGame]

Failure isn't dread-inducing though, it's frustrating. If you give the player the ability to effectively fight back, it becomes Doom/Resident Evil/Silent Hill/FEAR, etc.

The point is that you are not a typical gaming protag with all the abilities and weapons of one. You're supposed to be playing as a normal person that is set upon by this situation. "Helpless" is the typical state of most normal people, especially when thrust into a horror situation. In general, an average person is going to get one-hit killed by a horror monster.

Dread is knowing that the creature is going to kill you if it catches you. Dread is wondering if it will find you inside the locker or under the bed. Dread is not knowing where it is when you hear it clanking or banging about. Dread is hoping that you can stop it by pushing over a shelf or if you can stun it with a pipe long enough to run away.

Dread is not shooting it 372 times and dying during your 43rd magazine reload because you didn't twitch skill your OPed avatar to the side fast enough.

I agree that this sounds cool on paper. In practice though these games tend to not amount to much else but pressing crouch near furniture and waiting for the jank AI to stop walking around in front of me so I can painstakingly crouch walk somewhere else.

I get what they're going for but it hasn't worked for me in any of these games in practice yet.

 

[What A Shame...]

If you can't die in the game then I'm out.

I loathe horror games where there are no repercussions for fucking up. Layers of Fear, Silent Hill PT... there's nothing scary about holding forward and triggering scripted moments.

 

[Come On Tars]

Lovecraftian = boring

nerds love to pretend it's effective horror. Nah it's shit, unrelatable trash.