Xbox Game Pass Just Added The Perfect Lovecraftian Weekend Getaway
Horrors unimaginable.
Sometimes, the scariest thing one can experience is the total unknown. It’s a core principle of H.P. Lovecraft’s work, and the driving force behind some of the most effective horror in all media. When video games approach this familiar tenet, placing the player in a situation they and the protagonist are unfamiliar with, the result can be more riveting than their more passive counterparts.
One of the best examples of this is 2024’s Still Wakes The Deep. What starts off as a simple game about a troubled family man working aboard an oil rig in the middle of nowhere soon plunges you into a nightmare scenario that puts a pit in your throat and butterflies (not the good kind) in your stomach. And starting this month, Xbox Game Pass subscribers can dive into this riveting ordeal.
On a remote oil rig named the Beira D, the day after Christmas 1975, Caz McLeary receives a letter from his wife telling him that if he doesn’t get his life on the straight and narrow, it may be the end of the road for their marriage. Turns out that the loving father of two recently got in an altercation with a co-worker at another job. The altercation was so violent that Scottish police are on the hunt looking to make an arrest. Hoping to lay low until things blow over, McLeary joins an old buddy for work far away from home so he can make cash for his family.
Still Wakes The Deep takes its time introducing you to its likeable cast of blue-collar characters.
Atmosphere is everything. Still Wakes The Deep spends its first 90 minutes getting the player settled into the despair of working such a laborious and isolating job. You’re on the deck of a dank, metal island surrounded by nothing but the mist of crashing waves and the groans and creaks of this aging vessel. Your co-workers are decent folks but are clearly making the best of a terrible situation (work is work, after all). To top things off, your crappy boss won’t stop making your time here a living hell.
The overall bleakness of being aboard the Beira D doesn’t mean that it isn’t a sight to behold. Still Wakes The Deep is a gorgeous game, as seen in the time spent repairing the rig’s aging equipment. From the foggy vistas atop the seaworthy colossus to the photorealistic homey interiors of crewmates’ quarters, the Beira D convinces you that it’s a real place long before stuff hits the fan.
So when it does hit the fan, the sudden turn for the worse is doubly effective. You know intimately how mundane your grueling work is. You’re familiar with the drama of your coworkers and the issues with the Beira D. So when fleshy tendrils start tearing throughout your indestructible workplace and slimy Cronenbergs start picking off your colleagues, it truly feels like what little peace McLeary had in this already harrowing trip abroad has been disposed of. In its place is the slow and terrifying march towards a gruesome, lonely demise.
Still Wakes The Deep is a six-hour romp through the dreadful unknown. Its gameplay is as simple as it gets, consisting entirely of solving puzzles, stunt-filled platforming, and sneaking past grotesque alien hulks. But that simple formula lets the game’s horrifying short story shine. Fans of films like John Carpenter’s The Thing will love the vibes of a working-class everyman fighting to live another day. 2018’s Annihilation is the other comparison one can make, except every unfortunate soul on the Beira D is about a million times less capable than Natalie Portman’s crew in Alex Garland’s cult classic sci-fi flick.
Still Wakes The Deep is the perfect Xbox Game Pass game. It’s an amusement park horror ride whose greatest mystery is its most effective strength. It also doesn’t overstay its welcome, allowing its short run time to be filled with nothing by memorable setpieces.
For those looking for a more mechanically deep experience, its simple structure may not compare to something like the combat-heavy Resident Evil and Dead Space remakes. But for those looking for a more psychological journey into darkness, one full of existential and cosmic dread, there are few games as well suited for a single sitting or weekend playthrough.
