Still Wakes The Deep: Siren’s Rest Review

While I didn’t give Still Wakes the Deep a rave review when it came out, it was still a solid cinematic first-person horror experience with fantastic voice acting that was let down by its gameplay loop. The game’s setting – an oil rig in the North Sea – was an excellent choice for a horror title, and when Secret Mode and The Chinese Room announced story DLC for Still Wakes the Deep, I was excited to dive back in.

Still Wakes the Deep: Siren’s Rest is set in 1986, 11 years after the events of the main game, which saw the Beira D oil rig plunge to the bottom of the North Sea in mysterious circumstances with very few survivors. You play as Mhairi (Mary), the daughter of a worker on the Beira D who sadly was lost in the tragedy. In an attempt to get answers, Mhairi and her colleague Rob descend to explore the wreckage of the Beira D, and while initially the disaster is put down as an accident, the truth about what really happened starts to become apparent.

Trying to get a picture of what happened

Quite frankly it’s an awesome premise – there’s something genuinely terrifying about the dark abyss of the sea. Whether it’s the sheer sense of isolation or the fear of what lurks in the ocean’s depths, exploring an oil rig tomb certainly makes for a tense time. Games like Soma successfully captured the balance of gameplay tension and an immersive narrative in an underwater setting, but once again, The Chinese Room has tipped the balance too far to one side, with it less about the spooks and more about the story, which isn’t a bad thing necessarily, but it does remove some of the stakes. 

The narrative and performances are easily the standout parts of Siren’s Rest, with the Scottish accents elevating the overall immersion and emotion that builds as the story unfolds. While it’s about discovering the truth and closure, it’s also a tale about loss and the extent to which people will go for those they love, and the writing and performances do a stellar job of making you feel invested in Mhairi’s descent. But it’s not just about Mhairi’s story, as she explores the wreckage and finds bodies, she’ll uncover more about them and their background. It makes them feel like more than lifeless bodies and people who existed in this world. But while the narrative is well-paced, a lot of people, myself included, may feel a bit short-changed by the unsatisfying ending.

Much like the base game before it, Siren’s Rest is a visual masterpiece, with the Beira D and its deep sea surroundings brought to life with gorgeous and haunting detail. As someone who much prefers dry land but has a deep (intentional pun) interest in exploring underwater wreckages, it felt as close to the real thing as I’ll ever get.

Being able to explore this would be amazing if it wasn’t so terrifying

While Siren’s Rest brings a new story with new characters, the gameplay is largely the same. Mhairi is armed with a blowtorch and a camera, the former used to remove rust from locked doors and such, while the latter allows Mhairi to capture her findings as she swims through the remains of the Beira D. When she’s not submerged, she’s exploring sections of the rig on foot. But whether Mhairi is underwater or not, the threat of something else being there with her is always lingering on hers and the player’s mind. But once again, it never elevates from being tense to scary – I never really felt any genuine sense of fear for Mhairi’s life, and the one major sequence where you can die is easy to navigate safely.

Where the immersion breaks somewhat is with Mhairi’s oxygen umbilical cable, which not only seems to get caught on everything in your way, but frequently passes through walls and other objects that it shouldn’t. 

Final Thoughts

Siren’s Rest is an enjoyable and tense return to the Beira D with a strong narrative, but its two-hour-ish runtime means that it’s over fairly quickly, resulting in an ending that feels rushed and doesn’t have the impact the main game did. It also suffers from the same lack of scares as the base game, unable to capitalise on the horror potential of its underwater premise. But for $19.45, it’s a decent descent into the North Sea, especially if you enjoyed Still Wakes the Deep.

Reviewed on PS5 Pro // Review code supplied by publisher

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