This article contains spoilers for Still Wakes the Deep and Still Wakes the Deep: Siren's Rest.
In the imminent collapse of the Beira D, a man pictures the Isle of Skye. He reminisces about its clear, peaceful waters; "You've never seen anything like it," he tells Caz, just moments before the connection on their phone line breaks and a flood of oil overtakes him. His death is not unlike the others on Beira D, haunting and somber to the loved ones who still mourn eleven years later. In 1986, a woman named Mhairi sets out for closure, taking to the depths of the sea to find answers in the ship's wreckage. This is where Still Wakes the Deep: Siren's Rest begins, as it considers the ambiguity of the Eldritch threat that led to the ship's demise while Mhairi desperately searches for clarity in the lives it claimed.
As Still Wakes the Deep: Siren's Rest progresses, some might wonder why Mhairi is so insistent on pushing onward. Her search for answers puts her in a precarious situation, facing not just the ominous nature of the corpses and wreckage around her, but the trapped rubble as well. Still, when a flare reveals that the extent of the Beira D's wreckage goes deeper, Mhairi needs to know what happened. When she hallucinates the Beira D before its demise later on, it is revealed why. As a sobering reminder of how a lack of closure can affect grief, Mhairi searches for what remains of her father, but her descent becomes even more ambiguous as Still Wakes the Deep's monster seems to affect her mind.
How Still Wakes the Deep Shows Two Sides of Horror
Still Wakes the Deep is a horror experience that provides a unique and engaging take on two distinctly depicted types of terror.
How Still Wakes the Deep: Siren's Rest is Recontextualized Through Brodie's Final Words
Mhairi's Connection to Still Wake the Deep
Siren's Rest is a short experience, and some might be frustrated by its lack of clarity. It doesn't seek to name the monster that Still Wakes the Deep introduced, nor does it give it any grander motivations or explanation of how it operates. But it can be argued that this ambiguity is what makes it all the more compelling, especially in how it calls back to one of the original's greatest tragedies. Mhairi's father is Brodie, the man who drowned in the Pontoons of the Beira D, a horrifying death even on the scale of everything that led to the ship's demise. Just as he lets the imagery of the Isle of Skye comfort him in his final moments, Mhairi finds that she, too, is transported to Skye, overlooking the foggy vistas of the sea from one of its viewpoints.
A Duplicitous Vision
But this Isle of Skye seems different. Mhairi comments on whether it looked like this back then, as its rounded cliffside is interspersed with metal grating and railings that look like ship scaffolding. The sea looks choppy and grey, far from the clear and peaceful waters that Brodie thought of before his death, and not at all suitable for the diving lesson he offers as she reunites with him. Mhairi's words don't seem to get through to him. She sees the images of others from the Beira D standing ominously behind her, but it stands to reason that this isn't actually her father comforting her. The Beira D looms in the distance, as her father offers her his hand.
Recontextualizing Through Dialogue
In Still Wakes the Deep's final call between Caz and Brodie, Brodie says something peculiar: "You just let go... And everything's fine." In the context of Brodie's reminiscing, it can be inferred that he's imagining the calm waters of Skye taking him. In the ending of Siren's Rest, however, Mhairi is offered the same decision to let go, this time, of his hand. Making the decision to let go sees Mhairi get pulled from the vision by Rob, who affirms that he's got her as he tells her to hold on. If Mhairi keeps hold of his hand, Brodie tells her that they'll dive together. "I got you," he says, but the word choice makes it unclear whether it is him or the monster speaking.
It is a clever callback that the ending to Siren's Rest achieves, one that is recontextualized through Still Wakes the Deep's dialogue. It demonstrates not just the evocative writing of the original game, but the sinister way that its monster utilizes emotion. Though the actual fate of Mhairi is left ambiguous, Brodie's words resonate. If letting go means everything is fine, then it seems that Rob saves her, and the two manage to escape and return with some sense of closure, leaving the monster in its place amidst the Beira D's wreckage.
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OpenCritic Reviews
- Top Critic Avg: 76 /100 Critics Rec: 70%
- Released
- June 18, 2024
- ESRB
- M For Mature 17+ Due To Intense Violence, Blood and Gore, Sexual Themes, Use of Tobacco, Strong Language
- Developer(s)
- The Chinese Room
- Publisher(s)
- Secret Mode
- Engine
- Unreal Engine 5
WHERE TO PLAY
- Genre(s)
- Survival Horror
