Still Wakes the Deep: Siren’s Rest Review – Depth Pressure

Whenever story DLC launches for any title, any title, I’m compelled to understand what it adds and the overall necessity. If it’s a looter shooter, like The Division 2’s Battle for Brooklyn, then more missions and gear may be what some people want, even if there’s nothing that you haven’t experienced before. With Still Wakes the Deep: Siren’s Rest, there is an inherent hook for literally and figuratively diving in, since it occurs almost eleven years after the Beira D oiling rig disaster.

Anyone who even vaguely knows about the game can guess – a mysterious, potentially alien entity has infiltrated the rig, causing massive damage. There were more questions than answers left afterwards, which is why there’s some appeal to Siren’s Rest. What really happened? Well, you’re not going to find out here.

The story focuses on Mhairi, who leads a saturation dive into the wreckage, deep in the trenches, to find any remains of the crew and their possessions to return to their families (alongside obtaining the rig’s data logger). While the depths are visually good-looking, swimming across the ocean floor is also appropriately harrowing, with lone flares pointing the way until you’re on your own within the ruins, where most of the story unfolds.

"It’s pretty straightforward, and even the puzzle-solving doesn’t amount to much more than “Cut through this rusted bit” or “Move this heavy object.” The fact that many of the interactive parts are painted yellow, further dulls any real sense of challenge or tension."

There are two chapters in total, each encompassing different dives. Still, the overarching gameplay is relatively the same: Swim through the winding wreckage, breaking open doors, drawers, and cabinets to collect Mementos and photograph the remains of the crew. Some familiar names and interesting bits of lore drop, especially surrounding the rig’s boss Rennick, but it’s nothing that massively impacts the story (outside of the big reveal around Mhairi’s identity, which you’ll likely have guessed early on).

While there’s nothing inherently bad about the gameplay – swimming feels responsive enough, and propelling through narrow corridors is fine – it also feels dull. Maybe I got easily bored with popping things open or cutting through rusted hinges to open doors. After a point, the latter occasionally felt less like a mechanic that would be expanded upon and more like the trigger for loading the next segments. Siren’s Rest eventually mixes things up with air pockets, which Mhairi can venture into, oftentimes disconnecting her umbilical cable.

These sections offer more boots-on-the-ground exploration and light platforming alongside the occasional quick-time event. I wasn’t the biggest fan of jumping across gaps to grab onto ledges since it often felt like Mhairi would cease all momentum before an edge, thus causing her to drop like a stone upon jumping. Eventually, it became clear that I had to slightly fall off and then jump, as weird as it sounds. It’s not something that came up a lot, but with that in mind, one would think it’d feel less awkward.

Otherwise, most of the tension arises from the rig falling apart, effectively sealing off the initial entrances and prompting you to find another exit. It’s pretty straightforward, and even the puzzle-solving doesn’t amount to much more than “Cut through this rusted bit” or “Move this heavy object.” The fact that many of the interactive parts are painted yellow, further dulls any real sense of challenge or tension.

It’s not long before things get trippy, and Chapter 2 kicks off with Mhairi venturing into even greater depths, where the entity itself is still seemingly alive. Some hallucinations are mixed into the exploration, eventually revealing Mhairi’s purpose for undertaking the dive before culminating in hide and seek from a monster. The emphasis on flares over the flashlight also made for tenser proceedings, with environments illuminated just enough to proceed but with more than oppressive darkness. And to be fair, the few sequences with the monster can be tense, given its speed.

"The bugs were more immersion-breaking, from the umbilical cable constantly clipping through walls to Mhairi remaining stationary in the water after missing a jump. Another bug caused voice lines to overlap while identifying a crew member’s remains, completely muddling the moment."

However, even while stopping around and reloading a few times because of bugs, the DLC took less than two hours to clear. While it’s what the developer promised, it only left me with more questions. It feels like more of an epilogue, one more focused on closure and moving on than actually solving any mysteries.

The ambiguity of the entity was a big appeal for Still Wakes the Deep – much like The Thing, not knowing its purpose and simply fearing its spread was enough (even if The Chinese Room’s execution of the concept wasn’t nearly as great). Siren’s Rest pretty much distills it into just a scary monster that you need to avoid (or run into because, hey, free Achievement/Trophy). Even the hallucinations don’t serve much purpose here. You leave with pretty much the same conclusion, except there’s some unnecessary open-endedness about how much of it was real.

While I can appreciate the voice acting, especially that of Lois Chimamba as Mhairi, there are some rather annoying plot contrivances. After some terrible occurrences to close out Chapter 1, she insists – or is encouraged, rather – to skip her safety list, simply diving into something much more dangerous than before, which just felt baffling. I also wasn’t a big fan of her suddenly screaming like she missed grabbing onto a ledge, especially since it made that one jump where she landed perfectly look ridiculous.

The DLC does have some admittedly good-looking visuals, just like the base game, though it’s not the best when it comes to facial expressions. Gazing down into the inky darkness and dropping a flare, watching it tumble along the way before hitting the bottom, was cool, limited as such moments could be.

Performance was also good on Epic settings at 1440p, with DLSS set to Quality, but there were some noticeable jaggies. Bringing the settings down to High and opting for DLAA didn’t completely remove them, but it certainly helped, even with noticeable performance drops. The bugs were more immersion-breaking, from the umbilical cable constantly clipping through walls to Mhairi remaining stationary in the water after missing a jump. Another bug caused voice lines to overlap while identifying a crew member’s remains, completely muddling the moment.

"Mhairi’s pursuit of answers takes over the plot yet doesn’t feel developed enough to inspire much empathy. And that’s with Chimamba putting in a strong performance throughout."

There are also weird instances where straying too far from the fixed path triggers a warning. Another path required going somewhere else and acquiring the flares first since my flashlight wouldn’t work. How did the development team communicate this? By covering my screen in the entity’s effects and promptly killing me. It’s the most video gamey way of saying, “No, not this way yet,” that I’ve seen in a long while. That same “no, no, no” attitude pervades the use of the underwater camera. Want to take pictures of anything but human remains for whatever reason? Well, you can’t.

At the end of it all, I’m not entirely sure how to feel about Siren’s Rest. Mhairi’s pursuit of answers takes over the plot yet doesn’t feel developed enough to inspire much empathy. And that’s with Chimamba putting in a strong performance throughout. In the same vein, I don’t really have any greater answers about the Beira D tragedy than before, and the relatively tame gameplay for much of the experience doesn’t help. If you’re really keen on revisiting the world of Still Wakes the Deep, Dicaprio-pointing at your screen upon recognizing some names while casually swimming around, it’s not the worst DLC. However, for its price and what it does and doesn’t offer, you could skip it without much consequence.

This game was reviewed on PC.