They do a great job letting you connect with these characters. That's usually my biggest complaint with horror games but easily one of the strongest aspects when it's done right
I like that the game is hopeless but not completely hopeless. Because yeah, everyone dies. But you still get the chance to stop things. You can't save yourself, but you can save everyone else
Caz gets his arc. Able to face a hard reality for himself to do what his family needs instead of running from his mistakes at their expense like his origin.
52:00 On this point what I found interesting is that whenever " Suze " called you on the telephone it always came from zone 1 which was the Oil Derrek ( The Drill ) Whatever this entity is it was 100% messing with you telepathically
@@OkamiNoNamida =) What I also thought was neat was that during the opening while you were in the accommodation zone before everything went bonkers The Tartan carpet was realistically worn by foot traffic I thought that was a nice detail that wasn’t actively picked up on by people
@@OkamiNoNamidathere's one poster that has an advert for the oil company that says: "Awakening Scotland's Sleeping Giant Under the Sea" which is a fun tongue in cheek foreshadowing
I feel like Finley being so distraught about Brodie not making it was because she told Caz to flood the Platoon. I think that's what was the final straw for her. Aside from realizing they weren't going to make it off the Rig.
I did not expect to get so emotional at the ending, wow. That voice acting was superb, that cannot be stated enough, it really made everyone feel like real people. This ending just hit me so hard in the feels, like actual tears in my eyes lmao
I didn't understand what Trots meant by saying "I have to make it like it was" but now that you mention it, it does seem like he was arranging the bodies! When I played I found it weird how some of them were dead in their bed or sitting in front of their desk since they would've been probably either working or trying to evacuate. Pretty neat
Did you notice when Trots said that, it was his normal speech? His voice wasn't distorted by the biomass. That was Trots coming through to speak his final words. Poor guy probably knew what was happening but couldn't control himself until then.
He even put the dude from the beginning back into the shower area and removed his clothes (There's no way that dude remained naked and showering for over 12 hours while the rig was exploding, falling apart around them, and monsters walked the halls). He apparently even tucked one guy in and put pictures of his family on his chest. When you were trying to reach Roy's room to get his insulin you can hear Trots say "you can't have it!". Poor Trots didn't deserve any of this. His obsession with putting things back to where they were kept Roy (who's a lot bigger and clumsier than skinny Caz) from getting to his meds even though he was trying for literal hours to get there.
I really appreciate the representation of Scottish language and culture which is usually left unexplored in the gaming industry, it made the story feel more real and personal to the characters. It also tells a deeper story due to the setting in the 70s as this is the era when oil was discovered off the coast of Scotland in the North Sea which gave rise to radical local political movements and at that time UK was in a terrible state economically. Most of my comments regarding gameplay and other technical aspects are already well covered by John but one thing I want to add is the ending letter. I know comparisons to Team Silent are unavoidable when playing psychological horror to the point of exhaustion but the final letter read by Suze reminds me of letter from Mary in SH2.
Seconded! The Scottish flair gave it an authentic 'lived in' feel and made the characters so heart-breaking *real* that even now I can't stop sniffling.
Lot of interesting moments within this game from Caz giving Finley his lighter early on in the game to her giving it back once she could no longer carry it. Desperately trying everything they could to try and delay the inevitable until they no longer had any other options. Once they ran out of options they realized there was no hope for them or anyone on the rig, but there was still hope for everyone back on the mainland and that they could at least save them.
The underwater scenes are so beautiful with the lighting and colors, same with the final confrontation scene. I think Rennick's encounter being so short in comparison to Addair's highlights how he was all bite while Addair was bite and bark. He gave Caz a whole speech about him being the king, just to be as scared of death as everyone else. Also, he's crazy for asking Caz not to leave him when he left Caz and Roy. I think Roper had the strongest grip to his humanity (being helpful and scared of Rennick) until the monster overpowered him and made him attack Caz. It's crazy to tell Caz to be brave for once in his life when he's been brave this whole night. I loved the writing and the voice acting for this game. I agree about being sad that everyone died, I at least wanted Caz to be able to survive, and I like how the monster isn't explained. The CinemaSins/unnecessary explaining could've killed his game.
This game was utterly gorgeous. The voice acting and writing was great, the atmosphere was amazing -- you can believe that the rig is a place that is lived in, worked in. I really loved the way it mixed the mundane and the Lovecraftian. In the end, both the rig and the entity fuse together as the same dangerous environment, something not hostile but unlivable, where ordinary people try their best to survive still -- heck, half the perils you encounter partly owe to the fact that Rennick was a cheap bastard, probably because he had managers to please. Never forget the lifeboat... That was a super good catch about Trots! I didn't understand the reason he'd set the glasses on the corpse, but he was indeed trying his best to "put everything back". The writing on the fused humans -- the way their brains cling to irational patterns and spun wildly from that point, from "don't leave me" to "go fetch [my loved one] or "protect me" or "I'll sort this", was super interesting. Thank you for this let's play (and for putting the subtitles in British English!) Your commentaries are always a delight, and your final words were very interesting to hear!
The fact that the membrane arteries are animated like they're pulling something out of peoples' bodies makes it that much more horrifying. It's pretty to look at from a distance, but also constantly reminding you that it's feeding on live humans with that animation.
the amount of people on the rig probably allowed it to prosper as much as it did. i wonder if it's not able to get up from the bottom of the ocean on its own, and then the drill pulled it out, and after the first few victims it managed to get strong enough to start really destroying the rig and getting the energy to grow
This games monster design is such an excellent example of show dont tell, you just dont see it done as well these days. I like being able to pick it apart and figure it out myself instead of being forced fed information. That and the concept of the creature alone is terrifying. The fact that your friends and coworkers still seemed to be alive and conscious while absorded in this hivemind was horrifying. I probably would of jumped in the ocean cuz that thing looks worse than death.
While I agree that the mystery around this creature is very intriguing, I still feel like I wanted a little more context. I wish they showed a helicopter view where you can see the silhouette of the whole thing beneath the water or something. Is it an actual creature? Or is it really just a fungus like growth? I don't need to know where it came from or anything, no backstory just a little more visual context of that thing as a whole would have been enough for me. Maybe they could've shown a gigantic maw or the heart itself, since it has a pulse after all. Idk, I'm just super fascinated by giant creature designs.
@@OoTZOMMMoO I assume it was done like it was so you would only know as much as your character would know. I'm not sure how you'd get a birds eye view from Caz's perspective without breaking immersion. I'm glad they didn't fall into the typical trope of giving the enemy so much screen time that it just loses its edge. But I did catch myself at times pausing the video to get a better grip at what the hell I was looking at lol
I knew it wouldn't end well since that's how eldritch horror plays out but I loved the characters so much that it broke my heart to see them suffer so much before hand. But at least we can feel better knowing Caz dies a hero, blowing that crap up before it takes the world!
yeah, although i wish there was a way that the rest of the world would know about his sacrifice, would make things a little better, although i guess you as the viewer are meant to see it
@@hooptyscoopty "no one will know your deeds" is also a common trope in eldritch horror, which is what gives us another layer of sorrow/dread. Though I'm glad you took that message out of it, too! Gotta look for the silver lining sometimes.
One thing I keep thinking about is if the rig wasn't so cheaply made, then maybe people would've survived. If the threat wasn't an eldritch abomination, and just a failure of the rig itself, those people would still be in danger. Scary.. Cutting costs in these areas of work is a killer, and management who cares more about the product/money than the workers themselves. A real example would be the Chernobyl power plant explosion.
Yeah, there's a note on the wall by the lifeboats noting that lifeboats 2, 3, 4, and 5 were all unusable long before the event happened and they'd told Renneck about it. In Trots' room you learn the oil workers guild has been trying to get Cabal and Renneck to fix all the safety issues and they've ignored them. If Cabal hadn't cut so many corners in a race to get a rig out there first and maximize profits at least half of the crew could have been safe on the lifeboats within an hour or so. But as it was the lifeboats were damaged, there weren't enough life jackets, exits and corridors were locked or blocked, there was unsecured equipment EVERYWHERE, malfunctioning electricity and pipes, cheap metal scaffolding and rails ready to buckle and tear at the slightest bump, they were understaffed, and Renneck made them drill even when all their equipment and experience were saying stop and reassess. Cabal and Renneck murdered them before the creature ever touched them.
@@Momo_Minomo True. It really shows when you see dead people flow out from an area after you manage to remove the thing that was keeping them locked in.
I watched with a biologist friend and they compared the creature to a centipede. It got me thinking about the creature as an animal that has no special powers. It actually works. The monster has no conscious thought. It just runs on instinct. Its' instinct is just to consume biomass to grow. It can sense organic matter near it and instinctively reaches out with it's tendrils. Notice that it never assimilates non-organic matter. It just punched holes through the sheet metal of the rig. If it is some sort of animal it would have tools specific to how it eats. It assimilates conscious beings. It isn't particularly mobile which means it would need to trap it's prey. Something that causes paralysis and hallucinations. Maybe it secretes a venom. The prey trips balls muttering about the important things in their life. A lot of the moments where Cas hallucinates happens after he comes into physical contact with the creature, or when he's swimming through water. With how far the creature has spread by the game's end all that water was probably yeeted to the gills with psychedelics. Like any other illicit substance different people have different tolerances. This could explain why some victims just get assimilated in place and why others become a monster. The easily assimilated show the simple tendril behavior. The ones that have a high tolerance maintain shreds of consciousness. It explains the differences in their behavior. The ones that were aggressive had a shit attitude to begin with or a grudge against Cas.
The voice acting is beyond superb. Great graphics and gripping story. Finley is my favorite. An interesting effect is when u look out the cabin windows in the end you see multiple windows repeating as if your seeing them through a mirror. I guess it's a kind of hallucination. Absolutely wonderful overall.
The first Chinese Room game I thoroughly enjoy! Sorta reminiscent of SOMA with the ending where it's left extremely vague and ominous about what happens after the credits, which is a plus in my opinion. SOMA left be in a weird malaise for days after I beat it, that ending got me.
1:57 Electrician here, no you would NEVER try and walk on that ceiling. It's called a grid or drop ceiling (it's called a few things but this is most common) and the grid is only made of flimsy aluminium braces while the ceiling tiles are made of this almost paper mache material compacted into uniform squares that fit into the grid. Both the grid and the tiles could maybe hold 5kg ok but nothing over 10kg barring a miracle. Seeing the "good with the leccy" Caz get straight up onto the grid without concern is funny as.
I almost wish the story said something about what the parasite was, why it was climbing the tower, but at the same time having it be an ambiguous THING from the deep, cosmic horror is the best direction for the story - especially for a group of average people that didn't go looking for it. Just in the wrong place at the wrong time. Unrelated to anything, I always chuckled when the death slideshow ended with the seagull for no reason.
Instead of taking from it, I thought the linear nature of the game really lends itself to telling an amazing narrative. I was much more invested than I expected to. Love the monster designs and voice acting as well. Top notch stuff all around. I got goosebumps at so many parts.
I liked this game and I enjoyed the playthrough. I agree with John's opinions, except I REALLY LOVE the ending. It's tragic, sad, hopeless, yes, but to me, it's the only ending that makes sense. I kept asking myself "What's the end game here?" ever since the membrane emerged from the depths but I did not want to guess or speculate as to how the game will end -- I did not want to be disappointed or have any expectations. When Finlay started convincing Caz it's the only way I got really excited, although the very end scene when Caz woke up next to Suze scared me because I thought maybe they'll go with the "it was all a dream" twist 😂 and that would suck imo
someone in the comments said that the ending could be just a hallucination and Caz became a part of the hive, which I feel like is a possible possibility as well as him simply dying, except it would give it more angst!
I actually did not expect to get teary eyed at the deaths of some of these characters. The writing and voice acting was incredible. I usually roll my eyes at writing in horror games because everything just feels like it IS written. So many of the lines and actions in this game feel like natural banter and you really grow to enjoy hearing from the characters. I also really agree with what you said about not over explaining everything. There doesn't need to be some deep lore or predictable twist about someone was looking for it the whole time, or the origins of where it came from. The horrifying thing about it is how unknown and mysterious it is, and that it's most likely just an unfortunate chance that it happened to be where the rig was drilling. It's a simple eldritch story but the characters and the setting really made it interesting and compelling, well done to everyone that worked on it
the game started good AND ended good. I really enjoyed it!! the story kept on being interesting and I could feel how logical everything was. the characters did what they could to even just survive. It really broke my heart to see roy die. the admiration and love each characters have with each other was so good. these people are coworkers who REALLy get along and it shows.
I expected everyone to die, cause you know, this is heavy inspired by the Things and 80s horror in general, but this was a well done game. The Chinese Room needs to continue on this path!
@@PrincessRomi1 you should watch Roanokes video explaining the entity in the game the TLDR is that the entity connects everybody it touches to a hivemind fusing them together because it breaks down cell walls like a cancer, this is why different monsters can have multiple body parts is because they absorb other people, and likely as it does this is floods the brain with serotonin and hallucinations, that's why all the different infected people talk about they're loved ones or other things. So if the entire entity isn't destroyed by the fire, then everyone who was conscious when they got connected to the hive is going to live forever eternally suffering.
I love how John's like "At this point I'd just jump into the ocean", as if that stuff isn't coming out of the ocean and you wouldn't be S.O.L. either way. 😆 I gotta say, I do like 'The Thing' vibe. I loved the movies. ❤️
The more I think about it, the more impressed I am with this game. It has a very interesting and unique setting, well developed characters, very few notes, really cool monster designs, it shows more than it tells and when it does introduce the dreaded psychological horror elements it keeps it to a minimum and explains them! This is a game where the character actually realises he's hallucinating! Amazing! There's no science man trying to explain the monster, no secret Umbrella plot where it turns out Rennick is testing a bioweapon, it's just an unknowable organism that seems to assimilate organic matter; very reminiscent of The Thing which is a GREAT thing (hehe) to take inspiration from. Fantastic stuff and I hope they can keep it up.
Diabetic here…. That isn’t how insulin works 😭😭😭 I really thought I must’ve misunderstood what was going on earlier in the game but no he DOES have low blood sugar… Insulin LOWERS blood sugar. He should have just eaten a sugary snack earlier. If Roy had high blood sugar, the insulin would’ve helped. But given that they’re making him out to have low blood sugar, giving him insulin would’ve been a terrible decision. If he hadn’t been dead when Caz showed back up to give him the insulin he would have died shortly after being injected anyway. Such a bizarre oversight in an otherwise great story. Edit: I was informed the wiki page clarifies he dies of ketoacidosis, which is caused by high blood sugar. The story and dialogue wasn't very clear about that lol but at least they weren't actually wrong
interesting you commented this bc i was thinking the same thing when he was asking for his insulin but mentioned low BG LOL i thought i misheard. only thing that took me out of the immersion a bit
according to wikipedia he dies of ketoacidosis, meaning he had high blood sugar. so the insulin WOULD have helped him. ive seen people say he could have just been in a coma when Caz found him and not actually dead. he also could have just not had his insulin for long enough (it gets delivered at the beginning of the game meaning he hadn't had it for an unknown period beforehand) and it just caught up to him with the stress of the environment.
@@BrookieC Ohhhh! that makes so much more sense! They shouldn't have included the "sugary snack" line if they weren't gonna have him correct Caz though. Like I know he told him he needed his insulin not a snack but he should have explained why to make it more clear for the audience. It's already a huge misconception about diabetics and insulin so to just not explain that when Caz made that comment is questionable writing. But I'm glad it's at least canonically listed somewhere as keyoacidosis and not low blood sugar lol! Thank you for informing me!
I agree, it felt unclear just what the BGL situation was. Still bugs me that Caz doesn't at least try to give him a shot, or at least take off a glove so he can actually check Roy for a pulse. Ketoacidosis is also known to produce a unique smell, so even a line where Caz mentions smelling something would have helped to clear it up. He gives up on Roy real quick.
@@toxxicpill I think it makes more sense for the writing not to included it. Because of the personality of the two people. Roy knows what he needs, but he also knows Caz doesn't understand and that he doesn't need to understand it. Caz gets that Roy needs his meds and also offers his help to get it for Roy, but Roy believes at the time he will be able to get it, not knowing mutated Trots is in his way, which is not made easier with the cabins being closed and him not being able to fit into small areas like Caz. It was just unlucky, which makes it so much more sad.
It is a great example of how the game worked to get you immersed at 15:10. John is more interested in seeing the creature than walking on the ledge. We have seen similar behavior from the characters (lightning in the washing machine and the person staring at it, Caz being mesmerized by it at the beginning of the story, etc.). It is almost like we are part of the game as we are also magnetized by whatever that is through the screens. Very cool.
I'm glad John found a new horror videogame that he enjoyed. Still Wakes the Deep proves that you can definitely make good horror games, nowadays. I liked this just as much as Johns playthrough of Amnesia the Bunker. Already looking forward to the next hidden gem you find John :)
That was excellent. Great, yet simple story, amazing character writing, very well-thought-out emotional beats, visuals that are kind of typical yet fresh (The whole body-horrory alien concept has been done to death but they still made it unique in its own way) I love that there's an undeniable beauty to it that the game acknowledges a couple of times, like there at the end.
I was not expecting this ending to hit so hard. I'm very glad they valued character development in this because they felt real while being in such a wild experience.
This was a really fun ride! I loved the whole eldritch vibe. Very few pieces of media know what to do with it and fumble the mystery and horror aspect of it. I think this game did a great job with the genre. And as always, experiencing it with John just makes it 100x more entertaining. Great series, once again.
I'm so impressed by this game, the voice acting, the graphics, I actually cried at the ending, I don't remember the last time a game like this actually hit that way well fucking done
The character monologuing how to deal with the grief, and talking out scenarios, after you encounter Roy, fucking got me man. This game is too good and keeps hitting bar after BAR.
The overexplaining bit at the end, P R E A C H. When everything has a (a concrete explanation) conclusion, nothing has a conclusion, further muddling the possible answers we can get at, by accidentally limiting oour scope in the other ways that things can work!~
Gosh, the ending of this game gets me. Lol I've watched multiple people play it but I've cried every time and this time was no different. I *really* enjoyed it. Loved watching you play this John! Keep on Keeping On, and thank you so much for doing what you do~!!
The narrative of this had me on the edge of my seat, and as someone who is always sold on a narrative based on the characters, this one really brought it home. I'm gonna be thinking about this for ages.
I really like how the other characters, even in their infected eldritch forms, still seem to have a sliver of humanity left in them. They're able to form coherent sentences while clearly being in a state of delusion, trying to grasp at any hope of being able to survive this ordeal, but just end up harming everyone around them in the process because it's far too late to save themselves. I think they become blinded to the horrific state their bodies and minds are in but still fight to try and get away from it. Alternatively you could just see this as the "infection" using their bodies to try and trick uninfected people into becoming victims as well? (Similarly to The Thing)
I think these are some of the most artistically impressive monster s I've ever seen. I feel like I've seen a lot of eldritch meat growth things, but the swirling shapes, the mix of bioluminescence against black oil, and the different bespoke ways they distort each person you knew differently, it's really impressive, it shows a lot of care about making things sort of horrifically beautiful. The writing is also really nice, amazing for a horror game haha.
So glad I'm WFH today. Means I'm free to have a sneaky little cry into my coffee. What a heart-rending story! It didn't click that it was by the same people as Everybody's Gone to the Rapture until you said so - that makes a lot of sense.
The Chinese Room really hit it out of the park with this one. I hope they keep making horror games! I really enjoyed the lack of explanation on the "creature" too. You're just A Guy (tm) trying to keep things afloat and survive. If anything, being left in the dark makes the player bond with the clueless character better.
Such an amazing game. Sound design, dialogue, the details, the enemies, the atmosphere, and even the emotional appeal were all excellent. There's no way this won't be game of the year.
The best thing for me is how they didn't try too hard in explaining what is 'That thing'. The mystery make it more scary and bleak as we're facing with unknown Horror. The less we knew about it, the scarier it is. And they did a great job with the character, as it make us feels bad for them (Well, except for Rennick and Addair that we know that they're a prick) Character, Pacing, Environment, and Especially Sound, all of it were amazing. This is my favorite Horror Game for this year. The ending is bleak, but that's also make the ending very impactful, as it's not only about "Despair" or "What they did in the end is futile". If we see from other perspective, it's actually very beautiful. At the start of the game, Caz is "Running Away" from his problem leaving his family, but in the end, he realized that 'thing' must be stopped, so instead of 'running away' again, he chose to Face the problem for the sake of the World and his family out there. We don't know if the 'thing' really died with that, but that action give everyone's hope.
I wholeheartedly agree with John when it comes to the people needing answers to every little thing ruining the vibe of the story. I recently had a cosmic ecohorror novel with heavy romance elements get published and so much of the “why” behind the horror is never explain because it’s COSMIC HORROR, it’s un-fathomable for a reason! I even made a point to have the MC, a scientist and incredibly logical character, say that even if he could understand the reasons behind the madness it wouldn’t matter because nothing would change and SO MANY PEOPLE complained that there wasn’t enough dumbed down explanations for the horror 😵💫 it’s a literal eldritch style creature on a rampage tearing up a morgue in deep space after it infects tons of bodies, it doesn’t need a reason, just let it go wild and enjoy the terror!!
Man, the fricking voice acting was stellar. They really put the emotions into the somber stuff, the panic and the swearing of course. Teared up at the scene with Roy and the memory of Caz and Suze at the very end. And had a few good laughs with the banter as well. Also the sound design and the claustrophobic environments really were amazing. If there are more horror games like this out there imma definitely watch your playthrough of them.
Yup, this one was a banger! I especially loved the voice acting, the Scottish flair, and most of all, the real emotional heft of the writing - you ended up giving a damn about the characters, instead of the usual cardboard inserts that pass for a cast in grade D horror gaming. Even my cranky stone of a heart was trying not to bawl towards the end... Great job all around and, forever and always: Thanks John for playing this!
Anyone else singing "Blinded by the Light" towards the end, or was it just me? Loved this game's journey, the dialogs, and the environmental. Who knew we needed a game about an oil rig in the ocean? Well done.
The big image of it encapsulating the oil rig around 15 minutes definitely give me some Jean jacket from nope vibes. What a funky creature they created
"The Thing" traumatized me as a child, so there were several times where I needed to take a break from watching you play this game. I thought it was really well done: intriguing story, intense atmosphere, very unique. Thanks John!
I really liked watching this - so much so that I couldn't wait to see what happened after part 2 came out and I went and found a no commentary playthrough because I needed to know what happened. Still watched part 3 and 4 of course just to see John's reactions. It's been a long time since I've watched any horror media that gave me the fear tingles, and ironically enough the last couple months now I've been thinking about rewatching The Thing lmao. I saw a theory somewhere that whatever it was fed on aggression, or at least aggression fueled it/made it stronger or more fast-acting, and it made sense that most of the immediate monsters/threats were pretty aggressive people to start with - Rennick and Addair, and we saw Muir shouting at the beginning, that kinda thing. Meanwhile Roper was more lax even after it got to him. I don't know what that means for Caz though; putting someone in the hospital out of anger, you'd assume aggression is in his nature as well.
His wife saying that last line. It sounds almost like something you would say at a funeral. I never realized that till now and it made me tear up a little more than the last time I watched a game through.
It's been a long time since a horror game made me actually feel something for the characters involved. All of them actually felt like people and I was legitimately tearing up at the end. Awesome playthrough John, thank you!
The VA on this game were excellent, and I think it made Roy’s ending all the harder to go through. I was so hopeful when you snagged the insulin! Loved watching your playthrough of this and I appreciate the company while I work!
I'm not normally a commenter but I commented on both 2 and 3 because I have REALLY enjoyed this game - the atmosphere, the storytelling, the characters were all amazing. Thank you for this series John! Video spoilers I enjoyed the section when you had to get past the guy sat in the chair in Marine control. The way he was talking like he still was in yhere was very creepy and well done. Gutted at the end - but i knew it had to happen, i mean what was gonna happen if a boat picked them up with no idea wtf is going on? They probably would have just called in the military and gotten rid of it anyway, and this way Caz and Finlay got to be our heroes from start to end. I had forgotten sbout caz lending her the lighter and getting goosebumps now. Fantastic game! Thank you john for playing it!
Excellent. Top 10 horror games I've seen in a long time. Solid from start to finish... nothing frustrating or over the top difficult. Just a great story.
I think the monster is some kind of organism, which has an hallucination effect on humans. Because the thing people where hearing was to personal and based in possible stress reactions to seems like manipulations or talk from the plant-meat thing. I also think that the mutations where random, it seems to just be mindless going for whatever and the causation to that is mutated different parts of people. Like Trots was still somewhat functional even through he seems to also be stuck in some kind of panic/trauma response, probably from being forcefully mutated.
Fantastic playthrough! You brought just the right amount of levity but you knew when to let a poignant moment play out, as always, it's always a treat to see you play something you're clearly enjoying and respecting. One of my favorite moments was when you figured out what the hell Trots was doing, a mic-drop that made a horrifying section incredibly sad, and it shows how good this game was, it never tells you, it just makes you care enough to think about the implications, and it was great seeing how engaged you were through that. Also what you said about Finlay losing it when you hear the lighter clicking made me laugh hard after a really sad moment, love it. This game is an excellent example of where and why other such visually fantastic horror games (like Layers of Fear, as you said) didn't quite work as well: the decision to avoid note storytelling, the minimal but impactful gameplay, the characters you come to care about as more than storytelling vehicles, and the suffocating dread of doom pressing ever closer without ever explaining itself. One detail I loved was that they didn’t pad the game by making you have to find the tools you use, you work there, of course they’re all on you already. Atmosphere was out of this world, and they really made it upsetting every time a character was lost. Not enough games give you the hope of saving survivors, and the risk, or actuality, of failing them. I agree that I would rather someone had made it, even if it wasn't the main character, but you're right that that's the style of eldritch horror: there is no hope, only the fire of the human spirit. This was such a nice (if sad!) series to watch after work, thank you for playing it!
Gorgeous game with amazing acting. But agree with the hopelessness (at least for the ppl on the rig) plus the raw human pain really got to me. Had to go pat my cat every once in a while just to feel better. I will say makes me hopeful for the new bloodlines 2 game. Would love to see that sequel be done justice. Thanks for the play through John! Wouldn't have wanted to watch anyone else play this.
i'm back, a month later, rewatching and also crying a little again and maybe corn-plating but that's a whole other thing lol but ending on that little bit of peace over the choppy ocean waters, listening to suze's voiceover, reading (presumably) a letter that she wrote to (circling back to foil the opening scene) reasserts: through all the conflict caz has been ruminating on and the batshit he's had to deal with, this is his emotional core; and, where the opening scene had a score of slow, slumping strings, the ending scene is just..... the water.
Such a great game with FANTASTIC acting. Amazing sound design and environments, endearing and likeable characters (for the most part), oppressive atmosphere, good pacing, I could go on. Top-notch work that didn't outstay it's welcome and knew exactly what it was doing and what it was aiming for. Games like this you can really see when they have a clear vision and execute it with passion. I hope they continue the amazing work, and massive props to everyone involved :) thank you for playing and showcasing it, John! Those underwater parts going under the rig and through the small spaces around the machinery... ughhghghguhggguhughghghguhguhghgh the heebediejeebiedies. One of my top skin crawling nightmare scenarios. EUGH. Brilliantly executed!
If I could add one thing to this game; it could’ve used just a smidge more of thalassaphobic moments. Like, one sequence where you fall in ocean and see how truly immense this thing was, and maybe even early signs of it spreading outwards.
Thanks for playing through this, John; you're my go to guy for "actually playing the entire game well, and showing the whole thing essentially unedited". I'd never play this because I can't stand the mechanics, but watching you play is a real good time.
About your ending comments on not over explaining the creature I also feel like its similar to zombie fiction. The story here isn't about the big monster and trying to understand it. The monster puts pressure to the character dynamics that already exist between the workers, Rennick, and most importantly Caz and his reason for being on the rig. The monsters keep the moment to moment fun and tense, but the emotional buy in for the story is how a well realized group of people try and fail to survive/cope with the unimaginable.
This story is magnificent, and the game did an absolutely banging job pulling you into it and making you care about everything. My heart hurt from Roy onwards and I was crying a little, yeah. I was figuring you know, even if a rescue boat had somehow come to get them, and it was just Caz, Roy, Finlay, and Brodie, I would've been a lot happier, but then there would be a chance of the creature attaching onto the boat, or maybe the rescuers somehow, and bringing it back to the mainland, and that wouldn't be good either; while it would've created the potential for like a "sequel" where it starts taking over the mainland, I just don't know if I would have enjoyed a story like that? It's just perfectly well-rounded and ties everything off the way it is. And one of my biggest praises is something that John said, that it doesn't interrupt the pacing or immersion with random notes/collectibles. You wouldn't be stopping to read "Dr. Bob's Old Journal" while you're running for your life up the stairs in a flood. The only notes they had were the Finlay and Brodie ones near the end which were obviously for practical reasons. And I'm also glad the narrative wasn't trying to spend time "figuring out" what the monster was, because it didn't really matter at that moment to the crew- what mattered was the rig was being destroyed, and they had to try to save people and keep it from exploding. And the lack of focus on trying to "science" the monster also let the human characters be more of the focus, more in the foreground, and being that it was a really emotional human story, I really appreciated that. I'm sure I'm biased also by my earlier mention of Scottish heritage, that I definitely had some feels from that point of view- for example I've been to Skye, the place mentioned by Brodie, and it is gorgeous, so that made me tear up because I have great IRL memories of seeing it. And the North Atlantic sea is a dangerous region for people from any country who work there, doing anything- oil rigs, fishing, cargo, whatever it is- the weather is notoriously bad and many people have been lost to it throughout the ages. So when Suze is concerned about her husband, and sending him letters and whatnot to be safe, she has very good reason- all of the spouses and family members of the characters on the rig would be worried enough without a horrific eldritch horror wrecking the rig. There have been plenty of accidents due to cost cutting and other things without that, sadly. And I didn't get a good listen to the song at the end, but there are many traditional Scottish songs about lovers/loved ones going across the sea and sometimes not making it home, I'll bet the lyrics were likely along those lines. EDIT: I'm back several days later because I'm still thinking about this game and its story...I watched a video the other night about Piper Alpha, the worst oil rig disaster in history, and it sounds like it was built during this oil rush in that same area off of Scotland, in 1976. That disaster (which also traced back to corporate greed, safety issues, miscommunication, and the like) didn't happen until 1988, but I'd be surprised if it didn't have some influence on the inspiration for this story. Idk how old the writer(s) and devs are, but I'm sure at least some of them are probably old enough to remember hearing about it on the news. At the very least Clive Russell, the VA for Rennick and Boyd, is 78, so he'd likely remember. I really appreciated your playthrough of this, John, and your very seamless editing of it; or maybe just being good at most of the button prompts, lol. I'm not nearly as good at that sort of thing, so I most likely wouldn't have liked playing this as much as watching it, because I'd be frustrated missing jumps/stealth timing, and it would break my immersion. Glad you gave this one a try in spite of not liking other releases from the company. ❤
I definitely agree with your explanation of how the story was. It gave me massive "Thing" vibes, and im glad it wasn't explained. You're right about waaay too many things in horror trying to over explain how everything is. It gives me much more of a eldritch horror vibe with how the entity/disease/god acts with no explanation. Plus, i love nautical horror, so this was fun to watch
Loved it! Love the interesting setting and down-to-earth characters, love the weird Thing/Annihilation esque threat and monsters, love the unexplained mystery of it, love the scary flooding/underwater sequences, love the lack of note collecting (lol). As John said, I think this game really benefited from not trying to explain anything or overstretch itself - it knew what it wanted to accomplish, and it accomplished it in a nice, tidy few hours of gameplay without overstaying its welcome or wearing out our investment in these folks and the situation. Ending it with full marks! :)
this game does a really good job of portraying the truth of disasters- in things like war or natural disasters its often not the initial event that kills people but things like lack of medical care, resources and accidents. obviously not eldritch sea monsters but very strangely realistic all the same
![No Gods or Kings. Only Man. [Bioshock - Part 1]](http://i.ytimg.com/vi/gEnY8rSyE74/mqdefault.jpg)
![No Gods or Kings. Only Man. [Bioshock - Part 1]](/img/tr.png)
this game has the most realistic dialogue and banter ive ever seen in a horror game
i really hope they put in the same effort into vampire the masquerade.... but so far it's not looking too good.
the VA is unreal
My favourite part of this whole game is the random seagull at the end of the death screen 😂
That’s the true antagonist
And the horse. XD
@@littlekitsune1 It's statue in Glasgow!
@@CalvinChikelue The entity was trying to warn Caz about the Seagull enemy, but they didn't listen 😔
I know! He's like surfing on the water or something in slow mo. Not a bad last memory to have
Remember, in the beginning you gave Finley your lighter, and she said you're a lifesaver?
Didn't catch the parallel until now. Just like the ring, my mind is blown.
The first time Caz says something like, “A single spark and this would all go up,” I thought, _that there is Chekhov’s lighter._
foreshadowing woooo
They do a great job letting you connect with these characters. That's usually my biggest complaint with horror games but easily one of the strongest aspects when it's done right
might be one of the first times i've actually teared up at a horror game lol. rip caz
Caz just going "Aw for fooks sake!" to John throwing him off the ledge lmao
"I can't believe you've done this."
I rewatched that a few times because it keeps cracking me up. Props to the voice actor man
I like that the game is hopeless but not completely hopeless. Because yeah, everyone dies. But you still get the chance to stop things. You can't save yourself, but you can save everyone else
Caz gets his arc. Able to face a hard reality for himself to do what his family needs instead of running from his mistakes at their expense like his origin.
@@adaephon this game reminds me so much, thematically, of firewatch
52:00 On this point what I found interesting is that whenever " Suze " called you on the telephone it always came from zone 1 which was the Oil Derrek ( The Drill )
Whatever this entity is it was 100% messing with you telepathically
These great observations are why I like to scour the comments.
@@OkamiNoNamida =)
What I also thought was neat was that during the opening while you were in the accommodation zone before everything went bonkers
The Tartan carpet was realistically worn by foot
traffic
I thought that was a nice detail that wasn’t actively picked up on by people
@@OkamiNoNamidathere's one poster that has an advert for the oil company that says: "Awakening Scotland's Sleeping Giant Under the Sea" which is a fun tongue in cheek foreshadowing
I like that the title screen has changed post-credits. The rig isn't there anymore.
holy shit the entire rig got completely destroyed? good thing i guess lol
I wish more horror games would have living characters in it like this did, it gives you hope and makes it interesting.
I feel like Finley being so distraught about Brodie not making it was because she told Caz to flood the Platoon. I think that's what was the final straw for her. Aside from realizing they weren't going to make it off the Rig.
I did not expect to get so emotional at the ending, wow. That voice acting was superb, that cannot be stated enough, it really made everyone feel like real people. This ending just hit me so hard in the feels, like actual tears in my eyes lmao
I like to imagine Roper spent all his free time splashing yellow paint on every traversable structure. He seems the type to think ahead.
I didn't understand what Trots meant by saying "I have to make it like it was" but now that you mention it, it does seem like he was arranging the bodies! When I played I found it weird how some of them were dead in their bed or sitting in front of their desk since they would've been probably either working or trying to evacuate. Pretty neat
Did you notice when Trots said that, it was his normal speech? His voice wasn't distorted by the biomass. That was Trots coming through to speak his final words. Poor guy probably knew what was happening but couldn't control himself until then.
He even put the dude from the beginning back into the shower area and removed his clothes (There's no way that dude remained naked and showering for over 12 hours while the rig was exploding, falling apart around them, and monsters walked the halls). He apparently even tucked one guy in and put pictures of his family on his chest. When you were trying to reach Roy's room to get his insulin you can hear Trots say "you can't have it!". Poor Trots didn't deserve any of this. His obsession with putting things back to where they were kept Roy (who's a lot bigger and clumsier than skinny Caz) from getting to his meds even though he was trying for literal hours to get there.
I really appreciate the representation of Scottish language and culture which is usually left unexplored in the gaming industry, it made the story feel more real and personal to the characters. It also tells a deeper story due to the setting in the 70s as this is the era when oil was discovered off the coast of Scotland in the North Sea which gave rise to radical local political movements and at that time UK was in a terrible state economically. Most of my comments regarding gameplay and other technical aspects are already well covered by John but one thing I want to add is the ending letter. I know comparisons to Team Silent are unavoidable when playing psychological horror to the point of exhaustion but the final letter read by Suze reminds me of letter from Mary in SH2.
Seconded! The Scottish flair gave it an authentic 'lived in' feel and made the characters so heart-breaking *real* that even now I can't stop sniffling.
Lot of interesting moments within this game from Caz giving Finley his lighter early on in the game to her giving it back once she could no longer carry it. Desperately trying everything they could to try and delay the inevitable until they no longer had any other options. Once they ran out of options they realized there was no hope for them or anyone on the rig, but there was still hope for everyone back on the mainland and that they could at least save them.
EMOTIONAL DAMAGE 😭
The underwater scenes are so beautiful with the lighting and colors, same with the final confrontation scene. I think Rennick's encounter being so short in comparison to Addair's highlights how he was all bite while Addair was bite and bark. He gave Caz a whole speech about him being the king, just to be as scared of death as everyone else. Also, he's crazy for asking Caz not to leave him when he left Caz and Roy. I think Roper had the strongest grip to his humanity (being helpful and scared of Rennick) until the monster overpowered him and made him attack Caz. It's crazy to tell Caz to be brave for once in his life when he's been brave this whole night. I loved the writing and the voice acting for this game. I agree about being sad that everyone died, I at least wanted Caz to be able to survive, and I like how the monster isn't explained. The CinemaSins/unnecessary explaining could've killed his game.
yea i felt the same about the brave line but I think its referencing the fact that he took this job to run/hide from the police for beating up a dude
This game was utterly gorgeous. The voice acting and writing was great, the atmosphere was amazing -- you can believe that the rig is a place that is lived in, worked in.
I really loved the way it mixed the mundane and the Lovecraftian. In the end, both the rig and the entity fuse together as the same dangerous environment, something not hostile but unlivable, where ordinary people try their best to survive still -- heck, half the perils you encounter partly owe to the fact that Rennick was a cheap bastard, probably because he had managers to please. Never forget the lifeboat...
That was a super good catch about Trots! I didn't understand the reason he'd set the glasses on the corpse, but he was indeed trying his best to "put everything back". The writing on the fused humans -- the way their brains cling to irational patterns and spun wildly from that point, from "don't leave me" to "go fetch [my loved one] or "protect me" or "I'll sort this", was super interesting.
Thank you for this let's play (and for putting the subtitles in British English!) Your commentaries are always a delight, and your final words were very interesting to hear!
The fact that the membrane arteries are animated like they're pulling something out of peoples' bodies makes it that much more horrifying.
It's pretty to look at from a distance, but also constantly reminding you that it's feeding on live humans with that animation.
the amount of people on the rig probably allowed it to prosper as much as it did. i wonder if it's not able to get up from the bottom of the ocean on its own, and then the drill pulled it out, and after the first few victims it managed to get strong enough to start really destroying the rig and getting the energy to grow
This games monster design is such an excellent example of show dont tell, you just dont see it done as well these days. I like being able to pick it apart and figure it out myself instead of being forced fed information. That and the concept of the creature alone is terrifying. The fact that your friends and coworkers still seemed to be alive and conscious while absorded in this hivemind was horrifying. I probably would of jumped in the ocean cuz that thing looks worse than death.
While I agree that the mystery around this creature is very intriguing, I still feel like I wanted a little more context. I wish they showed a helicopter view where you can see the silhouette of the whole thing beneath the water or something. Is it an actual creature? Or is it really just a fungus like growth? I don't need to know where it came from or anything, no backstory just a little more visual context of that thing as a whole would have been enough for me. Maybe they could've shown a gigantic maw or the heart itself, since it has a pulse after all. Idk, I'm just super fascinated by giant creature designs.
@@OoTZOMMMoO I assume it was done like it was so you would only know as much as your character would know. I'm not sure how you'd get a birds eye view from Caz's perspective without breaking immersion. I'm glad they didn't fall into the typical trope of giving the enemy so much screen time that it just loses its edge. But I did catch myself at times pausing the video to get a better grip at what the hell I was looking at lol
@@AshChiCupcak Yeah I think it's probably the 'most-paused' vid I've seen in awhile.
@@AshChiCupcak I guess you have a point. Oh and I paused the video so many times lmao
It really reminds me of the entity in Nope.
(the aesthetic of the membrane I mean)
I knew it wouldn't end well since that's how eldritch horror plays out but I loved the characters so much that it broke my heart to see them suffer so much before hand. But at least we can feel better knowing Caz dies a hero, blowing that crap up before it takes the world!
yeah, although i wish there was a way that the rest of the world would know about his sacrifice, would make things a little better, although i guess you as the viewer are meant to see it
@@ibby1295 maybe its some artsy fartsy crap about how we never know just how much other people do for us/how much they’re struggling
@@hooptyscoopty "no one will know your deeds" is also a common trope in eldritch horror, which is what gives us another layer of sorrow/dread. Though I'm glad you took that message out of it, too! Gotta look for the silver lining sometimes.
One thing I keep thinking about is if the rig wasn't so cheaply made, then maybe people would've survived. If the threat wasn't an eldritch abomination, and just a failure of the rig itself, those people would still be in danger. Scary.. Cutting costs in these areas of work is a killer, and management who cares more about the product/money than the workers themselves. A real example would be the Chernobyl power plant explosion.
True. Some of the deaths might have been prevented, if people could walk around without getting stuck behind a door.
Yeah, there's a note on the wall by the lifeboats noting that lifeboats 2, 3, 4, and 5 were all unusable long before the event happened and they'd told Renneck about it. In Trots' room you learn the oil workers guild has been trying to get Cabal and Renneck to fix all the safety issues and they've ignored them. If Cabal hadn't cut so many corners in a race to get a rig out there first and maximize profits at least half of the crew could have been safe on the lifeboats within an hour or so.
But as it was the lifeboats were damaged, there weren't enough life jackets, exits and corridors were locked or blocked, there was unsecured equipment EVERYWHERE, malfunctioning electricity and pipes, cheap metal scaffolding and rails ready to buckle and tear at the slightest bump, they were understaffed, and Renneck made them drill even when all their equipment and experience were saying stop and reassess. Cabal and Renneck murdered them before the creature ever touched them.
@@Momo_Minomo True. It really shows when you see dead people flow out from an area after you manage to remove the thing that was keeping them locked in.
Made the mistake of watching this at work and now I'm trying not to cry in the middle of my office 😭
yup, sniffle city.
I watched with a biologist friend and they compared the creature to a centipede. It got me thinking about the creature as an animal that has no special powers. It actually works.
The monster has no conscious thought. It just runs on instinct. Its' instinct is just to consume biomass to grow. It can sense organic matter near it and instinctively reaches out with it's tendrils. Notice that it never assimilates non-organic matter. It just punched holes through the sheet metal of the rig.
If it is some sort of animal it would have tools specific to how it eats. It assimilates conscious beings. It isn't particularly mobile which means it would need to trap it's prey. Something that causes paralysis and hallucinations. Maybe it secretes a venom. The prey trips balls muttering about the important things in their life. A lot of the moments where Cas hallucinates happens after he comes into physical contact with the creature, or when he's swimming through water. With how far the creature has spread by the game's end all that water was probably yeeted to the gills with psychedelics.
Like any other illicit substance different people have different tolerances. This could explain why some victims just get assimilated in place and why others become a monster. The easily assimilated show the simple tendril behavior. The ones that have a high tolerance maintain shreds of consciousness. It explains the differences in their behavior. The ones that were aggressive had a shit attitude to begin with or a grudge against Cas.
You would love Roanoke Gaming
The ending of this game tone wise reminds me of What Remains of Edith Finch.... I am left with the same feelings of somber hollowness
Man, yeah that was such a good game... welp, time to go re-watch his playthrough! 😁
That game was nuts
The sequence with the guy working in the fish factory was incredible
@@Mulbert Yeah Lewis is my favorite part :)
That...really was an well told lovecraftian story
The voice acting is beyond superb. Great graphics and gripping story. Finley is my favorite. An interesting effect is when u look out the cabin windows in the end you see multiple windows repeating as if your seeing them through a mirror. I guess it's a kind of hallucination. Absolutely wonderful overall.
finlay was badass and deserved better. i almost cried watching the ending lol
The first Chinese Room game I thoroughly enjoy! Sorta reminiscent of SOMA with the ending where it's left extremely vague and ominous about what happens after the credits, which is a plus in my opinion. SOMA left be in a weird malaise for days after I beat it, that ending got me.
Soma gave me an existential crisis lol One of the most impactful games I've played
1:57 Electrician here, no you would NEVER try and walk on that ceiling.
It's called a grid or drop ceiling (it's called a few things but this is most common) and the grid is only made of flimsy aluminium braces while the ceiling tiles are made of this almost paper mache material compacted into uniform squares that fit into the grid. Both the grid and the tiles could maybe hold 5kg ok but nothing over 10kg barring a miracle.
Seeing the "good with the leccy" Caz get straight up onto the grid without concern is funny as.
Well he is good with the leecy. So I’m willing to give it a pass
Eh, given that Caz can fit in those dinky little lockers, I’m gonna imagine he’s 90lb and thin as a twig lmao
This was a sad and well paced story I honestly loved this more then I expected
Yellow means safety, y'all.
Trots' angry little "NYEH" when you flee into the vents made me smile.
Roy raised death flags in his last call to Caz, so this was expected.
I did like the characters, the writers did a great job with them.
I almost wish the story said something about what the parasite was, why it was climbing the tower, but at the same time having it be an ambiguous THING from the deep, cosmic horror is the best direction for the story - especially for a group of average people that didn't go looking for it. Just in the wrong place at the wrong time.
Unrelated to anything, I always chuckled when the death slideshow ended with the seagull for no reason.
Lol yeah, it was like "happier Glasgow memories" 😅
Instead of taking from it, I thought the linear nature of the game really lends itself to telling an amazing narrative. I was much more invested than I expected to. Love the monster designs and voice acting as well. Top notch stuff all around. I got goosebumps at so many parts.
I feel like I spent the last 5 minutes of the game just crying.
I liked this game and I enjoyed the playthrough. I agree with John's opinions, except I REALLY LOVE the ending. It's tragic, sad, hopeless, yes, but to me, it's the only ending that makes sense. I kept asking myself "What's the end game here?" ever since the membrane emerged from the depths but I did not want to guess or speculate as to how the game will end -- I did not want to be disappointed or have any expectations. When Finlay started convincing Caz it's the only way I got really excited, although the very end scene when Caz woke up next to Suze scared me because I thought maybe they'll go with the "it was all a dream" twist 😂 and that would suck imo
Agreed, the ending was perfect.
someone in the comments said that the ending could be just a hallucination and Caz became a part of the hive, which I feel like is a possible possibility as well as him simply dying, except it would give it more angst!
@@PrincessRomi1oh that’s a great possibility but man that’s bleak for them all and especially Caz if he wasn’t successful in destroying it.
I actually did not expect to get teary eyed at the deaths of some of these characters. The writing and voice acting was incredible. I usually roll my eyes at writing in horror games because everything just feels like it IS written. So many of the lines and actions in this game feel like natural banter and you really grow to enjoy hearing from the characters.
I also really agree with what you said about not over explaining everything. There doesn't need to be some deep lore or predictable twist about someone was looking for it the whole time, or the origins of where it came from. The horrifying thing about it is how unknown and mysterious it is, and that it's most likely just an unfortunate chance that it happened to be where the rig was drilling. It's a simple eldritch story but the characters and the setting really made it interesting and compelling, well done to everyone that worked on it
the game started good AND ended good. I really enjoyed it!! the story kept on being interesting and I could feel how logical everything was. the characters did what they could to even just survive. It really broke my heart to see roy die. the admiration and love each characters have with each other was so good. these people are coworkers who REALLy get along and it shows.
I expected everyone to die, cause you know, this is heavy inspired by the Things and 80s horror in general, but this was a well done game. The Chinese Room needs to continue on this path!
Either the ending is Caz's death or the fire didn't destroy the entity and Caz became a part of the hive and the ending is just a hallucination.
that's an upsetting posibility to think about!! Omg, did all of them go through that then?! That makes it even more angsty than it already was.
@@PrincessRomi1 you should watch Roanokes video explaining the entity in the game the TLDR is that the entity connects everybody it touches to a hivemind fusing them together because it breaks down cell walls like a cancer, this is why different monsters can have multiple body parts is because they absorb other people, and likely as it does this is floods the brain with serotonin and hallucinations, that's why all the different infected people talk about they're loved ones or other things. So if the entire entity isn't destroyed by the fire, then everyone who was conscious when they got connected to the hive is going to live forever eternally suffering.
yeah, we don't know how much of it would've gotten killed in the blast, if it's easily destroyed by fire at all
i thought he was assimilating to the thing when he swam towards its light
@@sierrajohn7967 yeah, that's right it does look like that, wonder what the planet would look like after a week or so
I love how John's like "At this point I'd just jump into the ocean", as if that stuff isn't coming out of the ocean and you wouldn't be S.O.L. either way. 😆
I gotta say, I do like 'The Thing' vibe. I loved the movies. ❤️
The more I think about it, the more impressed I am with this game. It has a very interesting and unique setting, well developed characters, very few notes, really cool monster designs, it shows more than it tells and when it does introduce the dreaded psychological horror elements it keeps it to a minimum and explains them! This is a game where the character actually realises he's hallucinating! Amazing!
There's no science man trying to explain the monster, no secret Umbrella plot where it turns out Rennick is testing a bioweapon, it's just an unknowable organism that seems to assimilate organic matter; very reminiscent of The Thing which is a GREAT thing (hehe) to take inspiration from.
Fantastic stuff and I hope they can keep it up.
Diabetic here…. That isn’t how insulin works 😭😭😭 I really thought I must’ve misunderstood what was going on earlier in the game but no he DOES have low blood sugar… Insulin LOWERS blood sugar. He should have just eaten a sugary snack earlier. If Roy had high blood sugar, the insulin would’ve helped. But given that they’re making him out to have low blood sugar, giving him insulin would’ve been a terrible decision. If he hadn’t been dead when Caz showed back up to give him the insulin he would have died shortly after being injected anyway. Such a bizarre oversight in an otherwise great story.
Edit: I was informed the wiki page clarifies he dies of ketoacidosis, which is caused by high blood sugar. The story and dialogue wasn't very clear about that lol but at least they weren't actually wrong
interesting you commented this bc i was thinking the same thing when he was asking for his insulin but mentioned low BG LOL i thought i misheard. only thing that took me out of the immersion a bit
according to wikipedia he dies of ketoacidosis, meaning he had high blood sugar. so the insulin WOULD have helped him. ive seen people say he could have just been in a coma when Caz found him and not actually dead. he also could have just not had his insulin for long enough (it gets delivered at the beginning of the game meaning he hadn't had it for an unknown period beforehand) and it just caught up to him with the stress of the environment.
@@BrookieC Ohhhh! that makes so much more sense! They shouldn't have included the "sugary snack" line if they weren't gonna have him correct Caz though. Like I know he told him he needed his insulin not a snack but he should have explained why to make it more clear for the audience. It's already a huge misconception about diabetics and insulin so to just not explain that when Caz made that comment is questionable writing. But I'm glad it's at least canonically listed somewhere as keyoacidosis and not low blood sugar lol! Thank you for informing me!
I agree, it felt unclear just what the BGL situation was. Still bugs me that Caz doesn't at least try to give him a shot, or at least take off a glove so he can actually check Roy for a pulse. Ketoacidosis is also known to produce a unique smell, so even a line where Caz mentions smelling something would have helped to clear it up.
He gives up on Roy real quick.
@@toxxicpill I think it makes more sense for the writing not to included it. Because of the personality of the two people. Roy knows what he needs, but he also knows Caz doesn't understand and that he doesn't need to understand it. Caz gets that Roy needs his meds and also offers his help to get it for Roy, but Roy believes at the time he will be able to get it, not knowing mutated Trots is in his way, which is not made easier with the cabins being closed and him not being able to fit into small areas like Caz. It was just unlucky, which makes it so much more sad.
Oh man, the ending really moved me. I wasn't expecting it to be so emotional and well done. The story and especially the voice acting were superb.
Loved it. It certainly felt more real for the absence of notes and combat. The voice acting was superb, and the environment really well executed.
This game had some of the best dialogue and voice-acting I've ever come across. When you find Roy I bawled.
It is a great example of how the game worked to get you immersed at 15:10. John is more interested in seeing the creature than walking on the ledge. We have seen similar behavior from the characters (lightning in the washing machine and the person staring at it, Caz being mesmerized by it at the beginning of the story, etc.). It is almost like we are part of the game as we are also magnetized by whatever that is through the screens. Very cool.
I'm glad John found a new horror videogame that he enjoyed. Still Wakes the Deep proves that you can definitely make good horror games, nowadays. I liked this just as much as Johns playthrough of Amnesia the Bunker. Already looking forward to the next hidden gem you find John :)
Literally just finished part 3, went back to TH-cam front page, and here it is! Perfect
Same
Same!
How convenient
He finally stopped running away. What a beautiful, if heartwrenching arc.
That was excellent. Great, yet simple story, amazing character writing, very well-thought-out emotional beats, visuals that are kind of typical yet fresh (The whole body-horrory alien concept has been done to death but they still made it unique in its own way) I love that there's an undeniable beauty to it that the game acknowledges a couple of times, like there at the end.
I was not expecting this ending to hit so hard. I'm very glad they valued character development in this because they felt real while being in such a wild experience.
This was a really fun ride! I loved the whole eldritch vibe. Very few pieces of media know what to do with it and fumble the mystery and horror aspect of it. I think this game did a great job with the genre. And as always, experiencing it with John just makes it 100x more entertaining. Great series, once again.
I'm so impressed by this game, the voice acting, the graphics, I actually cried at the ending, I don't remember the last time a game like this actually hit that way
well fucking done
The character monologuing how to deal with the grief, and talking out scenarios, after you encounter Roy, fucking got me man. This game is too good and keeps hitting bar after BAR.
The overexplaining bit at the end, P R E A C H. When everything has a (a concrete explanation) conclusion, nothing has a conclusion, further muddling the possible answers we can get at, by accidentally limiting oour scope in the other ways that things can work!~
Those violins... damn, the composition and soundtrack are one of the best I've ever experienced
Gosh, the ending of this game gets me. Lol I've watched multiple people play it but I've cried every time and this time was no different. I *really* enjoyed it. Loved watching you play this John! Keep on Keeping On, and thank you so much for doing what you do~!!
The narrative of this had me on the edge of my seat, and as someone who is always sold on a narrative based on the characters, this one really brought it home. I'm gonna be thinking about this for ages.
I really like how the other characters, even in their infected eldritch forms, still seem to have a sliver of humanity left in them. They're able to form coherent sentences while clearly being in a state of delusion, trying to grasp at any hope of being able to survive this ordeal, but just end up harming everyone around them in the process because it's far too late to save themselves. I think they become blinded to the horrific state their bodies and minds are in but still fight to try and get away from it.
Alternatively you could just see this as the "infection" using their bodies to try and trick uninfected people into becoming victims as well? (Similarly to The Thing)
I think these are some of the most artistically impressive monster s I've ever seen. I feel like I've seen a lot of eldritch meat growth things, but the swirling shapes, the mix of bioluminescence against black oil, and the different bespoke ways they distort each person you knew differently, it's really impressive, it shows a lot of care about making things sort of horrifically beautiful. The writing is also really nice, amazing for a horror game haha.
So glad I'm WFH today. Means I'm free to have a sneaky little cry into my coffee. What a heart-rending story! It didn't click that it was by the same people as Everybody's Gone to the Rapture until you said so - that makes a lot of sense.
John: "Rennick is gonna come after me at some point."
Rennick, tearing through the wall: "DID YE CALL ME?!"
The dialogue in this was good and felt natural.
The Chinese Room really hit it out of the park with this one. I hope they keep making horror games! I really enjoyed the lack of explanation on the "creature" too. You're just A Guy (tm) trying to keep things afloat and survive. If anything, being left in the dark makes the player bond with the clueless character better.
Such an amazing game. Sound design, dialogue, the details, the enemies, the atmosphere, and even the emotional appeal were all excellent.
There's no way this won't be game of the year.
The best thing for me is how they didn't try too hard in explaining what is 'That thing'. The mystery make it more scary and bleak as we're facing with unknown Horror. The less we knew about it, the scarier it is. And they did a great job with the character, as it make us feels bad for them (Well, except for Rennick and Addair that we know that they're a prick)
Character, Pacing, Environment, and Especially Sound, all of it were amazing. This is my favorite Horror Game for this year. The ending is bleak, but that's also make the ending very impactful, as it's not only about "Despair" or "What they did in the end is futile". If we see from other perspective, it's actually very beautiful. At the start of the game, Caz is "Running Away" from his problem leaving his family, but in the end, he realized that 'thing' must be stopped, so instead of 'running away' again, he chose to Face the problem for the sake of the World and his family out there. We don't know if the 'thing' really died with that, but that action give everyone's hope.
Just learned "Nicholas Boulton lends his talents to Trots, Banky, and Dalgleish." He was also the voice/model of Druth from Hellblade 😮
I wholeheartedly agree with John when it comes to the people needing answers to every little thing ruining the vibe of the story. I recently had a cosmic ecohorror novel with heavy romance elements get published and so much of the “why” behind the horror is never explain because it’s COSMIC HORROR, it’s un-fathomable for a reason! I even made a point to have the MC, a scientist and incredibly logical character, say that even if he could understand the reasons behind the madness it wouldn’t matter because nothing would change and SO MANY PEOPLE complained that there wasn’t enough dumbed down explanations for the horror 😵💫 it’s a literal eldritch style creature on a rampage tearing up a morgue in deep space after it infects tons of bodies, it doesn’t need a reason, just let it go wild and enjoy the terror!!
Nice one, the mystery is where the horror is! Everyone's gotta have everything explained in exhaustive detail by a youtuber these days.
Man, the fricking voice acting was stellar. They really put the emotions into the somber stuff, the panic and the swearing of course. Teared up at the scene with Roy and the memory of Caz and Suze at the very end. And had a few good laughs with the banter as well. Also the sound design and the claustrophobic environments really were amazing. If there are more horror games like this out there imma definitely watch your playthrough of them.
Yup, this one was a banger! I especially loved the voice acting, the Scottish flair, and most of all, the real emotional heft of the writing - you ended up giving a damn about the characters, instead of the usual cardboard inserts that pass for a cast in grade D horror gaming. Even my cranky stone of a heart was trying not to bawl towards the end...
Great job all around and, forever and always: Thanks John for playing this!
Anyone else singing "Blinded by the Light" towards the end, or was it just me? Loved this game's journey, the dialogs, and the environmental. Who knew we needed a game about an oil rig in the ocean? Well done.
The big image of it encapsulating the oil rig around 15 minutes definitely give me some Jean jacket from nope vibes. What a funky creature they created
The game's ending reminds me a lot of the movie Annihilation, especially with the alien iridescence and the explosion.
"The Thing" traumatized me as a child, so there were several times where I needed to take a break from watching you play this game. I thought it was really well done: intriguing story, intense atmosphere, very unique. Thanks John!
I really liked watching this - so much so that I couldn't wait to see what happened after part 2 came out and I went and found a no commentary playthrough because I needed to know what happened. Still watched part 3 and 4 of course just to see John's reactions. It's been a long time since I've watched any horror media that gave me the fear tingles, and ironically enough the last couple months now I've been thinking about rewatching The Thing lmao.
I saw a theory somewhere that whatever it was fed on aggression, or at least aggression fueled it/made it stronger or more fast-acting, and it made sense that most of the immediate monsters/threats were pretty aggressive people to start with - Rennick and Addair, and we saw Muir shouting at the beginning, that kinda thing. Meanwhile Roper was more lax even after it got to him. I don't know what that means for Caz though; putting someone in the hospital out of anger, you'd assume aggression is in his nature as well.
His wife saying that last line. It sounds almost like something you would say at a funeral. I never realized that till now and it made me tear up a little more than the last time I watched a game through.
It's been a long time since a horror game made me actually feel something for the characters involved. All of them actually felt like people and I was legitimately tearing up at the end. Awesome playthrough John, thank you!
The VA on this game were excellent, and I think it made Roy’s ending all the harder to go through. I was so hopeful when you snagged the insulin! Loved watching your playthrough of this and I appreciate the company while I work!
I'm not normally a commenter but I commented on both 2 and 3 because I have REALLY enjoyed this game - the atmosphere, the storytelling, the characters were all amazing. Thank you for this series John!
Video spoilers
I enjoyed the section when you had to get past the guy sat in the chair in Marine control. The way he was talking like he still was in yhere was very creepy and well done.
Gutted at the end - but i knew it had to happen, i mean what was gonna happen if a boat picked them up with no idea wtf is going on? They probably would have just called in the military and gotten rid of it anyway, and this way Caz and Finlay got to be our heroes from start to end. I had forgotten sbout caz lending her the lighter and getting goosebumps now.
Fantastic game! Thank you john for playing it!
Excellent. Top 10 horror games I've seen in a long time. Solid from start to finish... nothing frustrating or over the top difficult. Just a great story.
I think the monster is some kind of organism, which has an hallucination effect on humans. Because the thing people where hearing was to personal and based in possible stress reactions to seems like manipulations or talk from the plant-meat thing. I also think that the mutations where random, it seems to just be mindless going for whatever and the causation to that is mutated different parts of people. Like Trots was still somewhat functional even through he seems to also be stuck in some kind of panic/trauma response, probably from being forcefully mutated.
Hell, yeah, I’ve been loving this series. It’s really cool. I love this setting.
Fantastic playthrough! You brought just the right amount of levity but you knew when to let a poignant moment play out, as always, it's always a treat to see you play something you're clearly enjoying and respecting. One of my favorite moments was when you figured out what the hell Trots was doing, a mic-drop that made a horrifying section incredibly sad, and it shows how good this game was, it never tells you, it just makes you care enough to think about the implications, and it was great seeing how engaged you were through that. Also what you said about Finlay losing it when you hear the lighter clicking made me laugh hard after a really sad moment, love it.
This game is an excellent example of where and why other such visually fantastic horror games (like Layers of Fear, as you said) didn't quite work as well: the decision to avoid note storytelling, the minimal but impactful gameplay, the characters you come to care about as more than storytelling vehicles, and the suffocating dread of doom pressing ever closer without ever explaining itself. One detail I loved was that they didn’t pad the game by making you have to find the tools you use, you work there, of course they’re all on you already. Atmosphere was out of this world, and they really made it upsetting every time a character was lost. Not enough games give you the hope of saving survivors, and the risk, or actuality, of failing them. I agree that I would rather someone had made it, even if it wasn't the main character, but you're right that that's the style of eldritch horror: there is no hope, only the fire of the human spirit.
This was such a nice (if sad!) series to watch after work, thank you for playing it!
Gorgeous game with amazing acting. But agree with the hopelessness (at least for the ppl on the rig) plus the raw human pain really got to me. Had to go pat my cat every once in a while just to feel better. I will say makes me hopeful for the new bloodlines 2 game. Would love to see that sequel be done justice. Thanks for the play through John! Wouldn't have wanted to watch anyone else play this.
I really like the VA work in the game, felt authentic and very grounded.
i'm back, a month later, rewatching and also crying a little again and maybe corn-plating but that's a whole other thing lol
but ending on that little bit of peace over the choppy ocean waters, listening to suze's voiceover, reading (presumably) a letter that she wrote to (circling back to foil the opening scene) reasserts: through all the conflict caz has been ruminating on and the batshit he's had to deal with, this is his emotional core; and, where the opening scene had a score of slow, slumping strings, the ending scene is just..... the water.
Absolutely incredible game, I really enjoyed this playthrough. Thanks for playing it, John!
I hadn't heard a Scottish accent before. It is now my favorite accent. I'll look up the voice actors for this game. They're so good.
This one was good. Great story and characters. Thank you for playing John!
That's perfect timing John, was scrolling TH-cam not a lot I want to watch till I saw this. Great timing, been watching a long time.
Such a great game with FANTASTIC acting. Amazing sound design and environments, endearing and likeable characters (for the most part), oppressive atmosphere, good pacing, I could go on. Top-notch work that didn't outstay it's welcome and knew exactly what it was doing and what it was aiming for. Games like this you can really see when they have a clear vision and execute it with passion. I hope they continue the amazing work, and massive props to everyone involved :) thank you for playing and showcasing it, John!
Those underwater parts going under the rig and through the small spaces around the machinery... ughhghghguhggguhughghghguhguhghgh the heebediejeebiedies. One of my top skin crawling nightmare scenarios. EUGH. Brilliantly executed!
If I could add one thing to this game; it could’ve used just a smidge more of thalassaphobic moments. Like, one sequence where you fall in ocean and see how truly immense this thing was, and maybe even early signs of it spreading outwards.
Thanks for playing through this, John; you're my go to guy for "actually playing the entire game well, and showing the whole thing essentially unedited". I'd never play this because I can't stand the mechanics, but watching you play is a real good time.
About your ending comments on not over explaining the creature I also feel like its similar to zombie fiction. The story here isn't about the big monster and trying to understand it. The monster puts pressure to the character dynamics that already exist between the workers, Rennick, and most importantly Caz and his reason for being on the rig.
The monsters keep the moment to moment fun and tense, but the emotional buy in for the story is how a well realized group of people try and fail to survive/cope with the unimaginable.
So excited but so scared for the end 😩😂🖤
This story is magnificent, and the game did an absolutely banging job pulling you into it and making you care about everything. My heart hurt from Roy onwards and I was crying a little, yeah. I was figuring you know, even if a rescue boat had somehow come to get them, and it was just Caz, Roy, Finlay, and Brodie, I would've been a lot happier, but then there would be a chance of the creature attaching onto the boat, or maybe the rescuers somehow, and bringing it back to the mainland, and that wouldn't be good either; while it would've created the potential for like a "sequel" where it starts taking over the mainland, I just don't know if I would have enjoyed a story like that? It's just perfectly well-rounded and ties everything off the way it is. And one of my biggest praises is something that John said, that it doesn't interrupt the pacing or immersion with random notes/collectibles. You wouldn't be stopping to read "Dr. Bob's Old Journal" while you're running for your life up the stairs in a flood. The only notes they had were the Finlay and Brodie ones near the end which were obviously for practical reasons. And I'm also glad the narrative wasn't trying to spend time "figuring out" what the monster was, because it didn't really matter at that moment to the crew- what mattered was the rig was being destroyed, and they had to try to save people and keep it from exploding. And the lack of focus on trying to "science" the monster also let the human characters be more of the focus, more in the foreground, and being that it was a really emotional human story, I really appreciated that.
I'm sure I'm biased also by my earlier mention of Scottish heritage, that I definitely had some feels from that point of view- for example I've been to Skye, the place mentioned by Brodie, and it is gorgeous, so that made me tear up because I have great IRL memories of seeing it. And the North Atlantic sea is a dangerous region for people from any country who work there, doing anything- oil rigs, fishing, cargo, whatever it is- the weather is notoriously bad and many people have been lost to it throughout the ages. So when Suze is concerned about her husband, and sending him letters and whatnot to be safe, she has very good reason- all of the spouses and family members of the characters on the rig would be worried enough without a horrific eldritch horror wrecking the rig. There have been plenty of accidents due to cost cutting and other things without that, sadly. And I didn't get a good listen to the song at the end, but there are many traditional Scottish songs about lovers/loved ones going across the sea and sometimes not making it home, I'll bet the lyrics were likely along those lines.
EDIT: I'm back several days later because I'm still thinking about this game and its story...I watched a video the other night about Piper Alpha, the worst oil rig disaster in history, and it sounds like it was built during this oil rush in that same area off of Scotland, in 1976. That disaster (which also traced back to corporate greed, safety issues, miscommunication, and the like) didn't happen until 1988, but I'd be surprised if it didn't have some influence on the inspiration for this story. Idk how old the writer(s) and devs are, but I'm sure at least some of them are probably old enough to remember hearing about it on the news. At the very least Clive Russell, the VA for Rennick and Boyd, is 78, so he'd likely remember.
I really appreciated your playthrough of this, John, and your very seamless editing of it; or maybe just being good at most of the button prompts, lol. I'm not nearly as good at that sort of thing, so I most likely wouldn't have liked playing this as much as watching it, because I'd be frustrated missing jumps/stealth timing, and it would break my immersion. Glad you gave this one a try in spite of not liking other releases from the company. ❤
I definitely agree with your explanation of how the story was. It gave me massive "Thing" vibes, and im glad it wasn't explained. You're right about waaay too many things in horror trying to over explain how everything is.
It gives me much more of a eldritch horror vibe with how the entity/disease/god acts with no explanation. Plus, i love nautical horror, so this was fun to watch
Loved it! Love the interesting setting and down-to-earth characters, love the weird Thing/Annihilation esque threat and monsters, love the unexplained mystery of it, love the scary flooding/underwater sequences, love the lack of note collecting (lol). As John said, I think this game really benefited from not trying to explain anything or overstretch itself - it knew what it wanted to accomplish, and it accomplished it in a nice, tidy few hours of gameplay without overstaying its welcome or wearing out our investment in these folks and the situation. Ending it with full marks! :)
this game does a really good job of portraying the truth of disasters- in things like war or natural disasters its often not the initial event that kills people but things like lack of medical care, resources and accidents. obviously not eldritch sea monsters but very strangely realistic all the same