Deserted places go hand in hand with horror video games the place gamers could be remoted, weak, and, in the event you’re something like me, confused. So Nonetheless Wakes the Deep’s location is not out of the strange for its style, however even nonetheless, an oil rig off the Scottish coast is a fairly sick setting for some terrifying encounters.
“It isn’t essentially the most glamorous setting, it isn’t a fantastical setting, which gamers like,” affiliate artwork director Laura Dodds tells me. “We additionally do not have a tendency to listen to tales about working folks. I assume that is why it isn’t been centered on beforehand, nevertheless it’s sensible.”
It is true that the Beira D oil rig is not historically stunning, however it’s putting. With pipes spewing hearth into the foggy sky, rust crusting many of the outer pipes, and a bare-bones however charming kitchen and lounge, its intricate format makes it a sight to behold and a thrill to discover.
“The Beira D is genuine to an oil rig as a result of they’re extremely disorientating,” Dodds says. “We discovered a great deal of 360-degree video guides, and also you’re taking place tight little corridors with tonnes of piping passing all these nested buried areas, you might flip round and do not know which a part of the rig you are in.”
Navigating the Beira D in the direction of the start of Nonetheless Wakes the Deep is not straightforward, however in the event you’re having a very onerous time with it, then you may activate hints that can assist level you in the proper course. Nevertheless, after a while, you may finally get used to the wiggly format. Not solely does every part of the rig have a really distinct model, with the social quarters opting for the same vibe to these short-term school rooms that pop up within the playground of virtually each UK faculty not less than as soon as, whereas engineering is stuffed with pipes, boilers, and different common outdated mechanical doohickies.
“I believe that from a design viewpoint, we took a number of liberties with the Beira D,” lead developer, Rob McLachlan says. “We made a rig that labored for us. It is fairly a big rig, with numerous locations, locations to cover, expanses to understand, and really clear zones.”
“Rigs are inbuilt a modular means,” McLachlan continues. “That was fantastic for us as a result of it helps the participant to give attention to the place they’re. They’ll say, ‘Effectively, I am in lodging, or I am within the admin module, or I am in processing,’ and it helps you compartmentalise the map. That basically helped us to make every space distinctive and work for the sport. So that you get a way of development.”
The rig is out within the wild, and nobody is coming to investigate cross-check you.
There is not any disgrace in getting misplaced, however in the event you do get circled, then you may also depend on all of the indicators which are scattered across the rig. I really discovered myself utilizing these indicators quite a bit whereas navigating the Beira D, even after all the pieces had hit the fan. It is necessary that the rig’s crew know the quickest means potential to an space, so all of the indicators are sometimes very useful and are the quickest strategy to get to your required location.
However this complicated format is not simply enjoyable and video games, it additionally makes the horrors in Nonetheless Wakes the Deep decidedly worse. Not solely are you not completely conversant in one of the simplest ways to dodge sure scary locations, however there is no signal of assist, after the chaos begins and the communication to the mainland is wrecked, all the pieces else that occurs is principally simply the outdated adage ‘if a tree falls in the midst of a forest and nobody is round to listen to it does it actually make a sound?’ however on steroids. The rig is out within the wild, and nobody is coming to investigate cross-check you. “I do not assume I’ve ever actually considered oil rigs, Dodds says. “They’re simply someplace else. I do not take into consideration the place my oil and fuel come from.”
The Beira D oil rig actually is a stellar location for a horror recreation, not solely is it rugged and funky to discover, however you are properly and really remoted as quickly as you set foot into Nonetheless Wakes the Deep, extra so than any cabin within the woods or haunted outdated mansion.
