Still Wakes the Deep is a horror game where plenty is left unexplained, or left to the imagination. Here’s everything you need to know about the Still Wakes the Deep Story story and ending.
Still Wakes the Deep Initial Story & Plot Explained
Still Wakes the Deep opens in December, 1975, on the Beroa – an oil rig in the North Sea. It becomes immediately apparent that the rig has seen better days. Everywhere you look there are leaks or faulty wiring, and the harsh manager of the rig, Rennick, runs the place with an iron fist, much to the displeasure of his employees – including Trots, who is trying to establish a union.
Our hero, the electrician Caz, is called to Rennick’s office, and immediately fired for getting in trouble with the police, hinting that there’s more to the Beroa than simply a harsh boss. Caz heads to the helipad for extraction as the drill starts up, only for things to go very, very wrong. The drill hits something underwater, whether that’s a gas pocket or something much stranger, and this triggers an explosion which rocks through the rig.
Caz is thrown from the rig while attempting to save a co-worker, but is rescued. He recovers on a lower level of the rig, and awakes to find his surviving coworkers scattered across the complex, all the while Rennick insists over the intercom that everything is fine, and that the explosion represents only a momentary delay. This claim would be more believable if we weren’t rescuing our friends from submarines suspended 200 feet above the ocean or climbing along its underside because the bridges have been destroyed. We imagine health and safety regulations have come a long way in the last 50 years.
Rolling in the Deep
Caz’s first step is to make it to the others. To do this, he makes his way to Engineering, where he encounters his coworker Finlay, who explains that one of his coworkers has lost his mind. What follows is a tense sequence where Caz makes his way through the area while his infected coworker rushes around, catching glimpses of strange, otherworldly fins stretching throughout the Beroa, and eventually coming under attack from Trots, who has mutated into a twisted mass of flesh.
In the Crew Quarters, Caz meets with his old friend Roy, the kind-hearted chef of the station. Caz decides to prep one of the lifeboats, but it’s all for nought. Many of the boats are out of order due to the explosion, and the only functional one is lost as Caz is prepping it.
Luckily, Rennick has come to his senses and decided it’s time to evacuate from the helipad. Caz returns to Roy, who needs to collect his medication before they leave, and heads to the helipad to tell Rennick to wait. Unfortunately, Rennick is leaving in the only helicopter just as Caz arrives. The helicopter promptly, albeit predictably, crashes, cutting the rig off from the only source of escape.
From Bad to Worse
Of course, things aren’t entirely hopeless. There’s a chance that the rapidly dwindling survivors can make it off the rig if they can call for help. Of course, this would be far easier if the power wasn’t cutting in and out. Working with Finlay, Caz successfully restores power to the station, but calling for help quickly takes a back seat compared to more pressing concerns: namely, the rapidly approaching destruction of the complex. The explosion, as well as the fleshy growths rapidly spreading throughout the rig, are causing severe structural damage, including oil leaks.
Caz takes point on the repairs, whether that’s reigniting the flares to prevent an explosion or floating the legs to avoid flooding, avoiding his mutated coworkers all the while. However, things are getting stranger. The phenomenon is just getting stronger, the fins and flesh growing exponentially, and Caz is hallucinating.
The hallucinations are simple, at first. Throughout the game, you know when a monster is nearby due to the burnt film effect on the screen. Soon, this progresses to Caz hearing old conversations with his wife, Suze, on the phone. At some points, there are outright visual hallucinations, such as a window showing an endless repeat of the same window, like a mirror reflecting itself.
Is Caz infected? Possibly, but he’s still going to fight to save himself and his friends. Soon, however, only four survivors are left: himself, Finlay, Roy, and Brodie. Unfortunately, Roy is killed while attempting to make his way to the others. Meanwhile, Brodie is trapped in one of the legs as it floods with no hope of rescue.
Still Wakes the Deep Ending Explained
With Caz and Finlay as the only survivors, tensions start to flare. Caz, despite his possible infection, is still determined to make it back to his family. Finlay, meanwhile, believes they need to destroy the phenomenon at any cost, including their own deaths. To this end, she runs away, determined to blow up the rig, taking the monsters and themselves with it.
Caz chases after her, determined to escape, but as the station continues to degrade, Finlay is crushed by rubble. She convinces Caz to destroy the phenomenon, and he reluctantly accepts the lighter she offers him.
Caz steps into the heart of the phenomenon. As he observes the strange mass up close, he has no choice. He ignites his lighter, dropping it into the oil pooling beneath him and destroying the entire rig.
Caz travels through a tunnel of light, reliving past conversations with Suze, emerging into their bedroom. Suze is asleep, and Caz has a few peaceful moments to explore, examining drawings and photographs. He looks back, telling her he’ll be home for Christmas, before he leaves through the door.
Is Caz dead? Well, considering he was at the heart of an explosion miles from help, that’s likely, but the ending remains ambiguous. Our interpretation is that the bedroom represents purgatory, or that Caz is a ghost. After all, it’s preceded by Caz literally going towards the light. Eagle-eyed players will notice that while other mirrors in the game are heavily obscured, the ones in the bedroom are clear – and don’t show Caz’s reflection.
You can stay in the bedroom for as long as you want before you’re ready to move on to whatever comes next.
Check out what we though of Still Wakes the Deep in our review.
