The Chinese Room’s upcoming game, Still Wakes the Deep, has an intriguing backstory about how the creature movements were developed, thanks to a fortunate glitch. During a talk at Develop: Brighton 2024, the game’s creative director John McCormack, project technical director Louis Larsson-De Wet, and associate art director Laura Dodds shared insights into this serendipitous event.
The team faced a significant challenge in figuring out how to animate a “blob of flesh,” which is essentially what the creatures in the game are. Larsson-De Wet recounted a moment during a tech demo when a technical glitch caused the physics to malfunction, stretching the blob in unpredictable ways. “We’ve all gone ‘that’s it!'” he said, recalling the team’s reaction to the glitch.
Dodds added that the glitch made the creature’s movements genuinely unnerving. “It was so unpredictable in the way that it moved,” she said. McCormack echoed this sentiment, noting that the bug stretched out every part of the creature, leading the team to decide that the creature’s animations should replicate this glitchy movement.
The accidental bug didn’t just influence the creature’s movements; it also impacted its overall design. Dodds mentioned that textures for elements like the crew’s clothes were made more fragmented to match the unsettling animation. She believes that this helped maintain the creature’s sense of power, something that films often struggle to do after revealing their monsters.
There was also some debate over what to call the creature during development. Initially, the team referred to them as “puppets” because the creatures seemed to have torn the crew apart and tried to put them back together. This name was inspired by the creature’s tendrils, which pull crew members to their doom at various points in the game. However, The Chinese Room is adamant that the creature should not be referred to as “the goop.”
Still Wakes the Deep is set on an offshore oil rig, where players take on the role of a worker fighting for survival through a vicious storm and the dark, freezing waters of the North Sea. All lines of communication are severed, and all exits are gone, leaving players to face the unknowable horror that has come aboard.
The Chinese Room, a Brighton-based developer, is known for its previous releases like Everybody’s Gone to the Rapture, Dear Esther, and Vampire: The Masquerade – Bloodlines 2. The team has embraced Unreal Engine 5 for Still Wakes the Deep, optimizing it to avoid common issues like stuttering and janky physics. The game features a high level of visual quality, often described as photo-realistic, thanks to the team’s efforts in optimizing CPU and GPU utilization.
The development team went to great lengths to create a realistic depiction of life on an oil rig in 1975, the setting for the game’s events. They conducted extensive research and interviews to ensure authenticity, which was a driving factor behind every decision, according to creative director Jon McCormack.
The game was reviewed using a code supplied by the publisher, Secret Mode. The review version was 1.1 (build 30995), and the findings were reported to the team, with many issues being addressed in a post-release update.
System requirements for the game are as follows:
Minimum:
– OS: Win 10 x64 + DX12
– CPU: Quad-core Intel or AMD, 2.5 GHz
– RAM: 8GB
– Graphics: NVIDIA RTX 2050 / AMD RX 6000 / Intel® Arc™ A550
– Storage: 9GB SSD
Recommended:
– OS: Win 10 x64 + DX12
– CPU: Intel Core i5-11600 / Ryzen 5 5600X
– RAM: 16GB
– Graphics: NVIDIA RTX 2070 / AMD RX 6700 XT / Intel® Arc™ A750
– Storage: 9GB SSD
Reviewed on:
– OS: Win 11 x64 + DX12
– CPU: Intel Core i7 12700KF
– RAM: 64GB DDR4 3600MT/s
– Graphics: RTX 4090 (undervolted)
– Storage: Samsung 990 Pro 2TB
– Display: QD-OLED (3440×1440 native, 5160×2160 DLDSR) @ 144Hz, 10-bit, GSYNC Ultimate
The game uses Unreal Engine 5.3.2 and is available on Xbox, PS5, and PC (Steam, EPIC & Game Pass). It was released on June 18th, 2024, with a price of approximately £26.99 / $27.99 or available on Game Pass.
The game features a strong narrative focus, with well-developed characters and convincing animations. The voice acting is authentically Scottish, adding to the immersive experience. Players are encouraged to listen to all dialogue and explore the environment to gain a deeper understanding of the story.
Performance-wise, the game runs smoothly with no visible shader pre-compilation step, and no unwanted stuttering during gameplay. The game supports DLSS 3.5, which will be added in a future update, and includes FSR 3 and XeSS. The game also features a range of graphics options, including native AA for all upscalers.
System resource usage is efficient, with low VRAM and RAM usage. The game maintains high framerates, even at higher resolutions, thanks to the optimization efforts by The Chinese Room. The game also supports ultrawide displays, providing an immersive experience for players with such setups.
In conclusion, Still Wakes the Deep is a well-crafted horror game that benefits from a fortunate glitch that influenced the creature’s movements and design. The Chinese Room has done an excellent job optimizing the game for Unreal Engine 5, providing a smooth and visually stunning experience. The game’s strong narrative and character development, combined with its realistic depiction of life on an oil rig, make it a must-play for horror fans.
Source: Develop: Brighton 2024
