Summary
Still Wakes The Deepis an excellent video game. The Chinese Room’s walking-simulator blueprint is obvious here, but the relatively short runtime and the decently diverse sections are transformed into excellence by the game’s enthralling narrative and the top-of-the-line voice-acting.
During the four hours you’ll spend with the game, you’ll build up quite a few questions. In a way that perfectly fits with the narrative and theme, most of those are left unanswered when the credits roll, accompanied by a hauntingly beautiful song. We compiled the most pressing ones in this article.
8What Happened Between Raffs And Brodie?
The Elephant In The Diving Bell
One of the first things you encounter after falling into the water is Raff’s diving bell moving all over the place. The young lad is still stuck inside of it, and screaming in complete and utter panic. You leave Brodie to take care of it, as you need to go underneath the rig to progress.
A few hours later, almost at the end of the game, you run into the diving bell again, but it is partially destroyed with a mass of flesh spreading out of it. It is probably what remains of Raffs. The question is, why does Brodie not mention this at all when you bump into him for the second time? Does he give up on Raffs before he sees what happens?
7How Did Raffs Become A Monster?
Schrödinger’s Monster
Throughout the game, you’ll have multiple encounters with the seemingly living being that is taking over the rig. Some people are apparently in the middle of their transformation, or assimilation into the organism, and they’ll throw tendrils towards you. This is never explicitly shown or told, but it is logical to assume that ishow the monsterswe encounter came to be.
You hear Trots transform behind a door, and he just keeps on screaming “Get off me!” How does Raffs become a monster, then? He was stuck inside the diving bell, which seemed intact when you first see it. Does the organism have another way of spreading?
6Does The Organism Feed Off Of Living Beings?
A Different Kind Of Fuel
It is never explained how the spread of this organism works. We just know that it is some kind of biological mass spreading throughout the rig, taking over the people on it. Some of them turn into monstrosities like Muir and Rennick, others become beautiful, yet terrifying, living sculptures. Immobilised, except for their ever-moving eyes.
The thing is, there are a lot of bodies on the rig that are unaffected. Did the organism just not reach them, or does it not care for bodies that were already lifeless when they came into contact with it? Or, alternatively, is it just a matter of time until the bodies of people like Roy are transformed into yet another statue of the macabre?
5Are The Immobilized Bodies Actually Dead?
A Fate Worse Than Death
As mentioned previously, there are a lot of bodies spread throughout the rig stuck in the middle of the organic formations. They aren’t moving, unlike the monsters that chase us throughout the game, but are they actually dead?
If you look closely at any of them, even the ones who are so deformed that you can barely make anything out other than their heads, you’ll notice something terrifying: their eyes are moving. Is this just a side effect of whatever the organism is doing to them, or are they actually being kept alive, somehow, unable to move anything other than their eyes?
4Why Did Trots, Gibbo, Muir, Rennick And Addair Become Aggressive?
The Scariest Of The Bunch
Most of the bodies seen at the rig are immobilized or almost entirely absorbed into a mass of fleshy bits. Some of them are in what seems to be a middle of the assimilation, and others, well, they’re your pain in the ass. They are fully formed monsters that will chase you throughout the rig, making your journey even more terrifying.
Why were these the ones who turned into full-fledged monsters, and why did it not happen to any of the other bodies? Time doesn’t seem to be a factor, because Rennick isn’t one of the first people to die, and comes back as a deformed monster with a gigantic head soon after his death.
3Did The Organism Tap Into Everyone’s Memories?
Caz Might’ve Not Been Alone In Experiencing Flashbacks
We know that when Caz gets into contact with the organism, or the water, he goes into a sort of oniric state where he is deeply immersed in his own memories. O’Connor is calling for someone named Mary, as he is seemingly being absorbed by the being.
Finlay seems to go through the same thing at the end, as she is dying. Brodie hints at the same occurrence, when he mentions already being back in “Skye”, as he is about to die. Did this same phenomenon happen to everyone on the rig? And, if so, why?
2Why Did The Helicopter Crash?
Rennick Could’ve Actually Gotten Out
Caz had two very real chances of making it out of Beira D alive. When the first explosion occurs, he is about to get onto the helicopter, after being fired by Rennick. A couple hours later, he sees the opportunity slip through his fingers again, as Rennick takes off without him.
We see the chopper disappear into the distance, only to then turn back and crash onto the rig. What the hell happened in that helicopter? Was there some kind of fight inside the cockpit? Or was Rennick somehow already under the being’s control, infected in some sort?
1Did Caz Succeed In Completing Finlay’s Plan?
The Most Pressing Question That We’re Left With
At theend of the game, Caz is left alone as the sole survivor on Beira D. Finlay died trying to make the entire rig explode, in the hopes of eradicating whatever being was taking over everything. Her logic was sound, whatever they woke up, could not make it to shore.
The question is, did Caz succeed? He does blow everything up, but is it enough to destroy a being that seems entirely alien? If it wasn’t actually destroyed, someone must’ve found the rig eventually, especially with Caz being on the run from the police. We might get the answer to this one if Chinese Room ever gives us a sequel.
