This is one of the few games were the abundance of yellow paint is completely justified as Oil Rigs and other dangerous work sites are filled with bright paint markings to indicate environmental hazards.
I didn't even realize people were up in arms about the paint in this game. Like it didn't even faze me lol cause I was fully invested in this game for the story and experience. Doesn't surprise me though that people complain about the simplest things now.
I still have nightmares when I was gardening my plants at night when I lived in Edinburgh and a drunk Scottish man with a heavy accent told me he loved how good they looked. I could barely understand a word he said, and he probably meant no harm, but was so terrified at the strong and indecipherable English I sometimes wonder if it was true or a real nightmare
I am obsessed with this game, not because I love horror (I don't, really), or because I'm interested in playing it for that matter. But I could listen to that back and forth banter between the workers and Caz for hours and hours. It's like coming home. I'm Danish, but I grew up around some *deep* dockworker accents, and both the cadence and the free use of swears and benign threats over football and lunch meats takes me right back to some core memories. All the voice actors in this game should win awards. All of the awards. They feel R E A L.
Dane here to. Different background, but personal core memories or not I agree wholeheartedly. The writing and acting - the lyricism, really - is just spectacular.
This game was a shocker to me, it was such a good narrative game. The characters are so unique and loveable. The pain of the people around, it is realistic in most unrealistic way.
What I love about this game is the characters feel HUMAN and not like fictional individuals Like they actually talk, act, and react like how we probably would in situations like this And the models and animation add to that, the models move in a realistic non robotic way
As a Glaswegian (who also speaks gaelic so I was so elated by the inclusion of it), I was beyond impressed with the voice acting and dialogue. It really carried the game for me and felt so natural and unapologetically Scottish. The story and gameplay were also great, but the organic acting, diverse and REAL accents, and bloody dialogue just really made this so important for me. Bless this game. Instant classic for me.
it was sooooo refreshing to hear all this real, really nice voice acting when so many people are relying on speech to text trash. the VAs did a PHENOMENAL job
gotta say I love the sinewy look the flesh creatures have in this. it's unlike any other type of body horror commonly seen in horror media, and it communicates diseased flesh and corruption really well without relying on fungal aesthetics. it's icky, and gross, and wet and very well done.
7:50 Oh! Also these kinds of yellow paint markings are actually a part of this kind of derrick! I think its quite clever they used it here for this setting specifically.
I really hope the devs make an expansion story pack or light sequel about a rescue crew going out to check what the fuck went down. Oil rigs exploding are a massive deal (binged watched too many maritime accident reports vids on here), so sometime involving a salvage or S&R crew especially if the devs want to explore more of this 'entity'
As an Australian with a Scottish background, I love the little rant section about combating the stereotypes that accents come to follow in today’s modern media. I’ll tell you this, Australia’s culture rep is not far from what Scotland’s is, and we definitely lack some actual identity in media aside from having that one “bushranger” character with heavy emphasis on the accent, and constantly have to seem sorta cocky and “bogan like” as we call here, with the excessive use of Australian slang. I mean some characters that could come to mind is tf2’s sniper and mk’s kano. Your take on this representation is amazing, and I love your critique on breaking this archetype-cycle in representing a character’s nationality. Props to you, you earnt a like. Also little side note, I fucking adore this voice acting, it seems legitimately fluent and unscripted. It feels so casual and it’s really done so well.
i really appreciate how in depth the caracters in this game are, not only do they have actual personalities but they are actually competent and dont rely on you and only you to save them all which is a common trope. the banter also adds alot to it
I’m American but I collaborate with another Scottish RUclipsr and I played while she translated and man this game spoke to me. I’ve never felt so intensely captivated and immersed in a horror game. I cared far more than I ever have in any game in recent memory. And my collaborator agreed and said it was shocking how accurate this game was. Linear or not this game will stick with me. And replayable or not I will be replaying in the future just to revisit the amazing characters and story. It’s worth going back to just to feel it again.
Even though I considered cosmic horror a bit overused, this game was one that I genuinely liked cause it has so much more to it than just cosmic horror and it was used really well. + no jumpscare bs
I keep trying to imagine this game with the mechanics and exploration of something like an Alien Isolation. My God, what this studio gets right it gets VERY right. The environments, attention to detail, audio, writing and story, characters, voice work, oh my days the quality of the voice acting! Now, if they could widen it out and make an actual GAME then we would have game of the year contenders. As is, it's still the best horror game so far this year but I still can't shake the thoughts of what it could have been.
14:00 legitimately had me bursting my sides for like a minute. By the time I recovered (and then went back a bit because I didn't pause) I got hit by the one two of 14:05 and needed to take another second to just breathe
I think it'd be really cool if the game did something like Little Nightmares, where they added DLCs where you could play as different characters. Even if all their fates are set and the game will always head down the same course, the dialogue Caz doesn't get to hear, and doing jobs to help out the rig that Caz doesn't have direct involvement in (i.e, doing Brodie's job and staying with him in his final moments when he makes the choice to stay behind in the Pontoons), and learning more about the characters (by playing through their perspective) that were lost while Caz was out doing the heavy lifting would be really cool. Like if we got to play as Finlay, we could hear her son's voice like she said, and we would be leaving notes around the rig. And through Brodie and Finlay's perspective, we could feel the grief when we 'lose' Caz, or even see Caz get smacked 'off the rig' and feel that tragedy with the characters, and the relief when he returns. In the beginning of the game, we could lower Raff's into the water ourselves, or fish Caz out after he hits the water, and feel the full force of losing and being unable to save the other guy (forgot his name sorry), and have new interactions with the other crew members, too. Following the other crew member's adventures through the rig would be pretty cool. And even playing Muir or Trots as they are transformed into monsters beyond their understanding, and hunt down people in their respective areas- intimately learnining what it's like to be possessed and understanding their suffering from a closer perspective... that'd be neat.
I'm from the ni and to hear ANY northern irish accent in media (good or bad) is a pleasant surprise. glad to hear this game does us justice, even in a small way :)
I just wish people did more Lovecraft inspired stuff on oil rigs. Cause oil is a millenia long dead carcass, that can be related to ichor of the Earth.
The game is really good. Having played it, it got described as "70s sweary Scottish Oil Rig of death" I would also recommend getting a Gamepass subscription just to play it. At £8.99 for 4-6 hours that's great value. And I do believe that Xbox are doing another £1 a month promotion (I saw that in the credits too!)
My first visit here, I think this review absolutely nails many points for SWTD which others thought were detriments. Very sound reasoning, keep up the good work! Subbed.
It is an incredible feeling to see a video from you about a game I've never heard of, but immediately know is exactly up my alley. Your take on A Machine For Pigs was also very well stated, and I'm glad we can look back on that game now and realize that it suffered from following The Dark Descent more than anything else. I can't wait to play this for myself!
I lived in Scotland near Glasgow in the late 90s and my roommate was from the rougher part of Glasgow. I think it took me a month to finally understand him. Cazz reminds me so much of him it gives me chills. Even though I was only there for a few years it had a major impact on me. It’s coming up on 30 years ago and I still have many dreams, where I’m back at the facility I worked and lived at over there. Honestly, horror games really aren’t my thing, but I recognize so many things about it all it’s crazy nostalgic for me. They did a bang up job, no question.
Ya know, I never considered that this may have been prevented if the rig was actually working the way its supposed to but the government or company or whoever couldn't take the time to care. In my country this would have been even worse.
For me it's the moment they realized no one was getting out alive. That was the moment the game hit me in a way I forgot I was actually watching a game. The story lines to some of these gameplays are so good. They're better than movies
Say what you will about yellow paint but people like me are the reason it exists, i swear if the wheel in the re4 remakes ravine section didnt have yellow paint i wouldve never found it
still wakes the deep is so important to me because everyone in the cast feels like people i know, caz reminds me of my brother its like you say, scottish people in media are usually just stereotypes or a punchline which is completely fine, but theres just something amazing about looking at these characters who feel so human to the point they make you think of people you actually know i went in thinking this game was just the typical horror, i did not expect to be tearing up at the end but maybe thats because im one big cry baby, this game is absolutely amazing also, an oil rig is a very under-rated location for a horror game, idk why no ones not thought of that until now lol
Under actual objective scrutiny, a machine for pigs is absolute ass design wise: You dont die most of the time, the pigs just knock you out, they usually either leave you near the area or have you wake up past the spooky bit, the pigs have a set aggro area they will immediately retreat to when they leave it, the pigs generally aggro like the witch from l4d but without the punishment of a 1tap, the blue fog obscuring most of the games bad lighting. To quote a certain youtuber "friction creates sparks, which creates heat, there is no spark to heat this ham, and its oscar meyer cold cuts, which is mostly chicken, this is chicken gameplay". Story is great and the final monologue of the badguy is peak however
@@jurtheorc8117 yep, although I've played the game enough beforehand to know the game is really bad, mostly because I love the story enough to play it repeatedly
A term I came up with to explain what SWTD is that may apply is "set piece horror". The entire game is going from linear set piece to linear set piece. And you either enjoy the narrative and spectacle of the set pieces or you don't and the game has nothing for you to make it worth playing.
Very valid but I'll say the same here as I say to people who bitch about accessibility modes that can be used to cheat or skip parts of the game - it's not for you. It's not "absolute ass" just because it's lacking friction, it's only absolute ass if you want friction and don't get it. None of the Chinese Room's games have high steaks though, they're very accessible horror games that anyone can play, even if they typically can't play horror games. I'd go as far as to say tCR doesn't try and make horror games, it makes character games showing people dealing with horrifying situations. That's not ass, it's just not for most people, some of us fucking love it and tCR does it perfectly.
I just wrapped the story this evening. I really agree that it was super refreshing to hear Scottish and British voice acting that wasn't just cartoonish parodies dialled up to 11. I really enjoyed the characters in this game and the acting and dialogue did a ton of heavy lifting to make me genuinely care about what I was doing and the world I was doing it in. I really hope we get to see more of this kind of down to earth casting and direction in future games.
Finished it yesterday, loved it. I'm not Scottish myself but I have 2 good friends that are and playing the game I felt like I was in the middle of one of our chats. Which made me feel like I was in that oil rig and when shite hit the fan and people started dying ( one death in particular) I teared up a bit... Felt too real. But you see, this nice feeling of being represented in something you love, I'm glad you felt like that and that's how some other people feel when they're represented. Media (movies, games, etc) will always be at least 99% white, straight etc, so it puzzles me when people have bitch fits online because or other ethnicity in their videogames... P.s.: you got a subscriber 🖤
CalMac mentioned!! Just finished playing this and my biggest surprise was how accurate and detailed the environments were. Although I was not around in the 70's the tartan carpets and teak furniture are still incredibly nostalgic to me.
Honestly spot on. I have to say between the setting to the voice acting I was shocked as a Scottish person at how well they did. I do agree with you though once you've played it I don't think it has a lot of replayability. That being said, I can't wait to see what they do next!
Usually I am not a fan of walking simulators, but this hits something akin to Stanley Parable where it knows it's nothing but a walking simulator and basically supercharges every other aspect about the game using that. Really feels like it yoinks Stanley Parable's charm and tries to fashion it into a horror scenario. And despite how ridiculous that sounds, it somehow works. Probably in some lovecraftian way. Also the main "monster" (if you can even call it that) really reminds me of SCP-610, a plague(?) that causes those infected to mutate into horrific beasts with some form of sentience still in there, their fate eventually turning into them just covering the surroundings with what used to be this person growing into and out of walls, forced now to do nothing but dedicate their deformed bodies to spreading the noxious fumes that will turn other unwilling people into more of them. Only unlike 610, which was a weapon used by a cult to amass an army of flesh beasts to fight in some war, this thing basically has no purpose. It just exists. And that probably makes it more terrifying.
One of the few games that does authentic accents especially Scottish. And scarily enough, other games that do Scottish accents authentically come from Gacha games as well. Like legit, There’s a character called Bagpipe in Arknights and she’s EXTREMELY Scottish.
accent seemed obviously scottish to me tbh. not a common one but its in the way you use your vowels. also "fucking yass man" made me choke on my dinner laughing
Means a lot to me also. Played it on gamepass and ordered a physical copy from Best Buy for PS5. Just picked it up an hour ago. Now instead of saying can’t or cannot in my everyday language I say I canny!
Honestly speaking- Chinese Room is the better side of walking sim games. A lot tried less- like Bloober Team, who use the walkin sim genre as a crutch for narratives that smell like badly copied homework. And I will shit on Bloober even tho I'm from the same country as them, we can and have done better and by now having a Polish gamedev appear worldwide is not a national holiday anymore And I am glad that the writer included relevant politics of the in the story- not in pandering way, but a worldbuilding way. It makes a historically anchored setting more real when you include these sorta things (In moderation and with so called grace- we don't want pandering or propaganda here mr /pol) Plus- good balls on the writer to constrain themselves from overexplaining and overexposing the terror from the deep. Afterall, even the Thing was not explain besides being from outer space, and The Thing (movie) is also character centric- mainly to get you in the brainspace of people who known each other for years now being pitted against each other because one of them is the impostor
Great video bro. I stumbled on this game release day with zero expectations. Loved it to death. Love the points you make man, and yes zombies was universal. You’ve got my subscription
I felt really stoked to find out that this game was made by The Chinese Room, and through playing it, the game feels like they really learned from their experience working on an Amnesia title. They evolved as developers and made a masterpiece with both stellar story and stellar gameplay. I am gonna sing this game's praises for a long time.
Dear Esther is one of my most revisited experiences in gaming, and this studio made this game, a game that feels like it was made for me. I love nautical settings, Lovecraft, body horror, authentic Scottish accents! everything in this game feels like I asked someone to make a game only I would like. Can’t wait for their next game.
Don't stress your accent (I'm sure you don't), as another Scot I could hear it! We don't all have to sound like Rab C to be Scottish. Great review of a great game too! :)
Funnily enough, my gaming snobbiness, so to speak, lead me the other way. I was immediately intrigued by The Chinese Room’s output and wanted more. I didn’t get into _Amnesia_ before it’d already blown up and become almost synonymous with PewDi- actually, won’t say that name - and his imitators and their, to me, insufferableness. So _Amnesia_ was just too hyped for me to really get invested in to the degree so many others did. But I adored A Machine for Pigs, not for its gameplay, but for its prose, music and voice acting. In a way it works better as an audiobook almost. Or a let’s play you have in the background. There’s something incredibly compelling about the writing and delivery, that very monied, old English tone. And similarly for the the anything-but ensemble of voices and accents in Still Wakes the Deep. I just want to listen to it
I got every achievement due to replaying (was amused to see the Mister Fit and Healthy line being transcribed in the Gaelic subtitles as Charlie-f__ing-Atlas). Is it on rails? Sure? Did I care? No. I had my heart broken twice by the story and I'd do it again.
It's sad to see people still use that term, walking simulator, in a derogatory way. Man I fkn love 'walking simulator' games, I'm almost 40 years old, seeing that a game will be a chill narrative experience gets me super excited. And yeah this game was phenomenal, so damn good from beginning to end. Was worried it'd flop so I'm happy to see nothing but praise for it. Going on a week since finishing and I can't stop thinking about it, so that says something about the impact this game had on me.
I bit the bullet and bought it on Steam despite the price tag because I've loved The Chinese Room ever since I first played A Machine for Pigs and it did not dissapoint, I was sobbing by the end. I definitely love this game to bits. (May have also backed the art book, I shouldn't be trusted with money) :D
Personally, as a black guy from the U.S.A, its not about the quantity of the representation but the quality. You should be excited about having representation in a grounded and real way. People take crap way to seriously and need to take a joke every now and then but seeing characters that you can see as actual people is amazing. So it should be applauded when its done right. I think its awesome and what i want to see more off for everyone. Doubt anyone will see this or really care but hope you all have a good one, thanks for coming to my ted talk
the northern UK accents are actually accurate too and even in the fact a lot of northerners are seen on north sea oil rigs. i'm a geordie myself and really happy that we northerners finally get representation (with GREAT voice acting) in something
Just finished playing Silent Hill 2 and me, being such a The Thing fan, bought the game yesterday, amazing game, as far as i am into the story. Also that joke at 4:05 made me crack up.
Great little review! It's really nice to see Painticus' opinion of A machine for pigs and its creators develop over the years! It seems, if the game had taken place in Edinburgh, not London, it would have found a place in your heart sooner... ;D But considering you're THE self-proclaimed Lovecraft-expert on this platform, one question remains: When will you play the most accurate representation of cosmic horror in games: Sucker for Love?
I'm glad you talked about accent representation in the beginning. I'm from North East England and its so rare to have accents from the Tyne and Tees areas represented in media. Often "Northern English" accents are reduced to generic Yorkshire/Lancashire accent
I've finished the game just a few hours ago and I absolutely loved it. I wasn't expecting anything special, just saw good reviews on Steam and the lovecraftian aesthetics on an offshore oil platform. My experience was incredible. Yet, you have to consider this game more as a movie in which you dictate the pacing than an actual game, because it is entirely rail-roaded and there are no choices. But the story of the main character is really interesting. My best part was the death of Broddie, where he spoke about Skye and the still waters there, it bringed me to tears which games usually aren't able to do, so good point for this game. I might consider playing the other games from The Chinese Room, do you have any suggestions?
this game really reminds me Deep Rising movie. Word "Deep" in title, an isolated sinking place with no communication for outside world, a monster with tentacles from the deep who wandering around and kill people one by one.
See that description of how people used to use the term walking simulator is somewhat inaccurate because those people did like niche games but only niche games they enjoyed (underrated masterpieces)
minnesota name drop omg hi that's my homeland still wakes the deep is searingly authentic, and it's nice to hear that folks from both sides of the pond can feel that.
Caz : "Anyone can give up his fight by laying down arms… But the feeling of holding a gun… That… We’ll never forget… Like our lost limbs… The sensation lingers… We hold our rifles in missing hands. We stand tall on missing legs. We stride forward on the bones of our fallen. Then, and only then, are we alive. This pain… is ours, and no one else’s. A secret weapon we wield, out of sight… We will be stronger than ever… For our peace… “Sahelanthropus will unleash that thirst unto the future.” Those were his last words. Pretentious to the end… Still, doesn’t feel like this is over… And I’ll never be whole again." Wait..
Really enjoyed the game. Not that it was scary but i love horror games in isolated settings and a oil rig is perfect. They nailed the characters. I do miss linear games and thought it added to the gameplay here as i just kept moving forward with no distractions.
Had the pleasure of meeting a horror beyond my comprehension at a charity do once. It was surprisingly down to earth, and VERY funny.
This is one of the few games were the abundance of yellow paint is completely justified as Oil Rigs and other dangerous work sites are filled with bright paint markings to indicate environmental hazards.
now imagine if they didnt have the work unions
I didn't even realize people were up in arms about the paint in this game. Like it didn't even faze me lol cause I was fully invested in this game for the story and experience. Doesn't surprise me though that people complain about the simplest things now.
@@mdog86 I don't think they were upset about this game specifically having it but there has been a lot of yellow paint hate in general.
@@mdog86ill be honest i didnt even notice it 😭
The properly painted surfaces were justified. The weird paint splotches were pushing it tho 😅
Scariest thing about the video was finding out Panticus is scottish.
Why is that a problem?
Scary?
I still have nightmares when I was gardening my plants at night when I lived in Edinburgh and a drunk Scottish man with a heavy accent told me he loved how good they looked. I could barely understand a word he said, and he probably meant no harm, but was so terrified at the strong and indecipherable English I sometimes wonder if it was true or a real nightmare
@@burningbronze7555 who said it was a problem?
So scottish makes you scare?
Need a mod for Silent Hill 2 that replaces everyone with Scottish accents now
Tha ry? (that right?)
Naaaooowww!!!
Hiya, me name's James MacSunderland, I'm 'ere lookin for me lass Mary. Have ye seen 'er?
I am obsessed with this game, not because I love horror (I don't, really), or because I'm interested in playing it for that matter. But I could listen to that back and forth banter between the workers and Caz for hours and hours. It's like coming home. I'm Danish, but I grew up around some *deep* dockworker accents, and both the cadence and the free use of swears and benign threats over football and lunch meats takes me right back to some core memories. All the voice actors in this game should win awards. All of the awards. They feel R E A L.
Dane here to. Different background, but personal core memories or not I agree wholeheartedly. The writing and acting - the lyricism, really - is just spectacular.
This game was a shocker to me, it was such a good narrative game. The characters are so unique and loveable. The pain of the people around, it is realistic in most unrealistic way.
What I love about this game is the characters feel HUMAN and not like fictional individuals
Like they actually talk, act, and react like how we probably would in situations like this
And the models and animation add to that, the models move in a realistic non robotic way
As a Glaswegian (who also speaks gaelic so I was so elated by the inclusion of it), I was beyond impressed with the voice acting and dialogue. It really carried the game for me and felt so natural and unapologetically Scottish. The story and gameplay were also great, but the organic acting, diverse and REAL accents, and bloody dialogue just really made this so important for me. Bless this game. Instant classic for me.
Purple. Burglar. Alarm.
SAY IT!
it was sooooo refreshing to hear all this real, really nice voice acting when so many people are relying on speech to text trash. the VAs did a PHENOMENAL job
gotta say I love the sinewy look the flesh creatures have in this. it's unlike any other type of body horror commonly seen in horror media, and it communicates diseased flesh and corruption really well without relying on fungal aesthetics. it's icky, and gross, and wet and very well done.
julian would you eat the Still Wakes the Deep flesh for $10
@@Painticusmake it 50 and I'll think about it. I'm sure it'd be ok on like a stir-fry or somth
@@julian0451 I wonder if it'd make good jerky
@@julian0451 horrors beyond our comprehension are scary and all, but fifty bucks are fifty bucks!
I’m American and can verify: any sort of scottish/english accent makes everything better, especially swearing. that’s all.
as a canadian, yep!! horror is much better with accents. the magnus archives is rooted very strongly in my brain. very much assisted by the accents.
Scottish swearing is the best swearing.
Benny Harver. R.I.P Gone but not forgotten, miss you big man
I wanted to add that the sanity effect looks alot like spilled oil or a burning film, I just thought that was really cool and fitting
7:50 Oh! Also these kinds of yellow paint markings are actually a part of this kind of derrick! I think its quite clever they used it here for this setting specifically.
Whatever the creature in the game is terrifies me, cause it looked at an oil rig full of Scotts and still decided to attack them
I really hope the devs make an expansion story pack or light sequel about a rescue crew going out to check what the fuck went down. Oil rigs exploding are a massive deal (binged watched too many maritime accident reports vids on here), so sometime involving a salvage or S&R crew especially if the devs want to explore more of this 'entity'
The curse of yellow painticus
though it makes sense considering the setting is an oil rig
As an Australian with a Scottish background, I love the little rant section about combating the stereotypes that accents come to follow in today’s modern media. I’ll tell you this, Australia’s culture rep is not far from what Scotland’s is, and we definitely lack some actual identity in media aside from having that one “bushranger” character with heavy emphasis on the accent, and constantly have to seem sorta cocky and “bogan like” as we call here, with the excessive use of Australian slang. I mean some characters that could come to mind is tf2’s sniper and mk’s kano. Your take on this representation is amazing, and I love your critique on breaking this archetype-cycle in representing a character’s nationality. Props to you, you earnt a like.
Also little side note, I fucking adore this voice acting, it seems legitimately fluent and unscripted. It feels so casual and it’s really done so well.
i really appreciate how in depth the caracters in this game are, not only do they have actual personalities but they are actually competent and dont rely on you and only you to save them all which is a common trope. the banter also adds alot to it
"yer da mines avon" by J.D. Sportscraft
spectacular comment
Alternate titel: SCOTLAND FOREEEVERRRRR!!
I’m American but I collaborate with another Scottish RUclipsr and I played while she translated and man this game spoke to me. I’ve never felt so intensely captivated and immersed in a horror game. I cared far more than I ever have in any game in recent memory. And my collaborator agreed and said it was shocking how accurate this game was. Linear or not this game will stick with me. And replayable or not I will be replaying in the future just to revisit the amazing characters and story. It’s worth going back to just to feel it again.
you sound like your speaking with a scottish accent to me, maybe not super strong or anything, but I can definitely hear it in your voice
yeah I could definitely hear it in the previous videos, to the extent that i was taken aback when he said he didn't have an accent...
Even though I considered cosmic horror a bit overused, this game was one that I genuinely liked cause it has so much more to it than just cosmic horror and it was used really well. + no jumpscare bs
I keep trying to imagine this game with the mechanics and exploration of something like an Alien Isolation. My God, what this studio gets right it gets VERY right. The environments, attention to detail, audio, writing and story, characters, voice work, oh my days the quality of the voice acting! Now, if they could widen it out and make an actual GAME then we would have game of the year contenders. As is, it's still the best horror game so far this year but I still can't shake the thoughts of what it could have been.
this is seriously up there with my favourite horror games of all time
14:00 legitimately had me bursting my sides for like a minute. By the time I recovered (and then went back a bit because I didn't pause) I got hit by the one two of 14:05 and needed to take another second to just breathe
I think it'd be really cool if the game did something like Little Nightmares, where they added DLCs where you could play as different characters. Even if all their fates are set and the game will always head down the same course, the dialogue Caz doesn't get to hear, and doing jobs to help out the rig that Caz doesn't have direct involvement in (i.e, doing Brodie's job and staying with him in his final moments when he makes the choice to stay behind in the Pontoons), and learning more about the characters (by playing through their perspective) that were lost while Caz was out doing the heavy lifting would be really cool. Like if we got to play as Finlay, we could hear her son's voice like she said, and we would be leaving notes around the rig. And through Brodie and Finlay's perspective, we could feel the grief when we 'lose' Caz, or even see Caz get smacked 'off the rig' and feel that tragedy with the characters, and the relief when he returns.
In the beginning of the game, we could lower Raff's into the water ourselves, or fish Caz out after he hits the water, and feel the full force of losing and being unable to save the other guy (forgot his name sorry), and have new interactions with the other crew members, too. Following the other crew member's adventures through the rig would be pretty cool. And even playing Muir or Trots as they are transformed into monsters beyond their understanding, and hunt down people in their respective areas- intimately learnining what it's like to be possessed and understanding their suffering from a closer perspective... that'd be neat.
4:03 please dub over the entire game this is gold
I'm from the ni and to hear ANY northern irish accent in media (good or bad) is a pleasant surprise. glad to hear this game does us justice, even in a small way :)
I am curious, cause I can’t tell accents apart sometimes, which character is the Northern Irish character?
Like I’m gonna go out on a limb and say it’s O’Connor, but even that’s not exclusively gonna be an Irish name
I just wish people did more Lovecraft inspired stuff on oil rigs.
Cause oil is a millenia long dead carcass, that can be related to ichor of the Earth.
funnily enough, dredge has a DLC with a rather similar premise
3:25 Well those and a one-eyed demolition man.
I absolutely love the Drill scene its.....god its beautiful there is just a level of "fuck around find out" and just sheer beauty that that scene hits
The game is really good.
Having played it, it got described as "70s sweary Scottish Oil Rig of death"
I would also recommend getting a Gamepass subscription just to play it. At £8.99 for 4-6 hours that's great value.
And I do believe that Xbox are doing another £1 a month promotion
(I saw that in the credits too!)
David Tennant is a worldwide treasure and we thank you.
My first visit here, I think this review absolutely nails many points for SWTD which others thought were detriments. Very sound reasoning, keep up the good work! Subbed.
It is an incredible feeling to see a video from you about a game I've never heard of, but immediately know is exactly up my alley. Your take on A Machine For Pigs was also very well stated, and I'm glad we can look back on that game now and realize that it suffered from following The Dark Descent more than anything else. I can't wait to play this for myself!
On the yellow paint thing, you can enable or disable that in the settings, but yes it feels very natural in this game.
Also, you hit ALOT of Scottish people in space movies,as well as British.
That's very true! I think we hold the honour for the first people to swear in Star Wars. That was a bright moment for us
I lived in Scotland near Glasgow in the late 90s and my roommate was from the rougher part of Glasgow. I think it took me a month to finally understand him. Cazz reminds me so much of him it gives me chills.
Even though I was only there for a few years it had a major impact on me. It’s coming up on 30 years ago and I still have many dreams, where I’m back at the facility I worked and lived at over there. Honestly, horror games really aren’t my thing, but I recognize so many things about it all it’s crazy nostalgic for me. They did a bang up job, no question.
I appreciate you being real about prices. These days too many people are ready to shill for $50+ games and it’s insanely depressing.
Ya know, I never considered that this may have been prevented if the rig was actually working the way its supposed to but the government or company or whoever couldn't take the time to care. In my country this would have been even worse.
For me it's the moment they realized no one was getting out alive. That was the moment the game hit me in a way I forgot I was actually watching a game. The story lines to some of these gameplays are so good. They're better than movies
Say what you will about yellow paint but people like me are the reason it exists, i swear if the wheel in the re4 remakes ravine section didnt have yellow paint i wouldve never found it
still wakes the deep is so important to me because everyone in the cast feels like people i know, caz reminds me of my brother
its like you say, scottish people in media are usually just stereotypes or a punchline which is completely fine, but theres just something amazing about looking at these characters who feel so human to the point they make you think of people you actually know
i went in thinking this game was just the typical horror, i did not expect to be tearing up at the end but maybe thats because im one big cry baby, this game is absolutely amazing
also, an oil rig is a very under-rated location for a horror game, idk why no ones not thought of that until now lol
Under actual objective scrutiny, a machine for pigs is absolute ass design wise:
You dont die most of the time, the pigs just knock you out, they usually either leave you near the area or have you wake up past the spooky bit, the pigs have a set aggro area they will immediately retreat to when they leave it, the pigs generally aggro like the witch from l4d but without the punishment of a 1tap, the blue fog obscuring most of the games bad lighting.
To quote a certain youtuber "friction creates sparks, which creates heat, there is no spark to heat this ham, and its oscar meyer cold cuts, which is mostly chicken, this is chicken gameplay".
Story is great and the final monologue of the badguy is peak however
Mandalore, i presume?
@@jurtheorc8117 yep, although I've played the game enough beforehand to know the game is really bad, mostly because I love the story enough to play it repeatedly
@@BeefMeisterSupreme That's very fair.
A term I came up with to explain what SWTD is that may apply is "set piece horror". The entire game is going from linear set piece to linear set piece. And you either enjoy the narrative and spectacle of the set pieces or you don't and the game has nothing for you to make it worth playing.
Very valid but I'll say the same here as I say to people who bitch about accessibility modes that can be used to cheat or skip parts of the game - it's not for you. It's not "absolute ass" just because it's lacking friction, it's only absolute ass if you want friction and don't get it. None of the Chinese Room's games have high steaks though, they're very accessible horror games that anyone can play, even if they typically can't play horror games. I'd go as far as to say tCR doesn't try and make horror games, it makes character games showing people dealing with horrifying situations. That's not ass, it's just not for most people, some of us fucking love it and tCR does it perfectly.
love the detail of the tentacles actually looking like oil mixed with blood
Ending the video with a TimeSplitters ost almost killed me with nostalgia, brutal. Nice vid!
very wholesome
I just wrapped the story this evening. I really agree that it was super refreshing to hear Scottish and British voice acting that wasn't just cartoonish parodies dialled up to 11. I really enjoyed the characters in this game and the acting and dialogue did a ton of heavy lifting to make me genuinely care about what I was doing and the world I was doing it in. I really hope we get to see more of this kind of down to earth casting and direction in future games.
It's great having a game so close to home, especially when you understand every word spoken without needing translation
“I know I don’t have the accent”
I have some bad news for you, m8.
Finished it yesterday, loved it. I'm not Scottish myself but I have 2 good friends that are and playing the game I felt like I was in the middle of one of our chats. Which made me feel like I was in that oil rig and when shite hit the fan and people started dying ( one death in particular) I teared up a bit... Felt too real.
But you see, this nice feeling of being represented in something you love, I'm glad you felt like that and that's how some other people feel when they're represented. Media (movies, games, etc) will always be at least 99% white, straight etc, so it puzzles me when people have bitch fits online because or other ethnicity in their videogames...
P.s.: you got a subscriber 🖤
14:30 it's the difference between the characters just being _people,_ vs some stereotype in a setting of "normal people" (white USians)
CalMac mentioned!! Just finished playing this and my biggest surprise was how accurate and detailed the environments were. Although I was not around in the 70's the tartan carpets and teak furniture are still incredibly nostalgic to me.
Honestly spot on. I have to say between the setting to the voice acting I was shocked as a Scottish person at how well they did. I do agree with you though once you've played it I don't think it has a lot of replayability. That being said, I can't wait to see what they do next!
Alright well now I'm just going to imagine you as Limmy forever, paint.
Usually I am not a fan of walking simulators, but this hits something akin to Stanley Parable where it knows it's nothing but a walking simulator and basically supercharges every other aspect about the game using that. Really feels like it yoinks Stanley Parable's charm and tries to fashion it into a horror scenario. And despite how ridiculous that sounds, it somehow works. Probably in some lovecraftian way.
Also the main "monster" (if you can even call it that) really reminds me of SCP-610, a plague(?) that causes those infected to mutate into horrific beasts with some form of sentience still in there, their fate eventually turning into them just covering the surroundings with what used to be this person growing into and out of walls, forced now to do nothing but dedicate their deformed bodies to spreading the noxious fumes that will turn other unwilling people into more of them. Only unlike 610, which was a weapon used by a cult to amass an army of flesh beasts to fight in some war, this thing basically has no purpose. It just exists. And that probably makes it more terrifying.
One of the few games that does authentic accents especially Scottish.
And scarily enough, other games that do Scottish accents authentically come from Gacha games as well.
Like legit, There’s a character called Bagpipe in Arknights and she’s EXTREMELY Scottish.
accent seemed obviously scottish to me tbh. not a common one but its in the way you use your vowels. also "fucking yass man" made me choke on my dinner laughing
Means a lot to me also. Played it on gamepass and ordered a physical copy from Best Buy for PS5. Just picked it up an hour ago. Now instead of saying can’t or cannot in my everyday language I say I canny!
Now I'm really curious. Have you played Disco Elysium yet?
Awesome review! Thank you!
Honestly speaking- Chinese Room is the better side of walking sim games.
A lot tried less- like Bloober Team, who use the walkin sim genre as a crutch for narratives that smell like badly copied homework. And I will shit on Bloober even tho I'm from the same country as them, we can and have done better and by now having a Polish gamedev appear worldwide is not a national holiday anymore
And I am glad that the writer included relevant politics of the in the story- not in pandering way, but a worldbuilding way. It makes a historically anchored setting more real when you include these sorta things (In moderation and with so called grace- we don't want pandering or propaganda here mr /pol)
Plus- good balls on the writer to constrain themselves from overexplaining and overexposing the terror from the deep.
Afterall, even the Thing was not explain besides being from outer space, and The Thing (movie) is also character centric- mainly to get you in the brainspace of people who known each other for years now being pitted against each other because one of them is the impostor
F.... RIP Benny Harvey, miss you big man.
Great video bro. I stumbled on this game release day with zero expectations. Loved it to death. Love the points you make man, and yes zombies was universal. You’ve got my subscription
Scottish people sound like us southerners when we're drunk
I felt really stoked to find out that this game was made by The Chinese Room, and through playing it, the game feels like they really learned from their experience working on an Amnesia title. They evolved as developers and made a masterpiece with both stellar story and stellar gameplay. I am gonna sing this game's praises for a long time.
Dear Esther is one of my most revisited experiences in gaming, and this studio made this game, a game that feels like it was made for me. I love nautical settings, Lovecraft, body horror, authentic Scottish accents! everything in this game feels like I asked someone to make a game only I would like. Can’t wait for their next game.
Don't stress your accent (I'm sure you don't), as another Scot I could hear it! We don't all have to sound like Rab C to be Scottish. Great review of a great game too! :)
Funnily enough, my gaming snobbiness, so to speak, lead me the other way. I was immediately intrigued by The Chinese Room’s output and wanted more. I didn’t get into _Amnesia_ before it’d already blown up and become almost synonymous with PewDi- actually, won’t say that name - and his imitators and their, to me, insufferableness. So _Amnesia_ was just too hyped for me to really get invested in to the degree so many others did. But I adored A Machine for Pigs, not for its gameplay, but for its prose, music and voice acting. In a way it works better as an audiobook almost. Or a let’s play you have in the background. There’s something incredibly compelling about the writing and delivery, that very monied, old English tone. And similarly for the the anything-but ensemble of voices and accents in Still Wakes the Deep. I just want to listen to it
14:38 woot woot! Minnesota mention! 😆❤️🎉
I got every achievement due to replaying (was amused to see the Mister Fit and Healthy line being transcribed in the Gaelic subtitles as Charlie-f__ing-Atlas). Is it on rails? Sure? Did I care? No. I had my heart broken twice by the story and I'd do it again.
It's sad to see people still use that term, walking simulator, in a derogatory way. Man I fkn love 'walking simulator' games, I'm almost 40 years old, seeing that a game will be a chill narrative experience gets me super excited. And yeah this game was phenomenal, so damn good from beginning to end. Was worried it'd flop so I'm happy to see nothing but praise for it. Going on a week since finishing and I can't stop thinking about it, so that says something about the impact this game had on me.
I bit the bullet and bought it on Steam despite the price tag because I've loved The Chinese Room ever since I first played A Machine for Pigs and it did not dissapoint, I was sobbing by the end. I definitely love this game to bits. (May have also backed the art book, I shouldn't be trusted with money) :D
Personally, as a black guy from the U.S.A, its not about the quantity of the representation but the quality. You should be excited about having representation in a grounded and real way. People take crap way to seriously and need to take a joke every now and then but seeing characters that you can see as actual people is amazing. So it should be applauded when its done right. I think its awesome and what i want to see more off for everyone. Doubt anyone will see this or really care but hope you all have a good one, thanks for coming to my ted talk
The voice acting GODDAMN the voice acting in this game. Everything was stellar, but the voice acting made it all sound real to me
the northern UK accents are actually accurate too and even in the fact a lot of northerners are seen on north sea oil rigs. i'm a geordie myself and really happy that we northerners finally get representation (with GREAT voice acting) in something
Just finished playing Silent Hill 2 and me, being such a The Thing fan, bought the game yesterday, amazing game, as far as i am into the story. Also that joke at 4:05 made me crack up.
Bro was seriously like “I know I don’t sound Scottish” with the most Scottish accent I’ve ever heard
Great little review! It's really nice to see Painticus' opinion of A machine for pigs and its creators develop over the years! It seems, if the game had taken place in Edinburgh, not London, it would have found a place in your heart sooner... ;D
But considering you're THE self-proclaimed Lovecraft-expert on this platform, one question remains: When will you play the most accurate representation of cosmic horror in games: Sucker for Love?
I'm glad you talked about accent representation in the beginning. I'm from North East England and its so rare to have accents from the Tyne and Tees areas represented in media. Often "Northern English" accents are reduced to generic Yorkshire/Lancashire accent
I've finished the game just a few hours ago and I absolutely loved it. I wasn't expecting anything special, just saw good reviews on Steam and the lovecraftian aesthetics on an offshore oil platform. My experience was incredible. Yet, you have to consider this game more as a movie in which you dictate the pacing than an actual game, because it is entirely rail-roaded and there are no choices. But the story of the main character is really interesting.
My best part was the death of Broddie, where he spoke about Skye and the still waters there, it bringed me to tears which games usually aren't able to do, so good point for this game. I might consider playing the other games from The Chinese Room, do you have any suggestions?
4:34 Good point, I still think most non-brits first experience with the Welsh accent was Elden Ring lmao. And there they just got called british.
this game really reminds me Deep Rising movie. Word "Deep" in title, an isolated sinking place with no communication for outside world, a monster with tentacles from the deep who wandering around and kill people one by one.
Reminds me of Leviathan starring Peter Weller
I love Caz I love Caz I love Caz
See that description of how people used to use the term walking simulator is somewhat inaccurate because those people did like niche games but only niche games they enjoyed (underrated masterpieces)
I just finished it last night, it was an awesome experience. Although not incredibly challenging, the story, setting, and lore is so good
Honestly one of the best horror games we've had in a long time. Just finished it and already wish I could experience it for the first time again.
minnesota name drop omg hi that's my homeland
still wakes the deep is searingly authentic, and it's nice to hear that folks from both sides of the pond can feel that.
okay so you actually made me want to check this out. gonna come back to the vid after, promised👌
Caz : "Anyone can give up his fight by laying down arms… But the feeling of holding a gun… That… We’ll never forget… Like our lost limbs… The sensation lingers… We hold our rifles in missing hands. We stand tall on missing legs. We stride forward on the bones of our fallen. Then, and only then, are we alive. This pain… is ours, and no one else’s. A secret weapon we wield, out of sight… We will be stronger than ever… For our peace… “Sahelanthropus will unleash that thirst unto the future.” Those were his last words. Pretentious to the end… Still, doesn’t feel like this is over… And I’ll never be whole again."
Wait..
Really enjoyed the game. Not that it was scary but i love horror games in isolated settings and a oil rig is perfect. They nailed the characters. I do miss linear games and thought it added to the gameplay here as i just kept moving forward with no distractions.
New Painticus video, yipeee~
Was thinking about that yesterday anyway lol
finally someone mentioned annihilation in the references of the game I thought I was the only that think of it
3:50 also hughie from the boys comics (not worth reading)
almost choked when I heard that Silent Hill 2 Maryhill bit honest to god though Maryhill is scary enough without having fog and monsters cutting about
The real Silent Hill is Cowdenbeath, place is perpetually shrouded in fog. It's spooky.
@@ProcolHarum1967 you make a solid point there my guy
@@ProcolHarum1967Bam-central!
SOMA is one of my favourite games ever, and I got heavy SOMA vibes here. I loved it.
They also just added in a yellow paint remover option I think, so you can get rid of the environmental cues if you like.