Verdict
The basis of Siren’s Relaxation is robust sufficient to plumb the depths of Nonetheless Wakes the Deep’s enduring mysteries, however as a compact tale DLC, it’s simply too shallow. The predominant objective of monitoring down collectibles siphons the stress from its claustrophobic environments, and The Chinese language Room’s overreliance on scripted sequences creates ignored alternatives for emergent horror.
It is Christmas in June, which might most effective imply I am again at the Beira D. Siren’s Relaxation is Nonetheless Wakes the Deep‘s first DLC, and additionally it is totally surprising. The Chinese language Room’s BAFTA-winning crisis horror set at the North Sea had an attractive definitive finishing, so the inside track that extra used to be at the method took me by way of wonder. Nonetheless Wakes the Deep used to be a standout of 2024, but it surely used to be tough to peer the place a tale growth may take us after that ultimate, explosive flourish.
“I nonetheless in finding myself wishing for the scare I have been looking forward to,” I lamented in my Nonetheless Wakes the Deep evaluation final 12 months. “Most likely subsequent time.” It kind of feels The Chinese language Room took that to center. The principle menu’s digital camera dips beneath the waves churning across the Beira D to an underwater diving bell suspended at nighttime. Siren’s Relaxation is Caz’s flood-stricken descent into the pontoons in Nonetheless Wakes the Deep writ huge. Briefly, it is a thalassophobe’s worst nightmare.
The disconcerting sounds of the sea surface change the Beira D’s eerie mechanical shrieks, enveloping saturation diver Mhairi as she crosses a limiteless trench status between the security of her diving bell and the Beira D spoil. It is been over a decade since crisis struck, and Mhairi is the most recent Scottish protagonist to get a detailed stumble upon with The Chinese language Room’s eldritch risk. Like Caz, she’s additionally now not by myself. Diving spouse Rob and give a boost to manager Hans supply consistent chatter at the hardwire comms, however their bodily presence is just a fleeting reduction.
The place John Chippie’s The Factor pulses thru Nonetheless Wakes the Deep’s frame horror, the claustrophobic confines of Siren’s Relaxation recall to mind the ill-fated caving expedition of Neil Marshall’s The Descent. Most likely the throwaway connection with Gray’s Monument in Newcastle is a planned nod to Marshall’s homeland (as PCGamesN’s resident Geordie, it had me punching the air). The Beira D has as a lot historical past as Caz and Mhairi, and selecting my method thru its stays feels as irreverent as wading thru a corpse.
The diving expedition’s undertaking is twofold: retrieve private artefacts and report human stays to offer closure for the households who misplaced family members within the crisis, and get well the Beira D’s knowledge logger to resolve the reason for the incident. I’ve handy it to The Chinese language Room: it is a very good approach to construct upon Nonetheless Wakes the Deep’s slim thought with out repeating what got here prior to.
It additionally makes Siren’s Relaxation a recipe for dramatic irony. “Deep-water corals thrive within the North Sea!” Rob exclaims when Mhairi stumbles upon the calcified remnants of the similar flesh ribbons that choked the existence from the Beira D workforce. Later, Mhairi surfaces into an air pocket, and the signal for Dust Processing transports me again to Caz’s stumble upon with Addair in Engineering. In contrast to Mhairi, I do know precisely what is down right here. I am simply now not positive whether or not or now not it is survived.
Nonetheless Wakes the Deep advantages from point fashion designer Rob McLachlan’s savvy determination to create a couple of variations of the Beira D in quite a lot of states of destruction. As a deep-sea wreckage, Siren’s Relaxation is a chance to exhibit it in a complete new configuration. Mhairi charts the commentary deck vertically and selections her method thru spaces which were became upside-down of their lengthy descent from the skin.
My exploration of the Beira D is punctuated by way of unexpected moments of popularity, and I mentally reorient myself with my reminiscences of the oil rig’s authentic structure in Nonetheless Wakes the Deep. It is only a disgrace that those revelations frequently call for a bodily reorientation prior to they land. Underwater exploration is fiendishly tough to drag off, and one of the easiest horror video games have fallen brief of their makes an attempt. Frictional’s SOMA is a masterpiece, however its sea-floor sequences are an unintended slog because of deficient navigation and occasional visibility. Lifeless House’s zero-gravity sections, a detailed cousin in videogame design phrases, are at risk of induce simulation illness.
Regardless of the context, navigating any story-driven virtual house that suspends your sense of route calls for tight point design. Survival video games like Subnautica break out with it exactly since you’re inspired to chart your personal path. In relation to SOMA, Lifeless House, and Siren’s Relaxation, it frequently disrupts participant momentum and tale pacing. The latter’s center of attention on discovering what quantities to hidden collectibles most effective exacerbates those problems. It is tough to stay suspended in a state of anxiety when you need to continuously forestall to wave your torch round, simply in the event you ignored one thing.
Fortunately, the Beira D’s OSHA protection yellow paint cuts in the course of the murk, acquainted and oddly comforting, despite the fact that much less logically coherent now that it is been carried out to each interactable drawer, locker, and door. Mhairi’s were given a heavy-duty bit of equipment. She foregoes Caz’s trusty flathead screwdriver for a crowbar, and has a deep-sea blow torch to slough off rust deposits that experience sealed close air flow grates and bulkhead doorways. It is a great addition that slots simply into Nonetheless Wakes the Deep’s established tactility.
As she squeezes thru those tight corridors of twisted steel, Mhairi receives a relentless provide of air from an umbilical cable that trails after her. It kind of feels to have a lifetime of its personal, clipping thru partitions, wrapping itself round Mhairi’s neck, and obstructing the view, in particular within the collapsed innards of the Beira D. Regardless, it is a lifeline that gives an phantasm of protection, and the instant Mhairi is compelled to detach herself from it is sufficient to ship my abdomen plummeting.
Whilst my first time untethered is a frantic affair, it briefly turns into obvious that Mhairi’s reserve oxygen is simply sufficient as the tale calls for. This scripted fibbing extends to the flares she acquires in a while. I am advised Mhairi most effective has 3 to spare, but it surely seems she has an infinite provide. I am not positive why The Chinese language Room selected to not totally decide to the potential for by accident drowning at nighttime, particularly after Mhairi floats the chance that she’ll want to recharge. Most likely it is to steer clear of gamers from over the top backtracking or falling into an unwinnable failure state, but it surely moves me as a ignored alternative for emergent pressure.
That brings me to Mhairi’s digital camera, a top rate horror instrument that by no means relatively reaches its complete attainable. Most likely I have been spoiled by way of the photographic prowess of Miles Upshur and Weylon Park in Live longer than, however I am upset that Mhairi does not repurpose the digital camera to report the horror that emerges from the wreckage. As a substitute, it serves the singular objective of snapping the decomposed our bodies of the Beira D workforce. I am confident early on that I am “laying them to leisure,” however it is a exhausting promote once they serve as as little greater than grisly collectibles within the grand scheme of items.
Siren’s Relaxation has a bittersweet revelation tucked in its narrative folds, however the have an effect on of that punch is reduced by way of its relatively brief wind-up. Our 5 hours with Caz McLeary and pals in Nonetheless Wakes the Deep used to be sufficient time to fulfill and perceive those characters, and in lots of circumstances, grieve their loss. The place Caz used to be a firebrand, Mhairi is level-headed, and whilst a part of me is relieved that we did not simply get the similar personality in several packaging, Mhairi’s emotional ceiling is a long way not up to our overdue Scotsman.
Additional, Mhairi’s courting with expedition companions Rob and Hans is cordial however superficial. Within the North Sea’s depths, those connections have much less room to respire – actually. Conversations value treasured oxygen, and Mhairi has a role to do. “Yer like my previous tabby,” Hans remarks as I squeeze thru some other pipe. “There could be one thing value discovering in right here!” Mhairi fires again. “Aye, that is cat common sense, Mhairi,” Hans replies. That is about as affectionate a dialog because it will get for our diving group. Part of me wonders if, after the original portrait of male friendship in Nonetheless Wakes the Deep, an all-female diving group would’ve been a greater solid for Siren’s Relaxation.
I cleared Siren’s Relaxation in lower than 3 hours, however even this general playtime is artificially padded from poking about in each corner and cranny. No doubt, a 2d playthrough would clock in at round an hour, possibly much less. It is a very tall order to introduce 3 new characters in that point, and make us care sufficient concerning the motives of considered one of them to the exclusion of the entire unanswered questions that lie a few of the wreckage of the Beira D. You’ll be able to in finding no tale spoilers right here. Suffice it to mention that, bar Nonetheless Wakes the Deep itself, the belief to Siren’s Relaxation is what I have come to be expecting from The Chinese language Room: abrupt and anticlimactic.
Sadly, I additionally bumped into a couple of insects that took me out of the revel in. It is exhausting to stick locked in when there is a flare caught for your hand, and the umbilical had an uncongenial addiction of disappearing after it were disconnected, leaving Mhairi groping at skinny air. I used to be additionally inundated by way of overlapping discussion triggers at a number of issues, a facet impact of non-linear exploration. After knocking heads with a colleague, it seems I may’ve simply had a run of dangerous good fortune, however a majority of these hiccups took their toll – particularly when I used to be compelled to reload.
Siren’s Relaxation can simply be finished in a single sitting, and it is an revel in easiest savored. Make the leap into deep water, disconnect from lifelines, and soak within the pressure of floating thru an business grave that may cave in at any second. Wouldn’t it be part as horrifying if I did not have a bone-deep concern of deep water? Most probably now not. However the largest complaint I’ve of Siren’s Relaxation is that it is not sufficient. Its premise is robust sufficient to plumb the depths of Nonetheless Wakes the Deep’s enduring mysteries, however as a compact tale DLC, it is too shallow to submerge me utterly.
