Screenshot by Bonus Action
When I first played Still Wakes The Deep, I quickly lost myself to its fully realized world with an atmosphere so thick and real that it’s hard to tell where it ends and reality begins.
Well, The Chinese Room has managed to follow it up with a worthy DLC, Siren’s Rest, that not only iterates on the title’s fantastic gameplay, but also brings to life the story in tangible ways right before your eyes.
Key Details
- Publisher: Secret Mode
- Developer: The Chinese Room
- Platforms: PC, Xbox, PlayStation
- Price: $12.99
- Review Code Provided: Yes
Horrors Of The Past Living In The Dark
Siren’s Rest picks up a decade after the end of Still Wakes The Deep. Before reading on, you should go and play the base game because I’m about to drop an unavoidable spoiler for its ending.
The sunken Beira D oil platform lies in ruins at the bottom of the North Sea, but the tragedy that befell the crew remains shrouded in darkness. Enter protagonist Mhairi, part of a diving crew that’s descended to those unfathomable depths to swim through the wreckage in search of personal belongings to bring back to each crew member’s families, whilst also searching for evidence of whatever caused the structure to sink.
The focus on looking for these everyday items given importance due to the tragedy that ultimately took their owners’ lives really hit home for me. As a dad, it made me think about what my kids will find significant one day, and really spun me out for a while. What if all that’s left for you to be remembered by is a statue or postcard?
Of course, players know exactly what happened, and seeing all the cosmic horror that slowly grew more intense over the base game’s five-hour runtime hidden in plain sight really is quite something. You’re literally investigating events you saw play out before your eyes, but they somehow still feel obscured, in a good way, thanks to the DLC’s second big shift: its gameplay.
First-Person Diver
As Mhairi, you swim through the wreckage of this completely destroyed oil rig in first-person. While the base game had you doing a lot of exploration, environmental puzzle-solving, and enemy avoiding, the DLC takes a much slower and more open approach.
From the very first second, you’re greeted by a wide open expanse to explore for crew items and members. Your main task is to find bodies and picture them for the investigation. While there’s a linear path to follow that’s much quicker, it pays to take your time.
There are a few new tools to help you on your way, such as a crowbar for pesky doors and Arc Welder for anything rusted shut. This allows you to keep an eye out for those out-of-the-way paths, but in an entirely new light.
Swimming simply adds a new layer of complexity to every bit of exploration you do. Sure, that door is locked, but is there a huge hole carved into a nearby container? Suddenly, you’ve got to be so much more aware of your surroundings, something that only makes horror games far more terrifying.
Some sections take you into air pockets where you’ll feel almost as if you’re playing a very rusty version of the base game. This is where the horror really intensifies, with environmental puzzles combining that open exploration with tight corridors for great effect.
The one snag with Siren’s Rest is, ironically, the part of Mhairi’s equipment that gets snagged the most, her umbilical cable. No, it’s not some sort of gross horror thing; it’s a real piece of diving equipment that maintains air and contact with the diving bell.
There are several reasons to detach it here and there, as well as justification for its length, but the physics in the build I played weren’t up to par. To be clear, this didn’t ruin the game one bit and was easy to ignore, and it’s something I’m sure could be quickly fixed with an early patch. The rest of the DLC is otherwise flawless, and so engrossing that I played way too late in the day every time I sat down with it.
A Simple Yet Masterful Story
Instead of the close corridors of the Beira D, you’re now facing a whole new type of claustrophobia: the deep, dark ocean. I’m not usually squeamish about thassalophobia or the deep ocean, but Siren’s Reach‘s vibes are so strong and intense that I felt out of my depth more than a few times.
This is all thanks to what is ultimately a simple and unsurprising story twist, but one that you’re willing to see the outcome of from the moment you start playing. Don’t worry, I won’t spoil it. But know that you’re in for a good time thanks to a worthwhile and satisfying story expansion. Especially if you were as invested in Caz as I was in the base game.
Everything familiar is reframed in unfamiliar ways and even given a touch of influence from wider cosmic horror media such as Annihilation, which I was extremely pleased to see. Needless to say that if you’re a fan of the true horror of a game’s events being hidden just out of sight in unknowable knowledge, you’re in for a good time.
Yes, It’s Still Cosmic Horror
It’s been a decade, but the cosmic horror is still very much the focus of Siren’s Rest. If there’s something Lovecraftian you enjoyed about Still Wakes The Deep, you’ll find it here. The Chinese Room did a brilliant job of luring players into a false sense of security before pulling the rug and throwing you right back in the deep end (haha!).
It’s rare that a game developer can perfectly nail the sense of tension, dread, and intrigue that the horror genre demands. Especially in a first-person game. However, Siren’s Rest strikes the perfect balance between engrossing gameplay, meaningful puzzles and exploration, and scares.
While we don’t get to spend as long with Mhairi as we did with Caz, it’s no less impactful. Her tale is just as harrowing and hard to live through, with wild and stunning visual twists and turns that are cinematic and accentuate every important moment.
Final Score – 9/10
Still Wakes The Deep: Siren’s Rest is the best horror game of 2025, and one that I don’t think anyone can top. It revives the spirit of the base game but brings with it all the haunting trauma that was better left in the silt at the bottom of the ocean, where we buried it last year. It’s introspective, adrenaline-filled, thought-provoking, and astonishingly well-presented all at once.
**Bonus Action was provided with a PS5 code of Siren’s Rest for the purpose of this review**
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