Everybody's Gone to the Rapture studio's oil rig horror Still Wakes the Deep debuts gameplay

Ever wondered what it'd be like to be stranded on a North Sea oil rig with nothing for company but a otherworldly horror teetering the edge of all logic and reality? Well, would you believe it, there's a game just for you; it's called Still Wakes the Deep and first gameplay has just debuted.

Announced back in June, Still Wakes the Deep is the latest from developer The Chinese Room - previously responsible for the likes of Everybody's Gone to the Rapture, Amnesia: A Machine for Pigs, and Dear Esther - whisking players to the Beira D oil rig off the Scottish coast circa 1975.

What follows is a narrative-focused first-person horror adventure in which players, in the role of an off-shore oil rig worker suddenly cut off from the outside world, must "run, climb, and swim through the flooding corridors and storm-lashed outer decks" as they attempt to evade an unspeakable otherworldly forces that's invited itself onboard.

STILL WAKES THE DEEP | First Look at Gameplay

Still Wakes the Deep's newly released first gameplay trailer begins with our protagonist out in the open air, wandering the oil rig's ruined walkways as they, one by one, crumble into the violent, thrashing sea. Something is very definitely not right - a tendril-like swirl stretching upward from beneath the waves and penetrating the oil rig's heft being a fairly major clue - and the environment only becomes more unstable as the scene continues to unfold.

Soon, though, the action relocates to show our unfortunate protagonist scrambling around the oil rig's dimly lit, water-logged interior, desperately trying to avoid the attention of some howling, unseen being. And the scene ends with the slam of a trapdoor not long after - certainly all very atmospheric, if not particularly illuminating.

Expect to see more of Still Wakes the Deep ahead of its release on PlayStation 5, Xbox Series X/S, PC (via Steam and the Epic Games Store), and Game Pass "early" next year.