A brand new Still Wakes the Deep gameplay reveal trailer was just released as part of Xbox’s Partner Preview. The trailer, which is about three and a half minutes long, gives us our first look at the gameplay of The Chinese Room’s oil rig horror adventure.

Here’s the trailer for your viewing pleasure:

The trailer really sets an unsettling tone for the player’s journey. Loud metallic creaking, crazed ranting, and claustrophobic crawlways abound in the few minutes of gameplay that we see. It’s not for the faint of heart.

Here are some gameplay details from today’s press release:

This first peek at Still Wakes the Deep in action offers a breathless look at the game’s unique setting: the Beira D oil rig situated off the coast of Scotland.

Split into two parts, the gameplay video picks up after a catastrophic event has rocked the drilling platform, with protagonist Caz McLeary trapped beneath the crumbling exterior of the Beira D and desperately seeking a pathway to safety. Viewers are then whisked forward into the claustrophobic bowels of the oil rig, where Caz must negotiate crawlspaces and brave flooded passageways to avoid detection from an unknowable horror that’s come aboard…

The Chinese Room also shared some of their inspirations over on the official Xbox Wire site:

• The Thing – Our project elevator pitch was: ‘”The Thing” on an oil rig’. This short phrase, uttered in a few seconds, touched off a spark in those who heard it, instantly getting them creatively excited in the game. John Carpenter’s 1982 film “The Thing”, and its predecessor novella “Who Goes There?” by John W Campbell, are touchstones for the overall atmosphere of Still Wakes the Deep.
• Rosemary’s Baby – Every frame of “Don’t Look Now” and “Rosemary’s Baby” is imbued with a sense of dread. Domestic or innocuous scenes in which nothing overtly frightening is happening become all the more unsettling, as if something is lurking just under the surface. As well as the period aesthetic, these films have influenced Still Wakes the Deep in how we have explored reoccurring imagery and motifs to unnerve the player.
• The Poseidon Adventure – The 1972 film “The Poseidon Adventure”, created by the ‘Master of Disaster’ Irwin Allen informed both our dramatic structure and the intensity of our gameplay. The ominous lead up – where the viewer knows something is going to happen, but the characters don’t – is a great bit of narrative tension to keep our players engaged.
• Annihilation – A common thread between very different visuals – the rainbow shimmer of “Annihilation”, the burst of florals and bright colours in “Midsommar”, and the sumptuously staged dioramas from “Hannibal” – was the theme of transformation. Body horror was often tempered by this theme, whether by human artistry (sculpture, display) or through motifs of growth and life we find beautiful in nature.
• Suspiria – For Still Wakes the Deep we took inspiration from films of the ’70s where the mise-en-scène becomes increasingly psychological in its expression of terror and reality coming undone. Suspiria’s lighting was seminal particularly for its use of colour, mostly garish reds and vibrant blues, to create hypnotic and terrifying sequences.

We’re looking forward to getting our hands on Still Wakes the Deep. Let us know down in the comment if the game’s sparked your interest.

Still Wakes the Deep launches Early 2024 for PS5, Xbox Series X|S, and PC. The game will also be available from launch on Xbox Game Pass.