Still Wakes the Deep made waves earlier this year with its intensely atmospheric blend of narrative horror and environmental storytelling. With Siren’s Rest, The Chinese Room returns to the haunted wreck of the Beira D — only this time, players experience its horrors from a new perspective: that of Mhairi, a diver sent into the ocean’s abyss to uncover the truth behind the rig’s mysterious fate. It’s a DLC that doesn’t reinvent the core gameplay loop but expands the game’s setting and emotional resonance in clever and deeply unsettling ways, but it’s also very much on the short side.
The most immediate difference in Siren’s Rest is the setting. Gone are the claustrophobic corridors of a barely functioning rig above water; here, players must navigate the cold, drowned skeleton of the Beira D lying dormant – or so it seems – at the bottom of the North Sea. The dive itself is brilliantly realized, with meticulous attention to sound design, low-visibility tension, and the creaks of pressurized steel creating a uniquely suffocating experience. Every movement feels sluggish and deliberate, fitting for a saturation dive scenario and enhancing the unease that something down there might still be alive.
Narratively, the DLC expands the universe of Still Wakes the Deep while remaining grounded in the same themes of loss, trauma, and reality unravelling at the edges. Mhairi’s descent is framed as both a forensic mission and a personal reckoning – her gradual emotional deterioration mirroring the physical disintegration of the structure around her. Audio logs, camera documentation, and recovered mementos all help build out the final hours of the crew, and while the overall runtime is modest, the storytelling remains focused and thematically rich.
Gameplay-wise, the DLC is less about elaborate puzzles or combat and more about navigating a treacherous space filled with decayed machinery and submerged obstacles. The tools at your disposal – a cutting arc, flares, and your camera – are used more for environmental interaction than anything resembling challenge. Some may find this light gameplay loop underwhelming, especially if they were hoping for more interactive systems, but it’s consistent with the series’ focus on immersion over mechanics. That said, some sections can veer into trial-and-error frustration due to tight navigation spots or unclear progression markers.
Where Siren’s Rest excels, once again, is in its audiovisual delivery. The deep-sea setting allows for a different flavor of horror, one that leans heavily into thalassophobia and isolation. Lighting is used sparingly but effectively – flares cutting through murky darkness, casting fleeting shadows over twisted wreckage. The voice acting, particularly over the tenuous underwater communication line, is both human and haunting, with brief moments of warmth quickly replaced by eerie silence or garbled static. The sound design, a highlight in the base game, remains exceptional here – anchoring you in a space where your senses constantly betray you.
The pacing, while deliberate, is not for everyone. The slow, methodical progression through narrow passages and locked chambers may feel too drawn-out for players looking for traditional thrills – and even at this slower pace the experience is relatively short. However, for those willing to sink into its mood and let the atmosphere envelop them, Siren’s Rest offers one of the more emotionally resonant expansions in recent memory. It doesn’t rely on jump scares but instead builds dread through environmental storytelling and the terrifying realization that the ocean doesn’t forget – and neither do its ghosts.
Ultimately, Siren’s Rest is a worthy addition to Still Wakes the Deep – not necessarily essential for those satisfied with the base game’s closure, but invaluable for anyone wanting to revisit the Beira D with fresh eyes and a deeper understanding of the horror that unfolded there. It’s more contemplative than climactic, but its quiet moments of revelation and decay will stick with you after the dive is over.
Score: 7.1/10
Press Play Media 