The lovecraftian horror game from yesteryear has a story DLC set in 1986, 11 years past since the events of the Still Wakes the Deep. Because of the time it is set in, this piece will inevitably have some spoilers, though I’ll try my best to avoid it. In Siren’s Rest, you are playing as Mhairi, a diver, seeking to find the answers behind what had happened on the faithful day of Christmas in 1975.

With Minor Spoilers, Spiel

If you were drawn into the Still Wakes the Deep for its use of colors, its artistic depiction of otherworldly beings and influences, Siren’s Rest is missing the mark. It’s underwater, dark, nearly colorless, and dull environment continues throughout the game. One could argue players are only returning to the aftermath; however, without its iconic art style and creature designs, the DLC is missing key flavor to become part of Still Wakes the Deep experience.

The premise of Siren’s Rest, returning to now sunken Beira, does have a promising foundation at the price of two additional problems: a. the base game fared better above water than it did underwater level albeit its existence, b. the dimly lit wreckage of oil rig may not be as recognizable as players remember them. Unfortunately, the DLC does not solve neither of the newly found problems. Underwater levels are still tough to navigate, and the ingenious handholding tools from the original (e.g. the yellow safety paints) are barely visible in dimly lit environment. In the underwater level that is equivalent to zero-gravity, the game seems to rely on being linear storytelling to fix the navigation.

Revisiting Beira many years after the incident comes with a unique set of opportunities, especially in the lore and world building departments. Still Wakes the Deep left the oil rig with some of the questions unanswered on both the perception of the events from the outside world and the origin of supernatural phenomenon occurred on the oil rig. The stories of the surrounding worlds do unfold. However, if you were expecting the clash of two worlds, now buried eldritch truth coming to life thanks to nosy divers, the game doesn’t do justice.

In fact, one of my biggest gripe on the game was ill-timed voice lines. The characters would say they saw something and begin to run away, only for me not to notice anything. The issue isn’t limited to the creature chasing sequence. The umbilical, for example, has to be disconnected for the protagonist to proceed several times in the DLC. The problem lies in the fact that when the game loads from the earliest saves due to QTE fails, the cable becomes invisible; yet, it still needs to be interacted.

Conclusions: Let’s Talk Price

Siren’s Rest DLC is priced at $12.99, whereas the base game is being sold at $34.99. It’s roughly one third of Still Wakes the Deep, but I don’t see the heart wrenching drama the original carried. The DLC opens pathways that could have been entirely new development; but players are only welcomed by what remains of Beira — and that includes the inhabitants too. It merely revisits an oil rig. With all things dim and colorless, the probing nature of the DLC delivers only what it observed: dim and colorless.