Still Wakes the Deep traps you on a damaged oil rig, alongside some The Thing-style nasties who definitely don’t want to be friends. But how does the game wind up this increasingly desperate situation? Here’s Still Wakes the Deep’s ending explained with, naturally, spoilers.
How Does Still Wakes the Deep End?
Still Wakes the Deep ends with your protagonist Caz blowing up the rig with him still on it. If you’d been rooting for Caz to get back to his wife and kids then I’m sorry to report that doesn’t happen. But there is some small note of ambiguity about the ending, which I’ll get into in a second.
At the beginning of Still Wakes the Deep (which takes place in 1975 Britain), we learn that protagonist Caz McLeary is trying to dodge the police. That’s why he’s taken a job on a North Sea oil rig. It’s later revealed he got into a brawl when someone said something unsavoury about his wife Suze. He put the man in hospital and when the police visit the rig, the boss fires Caz.
But before he can be choppered back, the drill hits some kind of amorphous, Lovecraftian nightmare. The entity starts taking over the rig and twisting its inhabitants into monstrous forms, though they retain some semblance of self. One, for example, has a fear of being alone, and so he starts absorbing and turning anyone who tries to escape the rig.
In between flashbacks of his life with Suze, Caz attempts to find a way off the rig, delaying its collapse as long as possible. But all efforts fails and, persuaded that the entity can’t be allowed to infect the mainland, blows the rig up.
Does Caz Die at the End of Still Wakes the Deep?
Flying through a glowing, starry tunnel, the final scene in the game has him waking up next to his wife Suze, then opening the door to find the ocean behind it. This could be his dying memories, some kind of afterlife, or it may even be that he’s been absorbed into the entity, trapped in whatever portion of it remains below the sea bed.
What Happened to Caz’s Wife and Children in Still Wakes the Deep?
It becomes clear that Caz is not the greatest husband in the world. His wife is forced to take charge most of the time, to be the level-headed one in the relationship and she’s going to leave him if he doesn’t sort things out with the police.
If you take Caz at face value, she’s still waiting for Caz at home, with their two kids. Presumably she’ll end up with a payout from the rig company’s insurance and won’t end up out on the streets while she grieves Caz’s apparent death.
But there are implications that Caz may have hurt his family, either directly or through neglect. At one point we hear Suze yelling about something happening to the children. He may be hallucinating, due to the entity’s presence, or he could be hiding the truth from himself.
Where Does Still Wakes the Deep’s Monster Come From?
The game’s monster, or entity, or substance or whatever you want to call it, is beneath the ocean bed and is unleashed when the rig drills into it. It shows no sign of intelligence, we never learn more about its origin, and there’s no Umbrella Corporation style conspiracy, either.
Does Still Wakes the Deep Have Multiple Endings?
Still Wakes the Deep does not have multiple endings. There’s only that bleak ending where Caz blows the rig up, there’s no way to save the rig or defeat the entity other than incinerating it. And that’s Still Wakes the Deep’s ending explained.
And that’s the ending of Still Wakes the Deep explained. If you’re looking for more, check out how long the game takes to beat.
