Still Wakes the Deep ending explained

On a personal note, as a Caledonian native, this writer was beyond excited to get my hands on the game as it is a rare thing to have a game set in Scotland with a Scottish cast who aren’t just there as comic relief – not that I don’t have a soft spot for Team Fortress 2’s Demoman.

RadioTimes.com Gaming Editor Rob Leane must’ve thought it was the biggest game of the year how much I went on about it, but safe to say, it may just be for me.

Part of that is the ambiguity that surrounds the mysterious and horrific entity consuming the Beira D, but hopefully, we can shed a little light on the game's conclusion. Read on, but beware for there are major spoilers ahead for the Still Wakes the Deep ending.

Still Wakes the Deep ending explained: Does Caz survive?

Unfortunately, it would appear Cameron ‘Caz’ McLeary does not survive as he chooses to blow up the Beira D oil rig up with him still on it.

He comes to this conclusion after his colleague Finlay (played by Karen Dunbar) convinces him to do it instead of her after being crushed by falling machinery in the hopes of protecting the mainland. A sage course of action perhaps after watching the Lovecraftian entity rapidly grow and causing workers to succumb to the terrible fate of becoming terrifying body-horror creatures or being their prey.

But once Caz drops Finlay’s lighter into the depths of the oil and gas-laden derrick and is consumed by the explosion, the player is transported into a swirling void filled with his memories of meeting his wife, Suze.

Caz swims through this plane and wakes up in his bedroom on the morning that he was to leave for the oil rig with Suze still asleep. The player can walk around the room and look at photographs from of their wedding, family and children.

Eventually, Caz goes to leave the bedroom, but the door opens to the vast and undulating North Sea. A voiceover of Suze reads out a letter she has written to Caz to say that she still loves him and they will get through it.

Finally, the Gaelic haunting song Fath Mo Mhulaid A Bhith Ann (Being Here Has Caused My Sorrow) sung by Maggie MacInnes, begins to play and the credits roll.

Players might be confused as to what the meaning behind this finale is, and we can think of two possible explanations.

One might be that this is Caz’s final moments playing out just before he dies in a “life flashes before your eyes” sequence. The other – and more sinister – is that Caz and his memories may have been consumed by the identity and he is now part of it.

The monsters that the players face are still recognisably his crewmates with elements of their psyche and personality intact and Caz may share this same fate.

But given the intensity of the explosion, it is hard to think that anyone – or anything – might survive.

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