The story follows an electrician who is trapped on a damaged oil drilling platform in the North Sea in the 1970s, having no way to escape while being pursued by mysterious monsters under harsh weather conditions.

Played from a first-person perspective, the game does not feature any combat system, and players must rely on stealth and solving simple puzzles to survive.

Studio co-founder Dan Pinchbeck first pitched Still Wakes the Deep as "The Thing set on an oil rig", and served as the game's director until his departure in mid-2023.

The studio, which previously released Amnesia: A Machine for Pigs (2013) and Everybody's Gone to the Rapture (2015), announced Still Wakes the Deep as its return to story-driven horror games.

In the game, the player assumes control of a Glaswegian electrician named Cameron "Caz" McLeary, who must navigate through the oil rig following a catastrophic event, looking for a way to escape while surviving the harsh weather and evading the pursuit of creatures.

To avoid prison and keep his wife Suze (Neve McIntosh) and their children from losing their flat, Caz gets help from his diabetic best friend Roy (Shaun Dooley), a cook on the "Beira D" oil rig.

With the Beira D on its last legs, Brodie, Finlay, and Caz work together to maintain power, keep the rig from capsizing, and prevent a gas explosion when the flare tower fails, all while being hunted by an infected Rennick.

To save his family and avenge his friends, Caz ignites the Beira D, destroying everything on it; in his last moments, he relives memories of meeting Suze and the birth of their children.

Development of Still Wakes the Deep was led by The Chinese Room, the studio behind Dear Esther, Amnesia: A Machine for Pigs, and Everybody's Gone to the Rapture.

The team believed that the setting, which sees a group of professionals stranded in a remote place with no outside connections, provided an excellent venue for character drama.

[11] A wide range of films, such as Annihilation, Midsommar, The Southern Reach Trilogy, Sapphire & Steel, and Suspiria all influenced the game.

While body horror tropes were used extensively, the team wanted to maintain a sense of mystery, often shrouding them with fog, mist and darkness.

Reverend Frank Scott from The Poseidon Adventure was described as the "perfect archetype" to Caz McLeary, the game's "unathletic" main character.

[18] To keep the overall experience interesting, the oil rig is gradually changed as events unfold in the game, with portions becoming completely destroyed or flooded, potentially opening up new areas for players to explore.

[11] Alec Newman provided the voice for Caz, and the supporting cast includes Neve McIntosh, Karen Dunbar, Michael Abubakar, Clive Russell and Shaun Dooley.

[23] The team also watched urban exploration videos of stranded oil rigs on YouTube, and carried out research on storm history and freak waves.

Abigail's Party, Scarfolk Council, Don't Look Now and Rosemary's Baby were cited as inspirations for the game's overall look, which was intended to be "unnerving" and "unsettling" despite its initial innocuous presentation.

The team also wanted to capture the feeling of "dreich", a Scottish word representing grey and gloomy weather, one that "has taken all the colour and joy out of the surroundings".

[34] Jim Trinca from VG247 called it Chinese Room's best game and an "incredible artistic achievement" for blending the horror aspect of Amnesia: A Machine for Pigs and the atmosphere and world-building of Dear Esther.

[40] Eurogamer's Matt Wales disliked the gameplay, calling it "disengaging" and critiqued its overly linear structure and its excessive use of visual cues to guide players forward, leaving no room for exploration.

[32] Leana Hafer from IGN also found the gameplay to be uninspiring, and that players who have experience with games of similar nature may no longer find Still Wakes the Deep scary because it did nothing to stand out from its competition.

In addition, she remarked that it was "frustrating to play with its nearly on-rails structure that actively scoffs at the idea of exploration" and expressed her disappointment for the puzzles in the games for being underwhelming and simple.