“Stay away from the water! They come from the water!” says one character in the Deepest Fear reveal trailer. Of course, that helpful hint is the least comforting thing you could say to someone trapped underwater. Trapped how deep? Seven miles is the answer in the upcoming horror FPS from Variable State. Undersea horror has spooked me in games since I walked the Manaan seafloor in Knights of the Old Republic as a kid, and Deepest Fear looks far spookier than that. Between the covert projects, family secrets, and monsters, there’s more to dread here than just the ocean.
Deepest Fear and Deep Sea Horror
The undersea horror genre, like the sea itself, remains mostly unexplored. Despite some leviathans like BioShock, Subnautica, and Soma, submarines and underwater facilities remain uncommon settings. Iron Lung is brilliant for a dozen reasons, but chief among them is David Szymanski’s ability to weaponize claustrophobia, anticipation, and the fog of war. The ocean being an ocean of blood doesn’t hurt, but Iron Lung would’ve hit almost as hard in a swimming pool. Variable’s game has similar potential.
Deepest Fear is a far different kind of horror but strikes many of the same nerves. The trailer’s montage of breached glass, crackling electricity, gunfire, and monsters gives away little of the plot. Still, the creepy vibes are immaculate. It’s a bit of a fireworks show, with SFX blasting across the screen, but nothing distracts from the water. The sea pours, drips, and splashes through the facility, omnipresent. It’s like someone flooded the tunnels of Amnesia‘s bunker, elegantly demonstrating how to make a bad thing worse.
Everything Is Dark and Terrible Under the Sea
With Deepest Fear, Variable State aims to blend the intricate level design of a Metroidvania with the creativity of immersive sims like System Shock 2. It’s too early to taste the cake, but that’s a great recipe. One of the game’s biggest selling points is its real-time fluid simulation, letting the environment dynamically flood and sweep you up with unpredictable currents. The mechanical and storytelling possibilities for messing with the player are endless, so I’m crossing all available digits in the hopes that Variable pulls it off.
Deepest Fear has been confirmed for PC but has no announced release date yet. The game takes obvious visual inspiration from ’80s classics like The Thing and The Abyss, another sign the project’s heading in the right direction. Another good sign? One particular shot from the trailer. It shows a flooded room bathed in red emergency light, something swelling beneath the surface, pushing the water almost to the ceiling. It’s the perfect blend of “What’s in the water?” and “What if the water keeps rising”? That’s a double dose of awful if I’ve ever heard one. We’ll see if Deepest Fear can stay afloat.
