Deepest Fear is underwater 'immersive sim horror' where enemies hide in every drop of water

Deepest Fear’s tagline is "Metroidvania immersive sim horror"—four words that suggest an ambitious, atmospheric experience—and the trailer certainly wastes no time throwing players into the deep end, with a mystery that starts seven miles under the ocean. It premiered today at The PC Gaming Show: Most Wanted, and it’s already looking like thalassophobia-inducer of the year.

As Dr. Danni Carrol, players will delve into an insular, underwater research facility called Neptune to uncover the secrets of a probably-evil science experiment by her probably-evil father. Mutilated bodies, sealed vaults, aquatic bogeymen and more dot the path to whatever answers lie in the depths.

It’s all presented with some seriously cinematic gloss, which isn’t exactly typical of any genres in the smorgasbord on offer. Maybe not a surprise given that developer Variable State is the same studio that developed 2016's Virginia, an BAFTA-winning thriller that PC Gamer writer Andy Kelly appreciated for its narrative style.

One thing that’s immediately clear is a unique hook for the game’s combat encounters: that every source of water, whether a burst pipe or a flooded basement, might conceal one of Deepest Fear’s fiendish, fishy monsters. It immediately calls to mind Dead Space’s necromorphs in the way it recontextualizes every environment, littering every room with calling cards to an iconic enemy. It’s practically essential then that the water looks so good, with the game boasting a novel real-time fluid simulation powered by Unreal Engine 5.

I’m itching to see how rich the Metroidvania and imsim influences are; that sort of explorative, improvisational thinking could spice up both a horror game and a narrative experience in equal measure. There are echoes of that sort of concoction in games like Bioshock, but Deepest Fear’s underwater community has a whole extra layer of paranoia poured into it with those water mechanics.

Deepest Fear doesn’t have a release date quite yet, but it is available to wishlist on Steam.