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DEEP FEAR
review | SATURN
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Publisher: SEGA.
Developer: System Satcom. Released: September 1998 (UK). Genre: Survival Horror. Posted 31st October 2025. By Tom Clare © 2025 |
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The final official SEGA Saturn game to be released in Europe, Deep Fear took survival horror down a different path, its subterranean setting seeing the player under siege from both monsters and the environment. A disaster movie theme, and loads of full-motion video cinematics ensured a game attempt to guarantee the Saturn went down swinging. Arriving just a few months after Resident Evil 2, unfavourable comparisons would see System Satcom’s game sink without a trace. Was there more to Deep Fear, under the surface?
Playing as Emergency Rescue Service member John Mayor, things start to go south when the ‘Big Table’ section of an underwater research facility loses contact with a submarine. Before you know it, a viral contagion has started mutating crew members into violent monsters. The plot is a marvellous mess of American action movie tropes, and is in many ways emblematic of nineties gaming narratives. You know the score: plenty of stilted dialogue coalescing with some occasionally remarkably bad voicing (Dubois’ caffeinated levels of theatricality contrast with Sharon, who provides just about the least energetic delivery I’ve ever seen in a game). Whilst a lot happens over the course of the game, the scripting is straightforward. You’ll find no Jill Sandwiches here, sadly. Though much of what transpired is painfully signposted, exploring the facility is a creepy experience.
It's not the best of its kind, but Deep Fear makes good use of a claustrophobic underwater setting to make players feel vulnerable
John controls well and is quite manoeuvrable, his actions are a mirror of those in Resident Evil. Additionally, he has a few handy tricks up his sleeve, such as the ability to lob grenades, and travel through submerged rooms, with the help of a rebreather. Impressively, the hero can also move with his gun drawn, a facet Capcom wouldn’t get around to implementing until Dino Crisis the following year. John comes across a handful of shotguns and machine guns, one of which can be carried at a time to complement his handgun, and these add some variety, though they rarely feel especially potent. Where Deep Fear deviates from its genre stablemates is in showcasing a greater human presence. Whilst the Resident Evil games typically limited contact to a narrow group of protagonists, John Mayor regularly encounters maintenance crew, officers, and survivors. This serves a clever purpose because as the game progresses and more become infected, it adds to the deepening tension and sense of hopelessness, as John encounters fewer survivors and more monsters.
Perhaps Deep Fear’s most creative gameplay feature is its limited oxygen supply. Rooms possess a timer indicating breathable air, and should the counter drop below 20 seconds, the surroundings begin to glow with an ominous red hue. It’s a really cool idea, adding pressure to certain combat scenes. In practice, though, there are so many units that replenish a section’s air (plus the back-up of a rebreather), that oxygen rarely becomes a factor. There’s the odd submerged section where John wades through at a treacly-slow pace. They’re not world-beating, and being attacked while he goes through the automated animation of putting on the rebreather is irritating. They can be quite unnerving, with sound used effectively to create a cloying feel.
Perhaps Deep Fear’s most creative gameplay feature is its limited oxygen supply. Rooms possess a timer indicating breathable air, and should the counter drop below 20 seconds, the surroundings begin to glow with an ominous red hue. It’s a really cool idea, adding pressure to certain combat scenes. In practice, though, there are so many units that replenish a section’s air (plus the back-up of a rebreather), that oxygen rarely becomes a factor. There’s the odd submerged section where John wades through at a treacly-slow pace. They’re not world-beating, and being attacked while he goes through the automated animation of putting on the rebreather is irritating. They can be quite unnerving, with sound used effectively to create a cloying feel.
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The first disc is a compelling affair. If you can forgive it some slightly clumsy combat and unreliable hit boxes, the pace of the action and rapidly shifting circumstances act as a driving force to see what’s waiting around the next corner. Admittedly, the graphics are at best adequate: character models look underwhelming, and scenery definition is weak. The design element is pretty good, though: the facility’s rooms are pleasantly detailed, and there are a number of spooky camera angles and clear (if unspectacular) inventory and map screens. With a mess hall, a sea farm, science labs, barracks, and command areas to discover, fans of the genre will find exploring to be a rewarding process. A couple of standout instances see a section of the facility capsizing, as John must retrace his steps among rooms and floors that have been inverted. There’s a modest, largely forgettable collection of puzzles, as well as keys, codes, and some obligatory timed sequences to help retain the intrigue.
It’s survival horror, so how does Deep Fear fare with the scares? Moderately. It’s certainly not the scariest game on the market, and it would be fair to say the game doesn’t maximise the fright potential of its unusual setting. That’s not to say there isn’t any atmosphere, however, as there are a couple of jump-scares combining with memorably monstrous cut-scene transformations, and a horrifying scene with a cow. Sound design helps here, too, with some affective, gloomy laments pattering along in the background, and the breathy noise of enemies out of shot is hair-raising. Surprisingly, John is able to replenish first-aid kits and ammo to his heart’s content at designated storage spots, which rather diminishes concerns over inventory management.
It’s survival horror, so how does Deep Fear fare with the scares? Moderately. It’s certainly not the scariest game on the market, and it would be fair to say the game doesn’t maximise the fright potential of its unusual setting. That’s not to say there isn’t any atmosphere, however, as there are a couple of jump-scares combining with memorably monstrous cut-scene transformations, and a horrifying scene with a cow. Sound design helps here, too, with some affective, gloomy laments pattering along in the background, and the breathy noise of enemies out of shot is hair-raising. Surprisingly, John is able to replenish first-aid kits and ammo to his heart’s content at designated storage spots, which rather diminishes concerns over inventory management.
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By the time you’ve reached disc two, however, things start to feel like hard work. Not in terms of difficulty (but for a couple of awkward bosses, it’s fairly consistent), but the feeling that there’s suddenly a great deal more padding. Players are subjected to a level of backtracking that feels excessive, even by the genre’s accepted standards. You’ll return to nearly every section of the ship at least once, normally for the sake of a couple of locked rooms, and because there isn’t a central hub connecting the different sections of the facility, much of the back-and-forth demands a lot of legwork. Just as Deep Fear should be building impetus, it loses direction, sidelining the player with arbitrary fetch quests. In the latter stages, the enemies are absolute bullet sponges, some requiring fifty or more machine-gun rounds or a dozen shotgun blasts each, to vanquish. Replenishing ammo is arduous but necessary, and it dampens the excitement.
You’ll want to see things through to their conclusion, but finding the motivation to return for additional runs is more difficult. A lack of additional scenarios is forgivable, but there are no difficulty settings, no alternative endings, no unlockables, and sadly for speedrunners, no performance stats upon completion.
You’ll want to see things through to their conclusion, but finding the motivation to return for additional runs is more difficult. A lack of additional scenarios is forgivable, but there are no difficulty settings, no alternative endings, no unlockables, and sadly for speedrunners, no performance stats upon completion.
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Dismissed as a poor cousin to the Resident Evils, Deep Fear brings to the table an unusual setting, ghoulish monsters, and solid survival horror action. It lacks the production quality of the genre’s best, lagging behind in terms of graphics, combat quality, and replay value. Nevertheless, competent static camera gameplay and concerted attempts at cinematic license mean it feels like more than a simple clone. A fascinating curtain call for the Saturn in Europe, if not an entirely successful one.
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VERDICT"Survival horror mixed with an underwater disaster movie. Deep Fear is held back by its middling presentation and combat, but an unusual setting ensures there's some decent exploration to be had for fans of the genre. It's just a shame there isn't more incentive to return." OVERALL: 6/10 |
OTHER NINETIES SURVIVAL HORROR GAMES REVIEWED
Resident Evil 2 (1998, PC)
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Silent Hill (1999, PlayStation)
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