SOMA
Year: 2015
Developer: Frictional Games Publisher: Frictional Games Platform: PC, PS4 PEGI: 16 Published: 2015 (Legacy Review) |
Click here for an analysis of the themes explored in SOMA
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It's a rare thing that I am completely torn between loving a game for one reason and loathing it for another, yet Frictional Games' latest survival horror game SOMA has me doing exactly that. The story is one that is wonderfully crafted, full of philosophical depth, eerie atmosphere, and amazing world building, in fact it's one of the best stories I've ever seen in a game. Yet the gameplay is completely uninspired and for the most part a slow, tedious, and relatively boring affair.
You play as Simon Jarrett, an normal man who is in a car accident and left with terminal neurological damage. After accepting to take part in an experimental procedure in the hopes of fixing his brain damage he blacks out and awakes to find himself alone in a dilapidated underwater scientific research facility called PATHOS-II. As Simon explores PATHOS-II and it's many sites (Upsilon, Lambda, Delta, Theta, Omicron, Tau, and Phi) he begins to uncover the reason why he has woken up here, as well as why the machinery around him believes that it is a living human being. Simon's search for answers also puts him in danger of being hunted down by disfigured creatures, another plot he must try and uncover the mystery of.
SOMA is one of the few storylines that off the bat I would say needs to be experienced by as many people as possible, especially if you're a sci-fi fan. It's philosophical questions about mortality and humanity are unlike anything seen in gaming before and it is really really good. It's arguably one of the best stories of 2015 as well as one of the best gaming sci-fi storylines period.
However, the sub-plot surrounding the creatures is much less interesting. Whilst many threads from both stories cross over as well as the philosophies of life and death; the creature storyline is very dull in comparison to the main plot.
The game will regularly probe you with surveys and moral choices that are actually very difficult to provide an answer to. Almost every time I was presented with one of these scenarios I was left in a state of discomfort at trying to come to a decision. Your choices never make an impact to the overall story, but that's part of the philosophy (and to a large extent the greater story) behind the game. So despite the game never playing out differently dependant on what you pick, it still puts you in the uncomfortable decision to answer questions about your views regarding life, death, and human experimentation.
You play as Simon Jarrett, an normal man who is in a car accident and left with terminal neurological damage. After accepting to take part in an experimental procedure in the hopes of fixing his brain damage he blacks out and awakes to find himself alone in a dilapidated underwater scientific research facility called PATHOS-II. As Simon explores PATHOS-II and it's many sites (Upsilon, Lambda, Delta, Theta, Omicron, Tau, and Phi) he begins to uncover the reason why he has woken up here, as well as why the machinery around him believes that it is a living human being. Simon's search for answers also puts him in danger of being hunted down by disfigured creatures, another plot he must try and uncover the mystery of.
SOMA is one of the few storylines that off the bat I would say needs to be experienced by as many people as possible, especially if you're a sci-fi fan. It's philosophical questions about mortality and humanity are unlike anything seen in gaming before and it is really really good. It's arguably one of the best stories of 2015 as well as one of the best gaming sci-fi storylines period.
However, the sub-plot surrounding the creatures is much less interesting. Whilst many threads from both stories cross over as well as the philosophies of life and death; the creature storyline is very dull in comparison to the main plot.
The game will regularly probe you with surveys and moral choices that are actually very difficult to provide an answer to. Almost every time I was presented with one of these scenarios I was left in a state of discomfort at trying to come to a decision. Your choices never make an impact to the overall story, but that's part of the philosophy (and to a large extent the greater story) behind the game. So despite the game never playing out differently dependant on what you pick, it still puts you in the uncomfortable decision to answer questions about your views regarding life, death, and human experimentation.
If you've played a Frictional Games title before, such as the hugely popular Amnesia: The Dark Descent or the Penumbra Series, then you'll feel right at home with SOMA. However, unlike previous Frictional titles, there is no inventory management in SOMA.
As such expect to spend the next 10 hours or so hiding in corners waiting for monsters to walk around near you, hoping that they won't spot you and eventually bugger off somewhere else...that would be the case anyway if the enemy A.I wasn't so bloody difficult to sneak away from. Most encounters with enemies in SOMA will be tackled through a series of trial and error, there is no real strategy to getting by them, and in several cases they will block doorways you need to pass through to progress until you let them attack you. This shifts SOMA from being an intense stealth horror game, into being an extremely frustrating running through dark corridors simulator.
The puzzles are equally infuriating. You're never given any clue as to how to solve any of them and most of them I ended up succeeding in without actually knowing how I did so; leaving me no wiser about what the point of the actual puzzle was in the first place. Because of this, the game loses much of the tension it is so desperately trying to build. The scariest and most unsettling parts of the game are sections where you are entirely by yourself exploring the environment, instilling the fear that you're likely to die alone, never to be found or mourned by another living person. Despite it's amazing story, SOMA is a slog to play because of this extremely dull gameplay that fails to deliver on almost every level.
Graphically SOMA is pretty good looking. It runs on the newest version of the H.P. Lovecraft engine used in all previous Frictional titles which excels in making sure you cannot navigate any mildly dark area because you simply can't see anything, as well as horribly disfigured creatures that are genuinely nightmare inducing.
The sci-fi setting allows the use of computer lights to provide illumination in particularly dark areas, giving an even bigger sense of dread in an already crushing atmosphere. The underwater facility also feels a little like Bioshock's Rapture, with many sections having been submerged due to disrepair and having to use airlocks every few feet to progress anywhere.
The sound design is again something of wonder with environmental and creature sounds always playing tricks on you, attempting to scare you into doing the wrong thing, and leaving you with the feeling that something horrible is never that far away from you.
Voice acting is also good, Simon has his occasional wooden moments, but beyond that all the actors deliver their dialogue brilliantly and believably.
SOMA will last you around 10 hours, or in my case around 5 months on and off, which long overstays it's welcome. This could have been shortened simply by not having enemy encounters be so stupidly designed and by giving you a clearer idea of what to do in puzzles. It's not a complaint saying that the game allowed the player too much freedom and not enough direction, it's a complaint saying that some kind of context or indication as to what I am supposed to do every now and again isn't holding the players hand. SOMA delivers a story that will stay with you long after the credits roll and will also make you question your thoughts on humanity and mortality. Its brutal gut punch of an ending will absolutely leave it's mark on you, but unfortunately so will it's tiresome gameplay that will make you think twice about ever returning to this wonderful world that Frictional Games has created.
As such expect to spend the next 10 hours or so hiding in corners waiting for monsters to walk around near you, hoping that they won't spot you and eventually bugger off somewhere else...that would be the case anyway if the enemy A.I wasn't so bloody difficult to sneak away from. Most encounters with enemies in SOMA will be tackled through a series of trial and error, there is no real strategy to getting by them, and in several cases they will block doorways you need to pass through to progress until you let them attack you. This shifts SOMA from being an intense stealth horror game, into being an extremely frustrating running through dark corridors simulator.
The puzzles are equally infuriating. You're never given any clue as to how to solve any of them and most of them I ended up succeeding in without actually knowing how I did so; leaving me no wiser about what the point of the actual puzzle was in the first place. Because of this, the game loses much of the tension it is so desperately trying to build. The scariest and most unsettling parts of the game are sections where you are entirely by yourself exploring the environment, instilling the fear that you're likely to die alone, never to be found or mourned by another living person. Despite it's amazing story, SOMA is a slog to play because of this extremely dull gameplay that fails to deliver on almost every level.
Graphically SOMA is pretty good looking. It runs on the newest version of the H.P. Lovecraft engine used in all previous Frictional titles which excels in making sure you cannot navigate any mildly dark area because you simply can't see anything, as well as horribly disfigured creatures that are genuinely nightmare inducing.
The sci-fi setting allows the use of computer lights to provide illumination in particularly dark areas, giving an even bigger sense of dread in an already crushing atmosphere. The underwater facility also feels a little like Bioshock's Rapture, with many sections having been submerged due to disrepair and having to use airlocks every few feet to progress anywhere.
The sound design is again something of wonder with environmental and creature sounds always playing tricks on you, attempting to scare you into doing the wrong thing, and leaving you with the feeling that something horrible is never that far away from you.
Voice acting is also good, Simon has his occasional wooden moments, but beyond that all the actors deliver their dialogue brilliantly and believably.
SOMA will last you around 10 hours, or in my case around 5 months on and off, which long overstays it's welcome. This could have been shortened simply by not having enemy encounters be so stupidly designed and by giving you a clearer idea of what to do in puzzles. It's not a complaint saying that the game allowed the player too much freedom and not enough direction, it's a complaint saying that some kind of context or indication as to what I am supposed to do every now and again isn't holding the players hand. SOMA delivers a story that will stay with you long after the credits roll and will also make you question your thoughts on humanity and mortality. Its brutal gut punch of an ending will absolutely leave it's mark on you, but unfortunately so will it's tiresome gameplay that will make you think twice about ever returning to this wonderful world that Frictional Games has created.