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Always watching.

observer_ is available now, DRM-free on GOG.com
In this cyberpunk survival-horror from the team behind Layers of Fear you'll enter the minds of the criminal and the insane, and discover a dark corporate future buried beneath plague and squalor.

Get it now with a 20% discount if you own Layers of Fear on GOG.com – the loyalty discount will last for one week, until August 22, 11AM UTC.

Watch the trailer
Post edited August 15, 2017 by GOG_Solostran
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Carradice: I played it and made it to Theta Labs. There I just wanted to explore and find out about the stories of the people there, tragic, humorous, there were many things to find. BUT the mandatory monster was patrolling the corridors. By that time I was fed up with running from effing monsters and called it quits.

Otherwise it was a great game with interesting things to tell and interesting SF. Even SF author Peter Watts (of Rifters and Blindsight fame) recommended it. I liked what was being hinted about the protagonist and the overall situation. Just looking at yourself in the mirror was more than enough to make you think. The answers at Lambda and before were interesting. BUT the monsters were not for me.

There is a mod that lets the monsters follow you but not hurt you. But there is no mod that makes them disappear altogether, as far as I know.

So I guess the company came from games with monsters and did not want to lose the portion of the crowd that does require the jumpscare. As for me, and others who feel the same, they spoilt the game.

Yet, for people who can live with the monsters, if they like SF I am happy to endorse the game for them as a must. One of the finest SF games.
I can somewhat relate to your complaints, because I quit the first Outlast for similar reasons. Not because it was too scary, but because the elements which are supposed to be scary just felt tedious and annoying after a while, which is a common problem in Horror games. I didn't really have that problem with SOMA, because as I mentioned it was more varied in its gameplay and creature designs, and I was captivated by the story and setting. Overall, I think it's Frictional's best game so far, and one of my favorite modern Horror games.

I think you're misusing the term "jumpscare", though. Outlast or Deadspace are full of those, but I can't think of any specific jumpscare scenes in SOMA. It has much more subtle and atmospheric Horror, and when there are monsters, you can usually hear or see them from afar. It doesn't normally throw them right at your face.
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Carradice: There is a mod that lets the monsters follow you but not hurt you. But there is no mod that makes them disappear altogether, as far as I know.
As a matter of fact, there is. I know because I did a full playthrough with all the monsters removed. Google "SOMA no monsters". There is a reddit thread where you can download it.

My initial reaction to SOMA was similar to yours: I wanted it to be more of a walking simulator, mainly due to the monster encounters (most of them, anyway) feeling tacked on and doing little other than hindering you from exploring the station. Having played both versions, I have to admit that I was wrong. The game DOES work better with most of the monster encounters intact. There is a shit-your-pants-scary underwater section near the end of the game and that one in particular feels completely neutered without the monster encounters. Atmospheric, yes, but atmosphere can only go so far when there is no real sense of threat. The one monster encounter I would remove though was that disco bulb-headed thing in the submarine. That's a moment in the game where you really want to take your time to take in the ambience, only you can't, because disco bulb pops in and out of existence.
Post edited August 15, 2017 by fronzelneekburm
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mintee: yes, now that you mention it. i love me some Rutgar :P

i get a huge Blade runner vibe, even the music is reminiscent of it. definite wishlist tho im tired of adventure horror
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groze: I know this has been mentioned in this thread before, but if the protagonist reminds you of Rutger Hauer, that's because Hauer is playing him.
DOH! lol missed that then its fer sure im getting it :p speaking of which, its pissing down rain here and gloomy, perfect for watching blade runner again.

*heads for the couch and grabs the remote
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fronzelneekburm: Google "SOMA no monsters".
Heh what do they do next? Miasmata botanical garden edition?

Btw bought this title without a second thought. Hard scifi is the dopeness.
Post edited August 15, 2017 by AlienMind
Cyberpunk horror adventure? it should works. Wishlisted
Here in Argentina, 13.82U$D with the loyalty discount...
More or less 240 pesos with the actual exchange rate.
Chrono.gg has >Observer_ for sale too, with Layers of fear for free.
I know this may sound rude, I'm not a huge fan of any sort of self-advertising, either, but I just made a post on another thread discussing why I bought the game and why I feel it is important to support and reward studios like Bloober.

I could have just copy-pasted my own post, but that just seems like spamming, to me, so, instead, I'll post a link to it.

I'm not trying to sell the game or tell people how "great and awesome" it is. If you dislike horror games, there's absolutely nothing wrong with that, and >observer_ is probably not a game for you (no one is the target audience for *ALL* kinds of games, that's OK).

If you are interested in reading my reasons for buying this game -- and to support Bloober -- you can do so <span class="bold">here</span>.
Post edited August 15, 2017 by groze
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groze: I know this may sound rude, I'm not a huge fan of any sort of self-advertising, either, but I just made a post on another thread discussing why I bought the game and why I feel it is important to support and reward studios like Bloober.

I could have just copy-pasted my own post, but that just seems like spamming, to me, so, instead, I'll post a link to it.

I'm not trying to sell the game or tell people how "great and awesome" it is. If you dislike horror games, there's absolutely nothing wrong with that, and >observer_ is probably not a game for you (no one is the target audience for *ALL* kinds of games, that's OK).

If you are interested in reading my reasons for buying this game -- and to support Bloober -- you can do so <span class="bold">here</span>.
Totally agree.
Need to do some real work, then I'll try the game.
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fishbaits: Chrono.gg has >Observer_ for sale too, with Layers of fear for free.
One thing's for sure: Their release text blows gog's utterly pathetic embarrassment of a news post out of the water.

Like, ohmygod! I can't even! This news post is someone-ought-to-get-fired-for-this-tier awful.
Post edited August 15, 2017 by fronzelneekburm
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fishbaits: Chrono.gg has >Observer_ for sale too, with Layers of fear for free.
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fronzelneekburm: One thing's for sure: Their release text blows gog's utterly pathetic embarrassment of a news post out of the water.

Like, ohmygod! I can't even! This news post is someone-ought-to-get-fired-for-this-tier awful.
Today is a national holiday in Poland - that probably did not help... but yes, this game could do with a re-launch, it deserves much more attention!
Just saved €29.99 . Will not run on my PC .
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fronzelneekburm: One thing's for sure: Their release text blows gog's utterly pathetic embarrassment of a news post out of the water.

Like, ohmygod! I can't even! This news post is someone-ought-to-get-fired-for-this-tier awful.
Wow. I hadn't even noticed, as I generally ignore anything gog say or post.
Just scrolled up &....it's almost an empty post.
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IFW: Today is a national holiday in Poland - that probably did not help...
That's why, whenever there is a holiday coming up and you're tasked with writing copy, you write that stuff a day or two in advance. I know, novel concept. ;P
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fronzelneekburm: One thing's for sure: Their release text blows gog's utterly pathetic embarrassment of a news post out of the water.

Like, ohmygod! I can't even! This news post is someone-ought-to-get-fired-for-this-tier awful.
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fishbaits: Wow. I hadn't even noticed, as I generally ignore anything gog say or post.
Just scrolled up &....it's almost an empty post.
I'm not generally one to complain about every single thing GOG does, like most users in these forums, and I also don't spend all of my time reminiscing about the "good old days" of GOG, but it's worth pointing out that their announcement/release threads have been quite... lackluster and bare for a while, now. Then again, they have been growing quite a lot, and publishing way more games than they used to, it's probably not easy to write an entire chapter about each game, like they used to.

Also, on a somewhat related note, while GOG used to capture their own screenshots of the games they sold, these days it looks like they just use whatever official screenshots the devs and/or publishers send them.

Not that I'm complaining, mind you, just stating these things.