Posted on: March 30, 2018

Alcator.504

Games: 187 Reviews: 4

Fascinating and clever horror story

SOMA was the first horror game I ever managed to finish, after giving up on Amnesia and never even finding the courage to launch Outlast. I am not an expert on the genre. SOMA is a thought-provoking game that presents the player with a seemingly simple question "What makes us human?" and then offers several chances to review and change your answer, through cleverly told story. The main protagonist, Simon, is an average guy who worked in a bookstore, so he is no rocket scientist, and some things don't click for him as quickly as perhaps for the player. Soon after the game starts, an intriguing companion, Catherine, joins him as a "voice over a radio / remote hacker" type of assistant, and together, they are trying to find hope in a hopeless post-apocalyptic situation. If you are looking for information about the scary parts, the horror aspects, you should know that the game offers a "SAFE" mode, in which monsters, while still very creepy by their mere presence, cannot kill you. This mode allows you to take in the story without having to worry about stealth or outmaneuvering the monsters. That said, once you've finished the game with the SAFE mode, you should definitely try the NORMAL one and appreciate the variety of opponents. Besides monsters, there are several elements that build the horror aspect: The amazing sound design, with all the unsettling noises and music cues, and also all the decorations and entities you meet, which make the world come alive and tell its depressing story. The environment - submerged places and open seafloor - is pretty unique in the gaming world, so it is very original and captures your interest. It's full of details that really sell the story. I can recommend this game to all mature audiences.

Is this helpful to you?

Posted on: April 24, 2018

Sakeepa

Verified owner

Games: 66 Reviews: 4

Quite the experience!

I'm rather new to the whole sandbox, horror, explore and progress type of games but I can truthfully admit that this was a ride all on it's own. The game is very well made and functions to near perfection appart from the occasional framrate stutter when entering new areas. The story is refreshing and tickles the mind with various dilemmas to consider so with all this in mind I can highly recommend the game.

Is this helpful to you?

Posted on: April 24, 2018

silentdriver

Verified owner

Games: 959 Reviews: 9

could have been so much more

i did love the original system shocks or bioshocks due the nature of their thought-provoking stories - something that made me buy soma too because everybody was so keen on its story. now, after completing it on normal difficulty, i have to say that i was gorgiously entertained, that some does not have to be shy to be compared to that forementioned games (even though it's no first person shooter at all of course). the only thing i didn't like was its complete lack of consequences. without spoilering anything here - i'd really wished the developers had enough money or motivation or both to branch out the storyline here or there or to make at least more nods to the players (ultimately not very consequential) decisions. nevertheless: two thumbs up for that indie-masterpiece. hopefully we'll see a sequel to soma one day (fingers crossed!).

Is this helpful to you?

Posted on: May 21, 2018

HystriX

Verified owner

Games: 92 Reviews: 3

Great atmospheric horror

I received this game for free during some sale but I'd definitely buy it if I knew about it earlier. This is the first game which made me feel like I'm playing Silent Hill 2 / 3 / 4 again. Also sometimes it felt like "Subnautica on foot", if you played that game, you'll understand what I'm trying to say :) What I liked: * Immersive gameplay with realistic sense of oppressive fear. You are afraid for long periods of time, not scare for a moment after some "screamers". * Perfectly fit ambient sound. Does 40% of the atmosphere. * Really scary invincible enemies. You just want to get away really fast without them seeing you. * Good voice acting, not perfect but good. * Great plot forcing you to make some decisions and thinking. * Very interesing idea with visual distortions, don't turn them off. They make another 20% of the atmosphere like that radio in Silent Hill. * Sometimes it's hard to orient and even to see with your eyes, thanks to distortions and carefully chosen lighting, quite challenging. What I disliked: * Bad optimization. The performance sometimes is very bad even on quite average settings. The always lags fro a minute when loading save and during location transitions via airlocks. Fallout 4 and Witcher III work much better on the same PC. * Most of the enemies don't kill you even after several blows. So sometimes it felt a bit easier than I wished. But at the same time some other episodes were quite challenging. In any case the game is totally worth the money and the time. I completed it for only 15 hours and I'm very slow, always search all the areas and read all texts.

Is this helpful to you?

Posted on: June 2, 2018

akaLuckyEye

Verified owner

Games: 138 Reviews: 7

What is life and what makes you you?

A good game that asks the questions "what is life and what makes you you?". The game is mostly you walking around and finding stuff so you can get to the next area, reading data logs and listening to recordings to undersand the world and some horror elements that is mostly scare jumps and hiding in corners and wishing that you were somewhere else. There is some choice making but I not sure how much it effect the ending. The world and atmosphere is great I was very intrested in finding out more about the world and what have happend.

Is this helpful to you?

Discover CD PROJEKT RED games

Highlights

Featured

Close, but not an exact hit

SOMA

Other ratings

Add a review

Edit a review

Delete this review?

Report this review

Additional Details (required):

Report this review