SOMA

You might be like me. You might not like the survival horror genre, because the creepy ambiance doesn't do anything for you and all you are left with is a basic story and deliberately clunky controls to make you feel powerless. If you are like me, you will still enjoy SOMA. I'll be honest. I initially was not going to pick up SOMA, because it is a survival horror game. However, the trailers for the game were very well done (definitely check out the Mockingbird and Vivarium trailers), so I decided to check it out anyways. I'm glad I did. First off, technical stuff. I've played this on Linux and have encountered no issues. Provided you fulfill the requirements, the game runs at a smooth 60 FPS. Speaking of, I would also add a good set of headphones to the requirements, as the sound design is incredible. Okay, on to why I love this game. Personally, I wouldn't think of SOMA as a survival horror game, but rather as a sci-fi thriller with a strong emphasis on mood. You will encounter adversaries, but most of the time it will be just you and the oppressive atmosphere of PATHOS-II. That said, survival is still very much a thing in SOMA. You will constantly have to keep your wits about you and be aware of your surroundings. Thing is, it won't be your survival instinct that will keep you going. The driving factor for me was the story. What starts out as a survival scenario, quickly evolves into something much more. It kills me that I can't expand on the game's strongest point for fear of spoiling it, but I will say this: the story will keep you thinking long after you've completed the game. If you like sci-fi, if you like plots that keep you wondering or alternatively, if you are curious to see what may be Frictional Games' biggest departure from their previous works, you owe it to yourself to play this game.

+ The writing is good and the characters are compelling (especially Simon). + It's less hardcore than Amenesia : The dark descent. And it's a good thing imo. There are still somes challenges but it never gets frustrating. I think the game has the good ballance between a walking simulator and a hide-and-seek simulator. + The puzzles are nice and varied, it wont burn your brain but it's a nice break from the ambiant horrors. + The graphics are good and the environments varied enough, but it lack in details sometimes. And I had to play in DSR to get a decent anti-aliasing. - The gameplay is okay, it does its job but it's never ground breaking. Also please next game stop making us open doors with a mouse mouvement, it's super annoying and not practical. For levers ands valves it's fine though. - Something I have hard time to forgive : Choices doesn't matter at all. And it's a shame because there are so many dilemmas in this game. But they are here just to make you feel bad and to add to the story. Which is a worthy enough reason after all. To resume : It's a dark Sci-fi story worth a film or a novel that you will be sucked in until you finish the game. I had a lot of pleasure playing this game (hence the 5 stars even with its flaws) and it succeded in making me care for the story of Simon. I think thoses games should evolve from the walking/hiding simulators and go more into a System Shock/resident evil direction. More into a real survival horror where you could fight somes of the enemies and still had to hide from the stronger ones. As long as we get solid stories like SOMA.

This game is something that you dont really see much. I mean, not often you see games setting such phylosophycal questions about what is real, and is AI alive. The devs also made a great atmosphere, of it all being so down and misreble. It was surely worth playing.

This game, with it's amazing fascinating story, has managed to give me a horrific feeling. The set-up for the game is creepy and original, you go trough multiple sites on the bottom of the ocean trying to save what remained of humanity. The monsters, gosh, horrible and disturbing, fit for the horror genre. However it's not just the monsters and the tension when they are chasing you, the story is, somehow unpleasant but captivating. I recommend giving this a try, even if you are not a fan of horror games, this one gives you a "safe" difficulty, making the monsters harmless, yet still creepy.

The first half-hour of this game is absolutely unforgettable. I was delighted to find myself in an apartment in Toronto, digging through cupboards looking for my meds. As the story unfolds, and the uncomfortable tension gave way to well-exectued horror--well, this game scared me like I haven't been scared by a game since, let's say, XCom circa 1992. Kudos! I love that the player uses brains rather than brawn to sequence through the story. The puzzles are well done and the ambiance is fabulous. It's not perfect: sometimes the "sneak and run" mechanic gets a bit tired, and the voice acting leaves things to be desired. The undersea setting occasionally feels a bit like a Bioshock re-run. But at the end of the day, this is a great experience from a cool company--and it even runs on Linux! Thanks guys!