SOMA

An excellent sci-fi game with a cool exploring / sneaking / running mechanic with a big focus on story. Story is very original, characters and dialogue are believeible and well-voiced, writing is immersive, Graphics are fine, good for 2015. Sound and music are in my opinion, EXCELLENT... I found it quite scary and the game give me a real feeling of dread everytime I had to leave my hiding spot to sneak past "something." Its just that immersive. Just an all-around impressive effort... it's crazy how much better these 10-year old games are than more recent games... It would be very unfair to call it a book instead of game BUT it is very linear and while your choices matter, they are somewhat limited. Save mechanic is a bit unusual, you can only save when exiting the game to the main menu... I just used auto-save for most of the game and then for the last 20% when things get pretty dangerous I did do a bit of manual saving to get around hazards just because I didn't want to lose all my progress and have to sneak across another 300 meters of sea floor again... So I guess what I am saying is the save mechanic is fine, but auto-saves need to be a bit more regular, especially in the dangerous areas.

I played this back when it released and it's stuck with me all this time. I rarely complete games, but Soma had me hooked the whole time. Some parts are a little confusing, but overall it wraps up nicely. The whole experience is a perfect blend of underwater sci-horror, with a good mix of philosophical questions to ponder long after playing.

One of the best games I've played in a while. The story was captivating, and really impacted me in a way only Outer Wilds has been able to do before.

The pacing is particularly good, giving enough pauses and puzzles to break up the horror elements so that those, like me, that are not so into the horror side can definitely enjoy this. It reminded me, in a good way, of the original System Shock.

Frictional comes through again splendidly with SOMA. I came into this after playing through Amnesia, and Frictional really managed to outdo itself by taking an entirely different path to get to the unsettling parts of mind with this title. I've never encountered a title that managed to deliver such dread just by presenting me with questions. The atmosphere is superb and your progression really builds over time, but the worst moments are planted like seeds within you, hidden away and left to bloom.