SOMA

Frictional Games outdone themselves with this amazing game, absolute perfect.

Do you know that feeling, when you finish a game and you wish you could unsee what you’ve seen to experience the whole thing again? Well, I definitely didn’t feel like that after finishing this. This is going to be an unpopular opinion but sometimes you got to have one of those. Not that it is not worth buying, it is an enjoyable game, but perhaps a bit overrated. I’m not a fan of horror games, but I don’t have a problem with them either. Usually, it is not a factor for me. I’m okay with my heart occasionally skipping a beat when something jumps at me from the dark. So, I started playing in normal mode. But the devs mixed sneaking and running with puzzle solving. So, when you are on a level, and you need to figure out how to get through, you cannot just simply discover stuff. Nope. You have to sneak around, avoid stuff, run like hell, and a simple puzzle that would take 2 minutes to solve takes half an our instead, which is really frustrating after some time. And of course, you cannot change this setting halfway through. So, I only recommend the normal mode to the most deviant horror game fans, who don’t care about the story nor the puzzles, just want to sneak around dark corners with a heart rate of 150 bpm. It is difficult to talk about the story without spoilers while making sense. The plot is great with huge twists, unexpected revelations and OMG moments, but unfortunately it burns through its fuel by half of the game, and operates on thrusters from that point on. By that time you have a good picture of what’s going on and you have a good idea of what is going to happen. But you try to believe that it is going to be different, you would see more twists and cliffhangers, but you won’t. What’s more, in the end the game literally tells you that you were a fool if you thought otherwise. All in all, it’s a good sci-fi/horror graphic novel with only a mildly bitter aftertaste, but no feeling of emptiness afterwards. Which could be considered as a good thing.

Played it through twice by now (first playing with friends on a spooky night close to Haloween couple years ago, now again to refresh it in my memory) - both times hit the same. Great atmospheric horror game, which maybe not as startling as some other jumpscare-focused games, but it still makes you shiver and wonder what is behind that corner and what is lurking in the dark. Great story that asks you important questions of existence as human and where does it end - being a human. I definitely recommend this game to anyone interested in sci-fi horror with interesting plot and amazing dark atmosphere.

I haven't played any of the other games by Frictional, but if they're anything like this, I might have to get them! I would also add that I'm not usually into horror games, but this one reeled me in. A storyline that starts small and unfolds as you progress and really gets you caught up in things. And boy is it anxiety inducing in sections!

I won't spoil anything, you just have to trust me! ;)