SOMA

This is a hard game to write a review for because this is one of the best story driven games I've played in a long time and I can't tell you why it's so good without spoiling it. Part of what makes this game good is that I keep thinking about about it long after I've finished it. I've played every one of Frictional's games starting with Penumbra, the Amnesia Games and now SOMA. If you've played any of their previous games, you should have a good idea of what you're getting into. This is their best game yet. SOMA stands out above their previous games because it is more focused on the story being told and a little less on the puzzle solving, but there are still some good puzzles to solve. I found the setting and environments of SOMA to be scarier than Amnesia. To me, the sci-fi setting was more realistic and believable than the supernatural setting of Amnesia, and the game sound was excellent.

I must say this is a great game with a very good story, and I have enjoyed it. The game world is interesting and a lot of care has been put into perhaps mundane but important aspects such as toilets, mess halls, personal effects etc. The way you get more and more into the story is very interesting with realistic characters (with the exception of the end game boss fight which is ridiculous and has almost no lore despite potentially being really interesting and answering many questions). The philosophical questions it poses and the fact that it explores multiple sides of the same question are really great and it is all in all a very respectable sci-fi story that I'd love to read in a book. My only issue with it is that there is absolutely no choice and the protagonist sometimes has very strong ideas that conflict with my own. At times this is not a problem as it brings up some interesting psychological conundrums, but other times it's just in the way a bit, and I feel like I have questions or statements to make that the game just doesn't let me. Another issue, if I were to nit pick, is that the story is sometimes kind of hard to follow with a lot of characters and the use of first names, surnames and abbreviated names making it hard to understand who was stationed where and what their role was. Another small issue with it is that the story is mostly told via reading or audio logs, which is not as interesting as actually being able to interact with real characters. It sometimes feels like I'm reading a book about what happened instead of being there. PS: I highly recommend playing in Safe Mode, the monsters are generally just a nuisance and sometimes prevent you from enjoying the lore. Plus, the game doesn't exactly tell you how to deal with each type of monster (and sometimes actually harms you, e.g. angler fish that are attracted to light) so it's a lot of frustration with little benefit from the artificial tension that most of the game isn't there anyway.

This is the best game I played this year. Thank you to everyone on the development team that brought this masterpiece to the world. You guys rock!!

It's been a while since I liked a game so much, and I usually prefer action games. I also played Amnesia but this one is far better. I actually read all terminals, books etc which I normally don't have the patience for. The atmosphere in this game is amazing, play it in the dark with headphones on and you'll feel you are the protagonist himself. The monsters are a bit annoying from time to time, but to be honest I also almost shat my pants when running from them. If you are looking for something else then the usual cookie cutter games, try this one.

This psychological thriller of a game is honestly one of the best in its class. It pulls from a few tried and true scifi and philosophical concepts but mixed togeather with its own originality. Overall I absolutely love this game, and am truly blessed to have played it. If you're a scifi geek obsessed with philosophical questions about existence and transhumanism and you like slower paced games where you piece together the story and can take your time to really savour the surroundings and story then this game is definetly for you. The only caveat perhaps is that this game has less options in terms of role play and is more of you going along with the ride.