Summary: + Minimalist aesthetics + Cool physics-based puzzles + Superb level and sound design + Creates a rare sense of achievement and catharsis in the end - Some puzzles required unforgiving precision and required too many trials (but maybe that’s due to my inferior button smashing skills) Review: There’s not much to say, this here is an instant classic! A decidedly minimalist game, which turns this aesthetic to its advantage and delivers on all fronts. The fame has appropriate length, cool main character, who will be dying in various cruel ways without a single peep and haunting sound design, which will remain with you forever. I give it 4.5/5 but only because I think “Inside”, the next game by Playdead, is even better.
Summary: + Immersive 2.5D environments with fitting sound design + Meaningful dystopian story + Creative puzzles with intuitive solutions + Responsive controls and forgiving gameplay + Overall balanced and cathartic experience of appropriate length Review: Having played “Limbo” just a few months before “Inside”, I have felt that this game featured a lot of improvements over the previous title. The story is much deeper in allegorical sense and the environments are richer, but aesthetically still minimalist. The are various cool mechanics to play with, the puzzles feel very natural and their solutions intuitive. There’s also secrets and I admit I have googled for a walkthrough to find them all, but it was worth the hassle. As I do not have superior button smashing skills usually required for 2D/2.5D platforming games, such as “Ori and the Blind Forest”, this game felt especially fresh and forgiving for my little missteps. Overall, I rate my experience 5/5 and this is probably the best 2D/2.5D game I have played so far.
Summary: +Intelligent story and good writing in general (NPCs, dialogues, collectible pieces of lore) +Nicely crafted and believable environments +Truly immersive explorative experience (Game does not hold your hand) +Enough of spine chilling moments -Lackluster run & hide mechanic, slightly clunky controls Review: At most times “Soma” feels like an exploration game with simple puzzles. Having said that, at first I felt that the whole enemy mechanic was a bit redundant or could have been implemented better. On the other hand, monsters logically tie into story and the story itself is one of the two things done exceptionally well in this game; the second being an unsettling atmosphere of secret underwater labs and ocean floor. Another big plus for a game of this type is that it does not include HUD and does not give overly specific instructions on where to go and what to do. As a player character who finds himself in this abandoned and unfamiliar place, you have to figure out a lot of things yourself. All of these are pretty intuitive and most of the time you are actually given clues, if you pay attention. However, after playing such survival horror titles as “Dead Space”, I felt the controls were a bit clunky and I was especially powerless against monsters in “Soma”. Most of the times, I could not help but wish for a way to blast them away. Overall, I think this indie title delivered on most of the aspects, so I give it 4 out of 5.
