SOMA

[Shalltear Bloodfallen]

 

The radio is dead, food is running out, and the machines have started to think they are people. Underwater facility PATHOS-II has suffered an intolerable isolation and we're going to have to make some tough decisions. What can be done? What makes sense? What is left to fight for?

 

Enter the world of SOMA and face horrors buried deep beneath the ocean waves. Delve through locked terminals and secret documents to uncover the truth behind the chaos. Seek out the last remaining inhabitants and take part in events that will ultimately shape the fate of the station.

But be careful, danger lurks in every corner: corrupted humans, twisted creatures, insane robots, and an inscrutable omnipresent A.I.

You will need to figure out how to deal with each one of them. But remember, there's no fighting back,

Either you outsmart your enemies or you get ready to run.

 

SOMA is a sci-fi horror game from Frictional Games, the creators of Amnesia: The Dark Descent. It is an unsetteling story about identity, consciousness, and what it means to be human.

 

 

So I picked this up, somewhat against my better judgement (given my current living situation and attitude towards horror games), but and I must say, it's good to see Frictional Games rediscovered the root of what made Amnesia so scary, but also manage to evolve beyond the original formula into an entirely new setting.

 

While the game offers less true "scares" then Amnesia, and Penumbra, the pace and buildup is far more sinister, as it leaves the message and atmosphere to truly sink in as you delve through the bottom of the abyss, praying for answers to why you're there, how you got there, where "there" is, and your own existence.

 

Visually, the game represents a significant leap from the old Amnesia standard, as the setting is wonderfully detailed, both in what little beauty remains, and the disrepair PATHOS-II has fallen into as the machines work to further blend living tissue with machines (deus ex this is not)

 

Sound design blends on that perfect note where it's hard to differentiate ambiance from an approaching enemy to further enhance the feeling of being trapped on the bottom of the ocean with machines gone crazy.

 

However those looking for a return of things such as the old Sanity system from Amnesia:TDD will be sorely dissapointed, as SOMA holds by some of the simplified aspects of Amnesia:Machine for Pigs where there's not much of an inventory, nor resource managment to worry about. But in my mind such a system does not belong with the story SOMA is trying to tell.

 

Frictional Games know what they're trying to say here, and they're not afraid to go for it.

If you liked their previous work such as the Penumbra series or Amnesia, I cant recommend it enough,

but come for the story and atmosphere, as both are where this game truly shines in my mind.

 

Dont come for the scares.

 

 

Questions? Thoughts? Comments? Lets hear 'em.

I'm honestly just curious to hear about your experiences with this game, as I've gone on long enough with my own