Soma

Isaiah

I haven't seen any threads about this game here so I thought I would start one.

This is a game by Frictional games in the same vein as their previous Amnesia and Penumbra titles. Survival horror fps, no weapons and a story that unfolds before you. The traditional set up of Frictional games is here with the main protagonist not knowing what on earths going on for a good chunk of the game and as you go along more and more things come to light and fall into place until you have a very clear goal. Plenty of WTF moments, and for a horror game it doesn’t rely on jump scares but rather a sort of dark foreboding amd dread which typifies frictional games style.

Where this game really stands out is it's storytelling, I played it over 4 evenings and it was a very immersive (literally and figuratively, much of it is set in an underwater base ala Bio shock). There is a very original and unique story/backdrop here that is rare enough these days. It also askes some deep philosophical question to the player, about the nature of existence, reality and consciousness. A few decent plot twists, masterfully crafted world and steeped in heavy atmosphere.

Those who like Alien Isolation will love this, as will fans of post-apocalyptic exploration games. Without getting into spoilers I highly recommend playing it. I would say it's their best game since a dark descent, better than a machine for pigs in my opinion. Not as drawn out as Alien isolation but similar in Sci Fi feel. For me it's better than most AAA titles out there right now and if you are at a loose end between now and Fallout 4, this may be what you are looking for.


Anybody else played it? What did you think?

Links234

It's the type of game that I would absolutely love to play, but know I'd be too scared to actually play through it. I am a wuss.

Isaiah

Links234 wrote: »

It's the type of game that I would absolutely love to play, but know I'd be too scared to actually play through it. I am a wuss.

To be honest, I found it less scary than Amnesia or Penumbra, it's more of a Sci-Fi than a horror but I would be lying if I said that it didn’t catch me looking over my shoulder or turning my phone light on at night to scan the room and make sure that shadow in the corner was really my jacket on the chair and not some 'thing' that chased me in the game. It wears off pretty quick though.

When I played Amnesia: the dark descent, I literally had to train myself to play it alone because it was terrifying. After all my years of gaming (I'm an 80's kid) it was a brand new experience for me. Never felt such strong emotional reaction from a game even if it was largely terror!

The story intrigued me so much that I fought through the fear to get to the bottom of the mystery. That's the thing with these games, they invite you in with a great story but make you pay for each revelation.

d31b0y

I played it to completion. It's not as scary as Amnesia (I haven't played Penumbra). There are a few parts that I jumped a bit but overall, it felt linear, easy and quite short.
That's not to say I didn't enjoy myself though. It was quite a different take on a story and left me guessing what the hell was going on.

Very good ending. Make sure you watch it all the way past the credits!

Robert ninja

Been wanting this since I read about it on FrictionalGames's official site about a year ago I think but I've got a lot of other games to play right now. Gaming budget is low right now, too.

Wasn't this being designed with VR in mind? Has anyone tried it with that?

d31b0y

It would definitely lend itself to VR quite well I imagine.