SOMA review

Exceptional

by huntinghollers

When Frictional Games released the first Part of their Penumbra series in 2007, which was preceded by a technical Demo a Year earlier, I was personally fascinated from the Beginning by The concept of the Series, the Essence of a Horror Game, that is, its Key Elements, the Atmosphere, the Fear, the Discomfort, to put in the Foreground and superfluous Components such as exaggerated action, inflationary Splatter effects and other Brims, which are more likely To come from Games such as Resident Evil 6 or the last Dead Space Mediocre Shooters have made as real Horror Games to hide. They should continue to pursue this Principle with the Sequel "Black Plague" in 2008 and ultimately give them the final Breakthrough with "Amnesia-The dark descent" from 2010. Frictional Games should also inspire many other Developers, not least because of the Ability to easily program their own Stories and Missions (so-called "Custom Stories"). Now Soma, her latest Title, has been on the Table since 2015 and only now (June 2017) I come to take a closer look at it. On the Action itself, which is clearly Science fiction-more Lavery and philosophical than e.g. Penumbra, unlike this one, does not end absurdly, but begins absurd, but this is not to be a Disadvantage, I would like to deal only superficially. It is steinterly striking With Parallels with Bioshock, Dead Space and Slender, but in no Second does the Knowledge that this is a Game of Frictional Games go down. Much more I would like to focus on the playful aspect of the Title, which you can now see that the Creators, through a significantly more lush Voiceover of the different Characters and a noticeably more ambitious Plot, which very quickly wants to be very much (SF, Drama, Horror, Romance etc.), had a significantly bigger Budget available. This is joined By puzzles that are too often mundane for my Taste, and smaller So-called "Jump-scares" and Screen Filters (as you know them from Slender), which are known from a Bunch of smaller Would-be horror games and extensions, but not in the latest Title of the Penumbra makers of 2015 should expect dignity. That Group of Game developers who have given new Impetus to this Genre. Added to this is the (apparent) fact that you are more likely to die hard. If you Get an Opponent, you are KO for five Seconds and then get up in the same Spot again. Only the second Time in a row (but you have to queue a little silly for that), you die and always start at the last of the Memory Points that the Game sows lavishly. All this blends together into a thread and noticeable Aftertaste, which comes when Playing the quite atmospherically dense SOMA. You get the Feeling that SOMA is no longer as creepy, not as sinister as the previous Games of the Makers. This is despite the fact that this time they had more Budget at their disposal, although here you can see again very well that this is not all. Were my Expectations perhaps too high? Quite possible. Very good even. Don't Get me wrong, I had and have a lot of Fun with SOMA, which is more based than its Predecessors on an exciting and reasonably innovative Plot that will tie you to the Screen until the End (about 10 Hours). I just think it's a shame that there are now games like Outcast that Have trumped Frictional Games, in some Ways the Lords of the Revolution, in my Opinion. FOR me, SOMA is playfully based too much on Tried-and-tested. Only the Surroundings have been attractively redesigned (here a Plus Point). Am I disappointed? Maybe a very small Bite. Is SOMA a bad Game because of this? Not at all, that's why I made a Recommendation. But Don't Go with the Expectations that Frictional Games has once again reinvented the Wheel here or is focusing just as much on anxiety as it was in Penumbra at The time, and treat yourself to the Game for €10.