Review john.huppenthal 5/5 · Nov 1, 2015
Surprisingly fresh take on an absurdly played out idea.
I really didn't think the "what does it mean to be human" sub-genre of sci-fi had any more left in the tank, but boy did SOMA prove me wrong. It managed to tell a fascinating story about human consciousness that provided some pretty agonizing choices (the one involving your arm near the end had me debating with myself for 15 …
Read moreI really didn't think the "what does it mean to be human" sub-genre of sci-fi had any more left in the tank, but boy did SOMA prove me wrong. It managed to tell a fascinating story about human consciousness that provided some pretty agonizing choices (the one involving your arm near the end had me debating with myself for 15 minutes before I could do anything). Luckily the horror elements aren't nearly as terrifying as they were in Amnesia, which makes the game much easier to recommend to non-horror aficionados. Don't get me wrong, the game is plenty tense, but the game lets you know when enemies are nearby through some pretty obvious screen effects and just sprinting by the bad guys can work a majority of the time. The only thing I have to say negative, and it's not really negative so much as something I wish they had done, is the choices, while narratively impactful, don't have any meaningful gameplay consequences outside of one notable instance. That instance has you choose between keeping a robot-man alive or getting to play the next section without the enemy. It was a powerful motivator to make 'the wrong' choice and more such instances would have been greatly appreciated. Hell, I could imagine a game where you get to make horrifying decisions and not face many, or any, enemies because you have in essence become the villain. But that's just spitballing. SOMA is a hell of a game with a powerful story and easily one of my favorite of the year so far.
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