Reviews - SOMA

This game is better than Amnesia and its such a perfect game.Soma is a game everyone should play in lifetime.

its become my favorite game, its mind blowing and it can have some downright depressing moments... its frictional's best work.

A gorgeously crafted story about humanity, consciousness... so beautifully and gracefully executed... true to Frictional. Expect to be touched by the story.

When SOMA's credits rolled, I was at a loss for words. This game was an emotional roller coaster, filled with moments of panic, tension, curiosity, and ambiguity. I can safely say this is by far the best horror game this year.

Pros:
+ masterful sound desgin and audio
+ a variety of enemies (at least 5) that behave differently
+ tells one of best stories I've ever seen
+ several very stressful, intense sequences
+ incredibly immersive, tense atmosphere
+ good length (between 9 and 11 hours of playtime)
+ you can make choices ( they don't really impact the story long-term but it's still cool!)

Cons:
- technical issues including low frame rates, minor bugs and lag spikes
- annoying puzzles
- too easy to run away from monsters

Overall: 9/10 Amazing ride. This was one of those games that got better and better as it went along and is a must play for any fans of horror, and/or story driven games.

When you do playing "SOMA", you do realize that even with outdated engine, you can still make a good video game with original story! And that is really "SOMA". Yes! It does have it's issues, but if you will look on that from other side, you will realize that even without wannabe Hollywood blockbuster mechanics, like: QTEs, heroic story, action etc... You can still make a good video game! Of course some graphic parts and other issues, are really out of these days and that is why the magic in it, is then really bigger, because the terror + atmosphere + great original settings with sound design, can still make a big part of why this video game, is still one of the best "Sci-Fi" video games ever! So the only most bad things in this game, are just it's enemies, what are sometimes really annoying, but gruesome/scary at the same time! What could also be better, are underwater segments, where you basically cannot do anything, apart of going to your next location. By that, the final verdict is: "7/10".

This will be the first ever video game I have played that I feel deserves a perfect score. While others will disagree, for me at least, everything Frictional has promised with this game has been delivered, and then some, and in my eyes is better than any of their previous works by a long shot. As a horror game, it's excellent: Looking back at tactics they used for Amnesia, they have improved greatly in my opinion. While I found Amnesia absolutely terrifying, there were two things about Amnesia that made it lose a bit of its terrifying experience for me: the despawning of enemies. Eventually you would know when you were safe because the hunting music would stop, letting you know the monster has despawned. The part other being hiding. The creatures in Amnesia weren't very bright, so unless you made any noise or screwed up along those lines, hiding in a closet or behind boxes would guarantee you safety until they despawned. With SOMA, the monsters are smart, don't despawn, check everywhere, are able to open doors without breaking them down, and there really weren't any places to hide. For me, that was a huge improvement; as I heard the creatures step closer to my location, I would be filled with absolute dread and terror as I played out the possible scenarios in my head and because you couldn't really hide anywhere, you would either have to act, trying to outsmart the said creature, or just sit there as it discovers you (granted, each monster had some sort of flaw making it a little easier to outsmart them.) The puzzles were good too, the game never once held your hand, and as long as you put some common sense into each puzzle based off of your surroundings, you would get through in a reasonable amount of time. As for atmosphere, Frictional nailed it. Mikko Tarmia makes another great soundtrack, and they've always been masters of sound design so nothing new here. As for graphically, the improved engine for this game made the whole thing come out beautiful and grim at the same time, far better than anything they've made. Voice acting was top notch, and the character(s) in the game were really well done and made me really attached and empathetic. For me though, the one thing that stood out more than anything was the game's story. As someone who's followed Frictional for a long time, I knew they wouldn't disappoint with the horror, but the entire story blew my expectations out of the water. Not only is the story original, which is often rare for a horror game, but it's very thought provoking and mind-blowing, and it, along with the affects of your choices, which for me, stayed in my head even after I was done playing for the night, make you extremely uncomfortable while at the same time makes you seriously contemplate the themes displayed in the dialogue and scenery. The story itself puts the psychological in psychological horror, which is what their aim was all along. It really makes you think about what it truly means to be "human," to be "alive" and "conscious," and adds those themes up with your morality. Because they've never really attempted to portray this kind of story before, I expected them to come up short, but I was dead wrong. There are no spoilers in this review, but I just want to say I've never played a game with an ending that's made me both devastated and happy at the same time. For me, this game had nothing wrong with it, except for the length, at ten hours or so, and that's only because I was so sorry I ever finished playing it fully through. To some people I may be over-exaggerating, and I can understand why they'd think so after reading this, but this is honestly and genuinely how I feel about SOMA. It's an absolute masterpiece in my mind, and by far the best gaming experience I've had in memory. Because of this game, I will now be behind Frictional with one hundred percent of my support. They really outdid themselves with this game, and I can't wait to see the games they've made after improving even more.

This was a GREAT rollercoaster of scares, feelings, great development of the even better story that is so geniusly crafted and told...
Who played Amnesia TDD and the the predecessors 'Penumbra', he HAS TO play this SOMA too! No buts, ifs - you HAVE TO!
10/10 is what I give the game, it deserves it!

Where do I begin with this game? I went in, expecting a plesent horror game developed by one of my favorite Indie developers. What I came out with? Something completely different. SOMA brings a new meaning to life, death, and what exactly a state of being is. SOMA stretches out to a terrifying branch of what one could call Cyberpunk. SOMA not only touches on type of philosophical questions that Cyberpunk media may ask, it hits the questions hard. This game doesn't use the common in your face horror, and scares, this game gives you ideas, and theories to think about that are so..Terrifying. This game gets under your skin and craws there, not only the story, but the gameplay too. It's really anxiety horror, it makes you fear what could happen. The storytelling in this game is wonderful, the gameplay is fun, the level design is brilliant, and the visuals are beautiful. There is really nothing bad I have to say about this game.

Wow, first there was Penumbra series I was so excited to start playing those.. played all the series and love it. Then frictional released Amnesia which was super-exciting, thrilling, amazing and one of the most nerve-wracking experiences I ever felt in my whole life and this continued years, because people created so original and unique mods and used different experiences, things and I played those over nearly 1000 stories from beginning to an end. What a gem amnesia still is.

Then.. SOMA was released! I watched every freaking trailer and I loved how different this is going to be and IT IS. First couple hours I feeled the atmosphere how unique it was and when I was progressing even further then everything feeled I wasn't alone and I was really scared at this point. FG manages again to make something so scary I never expected to fear that much in some areas where enemies were lurking and walking slowly. This game has so nerve-wracking moments too and unpredictable moments I never expected, I hided too many times in a corner and weeped like a bitch it was that SCARY. I applaud FG again, because they did it again and I ******* my pants literally too many times. I loved so much that design and how every underwater part was maded all the chases, intense moments, puzzles and that story with Catherine and working together and figuring everything out, how we come to this? How we espace? and all the other mystery questions waiting to reveal.

Monsters are really terrifying and that "Scary effect" when screen is tearing it was really good idea to put that and make something different and not using same bluriness what Amnesia has when enemy is too close.

I never been more sucked-in story what this game is, it's beautiful, it's depressing at times, really sad and player really can feel the sorrow, but still brave enough to continue it and end it all.

Pos:

- Story
- Music
- Monsters (really scary ones too)
- Atmosphere
- Intense and terrifying chases
- Puzzles (really challenging ones too)
- Complicated map design which is awesome and unique
- Never expected and nerve-wracking moments

Neg:

- Sometimes I got FPS drops and not smoothly gameplay (average 40-50 fps)
- Maybe little longer it felt short after all

Amazing work Frictional again! This team got so much potential I'm eager to wait what they will create next! I'm proud to be long-time Fricitional fan and I always will be! Fantastic!

Amazing ride with new things and unique approaches - 10/10

Masterpiece. Frictional Games really stepped up from Amnesia, providing higher quality in every aspect.