SOMA by Frictional Games [PS4]

[RenegadeRocks]

This is why indies are important :

Fantastic concept ! Lovely ! These are the guys who made the Amnesia series of games, which in themselves are very unique, but this, this concept is like 'Wow' !
With the kindof production values indies are managing these days, I am having more fun on small indie games on Steam than on AAA games. Very happy to see Indies making consoles their home now. Even though Sony did it for thier own profits, to find a un que marketing line, but I am happy Indies are in spotlight these days.

 

[Cjail]

It looks interesting but I can't stand first person games without full body awareness.

 

[DieH@rd]

This gameplay section was made for demo only.

I think it is great that Sony is funding so many awesome indie titles [and experimental AAA titles].

 

[RenegadeRocks]

Its releasing today and has got 8 to 10s in reviews. My wallet will get lighter today, I had no idea this was releasing today !

 

[Sigfried1977]

Downloaded mine remotely from work. I hope it breaks the curse of modern horror games, if only a little bit. No idea who it was, but someone on YT succinctly summed up the gameplay of most modern horror games: they are really just Pacman with a lighting engine and a single ghost.

 

[DieH@rd]

No idea who it was, but someone on YT succinctly summed up the gameplay of most modern horror games: they are really just Pacman with a lighting engine and a single ghost.

This is true for most stealth games.... which is a reason why I so much love the MGSV who shook the formula quite a bit.

 

[Sigfried1977]

It's not really true at all. At least it hasn't been true for a long while: most stealth games that are at elast semi-recent give you the option to run away, sure. They also give you about a million other ways to tackle any given situation. It's not just MGSV. Horror games used to work exactly like that until they started reducing gameplay to running away and hiding under the occasional bed. Don't know why. Presumably because that's easier for the let's players. That's why games like Resident Evil remain interesting once you've seen them through to the end for the first time. First you beat them, then it's time to get good at them. I'd argue that more layered gameplay actually elevates the level of tension and scariness. In older horror games, there's usually more at stake than simply making it through an encounter. Doing so poorly might actually bite you in the ass later. Also, making the player completely powerless only works so long before it gets annoying. For example, during the later parts of Outlast I just ran around like a headless chicken until I eventually made it. It wasn't tense or scary. It just annoyed me when I got caught.

 

[RenegadeRocks]

Played the prologue...this definitely is something special ! I am already very intrigued by what the hell is going on and can't wait for it to fully download. Its like a good adventure game, as fo now, where u so want to know what happening and what will happen.

 

[Sigfried1977]

I was a little shocked by the shoddiness of the graphics in the game's intro - haven't seen video game hair helmets like this since Silent Hill Homecoming. Or Lego. But once you're in the game proper, everything takes a massive turn for the better. (as illustrated by the screens above)

 

[RenegadeRocks]

I was a little shocked by the shoddiness of the graphics in the game's intro - haven't seen video game hair helmets like this since Silent Hill Homecoming. Or Lego. But once you're in the game proper, everything takes a massive turn for the better. (as illustrated by the screens above)

Yup, had the same experience....graphics looked very indie in the beginning but soon things changed.

 

[Billy Idol]

Is it super scary?? Or comparable to Until Dawn (which was super scary!!)

 

[Sigfried1977]

I'd say it's way scarier than Until Dawn. But then I didn't think Until Dawn was scary in the least. It's no P.T. No Amnesia either really. It's really more tense than scary. Kinda like Alien Isolation.

 

[Sigfried1977]

One more thing: I can already tell that I'm not gonna be a hundred percent on board with this game. Once again the part where you're actually playing the damn thing seems to be a bit perfunctory.

 

[Deleted member 11852]

I'd say this is far less scary than Until Dawn. I've only put about 2 hours into SOMA but thus far I've encountered just one combatant enemy and that was part of a puzzle where the goal isn't to kill the enemy but to avoid it, which is very easy to do.

The atmosphere is great and, initially, the mystery is about who you and why you are there and this is extremely well executed. Once you realise a bit more about the who and what, you then need to work out why everything has gone to crap. I'm really enjoying it.

 

[RenegadeRocks]

My game just won't download ! WTF ! Wanna kill my ISP......C4 them all and fulton the bloody building itself

 

[Sigfried1977]

I thought you already started it?
Game is really starting to win me over, by the way. It's just very intriguing conceptionally.

 

[digitalwanderer]

Finished it last night on the PC and absolutely loved it! Fantastic story telling!

 

[RenegadeRocks]

I thought you already started it?
Game is really starting to win me over, by the way. It's just very intriguing conceptionally.

The initial download got done, got stuck later, so had played the prologue....I am around the halfway mark and its a fine fine adventure game . The horror parts seem like they are there because the company makes horror games.Otherwise this is a very good old school adventure game. Loving the storytelling, the story and the puzzles ! Horror, parts, well, now that I know whats happening, I am not that horrified anywayand am just very very intrigued as to what happens now. So, I just rush pastthe horror. Lovely game !

From the way things statred and are unravelling, I can already feel this will not end normally ! I can't wait to see the end !

 

[Silent_Buddha]

This gameplay section was made for demo only.

I think it is great that Sony is funding so many awesome indie titles [and experimental AAA titles].

Eh? Sony didn't fund this. Frictional games have been making PC games (Wintel/Mac/Linux) for a long long time now, they just had an opportunity to release it on PS4 as well and took it. It would have been released on PC regardless of whether Sony existed or not. Assuming it does well on PS4, then the next Penumbra game is likely to see a release on console as well.

The game was in development on PC long before the PS4 was likely even in the design phase. http://blog.us.playstation.com/2013/10/11/soma-frictional-games-brings-sci-fi-horror-to-ps4/?utm_source=feedburner&utm_medium=feed&utm_campaign=Feed:+PSBlog+(PlayStation.Blog) Started development on it back in 2010.

And yes, great game.

Regards,
SB

 

[Sigfried1977]

Finished it yesterday. Great concept. Great story. Really sticks the landing in the end too. That said, the stealth gameplay sections - as few and far between as they were, thank goodness - were all rather poor and kind of annoying at worst. Really felt like the developers implemented those because that's what people expected. I would have preferred a pure adventure game myself.

Also, did anyone else think the dialog was a bit cringeworthy at times? The use of swear words felt particularly unnatural.