Soma Game Review
My review of Soma, a survival exploration game
What’s it about?
You go in for a brain scan, and wake up on a creepy underwater laboratory. You explore trying to figure out what happened to all the people, how you got there, and why there are scary monsters running around.
Who would like it?
People who like exploration games, moderately scary horror, and philosophical science fiction
What is the gameplay like?
It’s a first person game where you explore, find puzzles and clues, and try to hide from the monsters chasing you.
Does one specific element of the game stand out to you?
The story is deep and captivating. I loved reading all the clues and lore to learn more about the game’s history.
What elements did you like?
It’s a great mix of exploration and puzzle solving, with bursts of scariness
I like how it gradually reveals the mystery to you and it feels like you’re unravelling it. I couldn’t predict where the story was going and I was engaged until the end.
Impressive graphics, especially for an indie game
Good difficulty level for the puzzles. Sometimes I had to backtrack and think, but I didn’t get stuck very often.
Satisfying ending
What elements did you dislike?
Sometimes it’s pretty unclear what you need to do. Sometimes you just need to plug in a nondescript hose, which wasn’t obvious. I had to look up a guide a couple times
The monsters can be a little bit buggy, sometimes they would spawn in an incredibly inconvenient place that would force me to restart the game
There could be more variety in the scenery. The underwater labs blended together
How does the game compare to similar games?
Frictional games has a similar game called Amnesia, which is also excellent. Soma is even better, since it’s more polished and has great modern graphics
It’s like resident evil, where you’re trying to escape buildings with zombies wandering around. It’s much less intense and action oriented than resident evil though