Vivian on 26/2/2016 at 15:38
OK, also finished it. It's a great bit of work let down by some rather too on-the-nose dialogue and stuff (HEY DOESN'T THIS ALL REALLY MAKE YOU THINK ABOUT WHAT IT MEANS TO BE A HUMAN, EH?, plus the fact that the station is called Pathos in case you missed any of the very subtle VA hammery). One thing bugged me until I'd figured it out, and while I'm putting this in spoiler tags, I think realising it helps a lot with immersion once you've got a small way in - the WAU isn't in control of it's own creations, is it? It's trying to make a suitable substrate for a human mind to live in, and it doesn't know what it's doing, so they've all gone flipping mental. Thats why they go for you. Otherwise why would you, another WAU creation, be its enemy? They've woken up in a mad body and it's driven them feral, attacking anything on sight. Although this is an actual spoiler, except Terry Akers, he actually turned himself into a gimpy, bum-faced techno-wight and killed everyone, so he probably DOES wish you direct harm. But yeah, it's good, and the later bits get properly inky-deep and gnarly, with the horror quite nicely balanced between visceral threat and the bleak indifference of a cruel universe. I'm into it.
Don't watch the transmission series of promo films though because they're shit and basically make it all sound like Dead Space.
Oh yeah and there are several bits where the monsters are just bloody annoying. Soldier through.
Judith on 7/3/2016 at 08:42
I thought I'd finish it yesterday, when I got to Tau, but apparently there are still a few sections before me. While I like the theme and the story, I think pacing is a bit off towards the end, the game kinda overstays its welcome. Also, using the same assets after the Climber section made me think why isn't everything squished or twisted under such pressure ;) All in all, Frictional did a great job. It's probably something closest to first Bioshock, the one we were promised, i.e. the version before Irrational panicked and made it a shooter at the very last moment.
Edit:
Regarding the ending, I'm kinda surprised the cutscene where Simon 4 and Catherine live in the ARK is considered a happy outcome. Obviously, devs didn't read „A maze of Death” by P.K. Dick, and that was the first thing that popped into my mind while watching that satellite drifting slowly through space.
Mr.Duck on 12/3/2016 at 02:13
Finished it yesterday and loved it to bits. And to me the ending was depressing af, but still awesome.
Vicarious on 12/3/2016 at 09:35
The pacing is definitively the biggest issue of the game. TDD was actually pretty slick in that regard, nothing was dragging or happening too fast. In SOMA there are sections there are just way too long, especially some of the monster encounters. And the ending parts just scream 'rushed'.
Petike the Taffer on 1/10/2016 at 21:36
I want to be brief... Cath's another worthy entry into the medium's female characters hall of fame. Simon's Average Joeness hit the sweet spot, "a good point between ignorance and acceptance", as he himself states at one point. I wish more people could write characters as well as the team at Frictional (though Akers was a bit predictably sinister at one particular moment of foreshadowing).
SOMA was 2015's Game of the Year for me. :cool: Everytime I follow the development of a new FG-developed title with worries and trepidation, the end result always convinces me that my worrying was pointless.* I doubt there's any other developer in the world right now that I trust more than this small, slightly scattered team with bucketloads of talent and courage.
* I did say FG-developed. AMFP is officially-subjectivelly non-canon to me, until the heat death of the universe. ;)
Jason Moyer on 2/10/2016 at 04:33
AMFP was fucking terrible, yes. While I've enjoyed all of Frictional's games, I think Black Plague and SOMA are in a class by themselves.
Yakoob on 31/12/2016 at 21:16
Late to the party but I just finished it last night! While I wouldn't praise it as much as others since I'm not as huge of a fan of horror and FG's style, it's probably my favorite of their games! I was actually glad the horror was toned down in favor of story since the monster sections and visual distortions annoyed the crap out of me :p
I'd second a small issue the few loose ends like why is Ross all super mutant teleporting everywhere? Why couldn't he grab the Gel if he can do that? And his death was a bit of a :rolleyes: deus ex machina.
Also was a bit disappointed with the fact your choices don't really do anything. I understand it's more about making YOU reflect on your choices, but some repercussions could have drove the point home. Especially since the game makes it seem like it matters (Catherine criticizes you for using the WAU heal station saying you're feeding it, which didn't seem to matter in the end especially since you can kill it anyway).
I liked the bleak ending and kind of expect that to happen, which is hwy Simon's reaction felt out of place and annoying. Come on dude, you already know you can only get copied, not transferred. You killed your pre-copy self just few hours ago! That, and few other remarks make him feel a little... dumb?
All in all, I'd prolly give it 7/10. Great atmosphere and interesting story held back by some pacing issues, annoying monster sections, and arbitrary puzzles / "find-tiny-hole-in-wall to crawl through" sections where you don't even know what the actual puzzle is.
Sulphur on 21/8/2017 at 16:28
I'm even later to the party. Finished it just now, and it's probably one of my favourite sci-fi horror experiences this side of the decade, along with A:I. I saw the ending coming too, and though everyone's already said a lot about the story, my favourite parts apart from gawping toothlessly at fetchlists of items blocked off by abominations and then just booking it anyway were the bits that showed you how dark and terrifying the fucking ocean is. The entire last act with the Climber receding into the nightdark of the bottom of the ocean floor, looking up once you arrive to see only inky black nothingness above, and the ocean 'storm' from earthquakes as you make it towards Tau and Phi, all of that was grade-A brilliant.
As for the narrative, I'm more in love with the design of those underwater bases than some of the on-the-nose dialogue. Good ideas though, and very thoughtful fare, something you almost never see in sci-fi video games. Oh, and the voicework? Fantastic all the way through. The sound design? Even better. Possibly benchmark-worthy.
Goddamn am I looking forward to whatever Frictional does next.
Edit: also, re: Simon's status, I know this is like two years too late, but I got the impression Ross had activated him to try and get to the WAU -- Ross himself being the WAU's first failed experiment. You even get those flashes of him trying to get through at the Omicron terminals before you grab the gel. There's no reason why a WAU experiment would be a walking red alert to its other creations, after all.
Edit edit: apparently there's a log at the beginning of the game showing that the WAU initiated a scan for Simon just before he activates? If true, that settles that, then. I guess it wasn't in control of anything it created.
