SOMA is the latest game from a team many consider one of the masters of horror gaming, Frictional Games. After hits such as Amnesia: The Dark Descent and the Penumbra trilogy on PC, the developers are finally making the leap to console. It is a leap that has its issues, but the overall quality of the game helps you to look past them. (I have been informed that the PC version runs fairly smoothly, but I cannot vouch for it myself).
The problems that befall the PlayStation 4 version are the kind of issues that break your immersion of the game, but also things you get used to. The game has a checkpoint system that also seems to work to load up a section. When this happens the game will stutter or pause for a few moments, sometimes I counted at least 5 seconds.
It’s not just during checkpoints that the game stutters though. Framerate drops happened occasionally during my playthrough, although it seemed more noticeable when I was trying to rush from A to B. When you combine this with the length of time it takes for the game to load up when you first start the game (at least thirty seconds), then things can feel tedious.
The save system also has no manual save option, just a save and exit. This means if you’re making progress in an area and want to save because you don’t know when the next checkpoint will be, you have to exit the game and load it back up, which can take about 2 minutes in total at times and breaks the immersion somewhat.
All of this may sound very negative, and it’s all something that a future patch may fix on the PS4. Still, they are all points that hindered my enjoyment of the game. Despite all of this though I can’t help but keep thinking about SOMA, even after completing it.
The story and world building in the game is great. There are snippets and clues from the very beginning about what’s happening, and it’s really better if you know hardly anything about it going in. As you progress it’s not the big story beats that make the games narrative great though. It’s the notes you find, computer messages you read or audio messages you hear that help add rich layers to the game. You’ll get a basic understanding of what’s going on if you don’t interact with the world and read everything, but doing so makes the experience so much richer.
Another layer of the game is the enemies that inhabit the world of SOMA. Each enemy is unique and have different ways to get past them, although some do have similarities. Some of the ways to try and take on the enemies can be figured out quite quickly, which can result in it feeling more like a chore for the ones that stick around for a while. When it works though it works wonderfully, it just doesn’t hit the right note each time.
It’s the realisation of what some of the enemies are that ties the game together and makes them have more of an impact. They are a small part of the emotional punches the game delivers. SOMA will have you pondering several big questions and does so in ways that may make you think differently by the end of it. I found the game to be particularly interesting, as I didn’t really agree with the route the story was going. It was like I was being told somebody else’s story and being asked some questions on the way to taunt me with the fact that I was disagreeing with it. This worked well. With so many games these days are trying to make characters and their goals as generic as possible, it was nice to be put in an uncomfortable situation.
SOMA also felt refreshing due to the emphasis on building an atmosphere rather than the shock horror of monsters. It’s the fear of the monsters appearing that will keep you second guessing opening that door, rather than the monsters presence themselves. One of the key things that builds the atmosphere is the sound design. It has always been a strong point of games created by Frictional Games and SOMA is no different. Nearly every sound feels unique, the acting performances seem on point throughout and playing it with headphones on is truly something to behold.
The technical issues on the PlayStation 4 knock a few points off SOMA’s final review score, but it’s a game that will sit in the memory for a while despite its shortcomings. The sound design, world building and story deserve to rightfully become a footnote in videogame design. Frictional Games do so much right creating a science fiction story. It falls short at times when trying to be a more traditional horror, but the highs certainly outweigh the lows. It’s an impressive console debut, and I can’t wait to see what the developers create next.