Despite being heavily marketed on having its development led by ex-Playdead staff, Somerville proves to be a significant downgrade from Inside in about every possible way (poor optimization, some unnecessarily confusing level design, a story with interesting ideas that fails to stick the landing or imbue its endings with the intended weight); still, its puzzles, art direction, and set pieces are solid enough that it’s worth playing for fans of short, very linear cinematic action-adventure games, especially while it’s on Game Pass.

(I can’t really call this a “cinematic platformer” when there’s no jumping, though its linearity and cinematic pacing make that subgenre the closest point of comparison.)

Reviewed on May 29, 2023


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