This review contains spoilers
SOMA's setting is something of a fusion between Subnautica, Serial Experiments Lain and Alien: Isolation, all of which I hold in very high regard. It's taken me quite a while to start it, considering I bought it after seeing astro mention it a few years back. Since then I've routinely installed, procrastinated on and then uninstalled the game since I don't do well with horror (this is only the second proper horror game I've ever played) but loved the idea of Soma nonetheless.
It was a really enjoyable game. I'm a big fan of monster movies and imo horror tends to be the genre most conducive to them, so I think that the two ideally work in tandem to strengthen each other. The most potent example here was the the point in the game where you're locked in a large, confusing set of hallways and vents together with a monster. The atmosphere is very disorienting since the character has recently suffered a crash causing his vision to become messed up. So you're trying to navigate that while avoiding the monster, completely lost and trying to locate whatever item, lever or event will unlock the exit door. It reacts to most sounds so you're constantly hearing its footsteps around, and there isn't much place to hide since the monster arrives pretty quick after you open a room. The monster itself is pretty scary too since it's so effective at hunting. SOMA's gameplay experience is similar to Alien: Isolation in that the sci-fi set design and sneaking mechanics mean you're constantly spotting it in the shadows, creating an organic sense of horror that mirrors cinematic sequences in movies. Though that segment was definitely my scariest encounter. Everything before and after is pretty much a cakewalk, and honestly I breezed through that first try when I returned to it today so I was probably just fatigued from playing too much in one session.
The ending was real epic, seeing the collision of digital consciousness and the human condition. I won't say it was thought-provoking exactly, since I've already seen such ideas explored with more depth in Serial Experiments Lain and Fate/Extra, but it was very poignant. Story endings where Earth finally falls silent after an apocalypse (such as in SPOILER and SPOILER) always hit me so hard. The fade to black as everything powers down, and the imminent melancholia of the ending track are the final piece that really tie the whole story together. So good.
It was a really enjoyable game. I'm a big fan of monster movies and imo horror tends to be the genre most conducive to them, so I think that the two ideally work in tandem to strengthen each other. The most potent example here was the the point in the game where you're locked in a large, confusing set of hallways and vents together with a monster. The atmosphere is very disorienting since the character has recently suffered a crash causing his vision to become messed up. So you're trying to navigate that while avoiding the monster, completely lost and trying to locate whatever item, lever or event will unlock the exit door. It reacts to most sounds so you're constantly hearing its footsteps around, and there isn't much place to hide since the monster arrives pretty quick after you open a room. The monster itself is pretty scary too since it's so effective at hunting. SOMA's gameplay experience is similar to Alien: Isolation in that the sci-fi set design and sneaking mechanics mean you're constantly spotting it in the shadows, creating an organic sense of horror that mirrors cinematic sequences in movies. Though that segment was definitely my scariest encounter. Everything before and after is pretty much a cakewalk, and honestly I breezed through that first try when I returned to it today so I was probably just fatigued from playing too much in one session.
The ending was real epic, seeing the collision of digital consciousness and the human condition. I won't say it was thought-provoking exactly, since I've already seen such ideas explored with more depth in Serial Experiments Lain and Fate/Extra, but it was very poignant. Story endings where Earth finally falls silent after an apocalypse (such as in SPOILER and SPOILER) always hit me so hard. The fade to black as everything powers down, and the imminent melancholia of the ending track are the final piece that really tie the whole story together. So good.