Five Horror Games To Play This Halloween

Halloween is upon and if you're a twenty two year old gamer with no life like me you're likely going to be spending your Halloween playing some kind of horror game. So here are five games I would highly recommend you play this Halloween for maximum spookiness.

Resident Evil has far more horrors then just boring old zombies.

1. Resident Evil Remake
The original Resident Evil for the Playstation 1 is widely considered the birthplace of survival horror in mainstream games. For those that don't know Resident Evil is a game that places you in the role of either Jill Valentine and Chris Redfield, special agents that get trapped in a mansion full of zombies and other biological horrors and have to find a way to escape alive. While the general design of the game is still good other aspects of the game have not aged well. The graphics are awful and the voice acting is hilariously bad. The original is still fun, but as a campy humor experience rather than the horror experience it was intended as. Thankfully, the game was remade from the ground up with a huge number of welcome improvements and additions. Even to this day the Resident Evil remake still looks fantastic and has some of the best atmosphere I've ever experienced in a game. It also has several of the scariest gameplay sections I have ever had the honor of playing even if I personally don't like the tank controls. The Resident Evil Remake recently got an HD remaster for all current gen systems so I highly recommend checking it out if you can.

Silent Hill 2 is one of the most personal descents into the pits of hell ever made.

2. Silent Hill 2
The decline of the Silent Hill franchice , the cancellation of promising Silent Hills and its publisher Konami using the Silent Hill name of sell fucking pachinko machines has really left a lot of horror fans feeling down in the dumps. But in spite of all of that Silent Hill 2 is still one of the best games ever made along with being a fantastic horror game. It is a master class in interactive storytelling that puts you in the role of James Sunderland, a man who is drawn to the fog covered town of Silent Hill by a letter written by his dead wife, and join him on a descent into the darkest most twisted parts of his broken mind. You will be faced with some of the most disturbing monsters in video games, incredibly morbid character revelations, and even your most subtle of choices radically effecting the outcome of James's story. Sadly, the game is hard to get your hands on these days. The only really worthwhile version of the game is the PS2 release with the Restless Dream Expansion. It was released on PS3 and Xbox 360 along with Silent Hill 3 in the Silent Hill HD Collections, but because Konami is Konami and Konami is the worse, it is filled with lots of game breaking bugs, terrible voice acting, and it bizarrely removes the series trademark fog which reveals unfinished textures and buildings that the fog was hiding in the original release. But it is worth jumping through hoops to play Silent Hill 2. It truly is a masterpiece that I highly recommend that you experience at least once.

The scary thing about Amnesia The Dark Descent is that the scariest monsters are the ones you can't see.

3. Amnesia The Dark Descent
In the late 2000s traditional survival horror was basically dead. Classic horror franchises like Resident Evil and Silent Hill embraced a new action oriented approach and new horror series like Dead Space had a heavy focus on combat and empowerment and far less of a focus on creating a feeling of helplessness. These weren't bad games, but they were narrowed focused on making the player feel powerful and limited what horror games could be. Then in 2010 Amneisa The Dark Descent happened. In Amnesia, you play as a man named Daniel who awakens in a mysterious castle with no memory of how he got there or why he was there in the first place. You are then tasked by your former self to go into the depths of the castle and kill a supposedly evil man. Unlike most horror games at the time you could not fight against the various monsters you encountered. You had to avoid them and you couldn't even look at the them without going insane an becoming unable to run away. The story was also a really disturbing descent into merciless torture and occult rituals. While the hide of seek style of horror game that Amnesia pioneered is overplayed today with hundreds, if not thousands, of imitators the original Amnesia is still worth playing. You can get it pretty easy on PC and it works on pretty much any kind of computer.

After being cannon fodder for space marines for so long, Alien Isolation makes the classic Xenomorph scary again.

4. Alien Isolation
Following the abysmal Aliens: Colonial Marines, it would take a lot to make up for the disappointment fans felt towards the Alien franchise. Thankfully, last year's Alien Isolation not only revived faith in the franchise it also brought back survival horror to big budget games. The game puts you in the role of Amanda Ripley, daughter of the original film's Ellen Ripley, goes to the remote Sevastopol space station looking for clues about her mothers disappearance only to trapped on the station and caught between paranoid survivors, homicidal robots, and of course an unkillable alien that you cannot kill and stalks you the entire game. Alien Isolation manages to find a good balance between the feeling of helplessness that Amnesia pioneered, while at the same time giving you a feeling that you have a chance against the threats you are up against so long as you played it smart. Its not perfect though. There is a lot of padding in the game particularly in the middle and the Alien can sometimes go from scary to simply annoying after a while. But if your in the mood for a classic sci-fi horror game you can't really go wrong here and it is available for both previous gen game system along with current gen systems. So check it out.

Bloodborne's setting of Yharnam borrows heavily from the works of Bram Stoker, Edgar Allen Poe, and H. P. Lovecraft.

5. Bloodborne
The final game I want to recommend is technically not classified as a horror game. Technically, Bloodborne is an action role playing game that borrows heavily from Dark Souls. Which isn't surprising given that they are made by the same developer From Software. But the combat of Bloodborne is far more reminiscent of a horror game than an action game and how it much is punishes for failure puts you on edge even more than the average horror game. The aesthetic and narrative of the game is also classic gothic horror and cosmic horror in equal parts. It has everything you could want from a horror game. Werewolves, vampires, zombies, witches, and even aliens. Bloodborne is simply the perfect Halloween game wither you consider it a horror game or not. It is sadly only exclusive to the PS4, but if you have one and you want to have a spooktacular Halloween I highly recommend it.

So that is five horror games I recommend you try and play or at least watch a Let's Play of this Halloween. Speaking of watching Let's Plays I'm going to be streaming horror games off of my Twitch stream most of Halloween tomorrow. I'll leave a link to my Twitch stream tomorrow. Hope to see you there.

YouTube Channel: Bloodborne Let's Play Part 11: The Blood Moon Descends

After exploring as many of Yharnam's mysterious locales as she can, Old Lady Ashwick returns to Byrgenwerth to uncover what strange things are hidden in the lake. Brace yourselves, things are going to start getting really weird.

Secondhand Opinion: Until Dawn

Until Dawn is basically every horror movie ever experienced in a way no one has experienced before.

Part of me finds it hard to believe that Until Dawn is one of the best games of the year. I mean who would have thought that an what at its heart is an interactive horror movie that follows every trope in the book would be so enjoyable to both watch and play. For those that don't know Until Dawn is the first major game by Supermassive Games, which have spent the majority of their existence making spin off motion and mobile games for Sony, and the goal of the game is to guide eight teenagers who are trapped up in a remote mountain lodge to survive various horrors until help comes at dawn hence the title. I have yet to play the game myself, but I have watched two full playthroughs of the game. One where everyone lives and another where everyone dies. Both were equally fun to watch and the fact that most choices you make do have some sort of consequence, even if it is a fairly small one, is a nice touch. If you are a fan of horror movies and interactive narratives then you'll enjoy Until Dawn. I plan on renting it this weekend and streaming it for Halloween. I may know a lot of what's going to happen, but I just may let certain character dies just to see what happens. I already know I want Emily to die.

YouTube Channel: Bloodborne Let's Play Part 10: Vilebloods and Executioners

Old Lady Ashwick is invited to visit the isolated Castle Cainhurst on the edge or Yharnam and gets caught in the middle of an age old rivalry between VilebloodsKnights of Cainhurst and the Healing Church Executioners. Also fuck those blood tick enemies in front of the castle.

Four Things I'm Excited For In Fallout 4.

Fallout 4 is a game that I have been waiting for a very long time. I loved Fallout 3 and Fallout New Vegas is one of my favorite games of all time. However, I do have a lot of little problems with the Fallout games and one of the reasons I'm so excited for Fallout 4 is that it is looking to address several of the issues I've had with Fallout 3 and New Vegas. Here are the four main reason that I'm excited for Fallout 4.

It's good to be home.

1. Vastly Improved Combat Mechanics
I think one of the most prominent issues that people have with the Fallout 3 and New Vegas is that the minute to minute combat is kinda shitty. While there has always been a wide variety of fun, zany weapons to use they were sadly undermined by very stiff shooting controls and overall slow player movement speed. Compared to a pure shooter game like Shadow Warrior where you can move and react quick to threats all around you. The V.A.T.S system did help mitigate some of these issues by letting you stop time completely so you could plan out your attacks and Fallout New Vegas further improved Fallout 3 combat systems with weapon mods, alternate ammo types, and iron sights aiming, but combat still only really felt good when using a character build that focused on getting the most out of V.A.T.S and weapon mods. When I played characters that focused on Charisma and Intelligence I always felt that combat was a chore, which contrasted greatly with when I played characters that had focused on Perception and Agility where I had a blast being a walking death machine. Also melee combat sucked in both Fallout 3 and New Vegas sucked and I just didn't enjoy the lifeless combat animations when swinging a baseball bat or using a ripper.

Thankfully, Bethesda is doing everything it can to make them minute to minute combat feel much better, even for characters builds that don't focus on straight combat. During the development of Fallout 4 Bethesda was in contact with Id Software which has quite a number of excellent, industry defining shooters under their belt including DOOM and Wolfenstien. From the footage we've seen pre-release the combat looks leaps and bounds better than anything in Fallout 3 or New Vegas. Player movements are now much faster, grenades are now tied to their own button rather then being a regular weapon you have to equip, and the addition of a sprint ability is a nice touch. V.A.T.S has also been modified to slow time rather than outright stop it which keeps V.A.T.S from being the overpowered solution to any combat encounter it was in previous games. The only thing I'm still not sure of is melee combat. What little they showed does look like a big improvement, but I've noticed that they have showed it much less melee combat then the improved shooting mechanics which screams of not wanting to show how bad melee combat is. At least that what it feels like to me. I hope I'm wrong and regardless of wither melee combat still sucks the rest of the combat mechanics are looking really great.

Combat is looking to be more fast paced and funnier to engage in.

2. Streamlined Character Progression System
Whenever a gamer hears the word "streamlining" they are filled with great dread because to many gamers it means that the developers are intending to dumb down various systems within the game so that they can be enjoyed by the lowest common denominator. This is also not necessarily an unfounded fear when dealing with Bethesda games. Their last major game The Elder Scolls V: Skyrim simplified a great number of character creation systems. They removed character attributes to focus on a system that focused solely on building skills. I was afraid that for Fallout 4 Bethesda would remove the S.P.E.C.I.A.L system that has defined the Fallout series since long before Fallout 3 in favor of something simpler. Thankfully it would seem that Bethesda is going a very different route with Fallout 4 compared to Skyrim and most certainly for the better.

Rather than removing attributes to focus on skills like they did with Skyrim, Bethesda has instead gone the opposite route and put the attributes center stage. Skills are still in the game, but they are now merged with the new perk system that governs character builds and progression. Players still gain experience points from doing pretty much anything in the game to level up, but instead of distributing skill points and then picking a perk to complement those skills. You now can either use the perk point you get from leveling up to upgrade one of your S.P.E.C.I.A.L attributes or select a perk. What perks you can unlock and upgrade are dependent on what rank you have in the S.P.E.C.I.A.L stat governing it. For example to unlock the Lockpicking Perk you need at least one point in Perception and to unlock the next rank of Lockpicking you need to be Level 12. There are seven base attributes that each govern ten perks. That is seventy base perks and counting the ranks of each perk that is 270 perks to build. It is a much more straightforward system then the previous games, but it also doesn't sacrifice the complexity of the system either. Fallout 3 and New Vegas suffered from having players abuse certain character builds to max out all of their skills early in the game which ruined the sense of building a unique character that had strengths and weaknesses. This new system prevents this kind of exploitation from happening and will result in more varied and creative character builds as a result. I honestly can't wait to dive into the subtleties of this new character progression system as so far it looks like a major improvement over both Fallout 3 and New Vegas's skill point focused systems.

The Perk Chart that govern's your character progression in Fallout 4.

3. Improved Weapon Modding, Power Armor, and Settlement Building.
I knew I was going to get Fallout 4 ever since the first trailer. Mostly because I'm a die hard fan of the series, but what really got me excited were was all the new Minecraft inspired features that were revealed at Bethesda's E3 Press Conference. It also took me by surprise because I didn't even know that I wanted a lot of these systems until Bethesda was laying them out for me. The new weapon modding system looks absolutely crazy with so many possibility to play around with to make the weapons that you want to use was simply breathtaking. One of my favorite things Bethesda showed was that all the random crap that littered the game world in previous games like scrap metal and empty bottles are now actually useful. Now instead of looking at these useless items and thinking "Why did they put this in the game world if I couldn't use it?" you can know pick up these items to breakdown into useful materials that you can use to create and modify weapons.

Those same materials you use to work on weapons with can also be used for building entire settlements with. For the first time in Fallout history you can actually build your own town where you can invite fellow wastelanders to live. While the particulars of this new system are still vague to say the least from what we've been shown it seems that you'll be able to build multiple settlements and run caravans between them to build up a network of merchants that sell power weapons and gear. Raider can also attack your settlements and you must build defenses to ensure that they can survived being attacked. It looks like it's going to be a fun aspect of the game and one that I'm very interested in diving into.

Last but not least power armor is looking like it is getting a massive redesign both aesthetically and mechanically. Where as in previous games power armor was simply a set of heavy armor that you equipped like any other article of armor in Fallout 4 power armor is now something far more special. Rather then simply equipping it you actually climb into the armor and it basically becomes a walking tank that you can use to traverse dangerous areas and go up against extremely powerful enemies. You also can upgrade your power armor and maintain it when it gets broken. Power armor is now more than a simple piece of powerful armor it is now a game changer that you have to carefully maintain and keep in mind when it is best to use it. All in all, the emphasis on crafting and player expression is looking great in Fallout 4.

Weapon modding is looking more in-depth than ever,

4. The Story, the Companions, and Exploring Post-Apocalyptic Boston
The story of Fallout 4 is perhaps the thing I'm both most excited about and most worried about. I liked the main story of Fallout 3 and I thought the side quests were okay. I thought the main story of Fallout New Vegas was great and that the side quests were fantastic. I'm sure that the main quest of Fallout 4 will be good as well, but the thing that has me worried is the fact that for the first time in Fallout history your protagonist will be voiced. I would be less worried if it wasn't for the fact it was Bethesda writing the plot and not Obsidian which made New Vegas. Then again the last Obsidian game that had a voiced protagonist was Alpha Protocol and that wasn't a very good game. Regardless, I'm looking forward to diving into the story of Fallout 4 and I'm very excited that the introduction sequence is set right before the end of the world. The idyllic 1950s aesthetic of the Fallout universe is one of the reasons I love it so much and to see it unspoiled by the horrors of the apocalypse will be really cool.

Another thing I'm looking forward too in Fallout 4 is the companions you can bring with you on your treks into the wasteland. All the trailers have emphasized the presence of Dogmeat who is a series tradition and is undoubtedly the most adorable incarnation of the character yet. Another companion is your servant robot Codsworth that survived the apocalypse and I'm curious what kind of life he's been living since you been tucked away in the vault for two hundred years. Two other companions that have been revealed are a man named Preston Gravey, leader of a group called the Commonwealth Minutemen, and a woman named Piper, a news reporter from a town called Diamond City. There will be twelve companion and all human companions can be romanced by the player regardless of gender. I hope that the companions are as fleshed out as they were in Fallout New Vegas because some of those characters are going to be hard to top.

Finally, I'm just excited about exploring post-apocalyptic Boston. Boston is a place that is fairly well-defined within the Fallout universe, but has never been directly visited. A side quest in Fallout 3 dealt with a replicated human robot that escaped a life of enslavement in Boston and when you ask an NPC from Boston what it is like up there they describe it as "a war-ravaged quagmire of violence and despair" so we are in for a very interesting setting to say the least. Fallout 4 is about two weeks away and can barely contain my joy for much longer. I am skeptical about a few things, but overall I think that Fallout 4 will be one of the best games of the year. I simply can't wait!

Three Things I Want In Bloodborne: The Old Hunters

Who is this person!? I must know!?

Bloodborne is one of the best games I played in years. It was a beautifully designed gothic horror game that pitted you against unspeakable horrors and nearly impossible odds. Every time you overcame one of its incredibly hard bosses I felt a level of satisfaction that I can barely even describe. It also had fantastic level design that made the world feel interconnected and alive, fun weapons that were a joy to master, and a strange, H.P. Lovecraft inspired world for you to explore. However, it wasn't a perfect game and I could think of more than a few ways to improve Bloodborne for the better. The multiplayer felt a little underdeveloped with only three covenants you can join to battle other players, three were too few weapons which lead to a lack of variety with character builds, there is no way to transform into a beast despite there being a status effect designed to do just that, and a lot of the most interesting items, weapons, and bosses were found in the optional chalice dungeons that require a lot of grinding and repetition to fully explore. The Old Hunter expansion is seeking to fix a few of these issues and I want to detail the top three improvements I hope we'll see when the expansion launches at the end of November.

It is said that The Old Hunters expansion is focused on the hunters of old trapped in an endless nightmare world.

1. More Multiplayer Covenants and Improvements Made to Current Ones.

In the base game there are three covenants the player can join after doing certain quest lines needed to unlock the oath runes related to them. There was Hunter Rune that granted you improved stamina recovery and made you a member of the Hunter of Hunter covenant that randomly makes you hostile to players you summon to your world creating a feeling of uncertainty when contacting other players for help. Then there was the Corruption Rune which granted you health regeneration at low health and made you a part of the Vilebloods covenant that encouraged you to invade other players to get Blood Dregs from killing them to improve your ranking within the Vilebloods. Then their was the Radiance Rune which improve the healing power of your Blood Vials and made you a member of the Executioners covenant which are hostile to Vileblood members even if they summon them for help.

While the base game covenants did allow for very interesting player on player interactions I could help, but feel they were half baked. There is a story reason for Hunter of Hunters to well hunt other hunters, but when you are a member it is randomized wither or not you will need to kill another player. I think it would be far more interesting if the Hunter of Hunters were hostile toward other players that either have done something bad to NPCs in the world or have too many blood echos on them. Making it randomized just seems too easy and simple.

The Vilebloods and Executioners are the most developed covenants in the base game, but they also could be made more interesting. Though the Vilebloods can collect Blood Dregs to give to the covenant leader to increase their standing in the covenant there is literally no reason for doing so other than to compete with other players. Just having some small reward for ranking up in the covenant would be a major improvement. Executioners could also have something similar to Blood Dregs when they kill Vilebloods that they could also trade in for small rewards.

The base game covenant also only relate to half of the factions you encounter in the game. I would love to see covenants for The Choir and the School of Mensis. I would imagine that they would be hostile for each other just like the Vilebloods and Executioners are to each other. As for what their runes would do I would suspect that The Choir's rune would increase the rate you gain insight similar to the Moon rune while the School of Mensis's rune would decrease the amount of quicksilver bullets needed to use firearms and hunter tools. I don't know what The Old Hunters has in store for us in terms of covenants and runes so these are just my hopes for what will be there.

A hunter wielding one of the new weapons of The Old Hunters expansion. Simon's Bowblade.

2. More Weapons, Sidearms, Attire, and Hunter Tools.

Now I know for a fact that The Old Hunters is adding a large amount of new toys for use to play with. The reveal trailer showed us several of the new weapons that we will be able to use in the expansion. New weapons include a buzzsaw hammer, a cleaver that can turn into a giant chain whip, a flintlock hammer, a bowblade, a scythe cleaver, and a pike that can be turned into a scythe. The developers have promised over a dozen new weapons will be in The Old Hunters which has me feeling very excited. The base game had a good variety of weapons and the addition of many new ones will most definitely improve replayability and encourage the creation of new and interesting character builds.

Coverage from Tokyo Game Show 2015 has also revealed several new sidearms including an iron knuckle, a magic cancelling shield, and a harpoon-like firearm. We also know of two new hunter tools. A time bomb that can be thrown on the ground as a trap for enemies and a magic spell that shoots a miniature meteor at an enemy. One of the few things I didn't like about the base game was the lack of magic spells. There was only nine of them in the game and amount of quicksilver bullets they consumed made it so I couldn't use them as much as I would have liked. I hope that they not only put in a bunch of new spells, but rebalance existing ones to consume less quicksilver bullets so we can rely on magic much more.

Another new item revealed in gameplay trailers at Tokyo Game Show 2015 was something called the Elder Summoning Bell. This new item allows you to summon new NPC hunters to help you when you are playing offline. This is a great addition as one of my few criticisms of the base game Bloodborne the the staggeringly low number of NPC summons with only two in the game. It is nice to see that they are adding more options for players that perfer to play offline and, this is the masochistic part of me talking, I also hope they have more NPC invaders for you to deal with.

I also like to say that the new attire sets we've seen in the trailers and gameplay videos look awesome. I'm a huge sucker for weird steampunk and gothic fantasy fashion and I'm not ashamed to admit that I spent hours just mixing and matching all the attire I had found in the game trying to figure out my absolute favorite combination. I would love to see a new system that would allow you to make your own attire, but that is something that is probably too big for a simple expansion. But hey I can dream can't I.

A hunter using one of The Old Hunters new spells against a Church Giant enemy.

3. Beast Transformations!

If the name of my blog wasn't a big enough tip off I'm a huge fan of werewolves. I've always been interested in the idea of a monster dwelling within us all just waiting to be unleashed upon the would. Honestly, I was very surprised to discover that the base Bloodborne game didn't have any kind of beast transformation ability. This was despite the fact that we witness several NPC hunters turn into beasts, has a fully implemented status effect that was called Transformation, and even have a stat called Beasthood that is never used. Thankfully this is something that The Old Hunters is seeking to fix.

The reveal trailer showed a brief clip of a hunter going completely beastly, jumping on an enemy, and seemingly devouring the enemies heart. A recent press release from Sony has revealed that players can in fact turn into beast in The Old Hunters expansion. I'm personally very interested in how deep this new feature will be. Will there be consequences for using beast form? Will you be stuck a beast or will it wear off? Will it be tied to an item like Humanity in Dark Souls? This is the feature I'm most excited for and the one I am most curious about.

Ludwig, The First Hunter of The Healing Church, is one of the new bosses of The Old Hunters expansion. And like many hunters of the church has long since transformed into a terrible beast.

There are lots of other things that I'm looking forward to in The Old Hunters expansion. I can't wait for new areas to explore, new characters to meet, new bosses to fight, and new story to uncover. I hope that there will be new blood gems and runes that you can use to improve weapons and your character. I for one would love a blood gem that would give firearms elemental damage. I'm just love Bloodborne so much and can't wait for The Old Hunters expansion. I'm almost more excited for The Old Hunters than Fallout 4. Almost.

YouTube Channel: Bloodborne Let's Play Part 9: Nightmares and Dreamscapes

After following the instructions of the mysterious stragner in the woods, Old Lady Ashwick finds herself pulled into a terrible nightmare world filled with the most unspeakable of horror. Will she survive? It's time to hunt our nightmares.

YouTube Channel: Bloodborne Let's Play Part 8: To Byrgenwerth We Go

After dealing with the crazy woman in the clinic, Old Lady Ashwick continues her trek through the Forbidden Woods and eventually makes her way to Byrgenwerth, an old place of leaning where the nightmares that plague Yharnam began.

YouTube Channel: Bloodborne Let's Play Part 7: Into the Woods

After learning the secret password from the skull in the Grand Cathedral, Old Lady Ashwick enters the Forbidden Woods. There she has to deal with traps, flammable oil, poison, and a crazy cultist lady that uses crazy magic powers.

SOMA Review: I Think Therefore I Am

A game that would make Philip K. Dick and Harlan Ellison proud.

"Reality is that which, when you stop believing in it, doesn't go away." - Philip K. Dick

Developer: Frictional Games

Publisher: Frictional Games

Versions: PS4 (reviewed) and PC

Price: $29.99

Release Date: September 22nd, 2015

Frictional Game's Amneisa The Dark Descent is possibly one of the most important games of the last five years. It single handily revived the survival horror genre during a period of deep remission and was one of the major players of the independent developer renaissance. Gamers have been eagerly awaiting Frictional Games follow up to Amnesia The Dark Descent for years now especially after The Chinese Room's pseudo-sequel Amnesia A Machine for Pigs failed to grip many fans of the original. After playing SOMA I feel that some players will be disappointed that it's not the same kind of scare fest Amnesia was. Because SOMA isn't trying to be a follow up to Amnesia The Dark Descent. SOMA wants to make you think more that actually scare you, but the things it will make you think about will almost undoubtedly make your skin crawl.

Pathos-2 is a wonderfully realized setting that feels lived in and alive.

SOMA puts you in the role of a young man named Simon Jarrett, who after going through what seemed to be a routine brain scan awakens in a futuristic research facility at the bottom of the Atlantic Ocean called Pathos-2. Strange things are happening around Pathos-2 with black tar-like growths coming out of the walls and the robots scattered around the facility taking on human characteristics. Simon eventually makes contact with a survivor named Catherine Chun and I am not going to spoil anymore than that. SOMA has one of the best old school science fiction narratives I've ever experienced. What I mean by that is that unlike a lot of current science fiction narratives that focus on action and big epic adventures, SOMA instead focuses on an intimate slow burning experience that explores a few core philosophical ideals. Those ideals being the nature of human consciousness and what lengths humans may go to to adapt and survive. Unlike Frictional Games previous work Amnesia The Dark Descent, SOMA is less concerned with outright scaring you and more focused on getting under your skin and making you think about things that you don't want to think about.

The robots of Pathos-2 think they are human. Are they wrong?

Though SOMA is far more narrative focused than Amnesia The Dark Descent, that doesn't mean the player doesn't have any threats to worry about. Like Amnesia, SOMA often has you hiding from monsters that you have no hope of fighting and you have to hide from. Also unlike Amnesia which had only two monster types that were easy to read once you got over the initial terror all the monsters in SOMA behave differently from each other and rarely do you ever encounter the same enemy twice which will constantly keep you on edge. SOMA also offers some excellent examples of moral choice in video games. I won't spoil any of them, but let it be known that they will challenge your morals and make you question which choice is the right or wrong or if it even matters. 

One of SOMA's monsters lurking in the darkness.

Though SOMA excels greatly with it's monster designs and moral choices in some ways it is a downgrade from Amnesia The Dark Descent in terms of mechanical complexity. In Amnesia you always had to worry about running out of lantern oil or having your sanity get to low for you to function on top fearing the monsters lurking the hall waiting to kill you. In SOMA the only thing you have to worry about is running out of health which regenerates constantly unless you get attacked by an enemy and even then you are almost never too far away from a health restore point. SOMA's puzzles also are fairly inconsistent. While most of them are very fun to solve some are either too easy to be satisfying in anyway or too vague to solve without consulting a guide on the internet at some point which may lead to parts of the game getting spoiled for you. However, these are overall very minor problems with the game and none of them come even close to ruining the experience.

Most of SOMA's puzzles revolve around the omnitool you pick up early in the game.

SOMA runs on the HPL 3 Engine and for the most part runs extremely well. The game looks fantastic with excellent lighting effects and textures that bring both the bleak interiors of Pathos-2 and the ocean floor you often trek across to life. The monsters also look appropriately terrifying, but the human models that you sometimes come across look a little off. Thankfully, the game's excellent art direction which makes everything seem slightly cartoony helps the human models fit better. I played the PS4 version of the game and the only issue I ran across was some minor stuttering that happened when the game auto saved. Overall though SOMA is technicality sound and the PC version has modding tools so I'm looking forward to all the mods that are going to be mad using the HPL 3 Engine.

SOMA is a gorgeous game even if it can be rough around the edges sometimes.

SOMA is a game that will stay with you long after you play it. I still have it's mind bending ending stuck in my head and I have been finding myself pondering what being being me actually entails. It a game that makes you think and I for one would love more games like this. If you're simply looking for a game to scare you SOMA is probably not the game for you. But if you're looking for a game that digs its claws into you and refuses to leave you long after you play it then SOMA is exactly what you are looking for. SOMA is available for PS4 and PC for $29.99.