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.