SOMA Reviews
While SOMA may be lacking in the fear department, it more than makes up for it in existentialist unease.
When Soma is able to stretch its legs and be the horror game fans have been waiting for these past five years, it delivers in giant terror-inducing waves. Sadly, some inconsistent pacing and clunky mechanics weigh it down, leaving us with a good game rather than a great one.
SOMA isn't perfect, but it sets a certain standard for what horror games can achieve with a bit of inspiration. Though it isn't heavy on the scares, the bits of horror spread throughout work well, and the story will leave a lasting, hard-hitting impression.
SOMA is an horror adventure, but most of all is a drama. Some characters and dialogues can be strikingly perturbing. Even with his classic gameplay and multiple references the result gets remains fresh.
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SOMA tells an interesting albeit convoluted story but is a chore to play through.
If you're looking to get your pants scared off, SOMA may not be the game for you, but for those who appreciate its brand of subtle horror, it is truly a masterpiece. Leaning towards the cerebral, the narrative has been set up to make you ponder all of the dialogue and question every decision, even one that moves you forward. It's a thought-provoking story wrapped in a stunning package.
SOMA is a worthy successor to Amnesia: The Dark Descent, and sits among the best video game stories of 2015.
It may not strike the same level of outright terror that Amnesia: The Dark Descent but even in this genre, SOMA is a standout title with an interesting storyline centered around the age old debate of being human.
SOMA is one of those once-in-a-generation experiences that so wildly defies both expectation and assumptions that I can say with confidence that it will forever impact how we define video games.
Soma isn't much of a horror game, but that's not a big loss. It uses horror trappings as a jumping off point to find more intelligent and interesting trails to follow. Its follow-through, save for a few instances where I felt it succumb to the bindings of its genre, is impressive. When it talks about something, it goes for it, and the results are rarely pretty or happy but almost always intriguing.
One of the best games I've played this year and my favorite from Frictional to date.
In the 10 or so hours it took me to finish SOMA I was hooked for the entire experience, from shocking beginning to one of the best game endings I've seen since Portal. SOMA will destroy you emotionally, and that's a very good thing indeed.
It falls short of greatness, but the story is enough to keep anyone riveted.
In the end, SOMA does not quite share the scare factor of Amnesia, but it does exceed it from a storytelling standpoint, as well as nailing that same attention to detail that creates a tense atmosphere filled with both beauty and horror. A definite purchase for the Halloween season.
SOMA is not the horror game I expected from Frictional, but it's an excellent piece of science fiction that feels of a piece with stories by Harlan Ellison and Philip K. Dick as much as Frictional's...
Unsettling, confronting, and thought-provoking.
If this isn't survival horror, nothing is. The story is deep as the ocean in which it is set, and it is well acted throughout. Terrifying but never unfair, controls more than fit for purpose.
A superb story with mismatched horror elements
SOMA is one of the better survival-horror games of the last decade.
SOMA will scare you, no doubt, but it won't be the memory of a gnarled, disfigured mass clumsily ambling towards you in a corridor that leaves you awake and unable to sleep at night. It will be the question of what makes us human.