Bits N Pieces
Member
Only really heard good things about this game so will certainly keep an eye out for it if it comes to Xbox, I'd be hoping it's going to be cheaper than £23.99 though.....
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SOMA rated for Xbox One
- Thread starter jbug617
- Start date
FallenGrace
Member
Fantastic game for Xbox fans who haven't played it. Amazing atmosphere and story.
Thats a Greay Area
Member
Bought this on PS4 a while ago but it's still in my backlog. Would definitely double dip if it gets X enhancements.
Deathknell
Member
Xbox owners you just got a beautiful game, cheers.
MekaDragon
Member
One of the best games I've had the pleasure to play.
toddhunter
Member
It is not survival.
Soma is excellent and well worth playing but people need to know what it is. It is a glorified walking sim for large portions of the game. You'll walk, you'll enter a loading zone, you'll walk some more.
You'll go through some light "avoid something" sections to break up the walks. These are not fun, they are annoying and frustrating. Luckily they are short so you can start walking again. Sometimes you need to backtrack on your walk. Sometimes you need to backtrack four fucking times.
It is way too long, poor or non-existent in gameplay and technically deficient in loading (good luck on a xbox one). So why doesn't it suck? Because there is a lot to see on the walk and the game has something to say.
In general you should avoid these games. A machine for pigs for example is a giant waste of time. Don't avoid soma, make an exception just once and see what you find.
MosquitoSmasher
Member
So can you die at all or isn't it that kind of game? I mean in Outlast you run the hell away from enemies too and can't attack them but they can get to you. How's that in Soma?
Melon Husk
Member
Very much like Outlast, but far fewer (and more unique) enemies. Hiding is the best option, running is a last resort.
edit: Could this version have HDR??
MosquitoSmasher
Member
Damn. Sounds intense. Not sure if this will be my kind of game. I love the horror genre but always a bit reluctant to play them, haha.
Shake Appeal
Member
I've thought about SOMA every month or so since I played it.
Hard disagree here. The final monologue is extraordinary.
toddhunter
Member
It is hard to describe without spoilers but it is not the same as outlast at all in how you deal with encounters.
You can die, but generally only because you have just gone through the same thing five times and just want to move on. It isn't intense, just ultimately dull and frustrating. Think less "holy shit!" and more "oh god not this crap again, ok lets go through the motions"
If you think they are an unknown entity I hope the lesson was to do some research before buying.
The horror comes mostly from the atmosphere: the setting, themes, the sound design, visuals etc. Throughout the whole game (and the game is at least 6-7 hours long, if not longer) there are only a couple encounters with enemies. But even walking through empty corridors and reading memos is really unsettling.
I'm not a fan of stealth-only FPP horror games, so was reluctant to playing SOMA when my friend recommended me the game. And yet I ended up loving the game.
toddhunter
Member
I disagree that it is extraordinary. But even if you liked it, a good little bit right at the end of a glorified 3 hour loading screen is basically the definition of a waste of time. Nothing that happened before the ending effectively built towards it in any way.
Now Soma on the other hand? There is way, way too much pointless walking around and the game could have been about half as long. But it does build. It builds quite well.
Reineldinho
Member
I checked and I was already "no no" because of being catalogued everywhere as horror game, but after reading the all comments I can conclude that:
it's not a jump scare game
it's not a try and error survival game
the horror comes more from the setting and the story than the monsters
it's more a walking sym (no disrespect here) than an adventure game
there are some (not many?) short stealth sections to avoid monster/creature/death
Ok, because GAF discovered me What Remains of Edith Lynch (also I didn't know anything about it) 'm going to give this a try. Not a fan horror games but I do love and enjoy a good narrative, specially if it's sci-fi.
it's not a jump scare game
it's not a try and error survival game
the horror comes more from the setting and the story than the monsters
it's more a walking sym (no disrespect here) than an adventure game
there are some (not many?) short stealth sections to avoid monster/creature/death
Ok, because GAF discovered me What Remains of Edith Lynch (also I didn't know anything about it) 'm going to give this a try. Not a fan horror games but I do love and enjoy a good narrative, specially if it's sci-fi.
Shake Appeal
Member
A Machine for Pigs is smart as heck and nearly as interesting as SOMA. It just doesn't nail character and interpersonal dynamics the way the latter does. And yes, it is very dull mechanically, especially after The Dark Descent. But as a commentary on industrialization and the bloodprice of modernity (that final monologue touches on everything from
the trenches of World War I to the USSR to Hiroshima to Cambodia
Zeouterlimits
Member
Best game of 2015?
Yessir!
Glad it's coming to more platforms
Hopefully runs a bit better than the PS4 version did.
Yessir!
Glad it's coming to more platforms
Hopefully runs a bit better than the PS4 version did.
Neff
Member
They were unknown to me because I hadn't played any of their games before. I considered the 9/10 reviews and gambled. I lost.
Imbarkus
As Sartre noted in his contemplation on Hell in No Exit, the true horror is other members.
Best game of 2015?
Yessir!
Glad it's coming to more platforms
Hopefully runs a bit better than the PS4 version did.
I didn't have any performance issues that I recall. Which did you notice?
It can be tense with the Hide and Seek, but plot itself is not really Horror. It is though, striking in its themes, mysteries, and the overall resolution.
FallenGrace
Member
While not quite that much the whole story, voice acting and atmosphere were so good I do think of it from time to time. It would make a top 100 game list by me easily despite my hatred of most encounters.
Head.spawn
Junior Member
Woot.
Shake Appeal
Member
You should be fine. There are definitely some scary parts, but there's nothing jumpy, violent or destructive. You will have to run away from some monsters sometimes, but it's not really a survival horror game. It is principally a narrative experience.
Zeouterlimits
Member
Oh I played it on PC, but I saw in the GAF thread some posts about framerate issues occasionally popping up, like it would load between areas or something.
Stiler
Member
There's a mod (on pc) that allows you to turn off these encounters with monsters for the most part (minus the ones that are part of the story and move you forward).
https://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=560988617
Also there's really not a ton of these things in the game, literally you'll encounter them like 4 times throughout the game IIRC, by far they are not what the game focuses on at all, they are just used in moments of tension and make up a small part of the game.
It's not a walking sim, Adventure games (which is what Soma is) have been around for a long long time, they were the biggest games in the 90's with titles like Myst and Gabriel Knight.
Walking Sims are games like The Path and Dear Esther, where you simply explore and the story unfolds as you move forward, with 0 puzzles or other gameplay elements.
Soma is very much an adventure game with puzzles to figure out and solve, like Myst, etc, though they aren't nearly as hard.
Here's a great review of SOMA with major spoilers.
I agree with a lot of the gameplay points as SOMA seems like much more of an experience rather than a fun game to play.
I agree with a lot of the gameplay points as SOMA seems like much more of an experience rather than a fun game to play.
MaKTaiL
Member
What? I just checked and there is still no platinum for this game.SOMA was really good. I bought it for PS4 on day 1 and I don't have any regrets. Sure they could've toned it down with the monster encounters and improved the game's performance (and added a platinum
xrnzaaas
Member
And it's never going to happen unless the game gets a re-release at some point like the Amnesia games did (and even in their case it's only 1 platinum for playing 2 games).
So, so happy for X-Box owners. This game had a real profound effect on me and was arguably my GOTY for 2015.
Just make sure to avoid all spoilers and run at the mere mention of the game's name. Seriously this game needs to be experienced 100% blind.
Got to admit I'm slightly jealous. I'd love to play this again for the very first time as It's still a game I think of regularly despite completing it nearly two years ago.
Goes without saying but this is a MUST buy.
Just make sure to avoid all spoilers and run at the mere mention of the game's name. Seriously this game needs to be experienced 100% blind.
Got to admit I'm slightly jealous. I'd love to play this again for the very first time as It's still a game I think of regularly despite completing it nearly two years ago.
Goes without saying but this is a MUST buy.
Glad its coming over to XOne but I don't really understand the hype this game gets. The atmosphere is interesting, and I like that it takes place
however, there really isn't any gameplay and it's not really a horror game besides the atmosphere. It's a 6-7 hr. walking simulator with very little to worry about. There aren't any real enemies or anything for you to deal with; although the world itself is the major problem and some of the decisions you're faced to deal with are definitely unique. I'll give it that.
Major Spoilers listed below. Don't read this unless you're ok with that:
Thoughts?
in the ocean,
Major Spoilers listed below. Don't read this unless you're ok with that:
You're a robot that has to send your conscious into space with the remaining consciousness of the planet that is destroyed. But isn't that just artificial anyway? What is the point of living in a fake world with fake people? Digital trees with digital romance doesn't really sound like a way of living. The game makes you think that you will actually get out and then it just pulls the rug out from underneath you and gives you a mediocre end. Like here have fun traveling the stars for the rest of your life and never actually feeling anything again. Its like if we were all just trapped in GTA while the neural network that our minds are uploaded to just travels through space until it inevitably goes off line. Its like living in a drug induced world without repercussions because it is indeed fake. Its not that I don't enjoy a good FU kind of ending, but this one just felt like: Oh we are all just trapped in the matrix floating through space and we are ok with that. Just felt like a cop out to me.
Thoughts?
I disagree. Just because you don't shoot enemies or don't collect useless junk every few minutes doesn't mean it's a walking simulator. You do explore the base, you do have to go from point A to B while avoiding hazards, you do have to pickup objects and use them, solve puzzles, avoid enemies (remember that the first time you play the game you don't know how many of them are there and where they are; during my playthrough I was constantly on the edge), interact with characters, read memos or watch videos in order to learn things to use them later etc. It's not like Gone Home (the only true "walking simulator" I've played) where walking around and looking at object is literally all you can do.
During the 11 or so hours of playing SOMA, not once did I felt bored. That's because the gameplay the game offered perfectly complemented the story and the atmosphere. Sure, the game isn't *fun* to play (like it is fun to play e.g. Bayonetta or Uncharted), and there is no point in replaying it when you know everything. But during the first playthrough, (with all its smokes and mirrors) for me, SOMA was just a perfect experience.
It reminds me of the critique against "Her Story". That game's gameplay was what? Typing key words into a search engine and watching random short movies. But you don't (or at least shouldn't) view that game's gameplay without the context - the story unfolding before you as you try to play the role of detective trying to deduce what really happened.
Uh, the atmosphere is *all* a good horror game (book, movie) requires. Making the player (reader, viewer) uncomfortable, making him be constantly on the edge. In that regard SOMA, at least for me, managed to feel more like a horror game than most "horror games" that just throw a bunch of monsters and gore at you and call it a day.
Regarding the story...
So... just like
San Junipero from Black Mirror... or even the Matrix itself?
That was the only way to preserve the humanity; any kind of humanity. Most of the people living there won't even know that they live in a VR, among AIs. For them that world will be real, will be their world. Remember the puzzle where you had to simulate a scene in order to obtain a passcode from a dead security guy? He didn't know that he's really dead and everything around him is fake; he just woke up after the scan and got back to living his (short) life.
Even Simon - even thought he knew what the ARK really is, what the experiment was all about - believed that he, the real him, will be shot into space and continue living there. The Simon living on the ARK believes he was teleported from Tau into the capsule, into the new world. Not that he's just a digital copy of the Simon left at Tau.
Of course it all depends how real the simulation really is.
Even Simon - even thought he knew what the ARK really is, what the experiment was all about - believed that he, the real him, will be shot into space and continue living there. The Simon living on the ARK believes he was teleported from Tau into the capsule, into the new world. Not that he's just a digital copy of the Simon left at Tau.
Of course it all depends how real the simulation really is.
speedomodel
Member
Oh nice, almost got this for the PS4. Will pick this up for sure on Xbox.
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