It's not nearly as terrible as A Machine for Pigs, but it is a far cry from the masterpiece that is Soma. After 7 hours I couldn't stomach playing for what I assumed is another few hours.

It seems like they doubled down on my least favorite parts of Soma, which is sadly the actual "gameplay": the monsters. I don't think I was able to hide successfully from a single monster, they always seemed to find me. I literally could not tell if my game was bugged or that's just how the game works, but I groaned every time I ran into a monster. which was often. Not only was their AI complete bullshit, but apparently they just disappear once they get you; you cannot die from getting captured. The biggest punishment in the game is having to sit through the, uh, "revive" animation where Tasi looks at herself for 20 seconds.

I was genuinely intrigued by the story, it all worked for me. The theme of motherhood, the quickly growing fetus, the increasingly dark and distressing flashbacks, stumbling upon an alien world, the mystery of what I seemingly did to my crew days ago, it's all great stuff.

But it's simply not fun to play. My tipping point was a portal puzzle that was poorly explained and obtusely completed, which was followed by what seemed like an hour of being chased by scraggly monster men. Once that part of the game amounted to nothing, I threw my hands up and uninstalled.

Frictional games have made two great masterpieces: Amnesia the Dark Descent and Soma. The first is genuinely fun to play and solve puzzles in, the second has one of the best stories ever told in video games. But so far these are the only 2 home runs from this studio. I hope they learn more lessons in their next game. Maybe I'll find out on a sale.

Reviewed on May 26, 2023


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