Somerville has been a game on my most-wanted list ever since the trailer debuted years ago. It had everything working in it's favor: minimalistic art style, puzzle-based gameplay, and a focused story on a family trying to survive a War-Of-The-Worlds type scenario. With better polish and some more thought out accessibility options, this game could've been a hidden gem for Game Pass subscribers. Instead the clunky controls, unforgiving checkpoints, and lack of direction given to the player makes this a chore to play instead of a joy.

Fulfilling puzzles make you go "That's it!" and not "...that's it?" Somerville ties up every introspective (and BEAUTIFUL) slice-of-life scene with a puzzle that feels like notes from playtesters never got acted upon. There is little to no information given to the player for how to succeed in using the puzzle mechanics, which typically invites the player to have ah-ha moments throughout a play session, but Somerville's clunky controls make it feel like work instead of play.

Some great ideas here, just a bit sloppy. It doesn't bode well that a 3.5 hour long game felt like much longer. Performance on my Series X was fine, but the game took a big hit framerate-wise on my Series S.

And I have a lot of thoughts about the Dog in the game, but to discuss them openly would be spoilery.