SOMA was… kind of relaxing. Obviously not when the monsters are chasing you. But, when the quiet and the dark set in and you explore the crumbling underwater facilities, occasionally chatting with the single other lucid entity in the depths… it's quite calming.

I started on the standard mode, but after a while I found the stealth more of a nuisance than tense so I just restarted in the "Safe" mode and focused on the story. To my surprise, the game still managed to freak me out pretty well at parts with just sheer set design and soundscape. I may have even put off finishing the game for a month just because I found the noises the creatures made so unsettling, but I won't admit to that here.

Even if that alleged event happened, it never really spoiled my overall feeling that the game is ultimately very low-key. The dialogue in the game I think being the main reason why this ends up being the case. If the game had never introduced Catherine, it would have gone on to feeling like a fairly generic haunted house adventure dodging monsters, solving puzzles, and soaking up the creepy environment.

But then she's introduced and the whole scenario is recontextualized with the narrative details that come with her.

I won't go into those details for sake of keeping readers fresh to their own interpretation of the story here, but I will say that the tone of the dialogue was entirely unexpected to me for a horror game, and yet it felt so thematically fitting that it worked to create something that worked so well for me.

I'm not entirely in love with some of the ways the game doles out the details of the backstory and world, with frequent use of audio logs you can't listen to without stopping or greatly slowing down. But at least the pace is set properly such that I would usually listen anyway without too much grumbling.

The other major factor in the rhythm of the game was the way you interacted with its elements. Every mechanical interaction (aside from simple buttons) requires a small mouse motion to follow through. I wish the sensitivity on it was just a touch higher, but otherwise I found these interactions smooth and cathartic to execute. They made what could have just been menial box ticking to continue the game into a fun and tactile little performance.

Isn't too much more to say. SOMA is a well put together exploration game that does well to capture both the peace and terror one can find on the ocean floor. That duality is something I've rarely heard of let alone experienced in a horror game (not that I play many) and I think with the Safe mode letting players tune the balance of that, I can heartily recommend this to anyone looking for something more narrative and ambiance driven—and don't mind a few spooks.