Official Poll Regarding SOMA's Monsters

[YvesGomes]

I voted "Very scary and interesting to encounter".

Like many, I greatly enjoyed the variety of monsters. I also liked how some of them had rather unique mechanics. And I was constantly saying "WTF?" for the machine head monster. The first time it sensed(?) me I thought I had stepped on something.

I thought the chase in the ship was a little too harsh. Kinda required the player to have guessed he had to memorize the map for a chase. But the atmosphere of it was good.

I liked the parts where we had to solve puzzles while being constantly threatened by monsters (as opposed to the monsters being the puzzle, which is the usual). This game had quite a bit of this and I think it was one of the things that set its gameplay aside from Outlast (which I also loved). I also enjoyed that the marry-go-'round mechanic wasn't used very much, even if it meant having fewer encounters and fewer trully challenging(puzzly) encounters.

And one thing that I loved and that I can see other players not liking was how the constant threat of monsters in some areas made me afraid of exploring. I'm not a completionist, so I enjoyed making the choice of skipping on exploring a room, because I was afraid to die. I really tried not to die (not that I enjoy perma-death rules). I just really take the survival aspect seriously, almost as if roleplaying. But I can see how this constant threat set up on some areas might have frustrated completionists or gamers that simply prioritize exploration.

And I'm selfishly pleased you did it the way you did. It fit me. It fit a priority for atmosphere. I loved the danger while I was exploring and forsaking exploration because it seemed too risky.

Sorry. That was a long reply.

SPOILERS

...He's right that Simon's story, Catherine's ARK quest and the WAU monstrosity don't mix together all that well. Simon does occasionally show some slight disgust and horror towards the WAU and it's creations but he and Catherine seem to absurdly treat it as more of an annoying hinderance than anything else, I didn't quite understand that during the game and I still don't now...

...Also, the Tau monster feels 'shoved-in' to that level to increase the length of the game and give the player another obstacle, in my opinion, that backfired. If I had been in charge of designing the game I would have made more monsters like the Omikron cyber lobster woman, the Constructor in Upsilon and the Jiangshi disco-ball head, the crazy robots and cyber zombies seem closer to the nature and design of the WAU.

I may have over-read into it, but I thought the WAU fit in very well, not as for the script itself (the ARK story didn't need the WAU at all); but thematically. The WAU is another atempt at preserving humanity, of preserving human life, except the WAU focuses on the body, the SOMA. Early in the game, that vibe was pretty strong, specially when we find that woman covered in WAU, being kept alive, saying nothing is alowed to die. That is very much in the theme. I'm pretty sure most people would prefer the ARK over an existence like that.

And at some point I suspected Simon was infected by the WAU in a way that could compromise the ARK. I thought Cat knew that and would trick him, not allowing him to get on the ARK. So, when his upload took long to start near the end I was like "Oh, yeah! I guessed it!". But I was glad it wasn't the case, because filling out the questionnaire a second time, when in the ARK was my favorite moment in the game. My answers were quite different form when I wasn't in the ARK, because in the ARK, I felt grateful.

It was a bit similar to how I had despised the continuity freaks, but ended up deciding to terminate Simon-2. The game made me roleplay a character arc. Freaking brilliant!

Sorry for going off-topic, though.