Official Poll Regarding SOMA's Monsters

[Chilvence]

I really had a love hate relationship with the monsters in this game.

From a design point of view, the way they work, the strengths and weaknesses they have, and the fact that they are all used sparingly, those are all great. It's been a long time since a game has literally paralysed me with fear. It blew my mind. Whatever direction you are heading, this is where games need to follow in future. That's the love part.

What I didn't like, is that there were several parts where it felt like the game was basically saying 'F*ck you'. I'm not talking about the jump scares or the parts that are scripted or the parts where you get tricked. There were really only two places in the game I really didn't like, the 'maze' in Curie (which was a really cool level btw), and the mini maze in Tau.

I'm talking about this: You are in a narrow corridor, the place you need to get to is at the end of the corridor, and in between you and that place is the invulnerable, insta-kill monster which you can only get past by hiding and waiting. You can't run away from it because it is faster than you, you can't stun it because Simon is a dick and threw away the cattle prod, you can't trap it because there is no allowance for that, and you can't trick it to move out of the way, because it seems to be artificially weighted to find you whatever happens.

You basically can't do anything except hope it doesn't notice you. There is no action you can take to improve your odds, by this point you have totally lost any sense of agency and are waiting for the game to do something. That is really, really tedious, and that is why so many people are complaining about the 'annoying' monsters. The thing is, the monsters are not annoying, the monsters are incredible -- it is the protagonist that is annoying.

He can't actually 'do' anything, which goes completely against the grain of games giving the player more and more things they can do, more choices they can make. I'm afraid to say it, but when you strip every possible ability away from the player and put him in a maze running away from monsters, you don't have an open ended, complex, strategic game - you have 21st century PAC-MAN. And even he had power pills once in a while...

You could keep the monsters exactly as they are, only give the player some options they can pursue, no matter how feeble or temporary or limited they are, and nobody would be angry at the game, because at least you would feel like you can attempt to affect your situation. Even if it most likely still results in your doom. It is the feeling that you can affect your situation that keeps you hooked on a good game.

What if you could break the locks off doors? Set off a distraction in a room then barricade something in? Or stun monsters, even if only for the split second you need to run past them? Or even try to get the jump on a creature by sticking one of the many featured buckets over their head? There are so many possibilities, so many ideas that haven't been pursued, even without going down the beaten path of traditional first person games.

In summary : Monsters = Perfect as they are ; Simon = Total Loser Knobhead, please don't make us play as him again