Official Poll Regarding start of SOMA

[Thomas]

We have seen a wide range of views on the start of SOMA and because of this would like to hear your thoughts on.

So basically, pick the answer above that fits best. Would also appreciate and leave some furhter thoughts in a reply (if you do, please say which answer you picked).

[Sunjammer]

I thought it worked well both as a tutorial, a fake-out (missing the past sequence, which grounds the story in "our reality", would have been awful) and as a way of setting up Simon's motivations.

[Xerenos]

I thought it was really good. Being able to find the flashback/memory thingy's scattered around Upsilon really allowed us to speculate about what was going on, which I loved. And as usual, the atmosphere was terrifying xD

[Mettanine]

That the game started in Simon's apartment took me by surprise, I'll admit that. But in retrospect, it's a very important part of the story and thankfully it wasn't boring to me. Just not what I expected at all (and maybe that's a good thing).

Everything after arriving at Pathos-II was one cohesive narrative to me (so I'm not sure why you chose "arriving at Lambda" as the apparent turning point).

I chose "Perfect".

[Brennenburg]

I thought the game was perfect up until you reach Lambda, that's when you get bombarded with tons of new lore and information (a tad too much in one hit).

[jmitchell]

I really thought that the implied presence of the monster in the beginning of Upsilon was pretty much perfect. After watching other players go through it, I think that it's also really neat that it can actually show up if you open the door it's pounding against too soon.

The only thing I think could've needed improvement were the smaller underwater enemies with the red light (unfortunately I don't know their name). I had a hard time figuring out their behavior, and I was able to just avoid them most of the time. Maybe you didn't intend to have them be a particular threat, but showing how they act would've been nice.

Then again, you know better than me what you were trying to do. Great job overall!

[Kr0m3n01]

SOMA is a masterclass in telling a dark, philosophical tale. You guys dipped into so much genuine philosophy that I never found myself questioning Simon's difficulties in accepting the continuity of his copied self--his hardship and his authentic relationship with Catherine made the gameplay richer and the scares scarier. Thank you for an amazing narrative, you've really raised the bar for storytelling in games and I haven't experienced such a chilling and curious story since Planescape: Torment.

[Volkpartiet]

(Writing this in Swedish because I feel I can't express myself good enough in English)

Helt fantastiskt start på spelet!
Att komma till kontoret för att göra hjärnskanningen gav ett litet smakprov på den där krypande känslan ni lyckas så fint med i era spel. Jag gick nog mer långsamt och försiktigt i korridoren från receptionen, förbi serverrummet och in i skanningrummet, än vad jag gjorde senare i spelet. Helt jävla underbar övergång under själva skanningsprocessen till Upsilon också. En blixt och hela världen är upp-och-ner.

Fienderna dök upp lite snabbare än vad jag räknade med också. Paniken i kombination med förvirringen av miljön var klockren. Jag tyckte också att de mekaniska fienderna i början var mer obehagliga än de humanoida senare i spelet. Framförallt de plågande ljuden de gjorde, fyllt med elektroniskt brus liknande dödsrosslande, var så underbart. Jag tror nog den mest obehagligaste punkten i början av spelet var roboten som sugit sig fast i konsollen, som man fick dra bort medan den bad en sluta för att den behövde det. En perfekt uppvisning av skräcken som väntade en: den typen av skräck som uppstår först när man stänger av spelet.

[Googolplex]

Good. A good horror game needs to start slowly and later it should unleash disturbing stuff. Do never start scary parts at the beginning!

[qecc]

Simon's apartment and the doctor's office came as a real surprise to me. It had me anxiously wonder how on earth a start like that could smoothly progress into the ominous underwater facilities you'd shown in the trailers. I guess the progress wasn't smooth in a literal sense, but story-wise it came to make a lot of sense later on and I really enjoyed that.

The bits prior to PATHOS-2 helped "humanise" the game a bit which took away some of the blunt horror of the predecessor, but in hindsight it's obvious that you've gone for a different approach with SOMA and that while it shares many things with Amnesia, it also differs a lot.

While overall I felt that many of the ideas you present during the later part of the game lacked time to properly sink in, the clues thrown back and forth during Upsilon did a good job for me in helping to form theories and speculation as to what had happened at the facility. I kind of think you introduced the bad guys a bit too early though. I feel that the best kind of horror is the one that has you on edge all the time without throwing anything concretely spooky at you. You did the haunting atmosphere really well and it could easily have held it's own for a while longer without losing it's potency.

Overall SOMA was a great experience for me and it definitely fulfilled my expectations as the latest title from the makers of Amnesia. Heja Frictional!