SOMA Review

When I last discussed Frictional Games, it was during my revisit to Amnesia A Machine For Pigs, the sequel to The Dark Descent (said to Frictional Games' magnum opus). Unknown to me, is that during that time in September, Frictional Games released a new title, SOMA.
I'm late to jump on the band wagon here. It took me sometime around to actually get the game, then another month or so to complete it. SOMA is another survival horror game, masterfully done by Frictional Games. What sets it apart from the other titles is that it sinks a bit into the Science Fiction genre with its extremely immersive setting.
The game puts you in the role of Simon, a Toronto native, who suddenly finds himself in the underwater lab, Pathos II in the far, doomed future. I'm going to keep this spoiler free, because if you were to play the game knowing everything, then the entire experience would be ruined.
The world of Pathos II is super immersive, everything can play a role in advancing forward and the whole plot isn't explained to you up front. There's interactive objects throughout the levels that elaborate the hidden lore. The gameplay borrows several elements from the Amnesia series. There's no methods of fighting back or attacking, all you have is a light and a certain amount of health (usually its two hits and you're dead). You have to entirely use your wits to continue.
Each of the levels are designed as mazes with certain puzzles that must be completed. The jump from an old dark house to a desolate undersea lab creates a much more claustrophobic feel. If the brain teasers aren't enough, then the robotic monsters will drive any player from taking a break.
The monsters of this game are kind of mixes of barnacles and machinery. They're huge dark blobs for the most part, but it starts to get pretty freighting when they take on humanoid shapes.
Seriously, imagine walking down a dark hallway and the screen starts to become disorienting and you could just make out a human shadow at the end, that's this game. And if your stomach hasn't dropped yet, then the creatures actually break out in a full sprint towards you. You can run all you want, but eventually they will catch you.
But they really appear in every other level. The true essence of SOMA is in its level design and immersion. You can use computer terminals throughout Pathos II to solve the puzzles most of the time, the game heavily stresses this. The hidden lore also has a certain charm to it, like uncovering the mystery about what happened to Pathos II. There's also points in the game where you can make your own decisions and take a break from the linear path, don't worry they don't seem to effect the ending.
So in short, SOMA is another great game released by Frictional Games. And from my time with their library, it's better then Amnesia A Machine For Pigs and slightly falls beneath Amnesia The Dark Descent. Primarily because SOMA doesn't really have a good replay value while The Dark Descent does. Once you know everything, it loses its novelty. But give it one play through and its like being apart of a really good movie.