SOMA

 PlayStation 4
Metascore
79

Generally favorable reviews - based on 27 Critic Reviews

Critic score distribution:
  1. Positive: 22 out of 27
  2. Mixed: 5 out of 27
  3. Negative: 0 out of 27
  1. Brash Games
    Oct 4, 2015
    70
    As a study in human behaviour and survival, and as a story-based game of exploration, SOMA is absolutely a success. But as a horror game, it’s just not possible to overlook the feeling of boredom created during the monster encounters that are so integral to the experience as a whole, and that the game is at least two hours longer than necessary.
  2. Hardcore Gamer
    Sep 27, 2015
    70
    As a horror game, SOMA feels old and archaic. It isn’t especially frightening or even satisfying to play, but the questions it raises are worth exploring and make it worthwhile regardless.
  3. Metro GameCentral
    Sep 21, 2015
    70
    A daringly complex ode to the works of Philip K. Dick, and although the mix of survival horror and existential storytelling doesn’t always work it’s never less than gripping.
  5. GamesRadar+
    Sep 21, 2015
    70
    A disturbingly different take on interesting sci-fi concepts let down by a slow start and disappointing monsters, but worth it overall.
  6. GameCritics
    Nov 13, 2015
    65
    While SOMA never hits the highs of Amnesia: The Dark Descent, it's still largely decent in its own right. Some confused environment design and lackluster monster scenarios work against it, but as an atmospheric jaunt under the sea with a reasonable storyline behind it... well, it works pretty well. Faint praise perhaps, but praise nonetheless.

Awards & Rankings

66
#66 Best PS4 Game of 2015
35
#35 Most Discussed PS4 Game of 2015
39
#39 Most Shared PS4 Game of 2015

User Reviews

All reviews »
User Score
8.3

Generally favorable reviews- based on 618 Ratings

User score distribution:
  1. Positive: 493 out of 618
  2. Mixed: 76 out of 618
  3. Negative: 49 out of 618
  1. jakeman25
    Sep 22, 2015
    10
    I love Frictional Games work. Amnesia was a classic, this game comes 5 years later and feels like a true successor to what they have beenI love Frictional Games work. Amnesia was a classic, this game comes 5 years later and feels like a true successor to what they have been working towards. It's an awesome game with a very mature, thought-provoking story that you'll wanna see through to the end. I won't spoil anything but you are in for a treat... Enjoy! 10/10… Full Review »
  2. MetroidHunter
    Sep 23, 2015
    10
    I played this yesterday, i'm about half way through, and to be honest it really isn't that scary, the monsters are more annoying than scary,I played this yesterday, i'm about half way through, and to be honest it really isn't that scary, the monsters are more annoying than scary, but in all it's still amazing and I would highly recommend that if you can, play it.… Full Review »
  3. plotlesviolence
    Mar 1, 2016
    0
    OVERVIEW = 0
    A strong contender for the worst game ever made. Not enough gameplay to call it "stealth" or "puzzle," so it's closest to the    OVERVIEW = 0
    A strong contender for the worst game ever made. Not enough gameplay to call it "stealth" or "puzzle," so it's closest to the "Walking Simulator" genre, with an awful story. I didn’t expect to like it, but a ton of recommendations convinced me to try it anyway, and in retrospect I have no idea what the recommenders were smoking.

    [CONTROLS/MECHANICS = 0]
    "Walking Simulators" are defined by the absence of gameplay, the 3D world existing only to showcase the plot, like an art gallery exists only to showcase 2D paintings in a way better served by an artbook. The experience can be faithfully recreated on Youtube, with branching videos for each choice. Calling these "games" is like calling footage of text crawling across a screen a "movie": it would have worked better as a book, just like Walking Sims work better as movies.
    Soma is somehow worse, in the sense that the barest whiff of gameplay is actually less enjoyable than zero gameplay: I prefer cutscenes to Quick-Time-Events because, if you're not going to offer real control, you might as well let me sit back and enjoy the movie instead of aggravating me with reflex testing.
    There are arguments to be made that "The Stanley Parable" because it relies so heavily on movement-determined choice, and "The Beginner's Guide" because its plot is about showcasing game worlds, justify their formats as games rather than sequences of videos. Rather than answer that question here, I'll point out that nothing in Soma, at least, justifies its pretense towards being a game instead of a video.
    (Physics Puzzle = 0) You can pick up, and throw objects, like Half Life 2's gravity gun without the "force pull" option. And unlike the 2004 masterpiece, the puzzles are all of the keyhunt variety. None of them do anything as interesting as HL2.
    (Stealth = ?) I quit before getting to the stealth portion, I'll admit that. But from what I saw on Youtube, you have basically no tactics other than running and hiding. If you want to call Soma a stealth game, it's going to have to compete against Metal Gear Solid V in that regard.
    Games like this are often called “horror,” as if identification with that genre somehow excuses the fact that you have no control options and are therefore weak. It wasn’t scary to me, but little is. It also wasn’t fun, and I have difficulty understanding why other people did find it fun.

    [PRESENTATION = 1]
    (Graphics = 7) I was really impressed with the graphics and textures for the machines and backgrounds. The human people look a little fake.
    (Visual aesthetics = 5)
    (Sound Effects = 5)
    (Voice Acting = 8)
    (Plot = 0) If Walking Sims are just movies presented in the wrong format, they can still redeem themselves if the movie is good. I have only ever played 5 games where the plot/cutscenes were good enough to stand on their own: MGS3:Snake Eater, Bioshock:Infinite, The Walking Dead: Season 1, The Stanley Parable, and The Beginner's Guide. By contrast, Soma has one of the worst plots I've ever seen.
    After I gave up on playing it, I finished watching all the dialogue on a Let’s Play, and it was almost unwatchable. The one plot thread is the philosophical question: when you copy your brain into another body, you are not “transferring” consciousness, you are just making a copy. It’s the same plot that was handled much, much better by the (still horrible) “The 6th Day” Schwarzenegger movie. That’s it. It’s a 5-minute short story padded and overstretched across a 9 hour game.
    It asks the question “What is identity?” but so does every other form of entertainment ever created. What it doesn’t do is ask that question intelligently, or offer any answers, or any competent discussions. There are only 2 characters and they only exist to restate and argue that same theme in the same way over and over. Even for a medium where plot is seen as an irrelevant distraction from the “good stuff” of action, and therefore as important as plot in pornography, this was bad. If it weren't for the fact that it was a Walking Sim, I would think the story had been shoehorned in as an afterthought.

    DESIGN = 0
    (Level Design = 2) Keyhunts were the worst part of every FPS; I would enjoy a bit of 1993’s “Doom”, kill all the enemies and then, bam, red door needs a red key, and now you have to check every single room for the next 20 minutes before you're allowed to have fun again. I only played Soma for an hour, and more than half of that was me being lost, trying to figure out what to press next to continue a story that would never pay off. Not fun.
    (Length = 9 hours, 75% padding)

    CONCLUSION
    Soma fails on almost every level. Even if you like Walking Sims, even if you’re willing to just watch the cutscenes, there is nothing worth your time here. I seriously cannot understand where the accolades are coming from. Dark Souls is probably a worse game, but only because DS is intentionally designed as poorly as possible to hurt its own players.    … Full Review »
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