Somerville

Somerville is one of the year’s biggest surprises, and I’m still shocked to see it fly under the radar. Its portrayal of an alien invasion raging across the British countryside hit close to home, while the story of a father searching for his family and being tied up in a dilemma so much bigger than he ever imagined is both nothing like I expected and everything I wanted. I can’t wait to see players far smarter than I piece its most devious puzzles together, since there are still so many questions waiting to be answered.

Somerville is a fantastic debut for Jumpship that should be commended, but a little extra polish in some key areas would have made an already great game even better.

It feels like cheating to call Somerville a debut indie title when its creator’s individual pedigree is so strong, but it’s a tremendous spiritual successor to both Limbo and Inside. It takes an ordinary setting, quickly removes all normalcy, and takes the player on a fleeting sci-fi thrill ride that makes use of every second of your attention that it has.

Somerville is a tight experience that tells its tale, doesn’t leave you hanging too long, and gives you plenty to ruminate on. Some rough edges hold it back from hitting the heights of those that inspired it.

With his particular vision of The War of the Worlds, Somerville proposes a precious cinematic adventure focused on narration.

Somerville is a true “short and sweet” gaming experience that really throws a spanner into traditional storytelling and gaming.

Somerville does for Inside for what Inside did for Limbo. While the means of gameplay has evolved into a 3D realm, it's more an emphasis on an actual narrative that sets it apart.

Somerville takes us on an intimate and dramatic journey through a world now close to unraveling, enriched by puzzles that shape a satisfying gaming offering, but unfortunately some design choices and a less-than-perfect packaging do not allow the game to shine and touch heights of excellence. Still, it remains a fascinating and disturbing journey that you are unlikely to forget, and that is enough to rightfully belong in the experiences every gamer should have.

Though it may not be quite as thought-provoking as the games that inspired it, Somerville is a promising effort from a new studio, capably evoking its themes and happenings through its visual storytelling, in a way that makes you ponder and feel for the characters and their situations. Unfortunately, Somerville can’t remove itself from the shadow of Playdead’s works, so it is inevitably stuck in the position of inferiority, because it doesn’t do much we haven’t seen before. Having said that, it is a worthwhile adventure that may start slow, but picks up momentum the more you play and is backed up by decent puzzles and some pulse-quickening and heart-thumping drama. All told Somerville is a pleasant slice of thought-provoking adventuring.

With low quality puzzles and unpolished motion for certain objects, Somerville feels rough around the edges when compared with the games that made its creators so well regarded. Sudden twists in the game’s second half feel unnatural, and the multiple endings don’t feel different enough from one another. That being said, the studio’s potential can be felt throughout the game.

Somerville aims high, very high, succeeding in certain things (puzzle design, atmosphere, and scenic impact) and missing the target in others (emotional involvement, technical cleanliness, weak central part). In the end, the experience is certainly pleasant but never shocking, a short and evocative journey in the middle of an alien apocalypse with some scenes capable of remaining impressed for a long time, despite often missing that ludo-narrative amalgam to connect them. A promising debut for Jumpship, with a perfect Game Pass title that could easily be finished in an evening but would have deserved some extra refinement.

Somerville puts a unique spin on the Inside formula, and though it isn't quite as impactful as the games that inspired it, it's still a haunting, well-made adventure.

Somerville feels like great ambition being stretched a little thin, and fundamentally, the way it feels to actually play makes me wish it spent a little longer in the oven, refining and polishing the best parts.

Somerville is a nice looking adventure game with a unique puzzle element idea, but narrative and performance inconsistencies leave the overall experience a bit muted.

Somerville's biggest strengths are the atmosphere and story, which both give room for thought. But the puzzles are very easy and lack variation. Despite all that, Somerville is just like Limbo and Inside worth the effort.

Somerville feels like a game that is going through growing pains. As the first title to come from Jumpship, there's a fair amount to like here and quite a bit that can be built off of moving forward. Still, Somerville isn't also without its problems, especially when it comes to creating an enjoyable gameplay experience. As a result, Somerville itself isn't something that I would deem a must-play, but Jumpship as a whole is a studio that I'll continue to keep an eye on as time goes on. 

Somerville is the only game that has ever had me hiding from aliens in a grimy festival Portaloo. Yet its last-ditch attempt at a galaxy-brain sci-fi ending lands with a disappointing thud. While its head-scratcher finale leaves you wishing its nonverbal narrative was a little more verbal, Somerville remains a masterclass in minimal storytelling; a series of memorable, haunting vignettes.

Despite its issues, Somerville manages to offer a mostly enjoyable experience. The family bond forged in an opening scene, which is easily the highlight of Somerville, simply works and drove me through the game. I wanted to figure out what happened to my character’s family and see them together again, and that kept me going through a relatively short game. 

Somerville is a fantastically evocative game as it depicts an everyman's journey through a War of the Worlds-like alien invasion, leaning on countless sci-fi tropes and ideas along the way. Disappointingly, it's undercut on a number of levels by controls and a detached feeling and hastiness with some parts of the story it's telling.

Somerville is an exceptional project with huge missed potential, reason being the overall weak technical state. The game is just raw and would greatly benefit from at least another six month of dev time.

Somerville is a super-stylish slice of sci-fi that nails its aesthetic and provides a solid narrative that comes to a pleasingly surreal and fantastical end. However, all of this good stuff is bogged down by dull gameplay, performance issues and the addition of a third dimension that, while certainly very cool to look at, leads to awkwardness as you attempt to solve puzzles and interact with environments. If you can make peace with the gameplay, you'll still find a story worth experiencing here, it's just a shame there wasn't as much creativity in those puzzles as there is in every other aspect of what Jumpship has served up.

Short games aren't inherently flawed, but Somerville needed a bit more time to convey its major themes. The scope of the alien invasion story looks at both macro and micro relationships among people in ways that only end up scratching the surface of saying something interesting, and though it builds up an interesting universe that leaves me with questions regarding its alien overlords, I was surprised to find in myself an indifference toward finding the truth that's out there.

If you expect Somerville to be as polished and gripping as the all-time favourite Inside, you are in for a disappointment. The game sure has its moments, even though it turns into a slog pretty fast.

Overall, Somerville has a fantastic and intriguing world that’s begging to be explored from the off. Wonderful art and sound design compounded with excellent character animations really bring this narrative adventure to life, but a smattering of bugs, lacklustre puzzle elements, and an ambiguous story that left me feeling unrewarded after posing so many initial questions, really hampered the experience.

A disappointing follow-up to Limbo and Inside that lacks the same complexity of plot and puzzles, and yet struggles surprisingly poorly with the move to 3D.