65%PC

Soma contains one of the most interesting narratives I've ever experienced, too bad it's wrapped in boring gameplay elements. The video game format is very effective in delivering some banger moments about: the meaning of self, humanity, society, friendship, the end of the world, time travel, ai, etc. It's impossible to to talk about the story without spoiling major aspects, so I'll just say you have to experience it yourself! The gameplay, however, has some major flaws. It seems that Frictional Games had a very cool idea for environments and monsters with little clue on how to effectively tie them together. Instead of focusing on the interesting moral/ ethical decisions or puzzles, it relies on generic hide-and-seek then chase gameplay that feels like a dull waste of time. Multiple occasions I found myself waiting minutes for a creature to move away from the door I needed to go through. Several other times, after making through said door, there would be a chase sequence where I'd have to rush through the area missing all the neat things that are there. And I knew I would have to wait (again) for the monster to scuttle away to see them. My recommendation would be to play on safe mode. A few sequences will not care what mode you're in, but there's a lot less of them than normal ones. In safe mode enemies won't chase you; letting you explore without wasting time on running away or sneaking. The voice acting performances are fantastic and make the whole journey super immersive. Solving puzzles is, also, very well integrated to the aesthetics. Wrapping up, the games got some great moments and the story is a definite 10/10, but you need to work through medium-sized segments of major boredom.