I wish I could do a neutral review, because this was a complex experience. I'd definitely recommend this game for the story and overall atmosphere. The themes aren't as original as others would lead you to believe, but SOMA's story is very thought-provoking and memorable nonetheless. The other elements in the game are... not as strong.
The monster encounters were a major problem for me. Not that they were too scary, on the contrary. I beat Alien: Isolation right before starting SOMA, and that really brings the outdated and terrible monster mechanics to light. The Alien in Isolation is a real and unpredictable threat that you can't kill, but distraction and evasion make these encounters tense and horrifying (helped by the godlike sound design). Bottom line: you have a lot of options when facing it.
The monster mechanic in SOMA however feels extremely dated and is more annoying than anything. First there's the designs of all the creatures, which are not imposing or threatening at all (even though this is the intention). Some of the monsters scuttling towards me served more as unintentional comedy than anything else. You'll eventually get hit though, but you can retry from that point onwards. Good news right? Well not exactly, because in a wounded state your sight gets impaired, you limp and the screen gets filled with distracting effects. So sometimes an escape gets difficult because of this retry system. Luckily there are healing points in some places. Still, the monster encounters feel extremely limited and one-sided, because your only options are running, evading, or hiding in a corner hoping you don't get seen.
So if you want to get the most out of SOMA, I'd actually recommend the 'wuss mode' (ugh) mod, which disables enemy hits. I played through the vanilla version, but if I'd ever replay it, I'd do it with the mod enabled. It's obvious this team handles story and characterization better, I find it odd that they still cling to this outdated Amnesia monster mechanic. It's like they forced themselves to include it, because they felt the game needed tension. I agree with the
gaming age review in that sense: "Their strong suit may have been in horror at some point, but sometimes moving forward means leaving something behind. In the case of SOMA, they've traversed far into the future without leaving the past where it lies."
Had they ditched this, they could've invested more in the puzzles, which were for the most part pretty entertaining and never too hard or frustrating. I'd rather have more puzzles than a half baked revolving door of monsters.
So ultimately I decided to grade based on the vanilla version, where I found that the terrible monster sections dragged the entire experience down. If you're okay with these, or decide to try out that mod, I'd easily recommend it. The sci-fi tale and its ending will likely stick with you for a while. I definitely felt like reading up on it after I was done. Play this if you're a fan of Moon, Ex-machina, Blade Runner or the work of Philip K. D1ck.
I've definitely had enough of stalking monsters by now. I also can't help but compare the monsters here to the Alien and they come off more as a joke (albeit an annoying one) than a real threat.
