SOMA Xbox One review: Sci-fi horror that puts story above cheap scares
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It’s been a decent year for horror games, with Resident Evil 7 reinvigorating Capcom’s stalling franchise and The Evil Within 2 making good on the potential of its predecessor.
Now Xbox One owners get another to experience another prime example of the genre with SOMA. Originally released back in 2015 for PC and PS4 , this first-person tale of technological terror from developer Frictional Games has arrived on Microsoft’s console.
You play as Simon Jarrett who, after submitting himself for an experimental brain scan in a bid to heal a severe head injury, inexplicably awakens in an underwater scientific research station.
You must guide Simon around the PATHOS II facility, avoiding strange beings and uncovering clues that help you piece together the truth behind your predicament.
Said plot is presented in the form of audio logs, documents and conversations with the odd survivor, with some of these little narrative flourishes being optional things to discover in side rooms and offices. The sound design is top notch, from the creaking metal of your surroundings as the station groans against the pressure of the ocean around it. to the inhuman noises made by the monsters hunting you.
Similar to Frictional’s other horror series Amnesia, there’s no combat here. Enemies are essentially unkillable, and there are no weapons. Instead, you’ll have to sneak and hide in order to progress. As someone who soon tired of Alien Isolation’s ever-present invincible xenomoph, SOMA’s stealthy segments are mercifully few in number, fairly short and mostly self-contained.
Truthfully, the game wouldn’t suffer much if the creatures’ threat was eliminated entirely. Such is the power of SOMA’s perpetually creepy atmosphere, the presence of enemies feels almost like an obstacle to artificially stop the player from progressing too quickly.
This notion of ‘gameplay’ getting in the way of the plot for some players has apparently not been lost on the developers, who have included a new Safe Mode with the Xbox One version. This difficulty setting still keeps the creatures in the game, but they can’t necessarily kill you. If you already own the game on other platforms, Safe Mode has also been added to the Steam version, with the PS4 edition slated to get the update by the end of January.
While I can already hear the dismayed cries of self-styled so-called hardcore gamers, Safe Mode is not only entirely optional but in fact a brilliant addition, if only because SOMA’s story and tone are so well crafted as to stand up by themselves. It might be called 'Safe' but you'll still feel far from it.
Simply seeing enemies stalk the darkened claustrophobic hallways, labs and offices is enough to instill palpable fear, and experiencing the game’s narrative is far more vital than hiding under a desk or having to peek around every corner. It also allows you to explore the SOMA’s environments more freely than you may have done, and discover elements of the backstory that you might have missed.
The game isn’t without fault though. There are some underwater sections that, while initially haunting, can quickly become frustrating if you get a bit lost in the deep sea murk. There were also a fair few occasions when I felt that making it past enemies was more a matter of luck (or simply running for it) than skill.
That aside, SOMA is a fantastic example of perfectly pitched atmosphere. Its gripping sci-fi mystery make for a uniquely effective experience that puts story above cheap jump scares.