SOMA - SciFi Horror

Nice! It seemed like we were just getting set up for something interesting/cool.

I'm really enjoying all the little details, and there is plenty of exploration if you want to look around a bit. I like the little helper robot too :D Very cool game. We'll probably play more of it tonight.
 
This is on sale on Steam for $12 right now. If you haven't played it, I highly recommend grabbing it.
 
bought this during the current Steam Holiday sale for $5.99...looking forward to playing it...they also added a 'Safe Mode' back on December 1st...

The monsters generally won't be a threat, but they'll remain in the game as "atmospheric elements that react to the player in various ways."

"We actually put quite a bit of work into this aspect and made sure that the monsters should still feel like a part of the experience. So it is not like they work like normal except they don't attack. In fact, some monsters may get aggravated if the player gets to close to them," creative director Thomas Grip said

"The difference is the player can never die from these encounters, nor do the monsters actively seek to harm the player. The goal was to have these non-lethal creatures walking about, but still dissuade the player from messing around too much with them. Soma relies a lot on the world feeling dangerous, and we wanted to keep that aspect."
 
Ehh... I'm glad you picked the game up but I wouldn't advise playing on that 'Safe Mode'

The fact that things can kill you in this game is a major contributor toward the atmosphere and fear factor that make the game enjoyable (IMO). It's meant to play like Amnesia or Alien: Isolation. That can mean a slow, cautious sneak-fest or a frenzied dash from hiding spot to hiding spot, depending on your play style.

Safe Mode sounds like Easy Mode to me, and it's not like the game is excruciatingly difficult. Most people have played (or heard of) Amnesia at this point...this is basically the same thing with a different story, protagonist, monster, etc.
 
Lateralus said:
Ehh... I'm glad you picked the game up but I wouldn't advise playing on that 'Safe Mode'

The fact that things can kill you in this game is a major contributor toward the atmosphere and fear factor that make the game enjoyable (IMO). It's meant to play like Amnesia or Alien: Isolation. That can mean a slow, cautious sneak-fest or a frenzied dash from hiding spot to hiding spot, depending on your play style.

Safe Mode sounds like Easy Mode to me, and it's not like the game is excruciatingly difficult. Most people have played (or heard of) Amnesia at this point...this is basically the same thing with a different story, protagonist, monster, etc.
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I have no intention of playing it in Safe Mode...it's just nice that they added that feature...I like my games to be as hard as possible
 
I thought the game was a POS. I generally do not like walking simulators and this one was no different.
 
I had bought this game 2 or 3 years back and I have it on pc and ps4. You cant tell that you can make subtle changes to have different outcomes. the guiding force in the game that assists you really gets you involved in the game. I like games that tell you how everything fell apart. the tension from being chased is the best especially stacked up next to the story of the previous crew.
 
KickAssCop said:
I thought the game was a POS. I generally do not like walking simulators and this one was no different.
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I would hardly call it a walking simulator just because there's no direct combat. Cool if it's not your thing, but it's hardly a POS. A bit of goofy voice acting bits aside, the quality is top notch, and it's one of the better looking games to come out in years on top of it.
 
mrAmazing said:
I had bought this game 2 or 3 years back and I have it on pc and ps4. You cant tell that you can make subtle changes to have different outcomes. the guiding force in the game that assists you really gets you involved in the game. I like games that tell you how everything fell apart. the tension from being chased is the best especially stacked up next to the story of the previous crew.
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This is the very reason that System Shock / System Shock 2 are among my favorite games of all time as well. SOMA doesn't quite make my top ten I don't think, but it's definitely top 50 or so. I think this is the type of game though that if you don't allow it to pull you in, it just won't have the impact that it would if you did. Seems like some people can't just let go and get absorbed into something like this because it's different than more typical mainstream games. Some of the acting is a bit clumsy, and I find the player-character's views on some things at odds with my own (just wanted to smack him a few times :D ) but overall, the game gets you thinking, and injects a little adrenaline at times as well. They did a very good job IMO.
 
I need to give this game another try. When I bought it originally I got a lot of frame tearing and stutter, so quit playing it but I did enjoy everything as much I played. I think if I can get the frame pacing down it will be playable, might reinstall it and tinker with NV Inspector and Rivatuner.
 
I thought this game was pretty good , better than the rest of the
'simulator' games out there... say like, amnesia or outlast..
good story, not to many puzzles that I couldn't figure out.....

SOMA Is worth the price ...... to me
 
Lmah2x said:
I need to give this game another try. When I bought it originally I got a lot of frame tearing and stutter, so quit playing it but I did enjoy everything as much I played. I think if I can get the frame pacing down it will be playable, might reinstall it and tinker with NV Inspector and Rivatuner.
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I'm not 100% sure, as it's been a while since I played, but I believe that on the machine I played it on, I have VSync forced in the NV panel. I like to push settings up, but always have sync on, graphic effects cranked, and then just back AA down until it's silky. I can't stand tearing or weird pacing, so I'm reasonably certain that this would probably do the trick for you.

One other item, and not sure if it'll be of any use, but if you have multiple monitors in Windows 10 (maybe they've fixed it, but early on it was like this) vsync didn't work quite right under a lot of different games. Unplug one monitor, bam, smooth as silk, no tearing. Worth taking a look at though if you have multiple monitors.
 
J3RK said:
I'm not 100% sure, as it's been a while since I played, but I believe that on the machine I played it on, I have VSync forced in the NV panel. I like to push settings up, but always have sync on, graphic effects cranked, and then just back AA down until it's silky. I can't stand tearing or weird pacing, so I'm reasonably certain that this would probably do the trick for you.

One other item, and not sure if it'll be of any use, but if you have multiple monitors in Windows 10 (maybe they've fixed it, but early on it was like this) vsync didn't work quite right under a lot of different games. Unplug one monitor, bam, smooth as silk, no tearing. Worth taking a look at though if you have multiple monitors.
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Yea I did some testing this evening. Forcing V-Sync through NVinspector and using Triple Buffering fixed the tearing completely, capping FPS 2 below monitor refresh rate with RivaTuner seems to have helped with the frame pacing as well.
 
picked this up for cheap recently during a Steam sale and finally started it tonight- on my new (and first) G-Sync 144hz monitor...I'm playing maxed out at 1440p and the game still looks a bit washed out in dark scenes...are blacks not that good in the game?...or is it the FXAA causing it?...I'm not expecting this to look like Witcher 3 but was expecting a bit more graphical eye candy
 
polonyc2 said:
picked this up for cheap recently during a Steam sale and finally started it tonight- on my new (and first) G-Sync 144hz monitor...I'm playing maxed out at 1440p and the game still looks a bit washed out in dark scenes...are blacks not that good in the game?...or is it the FXAA causing it?...I'm not expecting this to look like Witcher 3 but was expecting a bit more graphical eye candy
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The LUT in the game is baked for limited range RGB instead of full range, so there is no way to fix it without using third-party programs like ReShade.

Take a look at this thread:
https://reshade.me/forum/shader-presentation/2948-extended-levels-w-b-point-histogram-port

A lot of PC games suffer from this due to consoles. Yes, even The Witcher 3. Basically, if the game has a console version it is more than likely using a limited range RGB LUT. It is more noticeable in games like SOMA due to the heavy reliance on dark environments.
 
Good info, did not know. I do agree with polonyc2 that the blacks seemed washed out when I was playing on an LCD, but I was somewhat used to that when playing dark games.

Although, there was a huge improvement in the blacks after I started playing the game on my OLED so I just assumed that the poor blacks were due to the inherent weakness of LCD displays rather than how the game was coded. I guess it's a combination.
 
Lateralus said:
Good info, did not know. I do agree with polonyc2 that the blacks seemed washed out when I was playing on an LCD, but I was somewhat used to that when playing dark games.

Although, there was a huge improvement in the blacks after I started playing the game on my OLED so I just assumed that the poor blacks were due to the inherent weakness of LCD displays rather than how the game was coded. I guess it's a combination.
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Combination, for sure. The backlight on an LED exacerbates the issue while an OLED eases it. 16 16 16 will probably be nigh indistinguishable from 0 0 0 on an OLED in a lighted room combined with the other colors on the screen.
 
I'm halfway through SOMA and am really enjoying this game a lot...I love that they don't hold your hand and tell you exactly what you need to do or where you need to go...they force the player to think...great setting and the mechanical enemies are a nice touch...it's already better then any of the Amnesia games in my opinion
 
finished this late last night- 14 hours...great game...gave me that System Shock 2/Alien: Isolation vibe in terms of creepy atmosphere...the setting was great even though by this point all games set in abandoned space stations, underground labs etc all start to look the same...voice acting was top notch as well...but the story was the real star...great example of story-driven gameplay

I wish the underwater scenes were a little more clear in terms of graphics...overall the graphics were good but too many low-res textures covered up by really dark environments...navigation, puzzles etc were challenging at times

Frictional Games best game to date...looking forward to seeing what they come up with next
 
Yeah, I enjoyed this game more than Alien Isolation honestly. I really liked what they did with the story.
 
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Mchart said:
Yeah, I enjoyed this game more than Alien Isolation honestly. I really liked what they did with the story.
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I liked Alien: Isolation better only because it was much longer plus I'm a huge fan of the Alien movies and they really nailed the atmosphere
 
polonyc2 said:
I liked Alien: Isolation better only because it was much longer plus I'm a huge fan of the Alien movies and they really nailed the atmosphere
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I liked it a lot also - But the Alien mechanic got pretty tired after a while, and the story line of SOMA has some pretty awesome twists.
 
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