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A Critique of SOMA

May 30, 2021
your control. It's worth mentioning, though, because Simon never understands the "COPY and PASTE" part, to the point where Catherine has to lie to him to get him to continue. She explains the transfer like a coin toss: There's a 50/50 chance you'll end up in the new body or be left behind in the old one. In reality, you are always left behind. The copy and transfer are done at the same time and written to the new body. This is just her way of placating him. In this scene, you actually become a new “Simon”: you go through the same process you did in the chair in Toronto, only this time around there is no time lapse, it is immediate. "There must be something wrong.
a critique of soma
Can't you make a diagnosis or something? Catherine..." “What was that?” Then, as you start to move, you hear old Simon sitting in the chair, wondering why he wasn't transferred. You can even go and look at him – look at YOU – the version you just were and are now a new copy of. A copy of a copy. I think having control of the previous version and then being pushed to a new one, with your control changing and being taken away from the other "Simon" is a really strong moment for a game. This could and has been done in movies and books.
a critique of soma

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Hell, even I've done something similar. More than once, in fact, now that I think about it... But I think it adds a lot to this scene by having the player control everything. It's a change much more powerful, because it's YOUR actual perspective that moves, rather than seeing a clone of the character with the same actor on screen or something, and the old version continuing without you, and you have to think about what you just were and who took control of that person from you, now that you are no longer with them. The end of the game has a similar moment but, in my opinion, a little less powerful.
a critique of soma
You get to the Space Gun, which is one of the main functions of “PATHOS-II”, and load the ARK to fire it. Catherine lies to Simon again that they will be transferred to the ARK just before he shoots. This countdown then expires and of course the COPIES of Simon and Catherine fly into space. This time our perspective does not change: we experience the other side of the transference in this case. WE are the ones left behind. The game ends with Simon screaming in the dark, just as the other “Simon” we abandoned earlier must pass when he wakes up later. "Katherine?
a critique of soma
Please do not leave me alone. Catherine…Catherine?!” There's a post-credits scene that's surprisingly happy: ARK reaches space, you fly, you have a short scene as the other Simon, who's too stupid to see through Catherine's white lies. There's no subtle hint that ARK is corrupt or anything, there's nothing wrong with that. At least not that I know of. By now you should have fully accepted the idea that these people are alive, so this is a victory. A strange victory, although minor, since the Earth is ruined, but it is still a victory. "I can't believe we actually did it." I don't like this ending.
Not because I'm optimistic or anything like that. I feel like it falls flat and doesn't capitalize on the potential of the story. I think I've made it clear at this point how successful the "Soma" story is, especially since the real horrors are in these narrative moments, rather than in-game ones. Conceptually, it's a fitting ending that our third generation Simon (in our line, at least) ends up alone and probably dead at the bottom of the ocean, and for a while I was happy with that moment of dread as the end of the game. before the tease after the credits.
But the more I think about it, the more I want the game to go further. I get anxious when I make suggestions, because they change the game a lot. I don't think it's really fair to propose changes like this, but after criticizing so many games and thinking about them, I can't help but do it sometimes and I hope it's constructive. Especially with “Soma,” since I've already said too many times that the game's monsters fail. There is another big event before finding the space gun. It's like the end of the other half of the game: you reach the heart of The Warden Unit and, guided by one of the crazy, but maybe not so crazy, robot monsters, you destroy the AI.
It's not a very good moment in the game, and it made me realize how much I would have preferred "Soma" if everything that had to do with The WAU and its monsters was gone and the story was different. The ARK could still exist, but it could have been PEOPLE experimenting with creating robot bodies, rather than an AI. With all the work required by "Frictional" to save the monsters for something else, that development time could have been spent on different interactions with people and places around "PATHOS-II" that explore more ideas surrounding what constitutes a conscience. . The game could have continued after shooting the ARK for another hour or two, with a different ending, with Simon finally understanding and working to solve some of the problems at the base, because things aren't strictly speaking. “PATHOS-II” is almost self-sufficient, and with the notes you can find in some of the bases showing that they could resort to catching fish for food, you can begin to see how humanity didn't have to go extinct after all. .
The main plot point could have been for Catherine and the others to piece together new people from fragments of different scans. Simon could be one of the first to do the Legacy section. And there could still be plenty of scares to explore if some of the hybrid scans don't turn out as well as they hoped. This would effectively be a way for Catherine to try to repopulate the planet with robot bodies that can withstand the destructive conditions on the surface. Or people creating multiple copies of themselves for a larger workforce, and how different factions made up of multiple people of the same people could form.
There's a lot of interesting potential for a story here. Played now, there are moments in the game that require the player to make a decision. Some of these do not present themselves to you as clearly as others. There are other things like that in the game too: the game messes with your head a little. Corpses will move when you leave a room and return to it. This bloody door is closed when you first arrive in this area, and then it opens, as if something has come out. Little things like this that in the end have no meaning for scares or dangers.
It's something you may not even notice. I'm sure there are a couple I didn't understand. They added a lot to the uneasy feeling for me, and were a much more effective way to scare me, rather than monsters and jump scares, and I have to wonder if they're still effective, even if you're not consciously doing so. aware of them. The choices you can make involve killing the last human you find on life support (she asks to be killed). You can also kill your old self after being copied and pasted into the new body. You also have the option of killing a live robot or auxiliary drone in one part, so you can recover a piece of technology from them to continue.
These choices don't change anything, but they still made me stop and think, and there was the potential for some really thoughtful situations if the story had been built around them. More interactions and decisions, instead of hide and seek with monsters. More conversations and objectives about finding a solution for the last humans trapped at the bottom of the ocean, instead of destroying a misguided AI. “Soma” is a great experience, although I question its success as a game. In the end, I can't help but wonder how much was lost by forcing the monsters into the story, as if she wasn't confident enough to stand on her own.
Which is a real shame, because as broken as it is today, it still managed to be something special. “If not, do you still have…” “Catherine? Catherine? Hi Catalina?

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