Reviews - Yanka

I'm glad I gave The Bunker a chance, because I did not enjoy Rebirth at all!

An interesting game with pretty visuals, inventory management, as usual with FG games veeeeery good job concerning sound FX.

Unlock more and more areas of the bunker, find more and more key items, tools, etc. to progress.
Unlock lockers to find useful stuff… I liked that Resident Evil vibe, good execution.

High re-playability thanks to a "new game +" mode and additional puzzles or settings: you can customize, tweak everything.

Objects, traps, etc. are placed randomly on each new game which is a good idea!

Immersion was pretty good: protagonist is silent. VA in notes you find is good, you can skip it if you want if you read fast. Thanks! They learnt from Rebirth.

The weapon system is just fun to use!

There are various ways to do objectives, an example: you can open a door with its key… or just explode it with a grenade.
Ninja or Rambo… your choice.

The lurking antagonist has interesting patterns. Some extra surprises included.

Creative ideas in the last part of the game, which is generally the case in FG productions! I liked the subtle "lore" there.

Game is not too long, which is very fine by me. I prefer something shorter but nicely crafted. It took me six hours and a half in easy mode, in three sessions.

There are different modes by default: easy, for casuals like me, normal, plus hard. Of course more options come along "new game +".

You can create or get mods for the game, good! You also have simple add-ons: i.e. there is a "longer lantern" one included as an example; you catch my drift.

Long story short, give this game a try. If you don't know FG games it can be a good entry point, if you did not like Rebirth don't worry, you should have a good time!

GJ!

(Originally written the 23rd of Sept. 2015)

Like a lot of players, I wanted to put my claws on SOMA for quite some time now. Yesterday I launched the game and finished it in one session. It took me exactly 10 hours to finish it. A night has passed and I think I can share my thoughts now:

// GOOD ASPECTS

-When you look back to Penumbra and Amnesia games, SOMA offers an enormous evolution visually speaking. The underwater world is very nicely done, whether it's in the ocean or in the facilities. A labyrinth area reminded me of a map near the end of Penumbra BP.
-The story is all about sci-fi and psychological themes about life, death and continuity. It takes its importance within the game and I must say I enjoyed it more than I expected to.
-The monsters you'll have the pleasure to meet have different behaviors and attacks, which is better than just the classic "I patrol, I see/hear you, I search you, I run at you". Nice designs.
-Ambiance in the levels is often close to some areas in Doom 3, Bioshock and even Dead Space, level design speaking. A nice thing.
-The voices! Voiiiices!! Very nice addition!
-Sound effects are well processed, you can feel the hard work here.
-Choices & actions can be hard to make at different times!
-If you suffer from claustrophobia, the more you progress in the game, the deeper you'll get in the ocean and it's a great feeling! Is it?
-Modding tools included!
-The ending!!

// NOT-SO-GOOD ASPECTS

-Textures are sometimes very low: is it a bug or not? Will it be corrected? We'll see, after all, game just came out.
-Optimization problems: SOMA worked without ANY problem for me but I see that some people have poor FPS problems on decent configurations, so this will be improved and patched soon of course.
-Puzzles a bit simple.
-No classic inventory. This will annoy some players for sure, personally it did not.
-Monsters are easy to avoid/escape if you're accustomed to Penumbra/Amnesia games.
-Game is too easy... well it's focused on story... so I guess it's ok?
Less horror... but it has its stressful moments.
The ending!!

To conclude, you don't need to be a fan of previous Frictional Games works to play SOMA.
This game is an ambitious turn for its creators and I believe it is a successful one, good job!
Visually, it's lovely. The SOMA universe & story are pretty fine.

If you are a fan of Bioshock and other games I named earlier here, you should give it a try, you'll like the ambience.

// Mandatory recommendation to the lovers of the genre!