Games worth discovering

Aliens invade, and it’s beautiful | Somerville - Full Review

2K View2022-11-17

Somerville is a sci-fi adventure / puzzle game where you control a man and his family caught up right in the middle of an alien invasion doomsday scenario. The opening sequence starts relatively slow: what's presented to you is a slice of life in a small farm house: A couple, a toddler, and a dog. The presentation feels very surreal that you almost can relate to it, especially with the random static noise emanating from the family TV. Then the mysterious somber nature ramps up rather quickly into a full blown alien invasion, perfectly capturing that feeling of being randomly caught up in it on a personal level. You can just about see yourself in the character’s shoes while playing. Imagining if such things happened to you and your family instead.

Somerville is pretty short. You can finish it in under five hours, so the length is just comparable to a full feature film. And it does feel like a film sometimes, only that there is no dialogue in the game and all the story is only conveyed through the characters actions and interactions with the environment, bolstered by the impressive artstyle and sound design. This is something that is very hard to pull off narratively but Somerville manages to somewhat pull it off anyway.

You wander across the desolate landscape, searching for your family. Across the land, you will encounter various alien beings and technology, and when I say alien, it is indeed an alien sight to behold. The technology presented upon you is frankly one that I’ve never seen before. Far from the terrifying TV and movie tropes we usually see. The extraterrestrials are dreadfully otherworldly, and looked like they came from a foreign dimension with a whole different laws of physics governing them.

Art Direction

The sound design is what striked me the most and it is superb. I was playing with full blast speakers on and when the sound of the alien machinery first played on my subwoofers, I said to myself that I was in for a hell of an immersive experience. It’s important to note though, that If you think Somerville is action-packed all the way through — it is not. There are brief chase and quick-time sequences that will sometimes give you a bit of action along the way, but most of the game is spent walking around in gloomy environments and trying to progress throughout the land, solving puzzles periodically. Personally I would have preferred the game firing on all cylinders, being action packed the majority of the way through. But that’s not how the game plays.

From the get go, Somerville is a beautiful adventure game. In fact, one of the most beautiful games I’ve seen in a long time. That’s saying something considering this game’s graphics are literally 90s like with its low poly models and monochromatic textures. If you’ve played Another World, Somerville is literally that game but set in a War of the Worlds type of scenario, with gameplay elements heavily borrowed from both LIMBO and INSIDE.

We seriously need more games like this in the art direction department. Lots of games are focusing on the big spectacle, the photorealistic graphics, and immersive character views. Leaving little room for more of these kinds of games.

Gameplay

Note that when I said that Somerville is one of the most beautiful games I’ve seen, I intentionally used the word “seen”. As the gameplay leaves a lot to be desired. Somerville’s main gameplay is a 3D side scrolling game with puzzle elements, the one thing it failed to execute at the same standard as its narrative and art style.

Across the sub five hour experience, Somerville has difficulties in assisting the players to progress naturally. Something that game lacked and desperately needed, a form of signposting could have been useful. The companion dog with the main character was truly a missed opportunity in proving the gravely needed assistance to alleviate much of the pain points.

The freedom you’re given is great, but spending most of your time trying to find the next thing that you can do, sometimes even backtracking multiple times, gets tedious fast. Players should naturally find their way in games, not constantly bump around the limits of the play area — invisible or not — to find the proper path.

The puzzles are a bit difficult and clunky, but in a bad way. They are solvable, but only in a particular way that the designers intended you to. Sometimes that particular way is a bit too specific and you will get stuck longer than you wanted. The camera being farther than I preferred in some moments also adds to the frustration.

Aside from the puzzle mechanic, your character also gets a unique ability thanks to an alien tech exposure. It can sort of interact with other alien techs along the way that might affect or change the environment to your advantage. It provides an additional element to the puzzle solving aspect of Somerville. The way your ability interacts with the alien tech was done so well it induces a soothing and calming feeling.

All these aforementioned gameplay quirks, combined with the game’s mostly gloomy and somber tone is a bad combination and can get you bored rather quickly.

Conclusion:

Somerville is an enjoyable experience. Story wise, it is very gripping and intimate. While the art style and sound design are of award-winning quality. I would have enjoyed it even more with some improvements in the gameplay department to bring it up to level, but at its current state it holds up quite well, laboriously carried by the quality of its narrative, art style, and sound design.

A family caught up in an Alien Invasion | Somerville - First impressions

Somerville is a sci-fi adventure / puzzle game where you control a man and his family caught up right in the middle of an alien invasion doomsday scenario. The opening sequence starts relatively slow and gets intense pretty much immediately, perfectly capturing that feeling of being randomly caught up in a sudden alien invasion. There is no dialogue in the game and all of the story is only conveyed through the characters' actions and interactions with the environment, bolstered by the impressive art style and sound design. This is something that is very hard to pull off narratively but

lyndonguitar1K2022-11-16