This is one of my favorite videos of yours and I feel awful for just catching it now. You especially nailed it about the story. It seems like they were compelled to make it a horror game even though the entire situation about mankind living in machines, all life on the surface and civilization being wiped out etc was already some existential terror. I remember all the monster sections being more annoying than scary because I just wanted to get past them and see what else was happening. It doesn't surprise me they added that "peaceful" mode or whatever it was called without monsters because I think they knew it didn't match up. If only they were alright just making a morbid adventure/puzzle game. Actually wait no they did that with Penumbra Requiem please god no not again
Might just be me but I never liked humanity is dead endings. It just feels too much like a thud. Doesn't leave you anything to think about other than "Well that was a downer.". I think it would have been more interesting to have the rest of the world moving on fine. The idea that you are going through this unimaginable nightmare and twenty miles away someone is getting a fern leaf in their milk froth. That feels more haunting to me. Or what if the Ark is recovered by someone on earth. Would our thoughts about living in a robot change if it was up on the surface in an elegant modern suit instead of down in the depths of the sea in a Gwyneth Paltrow goop suit.
Its because of his social media controversies he doesn't have that many fans. The one that got him in the hottest water was supporting his cousin the night stalker serial killer. Pretty messed but I wouldnt give much credence to these rumors.
I played through this game in, more or less, one sitting, on my birthday, while alone in quarantine. It was a fascinating, DEVASTATING, thought provoking and spooky bummer of an experience. Really, it was perfect.
The "friendly" monsters mode they patched in soma few months ago is a godsend. Not because it was hard but because it was super annoying and I wanted to explore more
Agreed, I was able to explore to my heart's content. I'd still hide from the monsters in case the mode had conditions in which the monster could attack you (like with the angler fish), and so they wouldn't stalk me, but I was far less concerned about it and didn't feel pressured to leave an area because I had enough of an understanding. It was nice. I wish more horror games had that option. The entire underwater section in the latter half of the game was unnerving as shit, though. I was expecting to be eaten by some giant fish at any moment, but that's my thalassophobia speaking up. I was almost certain that the weird leech-shark thing was going to kill me, though. It kept swooping past me like the small batch of fish did early on, but unlike them it didn't leave after one or two swim-bys, it just kept coming. All the way until I walked into Omega. At least it was smaller than I thought it'd be. That made it less intimidating.
Best review you have made in awhile! Your existential jokes are fucking hilarious. But then again, they aren't really jokes... I just enjoy the laughing at my anxieties to bury the dread that arises from these thoughts...
Fantastic blend of detailed, well-evidenced analysis and eccentric dark humour, and your reviews only seem to increase in quality with each diary entry. Keep up the good work!
I freaking loved this game, even though it scared the shit out of me. The concept is soooo amazing, and seriously, people should EXPERIENCE this, and not just watch a play through. You need to FEEL it. And the developers, in creating this experience, have earned your support. Seriously. Get this game.
6:01 Hmm...*resonance cascade happens and Gordon is teleported to a group of Vortigauts in a Xen cave* Gordon: “Who are you?! No! I DON’T WANT TO BE A SCHIZOPHRENIC! Oh god, this is crazy in a box with a side order of fries!”
dude, you are great. Right now i sadly don´t have the money, but i will start supporting ur channel as soon as my apprenticeship is over and i start earning money. So keep it up and don´t disappear till then. luv u
This video finally prompted me to boot up my copy. Just finished it, played it completely blind, and now I can watch the video, so thanks for giving me the kick up the arse I needed. At more than one point I thought to myself that Soma reminded me of Penumbra, so, uh, that makes more sense now. Anyway, 20 minutes into the video, great job as always. With regards to spoilers; have you considered using the Patreon as like a 'book club' thing? I know I could write a few hundred paragraphs of bullshit no one wants to read. I really enjoyed the game but a few aspects really frustrated me - I loved Catherine and Simon but they were both kind of deluding themselves in my opinion. The Ark was especially frustrating, even more so when it seemed like the WAU was doing something incredibly similar for those people hooked up to the structure gel. It felt very odd that both Simon and Catherine were so invested in getting a fake human body in a fake world that would never be anything more than that. It was all oddly fatalistic despite the incredible technology at their disposal.
I got one of your videos in my recommended the other day and i've been working my way though all your reviews and some of your music and i'm really liking the content.
16:29 nice reference to the show Spaced! Great review by the way. I my whole experience with Soma was very similar to yours. One of the most memorable games in years for me.
I just gotta say that these videos are criminally underwatched. Going by the quality alone, that 30k views at the time of writing should be more like 300k+.
My problem with the enemies in the is mostly that most of them were segregated to their own "arenas" or zones. I remember playing Amnesia and never being entirely certain when a monster could show up, it made turning every corner nerve racking. In Soma, it was always clear when I was going into a monster area, and when I was in a safe puzzle/story area. There were a handful of moments where a monster showed up somewhere I didnt think it would in Soma, but not often. Even if Amnesia is like Soma in that it segregates story and horror into zones, the game did a damn fine job at creating the illusion that a monster could appear at any moment.
Soma is one of the few horror games that actually manage conveying a feeling of dread properly, as opposed to all the ones giving you a short rush of adrenaline via jumpscares
I don't know if anyone mentioned this, not even sure if *you* mentioned this in your vid because I immediately stopped and picked up the game. But, and I say this with genuine flattery, you sound a lot like the mc of soma.
Thanks alot for the review . After i watched ur review i gave it a try. Even tho u spoiled some parts, experiencing it for myself was tottaly different. Great game and great channel
One of my all time favorite games. Really did fundamentally change the way I view the topics it brings up, like what it means to be alive, and the nature of consciousness. Everyone's lamenting the monster encounters and I get that, but there was this segment where I think you had to navigate a maze booting up old servers or something like that, and there were monsters in there with you, and I thought that was really fun and effectively scary. It was similar to when you meet the Garrador in RE4, I think the Soma monsters were blind as well
24:25 I actually thought about that before you get the deep dive suit, while looking for the parts for it. That monster you encounter that doesn't interact with you, I felt like "what if you had to pick something off her back, like a battery pack or the gel or something" but of course there's nothing like that. I don't *mind* because fuck getting close to monsters that mess with your vision, but still... I did think of it.
I recommend the marketing campain. The live-action short films and clips by Don Thacker are amazing. They rebuild some of the robots as animatronics and feature some characters before the events of the game with actors. It's not like Prometheus, where Ridley Scott pulled half of the character backstories into teaser-trailers. Give them a watch on Frictional's YT channel. Can't wait for them to reveal their next game.
Honestly I expected you to do the spoiler alert right after announcing that you're gonna do them - because god knows how mind blowing that moment when Simon gets his brain scanned is.... I had so many questions. Shame you didn't do it cause it's arguably one of the best moments in the entire game and I would only spoil it to my biggest enemy.
Failed miserably in my resolve to avoid spoilers and now Chem Trails are a thing. Curse you Grimbeard!!! Ps. The only Dreamcatcher reference that should be routinely used is Shit Weasel. Cause I think SSDD was around before Stephen King wrote a lamp monster novel.
Grim Beard I did. I cried for a while and thought about where my life was heading but then I remembered that boobs are a thing and all was right with the world.
You take SOMA, upscale the textures, revamp it for VR, change the monsters to a background threat that keeps you feeling uneasy instead of direct obstacles, BOOM, masterpiece. Force anyone who says games aren't art to play it.
Great review. This game still has me messed up years later. One thought, though - did you see the movie bits, that were included with some of the files? They can also be watched on YT and act as a kind of prequel/worldbuilding to the experience. Though I binged them all at once, i got the impression they're meant to be used in chapters to bracket the gameplay? I felt like it added some new emotions to the experience, though by the end the major soul crushing is still accomplished by the last two chapters of the game the same way.
The monsters are why I love the "safe mode" I think it makes the game a lot more enjoyable while not really detracting from the horror in any meaningful way. Like the moment I die more that two times to a monster it stops being scary and just becomes annoying.
I watched this game on TH-cam quite some time back. Decided today to play through the whole game in one go on Safe difficulty, because I'm not really into the instakill mechanics of horror games. Or even the horror aspect of horror games. I like the aesthetic and atmosphere, but I don't like being chased around corridors for half an hour while trying to figure out what I'm supposed to be doing. In other words, this game was utterly fantastic for me. Aside from the fish area later on, nothing really comes at you or attacks you. Enemies do stalk you around hallways and I never wanted to stand next to them in case they wanted to break the difficulty's rules and murder me, but mostly they just serve as a creepy reminder of the situation you're in, which is more than enough for me. I can see how frustrating some parts would be if you could die, which only made me more sure of my decision to play on the more casual-friendly difficulty. Nah, I was here for the story. I already knew most of it, I just needed a refresher because there were lots of bits I didn't remember, so it was the perfect time to do a playthrough. It's actually genuinely tragic at many points. I wasn't a huge fan of how clueless Simon was at the beginning and end, I did feel it was a little ridiculous that he just unplugs robots and people like it's nothing until a certain point in the game where it's suddenly a dilemma (before that he just has amnesia about it, it's odd), but overall he has very good characterization, as does Catherine. When I first saw it, I thought Catherine was a bit suspicious and I carried that bias through most of the game, up until the end; this time, though, while I was suspicious of her, I realized pretty quickly that while she's a bit insensitive and for some reason has no thought towards the "lives" of the robots, she isn't really that manipulative. She's fairly straight-forward about what she wants and what's happening, but Simon is a bit dense and it leads to some conflict between them. I thought I had remembered the ending being a bit cheapened and feared after the credits we'd see the Ark poisoned by the WAU, but they completely avoided all of that. Whether you consider it a good or bad or neutral ending is entirely up to you as the player. I saw it as bittersweet. Simon's naivete and ignorance about how the scanning process works combined with Catherine's equally naive understanding of human nature is just sad. And a bit frustrating. I mean come on, Catherine. People literally killed themselves after the scan, Catherine, do the math; they want a transfer, not a copy, yet she never did anything to assist with that because she didn't bother to understand it. But succeeding with the Ark means that even though Simon 1, 2 and 3 don't get a happy ending, a small part of them does. Simon 1 came to understand and appreciate it, so I feel like Simon 3 would eventually as he accepts death. Just a shame there's really nothing you can do about 2 and 3's fates.
I appreciate the monsters. While I didn't enjoy the monster sections and often found them frustrating I do think they are necessary to add an atmosphere of danger and consequence.
"Soma is positively dripping, oozing with atmosphere and tension." Soma, moist suspenseful horror that is likely to trigger an existential crisis from player and spectators. ( I think there's a lot of people who NEED an existential crisis every now and then.....god definitely more so these days....)
I actually very recently bought and played through this game and can definitely say I loved it. I even enjoyed the monster avoiding bits that everyone seems to dislike. With maybe the exception of one of the very last ones that seemed capable of following me regardless of how well I hid. Of course, I actually have played all the Penumbra and Amnesia games and enjoyed them as well, So I'm probably a little biased. The thing is I think the main reason I loved the game is that it sort of has a message. And its a message I also mostly agree with on the nature of the whole "Star Trek Transporter" problem. Transferring your mind to a robot doesn't mean you continue on in that robot. You died and a robot that thinks its you "lives on". I think my only disagreement is with the idea that anyone outside a few specific characters that will remain unmentioned due to spoilers is actually conscious. In fact, the Simon that wakes up in the future? Hes not really "alive" unless the nature of the hardware he is running on is fundamentally the same as a neural network. Our stream of consciousness is the event of complex computation on a network neurons in our brains. With only a singular processor like any standard IBM style machine, what you have is a single neuron simply firing off extremely rapidly. "Simon 2" is like a protozoa that calculates the actions of a human being, while not actually being one.
I recently played through this game and I immensely enjoyed the atmosphere and the themes of the game. But it was painfully linear at times. I also have to say: Simon was aggravating sometimes. I guess he would unconsciously be lying to himself, but to me, whenever the central conflict came up (especially when it was about to happen for the last time), I was like: "Wait. You do know how this works by now, don't you? You've experienced it several times. You are aware what will happen?" He didn't really struggle with it, he was just in denial. That was frustrating to me because I wanted that discussion.
I never got into Amnesia back in the day because there was no combat. Very quickly on a meta sense I realized there'd never be any situation I couldn't run or hide from, and thus ever situation lost all tension because I knew from a game design standpoint I'd be fine, there'd be hiding spots or an escape route and I never would need to have a fight or flight response. I found Dead Space 2 10x scarier than Amnesia. >__>
The only thing I liked about the monsters is how they're all different, like they act and move different with different abilities. I really like the blind deaf monster which isn't really that aggressive unless you walk right into it.
Excellent and very thorough review my dude. Comparisons to Bioshock? I don't even think they're comparable. Its utterly pointless to compare anything but the setting and environments with one another, as the actual concepts, details, story lines and general atmosphere are drastically different.
This is one of my favorite videos of yours and I feel awful for just catching it now. You especially nailed it about the story.
It seems like they were compelled to make it a horror game even though the entire situation about mankind living in machines, all life on the surface and civilization being wiped out etc was already some existential terror. I remember all the monster sections being more annoying than scary because I just wanted to get past them and see what else was happening. It doesn't surprise me they added that "peaceful" mode or whatever it was called without monsters because I think they knew it didn't match up. If only they were alright just making a morbid adventure/puzzle game.
Actually wait no they did that with Penumbra Requiem please god no not again
And another in the ever expanding list of gaming TH-camrs that are connected to Mandalore. Im onto you.
Hiya Mandy.
Grimbeard and Mandalor in the same comment section?? Is this a cross over event?!
You mean "forced to make an action-horror" or "survival horror". Existential horror is still horror, no need to split the genre.
Might just be me but I never liked humanity is dead endings. It just feels too much like a thud. Doesn't leave you anything to think about other than "Well that was a downer.". I think it would have been more interesting to have the rest of the world moving on fine. The idea that you are going through this unimaginable nightmare and twenty miles away someone is getting a fern leaf in their milk froth. That feels more haunting to me. Or what if the Ark is recovered by someone on earth. Would our thoughts about living in a robot change if it was up on the surface in an elegant modern suit instead of down in the depths of the sea in a Gwyneth Paltrow goop suit.
16:30. Scene from Spaced, where Mark Heap, the conceptual artist, does anger... you are truly a man of culture!!
You deserve SOMAny more subscribers. Stellar work, as always.
Unsubbing cause of cringe...
Its because of his social media controversies he doesn't have that many fans.
The one that got him in the hottest water was supporting his cousin the night stalker serial killer.
Pretty messed but I wouldnt give much credence to these rumors.
I literally bought and finished the game to finish watching this video. I regret nothing, it was a fantastic experience.
Edu Lobo same here
I done that with a few games as well
Ha, nice. I had it free from GOG from a while back and this gave me an excuse to finally play it for myself.
I played through this game in, more or less, one sitting, on my birthday, while alone in quarantine. It was a fascinating, DEVASTATING, thought provoking and spooky bummer of an experience.
Really, it was perfect.
Nice. I did it in an overnighter a few years back.
I still regret how I handled the WAU. This game sticks with you.
How is this channel not bigger I’m hooked on this lovely little grim beard his like a friend I never had 😢😂👹
You are a gem grim beard, when ever i want to eat and have nothing else to do i just open your channel and watch a random video of yours.
This is a good bioshock review 10/10
Sir Nikolai Second Two birds, baby!
The "friendly" monsters mode they patched in soma few months ago is a godsend. Not because it was hard but because it was super annoying and I wanted to explore more
Agreed, I was able to explore to my heart's content. I'd still hide from the monsters in case the mode had conditions in which the monster could attack you (like with the angler fish), and so they wouldn't stalk me, but I was far less concerned about it and didn't feel pressured to leave an area because I had enough of an understanding.
It was nice. I wish more horror games had that option. The entire underwater section in the latter half of the game was unnerving as shit, though. I was expecting to be eaten by some giant fish at any moment, but that's my thalassophobia speaking up. I was almost certain that the weird leech-shark thing was going to kill me, though. It kept swooping past me like the small batch of fish did early on, but unlike them it didn't leave after one or two swim-bys, it just kept coming. All the way until I walked into Omega. At least it was smaller than I thought it'd be. That made it less intimidating.
You should play Subnautica :)
@@dennyaaa I did! It's great. And one other game I discovered is Outer Wilds.... wow
Outer Wilds is absolutely amazing. Did you play the DLC as well?
@@dennyaaa Not played DLC but I checked it out on YT and it's not for me. But the main game blown me away
Great video. Also, I really like your voice. Fits perfectly with the theme of these reviews.
(This is meant as a compliment, in case of any doubts.)
Best review you have made in awhile! Your existential jokes are fucking hilarious. But then again, they aren't really jokes... I just enjoy the laughing at my anxieties to bury the dread that arises from these thoughts...
Fantastic blend of detailed, well-evidenced analysis and eccentric dark humour, and your reviews only seem to increase in quality with each diary entry. Keep up the good work!
I freaking loved this game, even though it scared the shit out of me. The concept is soooo amazing, and seriously, people should EXPERIENCE this, and not just watch a play through. You need to FEEL it. And the developers, in creating this experience, have earned your support. Seriously. Get this game.
6:01 Hmm...*resonance cascade happens and Gordon is teleported to a group of Vortigauts in a Xen cave* Gordon: “Who are you?! No! I DON’T WANT TO BE A SCHIZOPHRENIC! Oh god, this is crazy in a box with a side order of fries!”
SOMA is pretty much up there as one of my favorite horror games of all-time.
The 30 minutes flew by, great review man :)
dude, you are great. Right now i sadly don´t have the money, but i will start supporting ur channel as soon as my apprenticeship is over and i start earning money. So keep it up and don´t disappear till then. luv u
Man I fkn love every single vid of yours.
You can tell me that you don't like your older videos, but nothing stops me from enjoying them.
You have good taste in editing and scriptwriting, and there isn't a single thing you can do from saying that.
you are one of my fave youtube channels. keep up the awesome work dude!
This video finally prompted me to boot up my copy. Just finished it, played it completely blind, and now I can watch the video, so thanks for giving me the kick up the arse I needed. At more than one point I thought to myself that Soma reminded me of Penumbra, so, uh, that makes more sense now. Anyway, 20 minutes into the video, great job as always.
With regards to spoilers; have you considered using the Patreon as like a 'book club' thing? I know I could write a few hundred paragraphs of bullshit no one wants to read. I really enjoyed the game but a few aspects really frustrated me - I loved Catherine and Simon but they were both kind of deluding themselves in my opinion. The Ark was especially frustrating, even more so when it seemed like the WAU was doing something incredibly similar for those people hooked up to the structure gel. It felt very odd that both Simon and Catherine were so invested in getting a fake human body in a fake world that would never be anything more than that. It was all oddly fatalistic despite the incredible technology at their disposal.
Excellent! I have been waiting for another upload with anticipation. Thanks.
That was one of your best reviews yet. Thank you!
ugh dude i love your channel so much
Ah, the Spaced! A man of culture indeed!
I love your editing and I love you.
Also your music is great.
I discovered you a few days ago and have binged all of your videos and I'm pretty sure you've never had a bad thing to say about any games sound.
This guys an idiot but I have seen your sound opinions range from great to meh.
Keep up the great work I try to share all your videos whenever I can!
UNDER DA SEA.
chan
Down where it's wetta
I got one of your videos in my recommended the other day and i've been working my way though all your reviews and some of your music and i'm really liking the content.
Man, you are really good story teller. kudos
16:29 nice reference to the show Spaced! Great review by the way. I my whole experience with Soma was very similar to yours. One of the most memorable games in years for me.
Spaced fans unite
was about to make that comment
SOMA just feels like a natural fit for a Grimbeard Diaries video
Unpopular opinion: SOMA is so much better than Amnesia in every way.
It's unpopular because it's true.
You've compelled me to play this game again. Really enjoyed it the first time.
I just gotta say that these videos are criminally underwatched. Going by the quality alone, that 30k views at the time of writing should be more like 300k+.
My problem with the enemies in the is mostly that most of them were segregated to their own "arenas" or zones. I remember playing Amnesia and never being entirely certain when a monster could show up, it made turning every corner nerve racking. In Soma, it was always clear when I was going into a monster area, and when I was in a safe puzzle/story area. There were a handful of moments where a monster showed up somewhere I didnt think it would in Soma, but not often. Even if Amnesia is like Soma in that it segregates story and horror into zones, the game did a damn fine job at creating the illusion that a monster could appear at any moment.
I really enjoyed soma, even though the end is kind of depressing yet predictable, like Everybodys gone to the rupture in a way. Great video as always!
Soma.... What an AMAZING UNDERRATED GAME! wow...
Holy moly, I'm so glad you uploaded. Good job.
I really appreciate how you put a little 'filler' after the spoiler warnings. They're practical _and a real treat._
Soma is one of the few horror games that actually manage conveying a feeling of dread properly, as opposed to all the ones giving you a short rush of adrenaline via jumpscares
This video... Danm, so freaking good!
I don't know if anyone mentioned this, not even sure if *you* mentioned this in your vid because I immediately stopped and picked up the game. But, and I say this with genuine flattery, you sound a lot like the mc of soma.
Soma does what Bioshockn't
Thanks alot for the review . After i watched ur review i gave it a try. Even tho u spoiled some parts, experiencing it for myself was tottaly different. Great game and great channel
Well you were warned
One of my all time favorite games. Really did fundamentally change the way I view the topics it brings up, like what it means to be alive, and the nature of consciousness.
Everyone's lamenting the monster encounters and I get that, but there was this segment where I think you had to navigate a maze booting up old servers or something like that, and there were monsters in there with you, and I thought that was really fun and effectively scary. It was similar to when you meet the Garrador in RE4, I think the Soma monsters were blind as well
Grimbeard, I want you to know that I love your content
I am reminded of this game and it's ending in particular. That final shot of the planet.... with satellite fading away... man
I already knew what this game was about, but I always enjoy hearing your opinions.
TH-cam acting up again. I know for a fact I was subscribed, and now I had to resub.
24:25 I actually thought about that before you get the deep dive suit, while looking for the parts for it. That monster you encounter that doesn't interact with you, I felt like "what if you had to pick something off her back, like a battery pack or the gel or something" but of course there's nothing like that. I don't *mind* because fuck getting close to monsters that mess with your vision, but still... I did think of it.
The sweet release I needed.
Personally I really enjoy the monster avoiding parts too so I hope their future games have both that and a safe mode at launch.
So happy I came across this channel. "don't worry buddy, you're just not a floating head with a gun like your nightmares" lmao
I recommend the marketing campain. The live-action short films and clips by Don Thacker are amazing. They rebuild some of the robots as animatronics and feature some characters before the events of the game with actors. It's not like Prometheus, where Ridley Scott pulled half of the character backstories into teaser-trailers. Give them a watch on Frictional's YT channel. Can't wait for them to reveal their next game.
Honestly I expected you to do the spoiler alert right after announcing that you're gonna do them - because god knows how mind blowing that moment when Simon gets his brain scanned is.... I had so many questions. Shame you didn't do it cause it's arguably one of the best moments in the entire game and I would only spoil it to my biggest enemy.
Ok, I'm watching the damn video but you own me a favor now
Okay, that thing you mentioned about Half-Life begs the question: Are you at least aware of Freeman's Mind?
I’m really frustrated that I’m having to stop at 10:10, go buy and complete Soma before I come back to finish this awesome upload...
Failed miserably in my resolve to avoid spoilers and now Chem Trails are a thing. Curse you Grimbeard!!! Ps. The only Dreamcatcher reference that should be routinely used is Shit Weasel. Cause I think SSDD was around before Stephen King wrote a lamp monster novel.
Adam West Don't take any of the stuff I say after that personally 😛
Grim Beard
I did. I cried for a while and thought about where my life was heading but then I remembered that boobs are a thing and all was right with the world.
10:10 I actually really enjoy the sound of your voice, man.
Man I love both sphere and abyss. Massively underrated movies. Sphere is especially great at creating such an atmosphere of dread and unease.
Ocean man
Take me by the hand
Lead me to the land
That you understand
this channel made my work hours a lot easier. also i got to try few new games.
Thank you Mr. Grimbeard I needed my fix I was becoming desperate....
This is my favourite genre of game. The "zombie robot under the sea end of the world psychological horror". Nice and posttraumatic stress disordery.
You take SOMA, upscale the textures, revamp it for VR, change the monsters to a background threat that keeps you feeling uneasy instead of direct obstacles, BOOM, masterpiece. Force anyone who says games aren't art to play it.
My Favorite Horror game, also one of my favorite game. Your Review just perfect, like the game.
I love listening to this sleepy bird. He talk good.
YES!
Great review. This game still has me messed up years later.
One thought, though - did you see the movie bits, that were included with some of the files? They can also be watched on YT and act as a kind of prequel/worldbuilding to the experience. Though I binged them all at once, i got the impression they're meant to be used in chapters to bracket the gameplay? I felt like it added some new emotions to the experience, though by the end the major soul crushing is still accomplished by the last two chapters of the game the same way.
The monsters are why I love the "safe mode" I think it makes the game a lot more enjoyable while not really detracting from the horror in any meaningful way. Like the moment I die more that two times to a monster it stops being scary and just becomes annoying.
I can indeed watch the entirety of this.
I watched this game on TH-cam quite some time back. Decided today to play through the whole game in one go on Safe difficulty, because I'm not really into the instakill mechanics of horror games. Or even the horror aspect of horror games. I like the aesthetic and atmosphere, but I don't like being chased around corridors for half an hour while trying to figure out what I'm supposed to be doing.
In other words, this game was utterly fantastic for me. Aside from the fish area later on, nothing really comes at you or attacks you. Enemies do stalk you around hallways and I never wanted to stand next to them in case they wanted to break the difficulty's rules and murder me, but mostly they just serve as a creepy reminder of the situation you're in, which is more than enough for me.
I can see how frustrating some parts would be if you could die, which only made me more sure of my decision to play on the more casual-friendly difficulty.
Nah, I was here for the story. I already knew most of it, I just needed a refresher because there were lots of bits I didn't remember, so it was the perfect time to do a playthrough. It's actually genuinely tragic at many points. I wasn't a huge fan of how clueless Simon was at the beginning and end, I did feel it was a little ridiculous that he just unplugs robots and people like it's nothing until a certain point in the game where it's suddenly a dilemma (before that he just has amnesia about it, it's odd), but overall he has very good characterization, as does Catherine. When I first saw it, I thought Catherine was a bit suspicious and I carried that bias through most of the game, up until the end; this time, though, while I was suspicious of her, I realized pretty quickly that while she's a bit insensitive and for some reason has no thought towards the "lives" of the robots, she isn't really that manipulative. She's fairly straight-forward about what she wants and what's happening, but Simon is a bit dense and it leads to some conflict between them.
I thought I had remembered the ending being a bit cheapened and feared after the credits we'd see the Ark poisoned by the WAU, but they completely avoided all of that. Whether you consider it a good or bad or neutral ending is entirely up to you as the player. I saw it as bittersweet. Simon's naivete and ignorance about how the scanning process works combined with Catherine's equally naive understanding of human nature is just sad. And a bit frustrating. I mean come on, Catherine. People literally killed themselves after the scan, Catherine, do the math; they want a transfer, not a copy, yet she never did anything to assist with that because she didn't bother to understand it.
But succeeding with the Ark means that even though Simon 1, 2 and 3 don't get a happy ending, a small part of them does. Simon 1 came to understand and appreciate it, so I feel like Simon 3 would eventually as he accepts death. Just a shame there's really nothing you can do about 2 and 3's fates.
I was hoping I'd find a video from you on SOMA.
Like & sub.
I appreciate the monsters. While I didn't enjoy the monster sections and often found them frustrating I do think they are necessary to add an atmosphere of danger and consequence.
SPACED clip, nice
As someone who has also done a lot of audio editing on my own recordings, I felt the spoiler break SO hard. Man was not meant to hear himself speak.
Ahaha got my sub at "Chekov's brainscan robot".
Ty grim bread
"Soma is positively dripping, oozing with atmosphere and tension."
Soma, moist suspenseful horror that is likely to trigger an existential crisis from player and spectators.
( I think there's a lot of people who NEED an existential crisis every now and then.....god definitely more so these days....)
I guess you could say SOMA wasn’t crushed by the depth of its ambitions?
Solid
Soma is possibly the only game that had a moment that genuinely shocked me.
I actually very recently bought and played through this game and can definitely say I loved it. I even enjoyed the monster avoiding bits that everyone seems to dislike. With maybe the exception of one of the very last ones that seemed capable of following me regardless of how well I hid. Of course, I actually have played all the Penumbra and Amnesia games and enjoyed them as well, So I'm probably a little biased.
The thing is I think the main reason I loved the game is that it sort of has a message. And its a message I also mostly agree with on the nature of the whole "Star Trek Transporter" problem. Transferring your mind to a robot doesn't mean you continue on in that robot. You died and a robot that thinks its you "lives on".
I think my only disagreement is with the idea that anyone outside a few specific characters that will remain unmentioned due to spoilers is actually conscious. In fact, the Simon that wakes up in the future? Hes not really "alive" unless the nature of the hardware he is running on is fundamentally the same as a neural network. Our stream of consciousness is the event of complex computation on a network neurons in our brains. With only a singular processor like any standard IBM style machine, what you have is a single neuron simply firing off extremely rapidly. "Simon 2" is like a protozoa that calculates the actions of a human being, while not actually being one.
But Grimmy, you're MY sleepy bird.
I recently played through this game and I immensely enjoyed the atmosphere and the themes of the game. But it was painfully linear at times. I also have to say: Simon was aggravating sometimes. I guess he would unconsciously be lying to himself, but to me, whenever the central conflict came up (especially when it was about to happen for the last time), I was like: "Wait. You do know how this works by now, don't you? You've experienced it several times. You are aware what will happen?" He didn't really struggle with it, he was just in denial. That was frustrating to me because I wanted that discussion.
I never got into Amnesia back in the day because there was no combat. Very quickly on a meta sense I realized there'd never be any situation I couldn't run or hide from, and thus ever situation lost all tension because I knew from a game design standpoint I'd be fine, there'd be hiding spots or an escape route and I never would need to have a fight or flight response.
I found Dead Space 2 10x scarier than Amnesia. >__>
cough Freemans Mind cough cough
i declare this season 2 episode 1 of the grimbeard diaries
Based on your comments about “Half-Life”, I’d recommend checking out “Freeman’s Mind”, man. It makes Gordon hilarious! 😂
Awesome video, as always. 👌
The only thing I liked about the monsters is how they're all different, like they act and move different with different abilities. I really like the blind deaf monster which isn't really that aggressive unless you walk right into it.
Excellent and very thorough review my dude. Comparisons to Bioshock? I don't even think they're comparable. Its utterly pointless to compare anything but the setting and environments with one another, as the actual concepts, details, story lines and general atmosphere are drastically different.
Grim going to a Jack-in-a-box sounds like a fever dream that doesn't end well.
YESSSSSS
love you and love this game
I hope so much that System Shock 3 will be something like that, or at least or more presice allow for a non lethal approach that wont get tedious.
When you were talking about Gordon Freeman's perspective I'm like: Yeah yeah, I'm already a Ross Scott fan 🤣
What track is that playing at the very end of the video?
yo potheads! stop forgetting to press like! viddy good
There will be no second SOMA. It's a masterpiece of its own. Only surpassed by Nier:Automata. Play that. It's the best game ever.