Have another look at SOMA's creatures and monsters that will be stalking the depths as we try not to lose our sanity with SOMA
Get ready to live and breathe the horror that is SOMA as we have our first kind of look at the creatures that will be stalking us on September 22nd. We've seen a few before in other videos that Frictional Games has shown off but this one kind of takes the cake. At least in terms of setting the mood of SOMA and the horror it is trying to instill. If things pay off I can see SOMA replacing all that hype that Silent Hills had on the PS4 only this time on the PC as well. At least that is how I see SOMA potentially being. I could be wrong.
Anyways, we have a new trailer for SOMA that is described as showing off how creepy the creatures of the game will be. The only issue is that it still only shows the environmental horrors and how the creatures will interact and not the special ways that Frictional Games have set up each creature to help drive the terror into our brains with SOMA. All of that is still captured in word and not in the game play. I'll be nice and let you see the video for SOMA and then hopefully try and piece together what the team has done to make this one of the most terrifying titles you will play this year.
SOMA — Creatures
They all look nice and all but the video above really shows all the monsters of SOMA as mindless beasts that are just out to hunt and kill you. According to Frictional Games though this is not the case. In fact not all creatures will attack on sight in SOMA. Some may just stare at you as if ready to pounce while others may just ignore you as they are "not in a dangerous mood right now." The goal here is to make you build up in your own head what is going to happen in SOMA and keep you on or off your guard during the whole game. Humans do fear the unknown and not being able to tell if a monster is going to attack would do that.
It also is being stated that the AI is different for each type of creature we encounter in SOMA to also offer up a few different ways things could play out. Add that in with the fact that Frictional Games has designed each level in SOMA to hold a theme with the creatures in question and that they are encounter sparingly in the game's world that we should never be able to see their patterns or "get to know them." Again leading back to that unknown thing as we will make up more things in our head than will ever be shown in SOMA. It is what made the other title above seem as scary as we filled in the gaps as needed.
The last thing that Frictional Games has stated as to making the creatures of SOMA so terrifying is the aspect that doesn't sit well with me. It all comes down to the health and damage aspects of the game. Apparently there is little rhyme or reason to the damage taken in SOMA and from the creatures. As it is described: "Sometimes an attack will barely make a scratch, sometimes it will knock you down and force you to crawl out of danger, and other times you will die on the first hit." While I would agree that would keep us on our toes in SOMA it just doesn't seem like a good mechanic for a game like it. I know I'll just always assume one hit and dead an approach the whole game that way now that I know it.
What are your thoughts though? Do you see all of these things adding to the terror of SOMA or do you see the health/damage mechanic being a detriment? Will you approach every encounter in SOMA as a one-hit-one-kill scenario now that you know that? Let us know down in the comments and let the discussion begin. We can speculate until the creatures come home here for SOMA but we truly won't know until Frictional Games' title finally hits on September 22nd so be sure to keep up on everything until then.
