Soma

[Jek Jek Roo]

So apprently once again frictional games studio served us a decent piece of well made horror music.

Just listen to it!

The soundtrack far better than Machine for the Pigs and I'd say it keeps the scary level of first Amnesia:

 

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Music is very important in horror games, mostly building the tense athmospere, esspecially if you are not relying on cheap jumpscares.

I also didin't play the game myself, and I'm planning to keep myself from watching the gameplayes of it, yet I couln't resist the soundrack and I'm really not dissapointed this time.

 

Did you played this game? how did the music feel? does it good job in game as you play? What do you think?

[Riley Hawk]

This game just doesn't do it for me. Jump scares stopped being scary after.... like, 1998.

[K4_Kydure]

I've been watching a lets play of it and there's perhaps one jump scare in the whole game and you can miss it if you're too slow. Also the tension is ruined when you learn that the enemies teleport near you if they get too far.

[Riley Hawk]

So you are saying that it is different than amnesia and machine of pigs, or whatever that other game was called? I haven't seen a scary game since silent hill.

[K4_Kydure]

Someone hasn't played FEAR.

[Riley Hawk]

FEAR isn't scary. It is just gross.

Writing words on a wall in BLOOOOOOOOD is not scary...

[K4_Kydure]

You have only just proven my point. You haven't played it. Kindly stop shit posting.

[Selfsurprise]

Probably a little late to be wading in on this, but whatever... ;p

 

I'm not sure why people didn't find SOMA particularly scary, because I found very atmospheric and tense. The numerous jump scares might seem like a cheap tactic, but for me it made the sense of vulnerability all the more palpable. Your character can't fight back, he can only run, hide and attempt to outmaneuver the creatures in the game. The monsters in particular, while not nearly as harrowing or abstract as some of the Silent Hill franchises most distressing antagonists, were very creepy on an existential level (potential spoilers >)

 

The rather unaesthetic and workaday robots containing the deteriorating minds of once living people, the shambling shrieking hosts of the WAU A.I., the alarmingly alacritic and monstrous Terry Akers, those psychoportational entities that can sense your gaze, etc.

The fact that your character (or more accurately some revived copy of him) is flung from the recognizable present into a nightmarish future by digital means, coupled with the sense of benthic, lightless, crushing clasutrophobia of the underwater station made this game creepily affective, at least to me.

 

I can't help thinking the games detractors are trying far too hard to appear jaded and cynical, due to the depressing circumstances of the cancelled Silent Hills. SOMA was even created in something called the H.P.Lovecraft Engine 3. You can't deny horror pedigree like that!

[BTGBullseye]

I'm not sure why people didn't find SOMA particularly scary, because I found very atmospheric and tense.

The likely reason is that most people would pick up a weapon or tool and do anything but run around in circles dodging an enemy... Once realism is broken, fear dissipates. This is the main reason I don't like the vast majority of these types of games, they are completely unrealistic to me, and result in a total lack of immersion, thereby losing the scare factor, which is losing the reason the game exists. This is also a major reason why most horror movies suck at scaring people. (though I have to say that Tucker and Dale vs. Evil is a good movie, simply because it's remarkably more realistic than you would expect from a B movie spoof)

[Selfsurprise]

I'm not sure why people didn't find SOMA particularly scary, because I found very atmospheric and tense.

The likely reason is that most people would pick up a weapon or tool and do anything but run around in circles dodging an enemy... Once realism is broken, fear dissipates. This is the main reason I don't like the vast majority of these types of games, they are completely unrealistic to me, and result in a total lack of immersion, thereby losing the scare factor, which is losing the reason the game exists. This is also a major reason why most horror movies suck at scaring people. (though I have to say that Tucker and Dale vs. Evil is a good movie, simply because it's remarkably more realistic than you would expect from a B movie spoof)

Do you really reckon so? I might pick up an implement to defend myself if, in a split-second, the situation called for it. But I honestly think if I was being pursued by something unnatural and unfriendly my immediate instinct would be to hide and keep out of its way. And I'm a fat man, so you know I'm telling the truth...

[BTGBullseye]

Look in the RL Pictures thread in the FFA section, I'm not overly svelte myself... Still, even if it would likely do no good, I would grab SOMETHING to defend myself if the opportunity presented itself. It's been the downfall of many of my 'scary' dreams when I pick up a bat, or some random object. (chairs are remarkably useful as a thrown weapon)

[Selfsurprise]

Look in the RL Pictures thread in the FFA section, I'm not overly svelte myself... Still, even if it would likely do no good, I would grab SOMETHING to defend myself if the opportunity presented itself. It's been the downfall of many of my 'scary' dreams when I pick up a bat, or some random object. (chairs are remarkably useful as a thrown weapon)

It's all those legs and back supports. There's no escapin' the pain!

[BTGBullseye]

A 20lb wooden dining chair, thrown from around 10-20 feet at the legs is very effective at disabling a biped. (the crossbeam strengthening bars and legs make for a tangling mess)

 

But really, if you see an industrial-grade (heavy duty) screwdriver, wouldn't you pick it up, if not for weapon value, then as a tool? You can use it for prying open doors, breaking glass without hurting yourself, opening vents for escaping/strategic maneuvering, or even for holding open a heavy grate so you can move past it faster and easier. (see Die Hard 2 for an excellent depiction of this last usage scenario)

 

That's where these fail to engage me. No weapons, even if totally ineffective... No tools, despite their obvious uses... No logic in their entire depiction of anything that should be scary. (a moon base being constantly peppered with micrometeoroids, and having to deal with that in a semi-realistic way, would engage me 1000x more than any 'supernatural' scary that doesn't allow for the use of any tools or weapons)