SOMA - Did it surpass Amnesia?

SOMA is the new game of Frictional Games, the developes and publishers of Amnesia. So it is obvious that a comparison will arise between the two games as both are survival horror games. As far as i played i like SOMA very much as it depicts the same mind-breaking logic of Amnesia. What do u think about SOMA?

Whoever hasnt yet played SOMA and wants to check out about it, i have uploaded walkthrougs of SOMA on youtube: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uXnDTPjKL-0

I say it's a great game. Of what I played, it was great experience. I did not play amnesia when it got release so I can't judge if this is better or not speaking of when release. Of course SOMA is a greater game that Amnesia especially for the graphics that are very good.

From what I've seen I think that it's setting out to accomplish something very different than Amnesia was, so it's hard for me to say whether or not one surpasses the other.

@dragonfly110: I would agree with u cause except the horror survival factor they have basics differences concering the story and how it is being developed through the playthrough. Amnesia was all about unfolding a story with attrocious acts that makes u hate the responsibles ones, only to discover that u are the man to blame. SOMA is not based in that logic, and rather it creates a story of mystery that creates an obvious purpose for you( to save human race). So Amnesia has elements of a thriller until the very end, something that doesnt happne with SOMA.

I didn't really like Amnesia personally. I find the setting of SOMA far more interesting, but I feel the undersea had no relevance outside of the plot. I think the atmosphere and the design especially in the later parts of the game are superior to Amnesia, a solid 7 out of 10.

I find the game is plagued by the same issue as all the "no combat, hide, run" horror games are, the fact that the core gameplay is just not enjoyable. SOMA was a big offender in the "oh something broke, now you have to look elsewhere to find a code to progress via alternate route" most of the gameplay consists of pressing buttons and pulling levers. The puzzles were few and far between, the physics engine was not used in any meaningful way, the consumables were none.

I would put it above Outlast because of superior plot and above Alien Isolation because of marginally less annoying lever pulling.

Actually just started playing Amnesia last night since I picked it up for free on the Steam Sale. It's okay so far. Nice atmosphere and ambiance. I'm expecting it to get a lot creepier as it goes on due to its reputation.

Hmm, in atmosphere, setting and envioments, no. I even think that Amnesia have the better puzzles.

On the most part however, SOMA plays better, I like how different monsters have different and very stark contrasts, and the story is technically better.

I even think that SOMA is a smarter game. It does have a few issues.

1) It is not scary, at all. Just progress around 30 minutes to 1 hour, and you will find out why.

2) Most monster encounters are incredibly easy and quite simple to manipulate

3) near the end of the game, the story takes an absolute stupid detour.

But I think I enjoyed the game more, I liked the relatively long stretches of time of calm where you could walk around in isolated thought and reflect on the things you learned. The underwater sequences are also really nice. Lends really well to the setting and story.

I consider it more as a darker take on Bioshock with no combat. They do not share story or visual similarities, but I always came back to a mix of Bioshock and Alien Isolation, when thinking about it. Maybe that is the best way to describe the game? But as a horror game it absolutely failed, sure some light shock elements, and the typical "hide and seek" gameplay is there abeit a much easier version.

From a purely horror-game standpoint, Amnesia: TDD is way better, but overall, I think Soma is a more fleshed-out and satisfying experience. It is a very well thought out game, I love how you always know where to go/what to do without having objective markers/waypoints etc. I can't think of a game that has a more natural progression that correctly assumes what the player will do/where they will go.

The setting is great, the story is great and made way better by exploration and reading the various documents/looking at computer terminals. Even though the story goes to some weird places the game always manages to feel grounded.

I found the monster encounters to be hit-or-miss, a couple of good ones, and a few that were non-starters. I think if they had made it harder on this front it would have messed up the pacing though so I am ok with it.

I cannot speak about SOMA, but I can say I was highly disappointed in Amnesia, a game I just finished a few days ago. It's tension breaks once you realize it's beneficial to run towards the monster instead of away from it (running towards and around the monster, allows you to progress. If you succumb to the monster, then you respawn closer to your goal and the monster does not respawn near you); Amnesia was fun for the first hour, but once you learn its system it just becomes routine. I have little experience with the horror genre, but I'm hoping not all horror games are like this. Amnesia's sanity meter also does nothing except make a nauseating visual effect that hides the eerie castle atmosphere. The light and dark mechanics were fun although by the end of the game I was never wanting oil or tinderboxes.

really loved Soma. One of the more satisfying game experiences I've had in awhile. I tend to avoid the games you have to run and hide as I just find that kind of helplessness to make for irritating gameplay, but I tried it out anyway on the suggestion that the monster encounters were infrequent. Glad I did. So nice to get sci-fi that isn't space marines (i love you, Aliens, I do) or a futurized Pinocchio tale.

The kind of discussion the game puts forward is something I'm used to seeing in discussions about teleportation tech. Likely you wouldn't actually send anything anywhere, but rather like a fax machine, turn the object into a stream of electrons that would tell the matter assembler on the other hand how to rebuild the object. When you start talking about humans in this way, you realize that once the assembler has the necessary information, there's no reason for that assembler to stop at just building one you. That's uncomfortable for a lot of people because we like thinking about ourselves as unique entities and not like the cheap AI in your cell phone that can be mass-produced endlessly. It's one of those fun topics that can only be conjured up by some good speculative fiction.

They're really different, I think Amnesia was the 'scarier' game for that sheer oppressive feel, but SOMA accomplishes so much more, it's more atmospheric, thoughtful, and more of a crawl under your skin horror.