SOMA Review Roundup

After nearly five years of development, Amnesia developer Frictional Games will launch its new PlayStation 4 and PC horror game SOMA this week. The game is set in an abandoned science facility and trades jumpscares for a slow buildup of tension. But how is it holding up with critics?

Reviews for the game started showing up today, and the response has been overwhelmingly positive. Scroll down below to the video to see a sampling of review scores and editor opinions.

• Game: SOMA
• Developer: Frictional Games
• Platforms: PlayStation 4, PC
• Release Date: September 22
• Price: $30

GameSpot -- 9/10

"I came in expecting something similar to Amnesia, just in a terrifying new location, but what I found is an intelligent game that forced me to think and contemplate ideas as only the best sci-fi is capable of doing. It may not stir the hordes of wailing YouTubers looking for the next best haunted house, but SOMA succeeds at crafting something much more meaningful in a genre that's deserving of more than just simple jumpscares." - Richard Wakeling [Full review]

PC Gamer -- 80/100

"There's all manner of horrific imagery down in those murky depths to be uncovered, and the story is unsettling. In this sense, it's a great horror game. It affects you psychologically and emotionally--often in a subtle, understated way. But all this does is highlight how ineffectual its more familiar attempts to scare are. Ultimately, it's what's inside your head that scares you in SOMA, not what's in front of you." - Andy Kelly [Full review]

GamesRadar -- 3.5/5

"Most of SOMA's strength is in its story and what happens to the people involved. This is a dark and deviant science fiction tale well worth a look thanks to some uncomfortable themes and concepts. And, at about 8 to 10-ish hours long, it's a perfectly formed and satisfying experience to see through to conclusion. Seriously, that ending? You'll be digesting it months from now." - Leon Hurley [Full review]

GameInformer -- 8.5/10

"Video games have challenged us to unsympathetically blast apart deadly robots since their earliest days. SOMA's impressively realized underwater ordeal challenges even the coldest robot-slayers to consider a world where making such snap moral decisions is anything but automatic." - Tim Turi [Full review]

IGN -- 8.1/10

"SOMA is a sustained exploration of an original and thought-provoking idea. The concept of artificial intelligence has been explored by lots of science fiction, so it isn't unique in that regard, but it makes particularly intelligent use of video game conventions to present those familiar ideas in new and surprising ways. At 12 hours long, the story feels a little stretched, especially when so much of its gameplay feels less original than its ideas. That's not to say its scares aren't effective or intense but I found myself drawn to its quiet moments in which its philosophical yet unpretentious storytelling is allowed to breathe without interference from unintuitive puzzles and monsters that can't be manipulated." - Daniel Krupa [Full review]

TheSixthAxis -- 9/10

"I've never played a game that's affected me as much as SOMA, and to be honest I'm not sure I want to ever again, although I'm very glad I did. It has the DNA of movies like Alien, 2001, Sunlight, and Event Horizon, with a splash of the original Dead Space and BioShock, but brings plenty of new ideas to the table. It makes you think about what it means to be alive, and indeed how you classify life, and is a brilliant example of just how far video games have evolved." - Tuffcub [Full review]