Somerville evaluation — Shine a light-weight

It’s high quality for video games to be brief after they ship a good, impactful expertise. Somerville is a cinematic puzzle recreation much like classics like Out of this World and Coronary heart of Darkness. It’s nearer to the size of the previous, nonetheless, clocking in at about three hours in size. Whereas a lot of the sport is each visually and mechanically robust, it has some points that maintain it from being every part I’d hoped. However the greatest concern is the way in which it narratively drops the ball over the past part, which had me strolling away a bit disenchanted.

Somerville doesn’t have a single line of dialogue — the complete narrative is conveyed via context alone. The principle character is watching TV at evening in his household dwelling. He will get as much as feed the canine however will get distracted by lights flashing outdoors. He and his spouse go see what the fuss is, solely to witness an alien invasion straight out of Warfare of the Worlds. Objects come crashing down out of the sky, so the 2, toddler and canine in tow, rush into the basement to cover within the crawlspace. However a capsule breaks via the ceiling with a person reaching his arm out.

The protagonist clasps his hand, just for {an electrical} surge to drop him like a bag of potatoes. Later, his arm seemingly resuscitates him utilizing the identical power the person transferred to him, solely to search out his spouse and baby are gone and he’s trapped within the basement. He grabs a close-by lamp and discovers that he can use the power in his arm to have an effect on gentle and use it to hold stated power. He goals it on the particles blocking his path and goes up into the world, which is now largely in ruins, to search out his household. It’s a surprising opening to the sport.

Screenshot by PC Invasion

Onward certain

The plot strikes ahead properly via most of Somerville‘s runtime, though there are sections that go on longer than want be. However the true downside is the ultimate part. As an alternative of wrapping issues up with a coherent conclusion, the sport as a substitute descends into Neon Genesis Evangelion territory. I get the gist of what occurs, however I don’t like these sorts of endings. It simply seems like a protracted stretch of dreamy nonsense that vaguely alludes to what’s really taking place. Maybe I’ll really feel otherwise if somebody’s in a position to pin down precisely what’s happening, however I used to be very reminded by the tip of the final episode of the unique Evangelion sequence, and that’s by no means a very good factor.

However talking of significantly good issues, Somerville has some actually intelligent elements on show. The sport permits you to transfer round in 3D proven by varied vantage factors. You’ll predominately be channeling the protagonist’s power powers to make use of gentle to vary the unusual matter the aliens introduced with them. He simply has blue power at first, however later will get purple power. Blue power principally melts the alien matter, whereas purple power solidifies something melted, permitting it to be climbed upon.

You’ll typically be utilizing these talents in tandem with physics puzzles that present a good quantity of selection. There are additionally sections the place you need to run from aliens, that are tense and thrilling. The aliens can use a purple gentle that kills you, however you possibly can conceal behind objects or in moveable bathrooms or tents to flee your demise. The sport’s “puzzles” are extra cinematic than anything, much like Limbo or Inside. You gained’t get caught typically as they’re not all that video-gamey, nevertheless it wouldn’t be truthful to name Somerville a strolling simulator both.

Screenshot by PC Invasion

Higher run

That is all effectively and good, however the presentation has its points. The largest one is that it could merely be very troublesome to see what you’re doing, because the digicam is commonly so distant that the small print will be exhausting to make out. After I acquired caught for a couple of minutes, it was often as a result of I simply couldn’t see one thing. There’s a piece late within the recreation the place you’re operating from aliens. I died a number of instances just because I merely didn’t know the place my character was. That and, if you happen to don’t do that sequence almost completely, the aliens catch and kill you. It jogged my memory of Coronary heart of Darkness, a recreation that’s as fascinating as it’s infuriating.

There are just a few sections just like the aforementioned. One other had me underwater and utilizing a flare to soften alien matter to result in water that permits the protagonist to swim upward. However melting this matter lets free boulders that kill him. It takes trial and error to get previous these, as I wanted to swim down and to the left. The checkpoint takes you again to the very starting, so this was significantly aggravating.

Countless skies

Somerville is attractive, with a distinctly inventive aesthetic. All the things is straightforward however well-designed, plus what we see sparks the creativeness. That is a type of video games the place I discovered myself taking a lot of footage simply because it so typically seems to be like a murals. Too unhealthy the optimization appears to be considerably terrible. The sport typically ran underneath 60 fps for me at 1440p with an RTX 3090. There’s no manner it’s this demanding, even when among the sequences can get fairly busy and intense. The sport is cinematic sufficient that this didn’t even hassle me that a lot, nevertheless it’s curious all the identical.

Screenshot by PC Invasion

I believe Somerville is a largely fascinating expertise, however just some hours in I used to be wading via the sport’s lackluster, obscure conclusion. In the long run, I used to be left wanting one thing extra conclusive. Attending to the credit additionally took some guesswork, which was odd contemplating how logical a lot of the gameplay right here is. I acquired two totally different endings, however there look like extra, though I actually don’t know the way to take action or if any of them make for a greater conclusion than what I’ve witnessed. Between this disappointing flip, how typically the sport will be aggravating, and the surprisingly poor efficiency, the sport doesn’t reside as much as its potential. It’s actually value taking part in and has some actually memorable elements and an outstanding presentation, nevertheless it may have been breathtaking.