Somerville begins with a peek into the lifetime of a younger household and their canine. Everybody fell asleep watching TV on the sofa, however the curious toddler will get themselves into some inconsequential hassle, forcing the household into their routine. Each the kid and canine should be fed and the kitchen must be cleaned, however one thing feels off. In an explosive second that really caught me abruptly, the household is all of a sudden reckoning with an alien invasion. An intense, typically scary journey kicks off from there. When Somerville hits its highs and fires on all cylinders, it’s a shifting spectacle, however sadly, technical hiccups and a few unclear puzzles maintain it again from being really unbelievable.
To name a online game an alien invasion story would possibly recall Area Invaders, however Somerville represents one thing far more intimate and human. The story primarily follows the daddy of this younger household and examines, with none textual content or dialogue, what the world would possibly appear like and the way you’d survive if the whole lot you knew about Earth immediately modified. You make your method via Somerville by shifting alongside a linear path, fixing environmental puzzles, and avoiding immediate loss of life by the hands of imposing enemies. By the top, I didn’t know a lot in regards to the invading power, however I didn’t care as a result of I used to be solely concerned with methods to keep alive and linked to my household.
After an inciting incident units the sport in movement, the daddy should go away his residence to seek out security and reap the benefits of a wierd newfound capacity to assist remedy puzzles and progress. The sport’s visuals and audio design are unbelievable and mysterious. Weird sound results paint unusual explosions within the distance and the occasional mild, synth orchestration and unassuming piano items are expertly used to punctuate scenes.
The simplistic designs of the characters and atmosphere are putting. The world feels massive regardless of being tangibly small, and there are many moments the place the digicam appears to be like out towards the horizon to border a very spectacular vista. The animation additionally feels pure and fluid… when it really works.
Somerville’s greatest challenge is in the end a practical one that’s typically straightforward to look previous, however sadly, extra typically, unimaginable to disregard. Moments of emotional sincerity are undercut when a personality blinks out of existence for a second, or worse, the protagonist will get caught in geometry whereas attempting to unravel a puzzle. I needed to restart checkpoints typically simply to verify issues executed as they need to. The bugs had been notably irritating within the moments the place I might assume, “I guess that might have seemed nice… had it animated appropriately.”
These points additionally lengthen to puzzle fixing. Grabbing levers and switches is inconsistent and leaping up on ledges – a frequent motion – is usually tougher than it needs to be. Even with out these points, although, there are some puzzles whose options I simply didn’t take pleasure in. An early one, for instance, concerned carrying an object to a particular spot that I unintentionally averted.
When Somerville is working correctly, nonetheless, and the story is being delivered because it ought to, it results in a number of the most memorable moments within the style. The invaders are really scary. I teared up throughout at the least one emotional second, and the journey goes locations I by no means would have predicted and ends in a method that might make Steven Spielberg proud.
My first playthrough with Somerville was tough, however I instantly restarted the sport after seeing the credit. There isn’t any incentive to replay. No new sport plus, and even added context from a second playthrough – I simply wished to expertise the story once more and hoped giving it a second shot would make for a extra constant expertise. It did work higher after I knew precisely what I used to be doing, however I used to be disillusioned my first playthrough felt like a gown rehearsal.
Somerville is held again by technical shortcomings, however is filled with spectacular moments price experiencing with the lights turned low and and your headphones up excessive. The daddy’s journey lingers in my thoughts as I replicate on what occurred, and people reminiscences do in the end outweigh the technical shortcomings. I hope time will present enhancements to convey the sport to the place it deserves to be, which is excessive within the sky alongside the ships of the invading forces.