The puzzle platformer is a type of genres that has seen quite a lot of entries, most probably because of video games like Limbo and Braid kickstarting quite a lot of love within the indie scene. Whereas not all of them have been good, it is nonetheless a style that will get fairly a little bit of strong entries. Somerville is trying so as to add to that record, with some beautiful graphics and a narrative a few household reuniting throughout an alien invasion. Is that sufficient? Learn our overview to search out out.
The sport opens up with a household getting dwelling after an extended journey and stress-free in entrance of the TV. It seems to be like a peaceable second till there is a loud droning noise and aliens come out of the sky. When one crash lands proper into the home, the husband touches the corpse and seemingly dies. He wakes up an unspecified time later to search out his home is ruined and the aliens seemingly gained. Nevertheless, his household is on the market someplace, so he begins to search for him.
Whereas Somerville is a sport with no dialogue, you will get the overall story fairly simply. I rapidly discovered myself sucked into the story of this misplaced husband, looking for his household whereas surviving an alien invasion. It hits quite a lot of the emotional notes I anticipated from this sort of story, together with a number of of those I did not. It is not good. There are many occasions when the shortage of dialogue made me go “this could make extra sense should you simply had a primary human dialog,” however should you’re right into a type of extra artsy tackle this story, it’s best to discover a lot to love right here.
You will play as this unnamed husband as he searches for his household. The fundamentals are fairly easy: you may run round and work together with objects, pulling or pushing them so that they’re ready that helps you clear up puzzles. You will transfer fallen items of wooden, crates that you could climb on, throw some switches, and staple items like that. It is nothing too out of the extraordinary that you just’d see in every other sport. Nevertheless, the husband does have one distinctive trick.
You see, touching the alien at the beginning of the sport has given you some powers. You initially get the power to show alien objects into liquid, as long as you channel your powers by means of a lightweight supply. Afterward, you additionally achieve the power to show liquids into solids once more. A whole lot of the puzzles contain discovering mild sources to channel your powers by means of, and ensuring the sunshine can really attain the alien objects you want melted or solidified.
This really results in some somewhat intelligent puzzles. In a single case you should open a door, however anytime you employ the crank a hook lowers, and, as quickly as you let go, the door slams shut. To resolve the puzzle I wanted to move to a close-by room and begin a generator to show some lights on, permitting me to flood that room and get a mine cart. I might then fill the cart with water, crank the wheel simply sufficient so the hook lowers into the cart, solidify the water within the cart, after which push the cart down a hill so it forces the gate not solely open, however to remain open. It takes a bit to determine it out, nevertheless it’s a strong “aha!” second once you do.
Not all puzzles have that second although. One of many final puzzles within the sport is, what I can greatest inform, mainly simply Simon Says on a grand scale. But, irrespective of how I attempted to take part within the puzzle, I simply could not handle to get it to work in a approach that made the sport completely happy, and finally, after I was provided the selection between the unhealthy ending or persevering with the puzzle, I fortunately selected the unhealthy ending simply to get finished with that puzzle.
There are extra than simply puzzles in Somerville. There are just a few stealth segments the place it’s a must to discover methods to sneak round monsters that may spear you should you’re within the mild for too lengthy. One significantly cool one has you sneaking by means of a division retailer, avoiding stepping on noisy surfaces and knocking over mannequins so you do not unintentionally get consideration. There are additionally just a few chase scenes within the sport, having you run away from aliens. They are not significantly onerous, however they’re dramatic and visually eye-catching, so that they get a cross general.
The truth is, quite a lot of Somerville is visually eye-catching. The very very first thing you see, earlier than the rest, is likely one of the spaceships silhouetted towards the solar. The preliminary alien invasion is a superb scene, with jets and alien ships flying round taking pictures at one another. A late-game chase scene has you climbing a spiral staircase as much as the highest of a bell tower whereas avoiding photographs from aliens. All of those scenes look incredible and did a lot to essentially promote me into the world of Somerville.
Whereas most of the scenes look good typically, there are just a few moments that basically took me out of the sport. One, particularly, was a easy stroll down a hospital hallway. All of the scene had me do is stroll from level A to level B whereas individuals seemed in awe at this bizarre man who got here in. Simple. But all of their animations have been wonky at greatest. A lot of them snapped into the flawed animations, disappeared and reappeared, or performed animations that did not really match up with their actions. It is a bizarre scene, one that completely killed my immersion within the sport. Another random small issues, just like the household canine that seems and disappears at random however all the time appears to be the place you are going irrespective of how little sense it made, additionally damage this immersion.
Somerville Assessment | Verdict
Nevertheless, regardless of this, I nonetheless discovered Somerville to be nicely price my time. The puzzles have been intelligent, the story is strong, and the sport actually is nice to take a look at. Just a few iffy scenes and unhealthy puzzles did not actually convey it down, and if it is a style you want then Somerville must be the subsequent entry that you just seize for it.
TechRaptor reviewed Somerville on PC utilizing a replica supplied by the writer. The sport can also be out there on Xbox One and Xbox Sequence X|S.
