Somerville Review (Blinkums)
After playing through Somerville, I think it can easily be separated into two categories being the Creative/Artistic side of games and the actual Game side of games.
Regarding the Creative and Artistic side of Somerville, it gets an A+++ from me. The art style throughout the entire story is always evolving to convey emotions and tones, along with many secrets in the environmental storytelling which is key to the story considering how there is no dialogue between the characters. The sound design too is fantastic, it made me feel the sound, rather than just hear it. I don’t know how else to explain it but it was well thought out. Overall the creatives on the team that worked on Somerville brought so much to the table and just for that alone I think people should try this game out…
…however…
…then we come to the gameplay side of the game itself. Overall I was underwhelmed. The puzzles themselves were lacking and I felt like this game became more of a walking simulator than anything else. Even the enemies I never felt threatened by since all I had to do was just keep walking in the correct direction and I knew I would be safe. Regarding the puzzles specifically, this is what disappointed me the most. Whenever you had to learn a new ability or concept, the game did great in setting up a tutorial zone where you would learn the basic ability, and then follow it up with a slightly more complex puzzle to “test what you learned”. But after each of these sections, the remaining puzzles felt like they reverted to the basics of what each ability did. It felt like the puzzles were more so there to be a physical obstacle to get past, rather than something to actually think through and feel accomplished with solving. Not only this, but in general the controls of the game felt clunky. I always found myself getting stuck on flat areas of the ground or not being able to grab something I was right next to. In general, the hardest part of the game was just moving through the environment which was not a great experience.
If you are looking for a game and want to focus more on the story and the art, then I would 100% recommend this game, but if you are looking for a good gameplay experience, I would suggest looking elsewhere until you see Somerville on sale.