10) Soma
Like Frictional Games’ previous release, Soma is a terrifying trip into the darkest depths of your mind. Instead of dealing with monsters in a creepy castle, though, you’ll have to face off with the horrifying remnants of an underwater research facility. As someone who is already freaked out about the idea of being underwater, having to explore the sunken PATHOS-II base was just another layer of fear to an already stacked unsettling experience.
What ultimately elevates Soma over the other very good horror title of 2015 (Until Dawn) is the type of horror the game specializes in. Sure, there are more than enough jump scares for the Let’s Play/YouTube set, but it’s the existential dread that permeates throughout Frictional Games’ undersea tale that resonated with me.
Questions about what seperates man from machine, as well as the ultimate fate of Simon Jarrett, our protagonist, kept me up long into the night. And for someone who has to be up early during the week, that was the real nightmare.
Even for those opposed to the burgeoning non-combat first-person exploration genre (there has to be a better name for that), Soma offer up enough chills to be worth taking the plunge on.
