The puzzle platformer is a kind of genres that has seen plenty of entries, probably as a result of video games like Limbo and Braid kickstarting plenty 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 stable entries. Somerville is trying so as to add to that checklist, with some pretty graphics and a narrative a few household reuniting throughout an alien invasion. Is that sufficient? Learn our evaluation to search out out.
The sport opens up with a household getting house after an extended journey and enjoyable in entrance of the TV. It seems 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 recreation 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 plenty of the emotional notes I anticipated from this sort of story, together with a number of of those I did not. It isn’t excellent. There are many occasions when the shortage of dialogue made me go “this might make extra sense should you simply had a fundamental human dialog,” however should you’re right into a type of extra artsy tackle this story, you must discover a lot to love right here.
You may play as this unnamed husband as he searches for his household. The fundamentals are fairly easy: you’ll be able to run round and work together with objects, pulling or pushing them so that they’re ready that helps you remedy puzzles. You may transfer fallen items of wooden, crates you could climb on, throw some switches, and basic items like that. It is nothing too out of the odd that you simply’d see in every other recreation. Nevertheless, the husband does have one distinctive trick.
You see, touching the alien at first of the sport has given you some powers. You initially get the flexibility to show alien objects into liquid, as long as you channel your powers by a lightweight supply. Afterward, you additionally achieve the flexibility to show liquids into solids once more. Plenty of the puzzles contain discovering mild sources to channel your powers by, and ensuring the sunshine can really attain the alien objects you want melted or solidified.
This really results in some moderately intelligent puzzles. In a single case you might want to open a door, however anytime you utilize 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, but it surely’s a stable “aha!” second whenever you do.
Not all puzzles have that second although. One of many final puzzles within the recreation 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 manner that made the sport joyful, and ultimately, after I was supplied the selection between the dangerous ending or persevering with the puzzle, I fortunately selected the dangerous ending simply to get achieved with that puzzle.
There are extra than simply puzzles in Somerville. There are just a few stealth segments the place you need to discover methods to sneak round monsters that can spear you should you’re within the mild for too lengthy. One significantly cool one has you sneaking by a division retailer, avoiding stepping on noisy surfaces and knocking over mannequins so you do not by accident get consideration. There are additionally just a few chase scenes within the recreation, having you run away from aliens. They don’t seem to be significantly onerous, however they’re dramatic and visually eye-catching, so that they get a go total.
In truth, plenty of Somerville is visually eye-catching. The very very first thing you see, earlier than the rest, is likely one of the spaceships silhouetted in opposition to the solar. The preliminary alien invasion is a good scene, with jets and alien ships flying round capturing 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 pictures from aliens. All of those scenes look unbelievable and did a lot to actually promote me into the world of Somerville.
Whereas lots of the scenes look good generally, there are just a few moments that actually 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. Lots of them snapped into the incorrect animations, disappeared and reappeared, or performed animations that did not really match up with their actions. It is a bizarre scene, one that absolutely killed my immersion within the recreation. Another random small issues, just like the household canine that seems and disappears at random however at all times appears to be the place you are going irrespective of how little sense it made, additionally damage this immersion.
Somerville Evaluation | Verdict
Nevertheless, regardless of this, I nonetheless discovered Somerville to be nicely price my time. The puzzles have been intelligent, the story is stable, and the sport actually is nice to take a look at. A number of iffy scenes and dangerous puzzles did not actually carry it down, and if it is a style you want then Somerville ought to be the subsequent entry that you simply seize for it.
TechRaptor reviewed Somerville on PC utilizing a replica supplied by the writer. The sport can also be obtainable on Xbox One and Xbox Collection X|S.
