Somerville Release Trailer

Which may sound damning, but is also a backhanded compliment, because despite all my issues with Somerville, I still really dug my time with it. The world and its story are the priorities here, not your minute-to-minute actions. Its sci-fi designs are fantastic, its world-building utterly immersive, and its cinematography, while occasionally maddening for gameplay reasons, is never anything but breathtaking to behold.

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Somerville’s intro is especially memorable. I’ve seen a lot of people compare it to the opening of Spielberg’s War of the Worlds, and with good reason; it’s real heart-in-the-mouth stuff, generating an incredible amount of tension and suspense for what’s essentially a “walking around all the time” adventure game.

I’d even go so far as to recommend a second playthrough, because not only does your muscle memory help tighten up the game’s pacing by moving you through its stages more quickly, but you can also piece together a little more of Somerville’s story, which sure does go places in the second half. You might even want to revisit some key decisions towards the end as well, since the game has three different endings depending on some decisions you make.