A common issue I see being brought up in Soma critique is the monsters are uninteresting and boring, along with the scenarios they fall into - I personally don't see it, but it is brought up a lot.I'd say the first two hours were just bad. The beginning of the game is a slog to get through, and this is coming from someone excited to play the game.I am surprised this wasn't picked up in some type of play-testing as it is just a bit all over the place, from start to finish - which leads me to the next point. The entire game's pacing is really off.I'm not sure what I don't get that others seemingly are, but man this is by the numbers and just uninteresting compared their previous work. I really think the story wasn't good at all.Over all I would rate it behind SOMA and ATDD right now. I wish some character interactions were developed more, meeting some of the main characters of the story in very brief moments was disappointing.

The last third of the game drags the same story beat too much, like once you figure out what's happening with the vitae, it just keeps smashing you with it over and over.It just keeps going too long, I was exhausted, I just rushed and wanted it to end. There's also scenes that drag too long, one is the underground where you're running away from the hoard of ghouls, the second is in the other planet where you're trying to escape to the portal after taking the tram. I found doors, places I wanted to explore more, where I wanted to find more. Some of the levels you can tell really suffered from rushed work, like some desert parts and some of the underground parts feel empty.The first half of the game up to the tank puzzle is very slow.Some monster interactions were really well grounded with the story, much better than the random monsters of SOMA.(but then it quickly becomes repetitive). The story is interesting, once you figure out what is going on.The quality overall, feels higher budget than the other games (with a few exceptions).This is definitely the most complete story and most well told story they've made so far.I've played everything from Frictional Games.ДЄ few things I thought about the game on my first playthrough

For future games, they should have a look again at Resident Evil (1 or 7). They shouldn't be afraid to have a bit more back-tracking or time spent within the same area. Maybe something non-humanoid, more alien (like those statues with the curled heads). The watcher-like enemies are good from a gameplay point of view, and they fit with the simple horror gameplay, but their design was a bit dull, maybe? Would've appreciated some more interesting monsters rather than those floating spirits. The little sandstorm chase at the very end, when the doc runs off with Amira, was neat and I would've liked an actual zone like that.

I'm surprised there was no actual desert chase sequence or something where there are enemies out in the open. I would've appreciated more above-ground/desert areas in general. I wasn't super enthused by the very last areas of the game. The Fort area, the Hunting Grounds and following underground ruins were excellent. Some really good set-pieces and scary zones. I still think they should build on this even more, perhaps with some light inventory management, rather than strip it out further (which is the direction they seemed to be taking with SOMA). Actual puzzles (even if simple), items, gameplay mechanics. Maybe in itself not quite as interesting as SOMA's, but good nonetheless and I liked the more personal, emotional nature of it.

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