Video Games | Science Fiction | Movies
Somerville — A Game that Plays like a Movie
Review of the sci-fi, adventure, and puzzle game ‘Somerville’ by Jumpship
Games have been prioritizing storylines and visuals over gameplay for some time now, and it’s well-received most times. Somerville is a game which plays like an interactive film with its creative direction and articulate camera work, but was not as well-received as it could have been.
While this game works incredibly well, it’s also a bit lackluster in its gameplay and storyline.
So, here I am to point out all of its strengths and weaknesses. A spoiler alert is in order since this is a story-driven game, and I will mention major parts of the story.
An Alien Invasion to Die For
We start the game as a toddler who wakes up on a sofa shared with his sleeping parents. This highlights the story of this family of four — including the dog — and all the tribulations they will face onward with the alien invasion.
While we play as a toddler for a miniscule portion of the game, the dad is our real protagonist. This is mostly because when the family is hiding in the basement, some kind of alien ship pierces through their house. There’s a blue person hanging out of it lifelessly, and the dad gets the bright idea to go touch the blue person’s hand.
Next thing we know, the dad is dead, the alien has disintegrated, and we’re all alone in that very basement when we wake up later. Where did his wife and child go?
Two words: Alien Abduction.
But how did we wake up again?
As we play as the dad, we learn that we have obtained weird blue superpowers now, where we can restart our own heart, and melt alien objects. Touching aliens is beneficial then?
That’s just the beginning of our powers and adventure though.
Blue, Red, and Purple
If you thought the blue alien/person/whatever was going to be it, you haven’t met the red guy yet, who conspicuously follows us around through the first portion of the game.
He is in plain sight but thinks we don’t see him.
Another Spoiler alert: He also dies and we also get his red powers.
For a little breakdown — blue goes melt melt, red goes freeze freeze. Yes, I know, how adorable, it’s the opposite of what water and fire do.
But wait! You thought the blue and red were going to be it! Think again!
Here comes the purple person trying to save us, but not our family. Maybe, they had something against the wife and kid, or probably the dog. I mean, I thought the wife was extremely slow when I needed her assistance but that didn’t mean I’d leave her to the other hostile aliens. That’s just rude.
I can see the confusion on your faces. You don’t understand what I’m blabbing about, but that’s a good thing. It’ll make you curious enough to play the game or watch my walkthrough of it. Inserts shifty eyes.
Friendship or Alien-ship? Either way, there’s a ship
I’m not much of a sci-fi wiz, but I do know enough about stories to realize that the colored aliens were friends. Blue, red, and purple were all once good pals but something went wrong and now they’re on the wrong side of history. Ours.
I’m guessing the something which went wrong was us, humans. I was brought to believe this from that underwater base where scientists were busy examining the dad’s ability to use his newfound powers.
This part comes after the dad is saved by the purple alien-person. And then we are thrust into a machine and coerced to use our abilities.
Well, we do need to go save our family anyway. Might as well go in style.
Generic Story, Buggy Gameplay and Ooh, Visuals
You’d think with how much this game has to offer, you’d get a ground-breaking story as well. But no. This game is just another alien invasion, and family gets abducted storyline. As with similar stories, this game also uses the father’s protective bond with his family and makes a story out of it.
But I didn’t care about all of that until I played most of the game.
You can forgive a generic storyline, but can you really overlook gameplay which has you confused most of the time?
But oh look, the visuals are amazing.
The visuals are actually breathtaking. And with my breath, they also took away my complaints.
What was I saying again?
A Game or A Film
Okay, I remember what I was talking about. Gameplay.
I like puzzle games but for a puzzle to be successful, you need harmony between the surroundings and the problem. Half of the time, I didn’t know what to solve exactly. The other half was spent trying to open a gate but my character wasn’t standing in front of the gate’s latch properly.
For such a beautiful game, the dad runs extremely slow, and the progression is as slow as the man himself. There are no skippable parts because you have to experience everything. But some parts are uselessly dragged on as if they haven’t relayed the core information already.
The first chapter of the game is only a cinematic sequence of the family moving into their new home. It runs for more than 2 minutes, and that’s the only information we are given in the sequence. Why is it so long then?
And you get to have 4 different endings to choose from. A little heads up though, all those endings are also as frustrating to achieve as it is to play this game’s puzzles.
The camera direction, though, was just remarkable. You don’t get to pan around this world, you get to see only what the developers want to show you. But I wasn’t complaining because I loved all the camera angles.
But then that brings us to a crossroad. What is this? A game or a film? Why not both?
Yes, I am being contradictory with my criticisms. I do believe that the game developers put too much effort into the aesthetic element and too little effort into the gameplay, but the game is an experience.
I appreciate the artistic approach, even when it is achieved on the back of buggy and frustrating gameplay.
Final Verdict
For a game to be beautiful with excellent gameplay, along with a ground-breaking story and soundtrack, would be too high of an expectation. Yes, many games have achieved such feats, but Somerville is not one of them.
And it might never be, only because it is not like other games.
For me, Somerville is an interactive indie film which plays like a game. You are not supposed to enjoy this as a game. You are supposed to experience it as a film where you are a father who’s only mission is to reunite with his family.
It’s just disappointing that for a game with such potential, Somerville provides us with nothing new.
Hope you enjoyed reading this review on the 2022 game, Somerville by Jumpship. You can watch my complete walkthrough, if you want. You can also find and support more of my work here on Medium. Thank you for reading!
