Somerville

[El Spatula]

Yup, shite from first impressions. So disappointing,

[Jamie John]

 

But, but, Inside...Limbo...

 

[El Spatula]

Almost entirely different people no?

[Shook]

18 minutes ago, Jamie John said:

 

But, but, Inside...Limbo...

 

Absolutely nothing like either of those utter gems apart from, perhaps, a nod to the atmosphere, tone and moody environments. 

 

It just plays badly.

 

Edit: I’ve only played 40 mins. Can’t see how the controls and feel of the game will change though 🤷‍♂️

[JoeK]

Uninstalled it I'm afraid. Games-wise, this could be the biggest disappointment I've had with a game this year. It's no fun at all to play, and the game logic is so fucking stupid it's astounding that this was what they've ended up with after a fairly long time in development.

 

Play Inside, Little Nightmares, Limbo - any of these things - and see just how far behind it is in terms of gameplay. 

 

 

[Giddas]

Well that escalated quickly

[BadgerFarmer]

2 hours ago, JoeK said:

I swear, if Planet of Lana ends up being a duffer as well, that will be a big old shame indeed.

Just based on a short demo, I think that's unlikely. It should be solid at least. 

[thesnwmn]

36 minutes ago, Jamie John said:

 

But, but, Inside...Limbo...

 

 

Made by a completely different developer. With what, the producer and maybe one or two others coming across?

 

This whole "genre" seems like a temperamental beast. There's so little to them really that what they have has to be close to perfect. The atmosphere. The puzzles. The soundscape. The basic mechanics. They hang so much on the journey, the experience, that the moment that's just not frictionless they're going to get a rough ride I think.

[Dark Soldier]

So it's this years 12 Minutes then.

[Jamie John]

1 hour ago, thesnwmn said:

 

Made by a completely different developer. With what, the producer and maybe one or two others coming across?

 

This whole "genre" seems like a temperamental beast. There's so little to them really that what they have has to be close to perfect. The atmosphere. The puzzles. The soundscape. The basic mechanics. They hang so much on the journey, the experience, that the moment that's just not frictionless they're going to get a rough ride I think.

 

I agree with most of that, but I do think there's some friction to Inside when it comes to the puzzles, some of which take a while to get your head around, and in Limbo, with the combat and insta-death sections.

 

But yes: you still need to have some idea of what you need to do, and how to do it, which it sounds like this is lacking.

 

What a shame! I'm still going to play it, but I'm going to put it off for a while and play Pediment first. Maybe a few others. By the time I get to it then hopefully the technical issues will have been patched.

[Mr Do 71]

It looks lovely, but I hope they can’t stop that wobble of the background graphics.

[cassidy]

I'm stuck in the woods no idea where to go. I flashed 3 times at one of those rolling orbs and he responded then nothing.  

 

No clue if I've just gone the wrong way. 

[Lying Cat]

58 minutes ago, Dark Soldier said:

So it's this years 12 Minutes then.

 

I am feeling similar levels of disappointment.

[thesnwmn]

17 minutes ago, Lying Cat said:

 

I am feeling similar levels of disappointment.

 

Has your "upset o'meter" been updated?

[Lying Cat]

1 minute ago, thesnwmn said:

 

Has your "upset o'meter" been updated?

 

No, that only updates when people accuse me of lying about things for no reason other than the fact I used to do it to other people all the time, and assumed there would be no consequence. I'd add a Disappointment Meter, but I don't want my sig to get too big, or for people to start managing me like a Sim or something.

[Strafe]

I think it’s pretty good so far. The biggest issue it has is that it isn’t a side on game and the path isn’t always clear. A bit buggy too but other than that it looks great and I want to know what happens with the story.

 

The fun of this is all in the environmental storytelling, I guess. 

[carlospie]

Yep I'm liking it. Nice style, chill gameplay, colourful. Aliens. Doge.

[K]

I'm quite enjoying it so far too. I like the moody, overcast visuals and the fact that it's set in the UK. It pretty soon stops resembling any kind of UK I'm familiar with (partly due to the aliens, partly due to the more videogamey landscape), but I loved that intro with the motorway drive at dusk.

[CrichStand]

“And the award for worst screen tearing in any game ever goes to.............Somerville”! 🎊🎉🏆 👏🏻👏🏻👏🏻👏🏻👏🏻

 

Really like the graphics and the scale and how each scene is framed and trying to give it a fair crack but, man, this is janky as all fuck. Screen judder, screen tearing, camera glitching, wonky unresponsive controls, invisible walls etc. Not even sure if the bit I’ve got to is totally glitched and requires a restart or if I’m just doing something wrong. Never a good sign.
 

 

[JPL]

24 minutes ago, CrichStand said:

“And the award for worst screen tearing in any game ever goes to.............Somerville”! 🎊🎉🏆👏🏻👏🏻👏🏻👏🏻👏🏻

 

Really like the graphics and the scale and how each scene is framed and trying to give it a fair crack but, man, this is janky as all fuck. Screen judder, screen tearing, camera glitching, wonky unresponsive controls, invisible walls etc. Not even sure if the bit I’ve got to is totally glitched and requires a restart or if I’m just doing something wrong. Never a good sign.
 

 

It is really janky, which I don’t understand, as it doesn’t seem to be too complex. Hopefully they can get it patched pretty quickly, but I wish they’d have delayed it to get it sorted ideally.

 

The art direction is great though and I’m intrigued enough by the story to keep at it.

[CrichStand]

1 hour ago, JPL said:

It is really janky, which I don’t understand, as it doesn’t seem to be too complex. Hopefully they can get it patched pretty quickly, but I wish they’d have delayed it to get it sorted ideally.

 

The art direction is great though and I’m intrigued enough by the story to keep at it.

Yeah, it looks lovely, it’s a shame it’s spoilt by all the technical glitches. The audio is nice too. Think that’s the main issue from what I’ve played of this - the technical issues. Feels unfinished. The game itself seems fine, very similar to Inside and Limbo, it’s just hard to appreciate when it’s such a mess. As you say, hopefully it gets patched quickly.

[teddymeow]

7 hours ago, Dark Soldier said:

So it's this years 12 Minutes then.

 

 

[Calashnikov]

Nocunt let debaser know that this actually did end up being shite, eh?

[K]

On the basis of the chapter select, I think I’m about a third of the way through, and I think it’s great. There’s a sequence at a music festival that is just so beautifully observed - it perfectly evokes the atmosphere of a festival in shitty weather, with the dome tents wobbling as the wind hits them, and the wooden planks gradually disappearing into the mud. 
 

Unless it completely spins out of control in the next two thirds, I’m struggling to see why it’s attracted such negative sentiment. They’ve nailed the sense of place and the feeling of loneliness. As a non-puzzle guy, the puzzles are quite fun so far, as well. The way you have to melt weird alien matter reminds me a bit of The Gunk, and the use of ropes reminds me of another indie puzzle game whose name escapes me for now. 

[CrichStand]

27 minutes ago, K said:

On the basis of the chapter select, I think I’m about a third of the way through, and I think it’s great. There’s a sequence at a music festival that is just so beautifully observed - it perfectly evokes the atmosphere of a festival in shitty weather, with the dome tents wobbling as the wind hits them, and the wooden planks gradually disappearing into the mud. 
 

Unless it completely spins out of control in the next two thirds, I’m struggling to see why it’s attracted such negative sentiment. They’ve nailed the sense of place and the feeling of loneliness. As a non-puzzle guy, the puzzles are quite fun so far, as well. The way you have to melt weird alien matter reminds me a bit of The Gunk, and the use of ropes reminds me of another indie puzzle game whose name escapes me for now. 

I’ve just done that bit and I agree in terms of the graphics, audio, atmosphere etc. I also like how the game just lets you find stuff out for yourself, or has markers that are in the world itself, such as the dog leading you places etc. In terms of its gameplay it’s not a million miles from Limbo and Inside, it’s just that technically it is a million miles from Limbo and Inside.
 

The problem is that, it’s hard to see through the horrendous screen tearing ,which really is the worst I’ve ever seen, the abysmal framerate, the unresponsive controls, the glitches etc. Think that is where most of the negative sentiment is coming from. 
 

This game sort of points to what I was saying a while back on here. This could be the kind of stuff we start seeing more and more of on these subscription services. It genuinely feels unfinished or that it’s been released way before it should have been.

[thesnwmn]

31 minutes ago, CrichStand said:

This game sort of points to what I was saying a while back on here. This could be the kind of stuff we start seeing more and more of on these subscription services. It genuinely feels unfinished or that it’s been released way before it should have been.

 

Why should a subscription service mean this?

 

I'd argue that for a long time (basically since patching of games and shipping of disks that are basically just download keys) games are shipping in a more and more unfinished state. With huge day one patches to fix glaring issues.

 

I don't see that the stuff coming out on Game Pass is of any noticeably worse quality.

 

The only influence I can imagine is if the GP deal meant the release date couldn't be moved. But I'd be surprised if that was true. MS benefit from more good stuff on the service, not lots of broken experiences.

[Shook]

Right I’m going to stick with this, given the more positive impressions above.

 

I stopped at 45 mins in, it was just too clunky, but have found myself thinking about it since. 

 

There’s an immediate issue though, that shouldn’t be excused: the controls feel terrible. There are no ifs or buts about it. Then as a game it sits at least adjacent to Inside and limbo, both of which carry proper weight and played nicely. It might have been developed by a very different team but it’s been lumbered with playdead pedigree.

 

Fuck it though I’m going back in. 

[CrichStand]

3 minutes ago, thesnwmn said:

 

Why should a subscription service mean this?

 

I'd argue that for a long time (basically since patching of games and shipping of disks that are basically just download keys) games are shipping in a more and more unfinished state. With huge day one patches to fix glaring issues.

 

I don't see that the stuff coming out on Game Pass is of any noticeably worse quality.

 

The only influence I can imagine is if the GP deal meant the release date couldn't be moved. But I'd be surprised if that was true. MS benefit from more good stuff on the service, not lots of broken experiences.

It’s sort of one way that I can see things going. For example, if you pay £60-£70 for a AAA game then, you’re not going to put up with a shoddy product. However, if you’re subscribing to a service that has 100s of games, then the actual value of those games sort of becomes meaningless to you. You can just move onto the next title with ease. Look at must services such as Netflix, Prime etc and the vast amount of stuff on them is shite. I can see it being a slippy slope. Of course that’s a worst case scenario kind of situation, of how things could potentially pan out. Not saying it actually will. 

 

Like you say, releasing a game in this state is clearly detrimental to the game itself, the devs, Gamepass and Microsoft. So, why release it in this state in the first place? Don’t understand how this works but, if they’re ok with releasing this game in such a state then, they’ll seemingly be ok with releasing others that are just as ropey.

[thesnwmn]

8 minutes ago, CrichStand said:

It’s sort of one way that I can see things going. For example, if you pay £60-£70 for a AAA game then, you’re not going to put up with a shoddy product. However, if you’re subscribing to a service that has 100s of games, then the actual value of those games sort of becomes meaningless to you. You can just move onto the next title with ease. Look at must services such as Netflix, Prime etc and the vast amount of stuff on them is shite. I can see it being a slippy slope. Of course that’s a worst case scenario kind of situation, of how things could potentially pan out. Not saying it actually will. 

 

Like you say, releasing a game in this state is clearly detrimental to the game itself, the devs, Gamepass and Microsoft. So, why release it in this state in the first place? Don’t understand how this works but, if they’re ok with releasing this game in such a state then, they’ll seemingly be ok with releasing others that are just as ropey.

 

I guess it comes down to what we really mean. You mentioned "unfinished" which I equate to broken or in some way incomplete. Which I don't think these services encourage.

 

But I think they will maybe drive a layer of filler content that has sort of faded out recently. But that's not new. In many ways it's just the old AA titles that seem to have slipped away. Look back to the PS2 era and how many god damn games there are that are utterly middle of the road.

 

I also think it's just great in general (if it's sustainable) for me at least. I love to dabble. I like to see what some of these shorter release cycles games can produce.

[Strafe]

Completed it, mate.

 

The third act goes in a direction I did not expect but was enjoyable all the same. Graphical issues aside, the game looks rather lovely and has some incredible environments.

 

It’s main issues are the clunkyness of the controls, it’s like they shoehorned the mechanics of limbo and inside into a game in which you can move on 3 axis. Occasionally it isn’t that clear what you have to do and you can miss small levers and switches without realising it (well, I did at least). There was more than one “BULLSHIT” death. Many, in fact.

 

Still, none of the puzzles really bothered me and progress was easy for the most part - which is good for this sort of thing. 

I award this game an Edge 7.