Somerville

Some clever puzzles, great visuals, and a solid story help carry Somerville through its occasional rough spots.

Somerville has some enthralling set pieces backed by some stellar sound design. While its narrative may be too much for some to decipher, its nuanced way of conveying emotion and drawing the player into the mystery is really excellently pulled off. Grab a headset and enjoy this experience to its fullest.

Somerville is an interesting sci-fi tale that has a lot going for it, unfortunately, none of that can be experienced well on the Steam Deck.

Somerville isn’t always the most enjoyable game to play, then. Its puzzles aren’t anything special, and they’re hampered by clunky controls. But what is special is Somerville‘s narrative and art design. The score, too, is excellent: we just wish there was more of it – too many scenes are simply too quiet. Even if we weren’t enamoured with the ending, Somerville‘s story is worth experiencing. It’s just a shame the gameplay is a little disappointing in comparison.

It's hard to recommend Somerville purely on the basis of what loosely-tied and ultimately lacking material its narrative provides. A story, so to speak, devoid of a satisfying conclusion (not least if you're going for all possible endings) wherein the vague explanation throughout doesn't always work in its favor. Having said that, the same hands-off approach to its puzzle design does provide more than enough positives to render the game an enjoyable-enough trek. At least for those willing to toss such lacking explanation on its world to the side. Complimented by a style of presentation unafrai...

It was a bold move for the devs to try and move this traditionally 2D style of game into this hybrid 3D space, but I can’t help but feel that Jumpship would have been better off leaving it in 2D, because that extra dimension ends up just weighing the game down. It’s weirdly apt that right at the end of the game, when I’d got two different endings but was trying to unlock what I’d imagine was the ‘good’ ending, I experienced a massive bug that for a moment seemed like a creative decision, as I fell through the world, was reunited with my family on a grey platform in some empty void, then jumped...

Jumpship's wordless debut comes uniquely structured, but neither the story nor the gameplay do enough to help it carry the torch it's been passed.

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Mechanically simple but visually engrossing, Somerville offers an interesting, if not particularly deep, sci-fi adventure.

Somerville is a fantastically evocative game as it depicts an everyman's journey through a War of the Worlds-like alien invasion, leaning on countless sci-fi tropes and ideas along the way. Disappointingly, it's undercut on a number of levels by controls and a detached feeling and hastiness with some parts of the story it's telling.

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A narrative adventure that turns the apocalypse into a slog.