An interesting thought: Letting the player "defeat" the monsters
It's interesting that whenever I see a discussion about the monsters in SOMA pop up, its always about whether or not having monsters at all might have been better than being forced to run & hide from them. It's never about an obvious third option, about being able to "defeat" the monsters again.
I know people seem somewhat adverse to the notion as it might endanger the horror, but then again, is this really the horror the game needs? I constantly see people complaining that the monsters feel more annoying than scary, about them being more of a speedbump than something that actually adds to the game's strengths. And I do feel this is because they "block" content in a way. They patrol around, never disappearing, often magically knowing the rough area you're in and just killing any motivation to explore in the process. They quickly become a detriment to the experience, in a way. So much so that people ask about mods to remove them completely from the levels, which isn't optimal either as they do add a lot of atmosphere.
So, I really do think the game would have been better served with having them appear, but also giving the player some method to get rid of them to explore around in peace.
I feel the notion that this would ruin the game somehow is mostly due to a lack of imagination. It's not about giving the player weapons to shoot the place up in the vein of Dead Space, it's just about neutralizing the threat. This could be done in any number of indirect ways by just giving the players the opportunity to use their wits. For example:
- Being able to permanently lock a monster behind a door via a computer console
- Trapping a monster with some sort of device (beartrap etc.), or jettison it out the air/waterlock
- Tricking the monster into not attacking you with the help of a disguise/pheromones
- Using environmental hazards to your advantage, i.e. eletrocuting the monster through some faulty wiring
- Activating a deadly decontamination sequence while the monster is in the room
- Pitting another monter against your monster to let them fight it out etc.
Even just weakening them could prove interesting, i.e. reprogramming a robot monster to switch off its visual feedback thus making it blind, turning on some machinery to drown out the sound of your footsteps or being able to remotely lure a monster away from where you'd like to explore would be enough to gain some room to breathe and enjoy the other aspects of the game more.
I think this is an worthwhile thought, if not for SOMA then perhaps for Frictional's next project. By keeping the player just as vulnerable as before, but adding in some more indirect ways to tackle the threat, I feel the games could strike a more healthy balance between horror and narrative. They have spent so much time creating this intriguing story and world with all the cool hints strewn throughout that it would be a damn shame to punish players with frustration (looking a you there, TAU) who want to explore it fully.
12 comments · 92% upvoted · other discussions
When I originally played Penumbra and Amnesia, I was dumbstruck by the genius of not having a weapon. I felt the defenselessness added so much to the horror element and it gave me this sense of fright from the monsters I hadn't encountered before. Your only choices were to hide or run, and I loved it.
In recent years I've kind of done a U-turn on this opinion, however. While I once thought only having the options of hiding and running was amazing, I now think it's actually detrimental to the game for a simple reason: I KNOW I can only run or hide.
If I'm not presented with the option of fighting back, whenever I see a monster I always know that the game developers intended for me to be able to run away or hide, since there's no option of fighting back. To contrast this with other games, such as Silent Hill, where you are often equipped with nothing but a pistol, you have no idea whether or not you can fight whatever monster appears and that uncertainty is terrifying. Some monsters are impervious to your bullets, others aren't, and some monsters you can't just evade by hiding or running which may have been your go to strategy before. You'll have to face the threat head on. Frictional has kind of done this in Amnesia and SOMA with the monsters standing still in front of an objective, but that ultimately just boils down to running which isn't quite the same thing.
Overall, I agree with the sentiment OP makes. I do think having the option to fight at least some of the monsters in one way or the other would do wonders for the variety of Frictional's next project.
zhujik 2 points · Oct 2015
It isn't a new concept to have no weapons. I think the first game I encountered this style was the game "clocktower" for the SNES. You played a little girl trapped in a mansion, chased by monsters. The game was fantastic for a SNES horror survival. Look it up on youtube, it will struck you how many elements amnesia copied from this game.
I personally preferred the style in the early thief series. You COULD fight, however, you were incredible weak and sneaking / avoiding was always the better option in these games.