Somerville begins with a glimpse into the life of a young family and their dog. Everyone fell asleep on the couch in front of the TV, but the curious toddler gets into petty trouble, forcing the family into their routine. Both the kid and the dog need to be fed and the kitchen cleaned, but something doesn’t feel right. In an explosive moment that really surprised me, the family suddenly expects an alien invasion. From there, an intense, often spooky adventure begins. When Somerville reaches its climax and fires on all cylinders, it’s a moving spectacle, but unfortunately technical issues and some unclear puzzles keep it from being truly incredible.
Calling a video game an alien invasion story might be reminiscent of Space Invaders, but Somerville represents something far more intimate and human. The story mainly follows the father of this young family and, without text or dialogue, explores what the world could be like and how you would survive if everything you knew about Earth changed instantly. You make your way through Somerville by moving along a linear path, solving environmental puzzles and avoiding instant death from imposing enemies. In the end, I didn’t know much about the invading forces, but I didn’t care because I was only interested in staying alive and staying connected to my family.
After an irritating incident sets the game in motion, the father must leave home to find safety and use a strange newfound ability to help solve puzzles and progress. The graphics and audio design of the game are fantastic and mysterious. Bizarre sound effects paint strange explosions in the distance, and the occasional lighting, synthesizer orchestration and humble piano pieces are used skillfully to punctuate scenes.
The simple designs of the characters and the environment are striking. The world feels big despite being tangibly small, and there are many moments when the camera looks to the horizon to capture a particularly awe-inspiring vista. The animation also feels natural and fluid… when it’s working.
Ultimately, Somerville’s biggest problem is a functional one that is sometimes easy to overlook, but unfortunately more often than not cannot be ignored. Moments of emotional sincerity are undermined when a character blinks out of existence for a moment, or worse, the protagonist gets stuck in geometry while trying to solve a puzzle. I often had to restart checkpoints just to make sure things were running as they should. The bugs were especially frustrating at those moments when I thought, “I bet that would have looked amazing…if it had been animated properly.”
These problems extend to solving puzzles as well. Grabbing levers and switches is inconsistent, and jumping up ledges – a common action – is sometimes more difficult than it should be. But even without these problems, there are some puzzles whose solutions I just didn’t like. For example, an early one involved carrying an item to a certain spot that I accidentally avoided.
However, when Somerville works properly and the story is delivered as it should, it results in some of the most memorable moments in the genre. The invaders are really scary. I burst into tears at at least one emotional moment, and the adventure goes places I never would have predicted and ends in a way that would make Steven Spielberg proud.
My first playthrough with Somerville was tough, but I immediately restarted the game after seeing the credits. There is no incentive to repeat. No new gameplay or even additional context from a second playthrough – I just wanted to relive the story and hoped that a second try would result in a more consistent experience. It worked better when I knew exactly what I was doing, but I was disappointed that my first playthrough felt like a dress rehearsal.
Slowed down by technical flaws, Somerville is full of awe-inspiring moments worth experiencing when the lights are dimmed and the headphones are up. The father’s adventure lingers in my mind as I reflect on what happened, and those memories ultimately outweigh the technical flaws. I hope that time will bring improvements to bring the game to where it belongs, high in the sky next to the ships of the invading forces.
