This analysis immediately identified the use of several elements protected by copyright, including parts of the game’s storyline, mechanics, and UI (User Interface).

The UI is protected by copyright?

Sounds like bullshit. DDS’s publisher should focus on improving DDS2. I was considering getting it, but decided against it when I read the reviews (many bugs, subpar updates).

You were playing the game on a 4:3 monitor? Or is this a VR game?

I see. I am surprised they didn’t simply take existing open source code and go with that.

I am assuming you can re-sell the “Game Key”.

I am not in the market for a console (my last one was the Sega Mega Drive which was abandoned after we got a Pentium 1 PC and dialup), but I got to say, I love Nintendo’s pricing policy.

It’s almost as if they are taking the piss and want to see to what extent their fans are gluttons for punishment.

One possible complicating factor for those games? While they’re physical releases, they use Nintendo’s new Game-Key Card format, which attempts to split the difference between true physical copies of a game and download codes. Each cartridge includes a key for the game, but no actual game content—the game itself is downloaded to your system at first launch. But despite holding no game content, the key card must be inserted each time you launch the game, just like any other physical cartridge.

This is full on corporate regressiveness.

Nintendo will also use some Switch 2 Edition upgrades as a carrot to entice people to the more expensive $50-per-year tier of the Nintendo Switch Online service. The company has already announced that the upgrade packs for Breath of the Wild and Tears of the Kingdom will be offered for free to Nintendo Switch Online + Expansion Pack subscribers. The list of extra benefits for that service now includes additional emulated consoles (Game Boy, Game Boy Advance, Nintendo 64, and now Gamecube) and paid DLC for both Animal Crossing: New Horizons and Mario Kart 8.

Wait so you have to subscribe to get access to emulators (which are all open source I am assuming)? And you can’t just buy a retro game (ala GOG) and play it to your heart’s content? You need a sub to Nintendo online?

No, I honestly never looked at fan theories or anything other than the game and the web series.

Will have to check it out and maybe do another run with a focus on the hints related to such theories.

Agreed, it does kill the vibe a bit. :/

I am right with you, Soma is easily a top 10 if not a top 5 gaming experience for me. And my top also includes games that I enjoy from a pure gameplay perspective (e.g. SimCity 4) which IMO aren’t comparable to Soma.

It was really well done, in the late game once I started figuring out what was going on I was like " Oh no, no, no! This can’t be happening!". A real sense of existential dread.

The ending was great too, a measure of positivity and hope, but very very far from a happy ending. A depressing ending with a possible ray of hope, depending on how one looks at it.

I just wish more people who aren’t into video games could experience Soma.

And the cool thing is that what Soma delivers cannot be done through a different medium. It has to be a video game, a book or even a movie wouldn’t really work in the same way. You have to be in control of your character.

Yeah, the Soma web series were incredibly good.

I have a confession to make, in the early parts of the game (before things got all psychedelic) I was almost a little bit disappointed due to my expectations from the web series, just a bit, the intro is also great.

There was something really unnerving about the web series. Even though there was nothing explicitly, it created a sense of dread, like something really wrong was going to happen.

They are the OG indie devs.

I still play Atom Zombie Smasher once in 3-4 years (you can get the mods off the dev’s website).

On one hand I agree, I was genuinely curious about the broader world and the lore when I was going through PATHOS-II.

But on the other hand, I almost feel the lack of clarity in many ways adds to the mystique and intensity of experience in Soma.

A key element of the narrative structure is that you don’t know what’s going when you arrive in PATHOS-II.

That being said the prequel videos were extremely good and got me excited for the full game.

Some background on Embracer.

Their piece of shit CEO, Lars Wingefors, was in discussion with a gulf national fund on a huge $2 billion investment.

He never got anything legally binding, but before securing the investment he went on a massive spending spree.

The national fund got cold feet and Wingefors had to cut up all of Embracer to account for his mistake.

You would think such a childish error would result in immediate dismissal and essentially a permanent blacklisting from executive positions (not only in the gaming industry).

Nothing like that happened, I believe the Embracer board is full of his friends and family. He just went with it.

This is the kind of stuff that shows that polemics around hard works and meritocracy are at least partially propaganda to keep the plebs in line.

Blendo games is a really unique developer.

I really liked Atom Zombie Smasher and Thirty Flights of Loving (even though it’s very short for some reason I found the experience to be unique).

Tried Quadrilateral Cowboy, I liked the setting and aesthetic, but I wish the gameplay was bit more varied. Have not tried Flotilla.

Skin Deep looks interesting.

Not sure how an animated series would work with Soma (the OG game has a clear beginning, middle and end), but I will agree with the subject of the article that Soma is a top 5 / top 10 best game of all time type experience.

This article/situation reeks of the damp, hot, pungent smell of degeneracy.

The piece about Mac makes no sense. That’s purely a result of Apple’s decision to drop support. In general, if you are interested in older games, MacOS is not a viable platform.