So.. I have quite a thing for the series called Another.. Horror with a note of suspence and tragic mystery. This could become one of my favorites after Elfen Lied, Higurashi no naku koro ni, Corpse Party, Pupa and some other titles. So this morning I’ve saved up some images representing artwork and wallpapers with the scenarios and characters from the anime. Enjoy.
This darkened rain that pours so soft,
This day of war and cruelty…
One gallon – blood is coughed
And death sings continuity.
A lovely, white-pale corpse
Of former lover – mine,
Just sits and rots, decaying works;
One gallon – red mulled wine.
I take a sip, I lose my mind,
My temper; devils dwell.
Inside my brain, my darkness’ faith –
My home, sweet home – hell.
A house of bones, the card of death,
A room filled with disaster;
I friended vipers and neglect,
Becoming murder-master.
And now at the beggining
Of my eternal end –
Damnation is the key.
Our love was sick,
You lie down dead
And I am lost – but free.
At Omnicron – the protagonist will have to transfer into a new body, in order to survive the descend into the abyss. You have to find a power suit, a new cortex chip, structure gel and a battery pack.
This is a dramatic moment – since the transfer into the new robot is only about you getting copied and the old Simon will continue live. Being two versions of the same person into one place gets to Simon – who will have to decide whether he will or not drain the batteries of his former self.
At Omicron you will also encounter a manifestation of the WAU – who will help you get to the next checkpoint. His reasons for this are unknown for the moment – but you can always think about the fact that he wants to infest the ARK, making his survival a sure thing.
When you descend into the abyss – he will say that he will make preparations for your arrival. The bottom of the ocean is a harsh environment and monster lurk above you – but finally, with perseverance you will get to site Tau. Following a set of blue lights is the key to finding the right path.
For a full written walkthrough, you can access these links if you have problems in finishing any of the game’s levels.
[next article – S.O.M.A. Guide – Part 5 – Lesson Unlearned]
This is a cliche used in many horror games, but abandoned facilities offer a multitude of creepiness levels. Imagine being stranded on the bottom of the ocean, nobody being alive except some digital scan of former living people, mutant creatures that would chase and kill you once they hear you approaching.
As you continue with the game, you will need to get your hands on a submarine, a DUNBAT model – which could take you into the abyss where the ARK is situated. But things aren’t that easy.
The submarine is quarantined. You need a cipher to unlock it, and you cannot use the computers until you reset the routers. Here is where you encounter the Proxy monster. Genuinely creepy and scary. It is blind, it is fast and it is deadly. You have to move quietly near him or you will encounter your doom.
Proxies are employees who have become mutated by Structure Gel. This mutation results in their upper bodies being bloated, with varicose veins standing out; this bloating has encased the creature’s arms, possibly trapping them. Their bodies are also covered in pustules and tubing. The Proxy’s head is permanently bent slightly backwards by the mutation; it lacks eyes and its facial expression is frozen in a perpetual scream. In contrast to its bulky upper body, the Proxy’s lower body is atrophied; its legs are thin, and it lacks proper feet.
Due to lacking eyes, the Proxy is blind. However, it possesses an acute sense of hearing. It doesn’t react to Simon’s flashlight, but can hear the sound it makes when being turned on and off.
When idle, the Proxy shambles around slowly and aimlessly, but if provoked, it will break into an extremely fast sprint. It is also capable of operating automatic doors.
Due to the areas the Proxies are encountered in being very confining and their fast running speed, it is extremely difficult to outrun an alerted Proxy. The best strategy is to simply crouch and move silently. Additionally, it is possible to take advantage of the Proxy’s keen hearing by throwing props around to lure them to a specific area.
In this level, you see yourself in the mirror for the first time, you discover the living quarters of Catherine and her scanning laboratory, you find out details about the other crew members and you discover that you were a legacy scan of Dr. Munshi who was stored and attached to a body in order to be started in the future. Your body belongs to Catherine’s girlfriend, which she almost says it, but stops and rephrases the sentence.
To obtain the cipher you have to manipulate one of the ARK scans, making him feel comfortable enough to tell you the desired information. After you’ve done that is time to try to access the submarine. And again things get complicated when this machine starts speaking blaming Catherine for the disaster and it launches itself into further depths.
Continuing your journey within Pathos-II, you end up in a laboratory where you find more information about the ARK, a prototype and you can find out how to get on the ARK by running a simulation. A few interesting puzzles can be solved here.
Another interesting part that has a taste of the abandoned flooded spaces from Penumbra is the Theta Maintenance section. You climb ladders, you explore almost unreachable points only to find out that a Proxy was all the way after you. So you cannot travel to the ARK from this point until you’ve reached site Omicron and use an elevator to get further down.
For a full written walkthrough, you can access these links if you have problems in finishing any of the game’s levels.
[next article – S.O.M.A. Guide – Part 4 – Battle for Continuity]
The continuation of the first part of the S.O.M.A. series of articles takes us further into the unknown parts of Pathos-II facility. Reaching site Lambda is a crucial point of the story in S.O.M.A.
After finding out that Catherine is also a robot – she will offer to help you and she will give you a cortex chip in order to clarify what is going on. You learn about project ARK – in which digital copies of various people are prepared for being launched in space – in case of a catastrophic scenario.
You discover that the ARK is still somewhere within Pathos-II and you decide to help launching it, offering yourself to get Catherine to the ARK and copy yourselves unto it.
Your next destination is a sunken ship where the Flesher dwells.
The Flesher appears as a completely naked humanoid, with a mass of round glowing growths in place of a head, similar to those seen growing on the walls early in the game. The glow from its head can make it easier to spot in dark rooms, and it can easily be distinguished from other atmospheric noises by its raspy inhuman moaning, as well as the sharp banging sound produced by its teleporting.
Here you will have to take a vessel for reaching point Delta. The Flesher will chase you and a very disturbing atmosphere will be presented.
At Site Delta you encounter a delusional robot, which you will have to kill to get a chip for the zeppelin. Simon will start thinking about whether robots deserve such a fate. They don’t even know what diabolical plan their destiny reserved for them, they seem innocent and real, an essence of a good existence – which was not supposed to be altered.
A journey above the abyss of the ocean takes you to the exterior of site Theta. Here you will discover more elements of the story, including a series of suicides. People started to lose their minds after being scanned for The ARK Project. And now you find a friend of Catherine’s which believes she is on the ARK. But the sad truth is something else. She is kept alive by the A.I. unit that grew up all over the Pathos-II facility. She still thinks she is human, so – unfortunately I ended her misery and shut her down.
For a full written walkthrough, you can access these links if you have problems in finishing any of the game’s levels.
[next article – S.O.M.A. Guide – Part 3 – Theta’s Death Corner]
[spoilers ahead]
So.. I decided to play S.O.M.A. again. A taste of survival horror, elements of cyberpunk, a game filled with puzzles, interesting dialogues and a profound exploration of the human and non-human intellect.
After a car crash – Simon Jarrett – deals with brain damage, his brain starts bleeding now and then. Seems that various treatments do not work for his condition so he decides to seek further available options for prolonging his life. His condition could be fatal if a cure is not found. So – he gets in contact with a facility that could scan his brain in order to develop a more suitable treatment. Unfortunately this treatment has no efficiency and as later told in the game, Simon finds out he died almost 100 years ago and that he is able once again to function because the brain scan he did was used as a template for an A.I. model – him waking up on Pathos-II facility.
PATHOS-II is an underwater research facility located in the Atlantic Ocean during the 2100s. It is the primary setting of both SOMA and the live-action prequel mini-series and film Transmission and Depth.
It was initially built to conduct thermal mining during the 2060s and, later, developed the Omega Space Gun. It has a diverse staff of scientists and engineers involved in multiple research projects such as marine sciences, hydroculture, and deep sea construction. An artificial intelligence known as the WAU was used to oversee primary operations of the facility.
When a comet impact in January 2103 rendered the surface of the Earth barren and killed all surface life, the staff of PATHOS-II became the last living humans on the planet. Knowing they would not be able to survive indefinitely, they began searching for alternative ways to extend their lives and ultimately, save what remains of the human race – the ARK program being among them. Not much is known about the events that followed, but eventually machines previously operated remotely by humans began to become self-aware and started to exhibit human traits. The facility eventually descended into the nightmarish state seen during the events of the game.
Opening your eyes, waking up alone, trapped in darkness. That is how the horrifying story of SOMA really starts. You wake up in the Upsilon site – which contains the facility’s primary power generation plant. Geothermal boreholes are used to generate electricity. Upsilon also contains extensive facilities used to service and maintain PATHOS-II’s collection of robots and Universal Helpers.
You start exploring these dark rooms, hearing distant weird noises and seeing shadows that disappear an re-appear. You find how to work with the Omnitool.
The Omnitool is a small handheld computer, originally used by PATHOS-II’s staff to open doors and access areas requiring maintenance. It has two chip slots: one for a Tool Chip, which grants additional functions and security clearances, and one for a Cortex Chip, which is used to download an A.I. into the Omnitool. If no Cortex Chip is inserted, the Omnitool has a pre-loaded AI (“Helper Jane”).
The cortex chip can also contain a brain scan, granting it the personality and memories of the person scanned. The Omnitool lacks the necessary computational resources to run brain scan simulations on its own, and must be docked to a terminal in order to do so. Catherine Chun describes this experience as a continuous, but disjointed consciousness with no perception or awareness of the time that passes in between simulations.
The Omnitool cannot be used to override security protocols that it lacks the clearance to access. In these cases, a new Tool Chip must be inserted to update the Omnitool’s security clearances.
The Omnitool can be operated either by swiping it in front of a sensor or by directly docking it to a computer terminal. The latter option allows the brain scan on the device’s Cortex Chip, if present, to directly interface with the PATHOS-II mainframe.
Moving further in the game you make contact with several robots who don’t even realize they are robots. At first, even Simon sees himself as being human, being normal. But slowly things start to change perspectives. He first makes contact with Catherine Chun who will direct him from site Upsilon to site Lambda, in order to discover further truths about this research facility. You are being attacked by a Construct.
This creature appears to be a horrific jumbled mess of a UH3 Universal Helper maintenance unit and WAU techno-organic growth. Structure Gel mutations have given the Helper a much bulkier build, with a bigger backside and more reinforced structure, as well as added functionality, allowing the Helper to make use of a pair of legs to navigate. Along with the small lights emitting from the numerous bulbous growths on its body, the Helper casts a bright beam from the front of its face, acting as a spotlight to assist with navigation through dark areas.
You get to explore the bottom of the ocean – wondering how are you going to find the right way to the next checkpoint. You rescue a little Universal Helper which will show his gratitude by offering you access to a block door in order to continue. You discover that the machines are taking control over the humans lost in this abandoned place and they will not let them die. It is a sign that the A.I. in this place, the master brain of the disaster wants everything to be fully functional, no matter what.
Finally you get to site Lambda only to discover that Catherine is also a brain scan trapped into a computer. But will all that, she will be the protagonist’s companion and will offer useful tips and information.
For a full written walkthrough, you can access these links if you have problems in finishing any of the game’s levels.
[next article – S.O.M.A. Guide – Part 2 – Lambda Atrocities]
This article was supposed to be written a long time ago… and certainly was [in 2010]. It was imported from an older blog of mine, but has a certain note that pleases me and I wanted it to be on this blog as well.
This will be about the early days of my gaming experiences. And of course that period was perfect for the Nintendo games…first games that I played.
I never owned a Sega console but a Terminator one…you know the Terminator 6.0 [most successful NES clone – having yellow cartridges].
These game consoles very pretty popular in central european countries in the 90s. I was like 8-9 years old back then…and the Terminator game console is the main reason I wear glasses these days. I fucked up my eyes staying all day long in front of the TV. Anyway…back to the subject.
I still spend many hours on gaming, but back then, gaming was something that every kid of my age was in love with. First thing I remember about gaming is that once I’ve put my hands on the console…the world was mine.
In the left you have an example of NES clone I’ve grew up with. The joypads were often poor-manufactured so every week I had to buy new ones. I think that the first game I ever played in my life was Duck Hunt [I’m not very sure]. Or it was another shooter…the one with the cowboys [hmmm]. Anyway…Shooters brought me into the world of video-games.
Next was Super Mario Bros…my all-time favourite game in the whole world. Remember that melody and the character…Mario Rocks!!!
Super Mario Bros is an arcade-action game…featuring two players: Mario and his brother Luigi. The game has 8 main levels with 4 sub-levels each.
I remember that I used to finish a game and continue with it like 3-4 times. Once you’ve completed the game..some of the enemies changed and you could play the game again. Super Mario Bros was extremely pleasant for me to play in the morning. I was up earlier than usual and immediately I was playing Mario. Funny things is that even before I started to write this article I played this game till level 7. [using an emulator of course. I do not own a NES clone anymore].
Okay…about the other games I played. Well, names like Robocop, Tank, Cobra, Tom and Jerry, Dr. Mario became very popular in no time.
A game I really enjoyed was Double Dragon 2. The fighter that you controlled was sent in missions all over the world and you had to fight and fight with many enemies. Almost each level had a BOSS. I remember that when we were out, me and some friends used to talk about how we won that level and what we did next. Kabuki, another arcade-action game was pretty cool that time. The warrior had as the main weapon his hair.
One of the games I used to play using the two-player menu was Tank. Each level had a number of enemy tanks that I had to destroy. [speaking of that I must search this game an play it again].
Besides the joypads..the Terminator game console had a pistol. Games like Duck Hunt and the other two western-themed shooters were played with this pistol.
Because the games weren’t originals but all of them pirated, they came in with a message: 999,999 in 1. Most of them were the same games with just a little bit of modification. Mario for example…had a Godmode game, a flying type game, limited lives and so on.
We used to borrow games from one another. I remember receiving a tennis game when I shared my Fifa ’98. Fifa got me from the first match I ever played. Spending many hours on this game was like a daily ritual for me. I was too good to lose a match.
Another game I loved was something related to a Ninja warrior. I had to climb up buildings and kill other ninjas.
Anyway…those happy moments are gone…only thing that I can do right now is to revive those games with emulators [something that I’ll surely do].
My childhood was great…and I fucking miss it!
