I’ve not spent this much time on my hands and knees around dripping black ooze since that time I was in one of those Doctor Who themed “special videos” for the internet. Yet here I am again, around the horrors in the deep blue sea, while things go bump in the night. Yes, it was All Hallows’ Eve yesterday, and the Epic Games store decided to play their part in the celebrations with one walking simulator and one Halloween themed adventure. The former being my reference for opening this week, so let’s get to it.

SOMA is a game that comes from the people that made Amnesia and its spin-off The Dark Descent. It’s also what Irish men say when they get home from university for the weekend. It is about walking, hiding, and throwing objects around a room, or in my case pulling the biggest object out one and trying to bug out the game. Alas, I didn’t trip up anyone, or indeed, anything. I spent most of my time, as I’ve said, on my hands and knees.

SOMA is a horror game in the same vein as Amnesia and Alien: Isolation, however, unlike the latter, it doesn’t have the lore. The reason I put up with the horrific bumps and creeks in dark rooms would be my knowledge of the lanky monster that is about to nibble my face off. In SOMA, as much as I like this type of horror, it doesn’t grab me as much as it could have. The build is slow, I know the only enemies I’ll find will kill me instantly, and I don’t feel invested. As rude and arrogant as it may sound, it doesn’t feel like a choice to play, I’m doing it more for the article.

If I didn’t feel busy and rushed, I may have had more time for SOMA; I may have even enjoyed it then. Though the point is, when you aren’t captured by the world sucking you in, there’s less of a reason to care. Simon Jarrett isn’t all too interesting as an exciting opener, nor are creepy doctors offices with VR headsets. It is a good game, lacking in a sense of excitement and captivating story early on. If you are a fan of Frictional Games’ other work, I couldn’t begrudge you for having a look, but otherwise, you’ll be stumbling around picking up chairs and throwing them.

With that, let’s move to Double Fine’s Costume Quest. A game about being a kid around Halloween, doing all that kids do: knock on doors, develop diabetes, get kidnapped by a 70s BBC children’s TV presenter. As I alluded to last week, you are on a quest to get back your sibling from a creepy monster in a wonderfully built-up world. This is something that Double Fine is well versed in with their brand of beautifully detailed games focused around children; well, mostly.

Admittedly, this one I had more enjoyment with as it was something I was excited to get into. An adventure-puzzle game based around finding specific costumes to get into parties, sewers, and elsewhere. If you are partial to some light fun over creeping terror in SOMA, Costume Quest is your go-to this week. With simple turn-based combat, I’m in two minds over that portion, though it works with the mecha suit or lady liberty suits on.

Both SOMA and Costume Quest are available for free on the Epic Games store until the morning of the 7th of November. Costume Quest also contains its Grubbins on Ice DLC. A perfect little treat now you’ve eaten enough sugar to incapacitate a small elephant. However, we’re done with this holiday, we can move onto something a bit different.

Next week’s free games are Vlambeer’s Nuclear Throne; which Dari spoke about a new expansion mod for the game, and Reikon Games and Devolver Digitial’s Ruiner. The former being one of the most popular roguelikes/lites before the release of two of the greatest, in my opinion, Enter the Gungeon and The Binding of Isaac. I’m excited to try it next week, as I am for the second game, Ruiner. The latter being a cyberpunk twin-stick shooter that’s a top-down and looks to be the best fun you could have with a gun next to Doom.

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