When comparing Friday the 13th: The Game vs SOMA, the Slant community recommends SOMA for most people. In the question“What are the best horror games for PC?” SOMA is ranked 2nd while Friday the 13th: The Game is ranked 28th. The most important reason people chose SOMA is:
SOMA is set in the future, so it has all that futuristic goodness. Things like robots, AIs, underwater laboratories, diving suits designed to endure immense water pressure, and much more. SOMA is a thoroughly enjoyable Sci-fi experience.
Specs
Ranked in these QuestionsQuestion Ranking
Pros
Pro Communication between players is encouraged and enhances the gameplay
Communication between the teenagers (players who are playing as Jason's victims) is key to surviving and outsmarting Jason. For example, if a player has found the fuel for the car and two other players have found the keys and car engine, they can all communicate and decide to meet at the car in order to escape.
Pro Perfectly captures the feel of what it must be like to be Jason
Friday the 13th perfectly captures the feeling of playing as an extremely menacing character. You methodically hunt other players and gain more and more supernatural powers as time goes by. Some of these powers include Sense (similar to Eagle Vision in Assassin's Creed) or Morph, which lets you teleport immediately across the map.
Pro Six different Jasons are playable, each one of them with advantages and disadvantages
There are six types of Jasons to choose from, each one of them based on a type of Jason that appeared in one of the movies. There's even the original Jason from the second movie with a paper bag on his head.
The differences are not only cosmetic, each Jason has his own advantages and disadvantages. Part 3 Jason for example can run but has very weak stun resistance. This also changes the way all players approach the game, whether you are playing as Jason or the teenagers, you have to adapt your strategy to the type of Jason you are playing as or playing against.
Pro A horror game for Sci-Fi enthusiasts
SOMA is set in the future, so it has all that futuristic goodness. Things like robots, AIs, underwater laboratories, diving suits designed to endure immense water pressure, and much more. SOMA is a thoroughly enjoyable Sci-fi experience.
Pro Great atmosphere
SOMA’s atmosphere is a combination of various things. It can be the feeling of loneliness when you’re exploring a rundown and desolate lab. The feeling of anxiety as you trek along the seafloor and you’re only surrounded by muffled sounds and the bubbling of the water. The feeling of fear as you dive deeper into the ocean and the sun becomes more distant. It’s an extremely immersive atmosphere, which is something that many modern horror games don’t have.
Pro Thought-provoking story
Like many horror stories, it delves deep into uncovering the central mystery of what’s going on. There are many unsettling events and revelations along the way, bringing up philosophical questions about consciousness and identity. It’s the type of story that sticks with you long after you’ve finished it and is worth experiencing at least once.
Cons
Con Playing as one of the victims may get boring quickly
Playing as one of the teenagers who are being hunted by Jason is not as fun as playing Jason himself. There are roughly four ways you can win the match: escape, survive the night, call the cops or kill Jason.
The last one is the hardest to achieve since it requires a great degree of communication between players. The one you will probably choose more often is escaping which consists of finding different objects that help you make your escape (things like keys, fuel, ropes, etc.). The things you need are randomly scattered each match across the map and you have to look in every drawer, cupboard, or box to find what you need. Unfortunately that's what you will be doing 90% of the time when playing as one of the victims.
Con Quite glitchy
The game is plagued by glitches. Especially collision detection has a lot of problems. It's not uncommon to see players walk through walls or hover in the air.
Con You can't choose whether you can play as Jason or one of the victims
At the start of the game, each player's role is chosen at random. This means that you can't get to choose whether to play as Jason or a victim and there's roughly a 12.5% chance to play as Jason before a game starts.
Con Not for mainstream horror enthusiasts
SOMA focuses heavily on psychological horror by maintaining suspense and creating a very creepy atmosphere. If you’re looking for jump scares, gore, and other thrill-inducing horror aspects you might be sorely disappointed.
Con Very linear level design
While other horror titles have branching paths and open areas you get to explore, SOMA is very linear even in its ocean exploration sections. This feels like a failed opportunity to create an even better game.
Con No HUD (head-up display) or map
You have to memorize the layouts of the underwater facilities, since there is no HUD or overlay map system. Even though there are several computer terminals scattered through the game that provide access to rudimentary maps, there's no way to save them.