[account42]

> In particular near the ending of SOMA where the thing happens to Simon and he freaks out, despite the same thing happening shortly beforehand and freaking him out, was the most annoying bit that really sealed my distaste.

I agree that that was a weak point but not because it's unrealistic for Simon to be surprised - that continuity of Simon did after all jump along with every copy so he did not really experience the same thing before. Being so focused on getting on the Ark I find it quite believable that Simon would not think too much about that he would also be staying on the sea floor.

Forcing that reaction onto the player was a mistake though. I think it would have been better use of the medium if Frictional had not added the Ark ending and instead left the player stranded under the ocean with nothing to do and leaving you to come up with your own reaction.

For me that ending didn't take away from the rest of the game though.

> the horror aspect is better

As weird as it is to say about Frictional's games, the actual horror aspect is the least interesting part to me. I guess that also explains why I'm a bit biased against TDD. I do agree that the Penumbra games have great characters though - Red is one of my all time favorite video game characters.