- May 24, 2024
- Raphael Bossniak
Sonar Shock
Platforms
About
"Sonar Shock" is a first-person dungeon-crawler with RPG elements, where you explore a Soviet super submarine filled with supernatural infestations. Customize your character and navigate through the submarine's four floors, collecting powerful weapons and uncovering its dark secrets. Interact with the crew, solve side-quests, and discover hidden treasures, all while facing your fears in this survival horror.






- Cool art style and atmosphere that effectively captures a Soviet horror theme.
- Engaging gameplay with rewarding exploration and a unique weapon reloading mechanic.
- Strong nostalgic appeal for fans of System Shock, with a mix of humor and horror elements.
- Terrible performance issues, including significant frame drops and bugs that can lead to soft locks.
- Clunky controls with no strafing or mouse look, making combat and navigation frustrating at times.
- Limited save system that relies on consumable items, which can lead to lost progress and increased tension.
- gameplay116 mentions Positive Neutral Negative
The gameplay of "Sonar Shock" is characterized by its retro-inspired mechanics, including clunky controls and unique gun handling that adds tension during combat. Players appreciate the rewarding exploration and resource management, though some find the archaic design choices, such as limited save options and a lack of quality-of-life features, frustrating. Overall, the game offers a nostalgic experience reminiscent of classic immersive sims, appealing primarily to fans of the genre despite its rough edges.
“Sonar Shock is a great entry in the already rare immersive sim-horror genre, offering a unique setting and gameplay.”
“The general gameplay loop of scrounging for supplies is very satisfying.”
“The atmosphere is thick and very unpleasant (in the best possible way). Moment-to-moment gameplay is tense and exciting.”
“Sonar Shock takes a lot of inspiration from the original 1994 System Shock, without taking any consideration as to what made the UI semi-bearable for the average player. Hidden behind the needlessly wonky movement and optimization is an admittedly fun experience that combines System Shock 2's roleplaying mechanics with old DOS game shooting mechanics.”
“If you die and haven’t saved in a while, it’s back as far as you were, as I learned the hard way getting confident and then dying, losing 90 minutes of gameplay in the process.”
“This game has a lot of potential, but the aggressively retro design (can't look up or down, intrusive UI, saves require consumables, obfuscated mechanics, etc.) is too frustrating for me to engage with beyond the first thirty minutes.”