Somerville is an atmospheric puzzle adventure game from Jumpship, a studio co-founded in 2017 by Dino Patti, who had previously co-founded the studio Playdead (of Limbo and INSIDE fame). The game was released on Microsoft Windows, Xbox One, and Xbox Series X|S on November 15, 2022, and later on the PlayStation 4 and the PlayStation 5 on August 31, 2023.
What starts as a normal night for an unnamed family soon takes a turn for the insane as giant monoliths emerge from the sky and begin destroying everything in sight.
As a father separated from his family, and with strange abilities given to him by a dying alien, you must cross the desolate aftermath of the invasion and find them once again.
Somerville contains examples of:
- Alien Invasion: The game mostly deals with the aftermath of a destructive alien invasion.
- Book Ends: Of the multiple endings, two of their post-credit scenes end more-or-less the way the game begins.
- "Resignation" ends with the father unconsciously reclined on a couch, mirroring how the game began with him asleep on the couch with his family. The only difference being that he's "resigned" himself to being with replicas of his family.
- "Understanding" concludes with the father returning home with his family in tow, just as the story began with him driving home.
- Canine Companion: The family dog is your trusted follower for most of the game, barring a few levels where you're separated.
- Determinator: Nothing will stop the father from returning to his family.
- I'm Dying, Please Take My MacGuffin: The father receiving the dying alien's ability to melt the barriers is framed as this.
- Multiple Endings: 5 in total.
- Resignation: The father gives up, sitting on a couch with a facsimile of his wife as the game simply ends.
- Resignation Reprise: The aliens summon a house containing the father's family. He enters the house and the game ends.
- War Of The Worlds: The Father destroys the aliens and everything else in revenge.
- Family First: The father sacrifices himself to free his family from alien captivity.
- Understanding: The Father apparently gets through to the aliens, who return his family to him. The family walk through a door of light and the game ends.
- The Stinger: 5 of them, each depending on which ending you choose.
- Resignation: The game ends on a shot of the father lying with constructs of his family, either in a trance or dead.
- Resignation Reprise: There's a shot of the "house", in the midst of the alien's illusion.
- War of the Worlds: The house is dilapidated and covered in red alien constructs, and only the dog has returned, waiting obediently for his owners. He is witness to the aliens' downfall, and enthusiastically responds to the winds abruptly picking up, oblivious to what they imply.
- Family First: As it rains, the mother and son return to their derelict home with the dog in tow, somber at the reality of the father's untimely death and the aliens still remaining on earth.
- Understanding: The entire family returns home, watching as the aliens peacefully leave earth. Although their house is in disrepair, it's already covered in planks and tarps, indicating some return to normalcy. The mother and father let out a chuckle, grateful their family is together again.
- Too Dumb to Live: After finally being reunited with his wife and child, the family apparently decides that the most reasonable course of action is to then go for a walk on the surface, through a ruined city that is now an alien hunting ground. This makes the ensuing loss of the protagonist's family for the second time feel less like a tragedy and more a richly deserved punishment for such an astounding lack of common sense.
