Pretty decent first-person survival horror with an interesting setting. The main gimmicks are the unabashed intrusiveness of the UI and cursor aim combined with restrictive tank controls for movement, and both of those, in my opinion, are fairly successful in mixing up the formula and setting Sonar Shock apart; however, if you are looking for an immersive sim experience, it doesn’t quite deliver.

The levels are varied enough to not be boring but never feel all that complex or maze-like, the tasks and progression are very straightforward, and the player agency in terms of approaching encounters is limited, essentially boiling down to choosing which flavour of gun you prefer, pouring points into the respective skill, and gradually upgrading to better gear as you find it. There are also psi powers, but those mostly feel auxiliary to the regular arsenal.

On the survival horror side, we’ve got a few long-standing staples: firstly, snooping around for resources (mostly ammo and healing) - this is mostly relevant in the first half of the game where you will routinely run out of bullets, but even at the end, despite having saved up a bit of a reserve, I never got enough to comfortably spray and pray. Another big one is limited saves (as long as you play on the "normal", intended difficulty); this also ties into the looting aspect since saving requires a consumable. Both of those, the scarcity and the danger of losing progress, combined with clumsy movement (you don't truly appreciate being able to strafe around corners until you can't do it anymore) and solid visuals/aesthetics, make for quite a spooky experience, and if you're as much of a coward as me, the game might take you upwards of 15-20 hours to beat.
As a PSA, to anyone looking to play this in the future, I would still recommend enabling the 'save anywhere' option that was apparently added in a patch since unfortunately there are some places you can get stuck in the textures at, and having to redo half the level is painful when you’ve got to also vacuum every inch for items.

I also found the shooting to be very pleasant. The visual and audio effects for weapons are great, and the enemy sprites react to being hit in a satisfying way. There isn’t much complexity to the combat itself (aside from maybe dodging the rare projectile which is very tricky in tight corridors and with tank controls), which is compensated for by layering a degree of interface management on top of it. There are no quick keys, so if you want to heal mid-combat, you’ll have to open the inventory, find the right item, and use it manually, all while trying to avoid damage without sprinting or strafing. Additionally, in order to reload, you have to manually interact with the gun in the interface (chamber a round, ♥♥♥♥ the hammer, pull the pump, etc.), which is also a neat idea, and works well with the other systems.

While I didn’t mind the deliberately clunky interface and enjoyed the gun mechanics, I feel like both of those ideas could have been taken further. For being such a central part of the game, the regular interface is never used in any interesting ways aside from manipulating the firearms. You can’t place items in the world, you can’t use anything from the inventory to interact with the environment, instead pretty much all the interactivity is limited to aiming the cursor at an object and right-clicking. As for the weapons, this extra degree of interactivity is never used for anything other than reloading. You can’t use safety, for example, and switching fire modes is a separate UI element. The reload sequences also feel same-y, detracting from the character of the guns and making them more uniform than necessary.

Bottom line - if you’re looking for a first-person survival horror with a few unique ideas here and there, and don’t mind spending an hour or two getting used to an unusual control scheme, Sonar Shock might be the right fit for you. However, if you’re expecting a Submarine System Shock instead, it’s unlikely to be able to scratch that itch.

"Sonar Shock isn't impeccable. There are some performance issues with the Godot Game Engine where assets won’t load in or the player will get stuck on the environment. The game can also be a bit janky, though even Deus Ex exhibits some form of jankiness. Still, a lot of this is tolerable and the game was even updated the second day I played it. A few issues have been ironed out since release.

Even with those problems, I feel as if Sonar Shock is going to be the sleeper hit of 2024. It’s a welcomed throwback to classic Immersive Sims that understands what made them so compelling while also offering its own unique take on them. Not everything is perfect, but if you miss the glory days of PC gaming and want to experience more of the goodness, Sonar Shock should be where you direct your attention."

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-2jBy2XmiWQ

This game is bold enough to use tank controls in an FPS in 2024 with no alternate control option, regardless of how the game goes past the first (really cool) hour it has my respect and deserves a positive review.