Somerville is finally here, with its release on November 15th, 2022. As Jumpship’s debut game, this Sci-Fi Adventure follows our protagonist looking for his family in city of Massachusetts during an alien invasion. With puzzles, stealth, and beautiful art and sound design, Somerville is a short and emotional experience. Its game length is extended by the 11 Achievements that you can unlock. Some Achievements are easy to find, such as ‘Weary Traveller’ and ‘Stuck on the John’. But others are much more difficult to accomplish such as unlocking the Somerville Endings and the ‘First Contact’ Achievement.
The ‘First Contact’ Achievement is the hardest to accomplish due to its requirements. ‘First Contact’ requires the player to find all 8 locations of the friendly mechanical balls that you run into throughout your journey in Somerville. The balls are hidden in various locations throughout certain Chapters. Luckily, Jumpship has divided its Chapters into sections allowing you to easily hop in and out to locate these harmless lifeforms. This guide will show you how to complete the ‘First Contact’ Achievement.
First Contact Achievement
The ‘First Contact’ Achievement implies that players could get this Achievement during the first Chapter of the game. Upon your initial meeting the mechanical balls in the Fields outside of the character’s House. But finding these aliens has proven much harder than we initially thought. The importance of finding these balls is not only to unlock the ‘First Contact’ Achievement but it helps the player understand their form of communication. The reason this is important is because it helps us come up with patterns in their language that we can use later on to determine the final outcome of Somerville.
Depending on what sequence we decide to use in Chapter 13, the response from the aliens inside the Mothership can change the Ending. The Ball locations are in Chapters and sections:
- 3 – Section 4
- 4 – Sections 1, 4 & 6
- 5 – Sections 4, 7 & 8
- 9 – Section 1
First Contact Ball Locations
Chapter 3.4
The first ball can be found in Chapter 3, the Forest. As you wander through the Forest, being chased by purple lights beaming from above and followed by a group of friendly and helpful mechanical balls. In section 4, as you are walking left (as you always do in this game), there is a path in between a rock formation behind our character. You need to pass under a fallen tree. So, in this case, you need to head north.
After going through this gap, a group of balls can be seen with one communicating to the others, giving them commands to follow. You can try showing yourself, but the aliens only stare at you and then run away. One will remain which you can try communicating with using the left bumper.
Chapter 4.1
The next ball location can be found in section 1 of Chapter 4. The ball is trapped inside a red car in the background, in between a lamppost in the foreground and the tent in the centre of the area.
Initially, we drop into this new area, leaving our dog behind. Continue to walk left, wading through the water and walking past a mass of tents. In the background of this area, you should see a red car with lights pulsing in the boot. Open the car boot to free the ball.
Chapter 4.4
This is the easiest alien to find in the game and is given to us on a silver platter. The alien can be found in section 4 of Chapter 4. All you need to do here is walk past 2 lorries, approaching the wheelie bins on the other side. You will see clearly on your screen that there is another small accessible area in the background. With one of the balls trying to communicate to a cardboard cut-out of a human. The fence is blocked by a wooden palette. Move this out of the way to free the ball.
Chapter 4.6
The last ball in Chapter 4 is in section 6. This is found after turning the generator on the rooftops on, melting the debris blocking the path, following the route to the left and sliding down the tent. Before heading north-east towards the Stage Area, look directly left to where you slid down. You will see a porta potty shaking. Open the toilet to reveal a group of balls inside.
Chapter 5.4
Moving on to the Caves. The first ball can be found in one of the tunnels, on your way into section 5 of Chapter 5. This ball is found directly at the end of section 4. It is in the tunnel to the left of the area where we need to melt the alien debris in the room and then turn it into stone so that you can jump up to get to the ladder on the far-left of the screen.
After climbing the ladder, head left and into the tunnel. Using your flare, go through this tunnel slowly. You should see two holes in the wall behind your character. Go through the first and continue walking left. One of the balls should roll out and loop around, hiding once more in the darkness.
Chapter 5.7
The second ball is found in Chapter 5, section 7, directly after flooding the cavern. Normally, to progress the story you have to walk to the left, where you would use your stone power on the wall to climb up into the next section. Instead, to find the hidden location of the ball, you need to turn back and use your stone power on the pixelated water (where you came from).
After this is turned into solid mass, you can walk across to the other side. Keep going right, squeezing through the gap.
In this new secret room, you find another mechanical ball. This time, it runs and reappears in the hole in the ceiling above you.
Chapter 5.8
The last ball found in Chapter 5 is found after completing the Heavy Door puzzle. Head north, following the linear path in the tunnels. You will eventually see that the way to go if via a ladder on the left. Instead of going up the ladder, continue going north.
You will crouch down in the darkness, observing two mechanical balls communicating with each other. Once more, if you show yourself to them, they will run away.
Chapter 9.1
The final ball location to complete the ‘First Contact’ Achievement is in Chapter 9, section 1. Heading into the City of Somerville. Begin walking through the streets, holding hands with the wife. Your powers can be used through the connection of your wife and son. Go past the lifted lorry, leaning over in the middle of the street, held up by the alien debris.
Round the corner of the lorry to see a build-up of the debris blocking the entrance to a store. Melt the debris using the light on your son’s toy and open the door using the help of your wife. The final ball can be found inside.
Those are the Ball Locations to finding the 8 balls needed to unlock the Somerville ‘First Contact’ Achievement. That is our full guide with screenshots, showing where the balls can be found and how to get to them. With the ‘First Contact’ Achievement unlocked, learn the language of the aliens and use it to communicate with the aliens onboard the Mothership. What ending will you get? Want to know how to unlock all other Achievements in Somerville? See our related article: How to Unlock All Achievements in Somerville.
