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This is a game I beat years ago and I still think about it. The ending made me just sit there and think in silence for a while.
It’s a walking simulator but it is also one of the best games ever made. In my top 5 for sure.
Now is the correct timing to play it (if you are on the northern hemisphere). Turn off all lights and then play Soma, you will feel the deep sea atmosphere in a completely different way.
Do not buy! It’s not a game! It’s an experience that will scar you for life!
Disregard the amazing ambience, plot, and dialog In this horror scifi that’s going to leave you with some serious thinking when it’s done.
I don’t know anyone who went through this that was not scared.
Man this game is a god damned trip. Someone said this was a walking simulator but I’d describe it differently as you can and will die on certain parts. Storyline is a 12/10, highly recommend.
I can’t really figure out whether this is a game for me…
I can’t handle horror…
That being said some of my all time favorite games had horror elements in them, games like Subnautica, Outer Wilds and Half-life 2.
So where on the horror scale does this rank? I heard there’s a “safe” mode where the monsters won’t hunt you, but does that actually reduce the horror? Or just cheapen the experience?
I personally don’t think the monsters add much to the game. While I haven’t tried it, the “safe” mode seems like a fine way to play it. There is some atmospheric horror similar to Subnautica’s, too.
That said, SOMA is Existential Horror: The Game, and removing the monsters isn’t going to change that. So I’d tread carefully if you can’t handle horror.
I believe SOMA is less horror-y and generally more approachable than the other frictional games. It may be because it’s a scifi story, like the other games you mentioned enjoying.
I used to hate horror games, but I realized I actually just hated bad horror games. SOMA is a good horror game. It has a compelling story, fantastic atmosphere and sound design, and the frictional games devs are great at balancing the suspenseful moments with more relaxed thoughtful moments. All of this makes getting through a stressful or scary bit of the game more worthwhile.
Like Ashtear said, the safe mode prevents the monsters in the few areas they patrol from ‘getting’ you, which I would say somewhat gets rid of some of the suspense. However, after you’ve been caught once and have to reload a checkpoint, they just become an annoyance so I wouldn’t blame anyone for turning safe mode on.
Amazing game. I have a bit of a rant to go on about certain a character’s actions.
Tap for spoiler
The way Simon reacts to basically everything hurts me, especially his comments after a certain kind of suicide.
Do any of you who’ve played it actually relate to Simon like not getting the memo and being a fucking dick to Cathrine?
Like I probably would have been scared out of my mind by the fucking monsters, but I’ve thought about transhumanism before so the way the brain scan stuff works did not and would not phase me.
The game is beautiful and terrifying but like god damn I wish I could choose the dialog options. Simon needs to calm down and shut up sometimes.
Freaking out about the unspeakable horrors in the depths would have been fine.
Freaking out because you didn’t ask enough questions to comprehend what was going on and then blaming your only friend who is trapped in this hell with you is not okay.
Sure Catherine is able to do some stuff without conscience but you’re a complete moron and a dick Simon and that’s worse, especially in a situation like this.
Simon is definitely ‘out of his depth’, and while the player is generally smarter than he is there are a couple ways I rationalized his reactions. Spoilers below contain all major plot points and I strongly recommend anyone reading this play the game.
spoiler
Simon repeatedly demonstrates he has no idea how he ‘came to be’ on PATHOS-II; he doesn’t understand the mechanisms involved in his arrival.
When/if the player discovers the recordings in Catherine’s lab, it’s up to the player to realize that Simon 1.0 lived on after his brain scan; If my memory serves correctly Simon does not comment on the events that happen after his scan. Just that there’s a recording of him.
Even all the transcripts about ‘continuity’ showed that the real people in PATHOS-II had trouble understanding the process; the person who sits in the chair is never the one that carries over. Admittedly this is the core debate of the story; people who look at it mechanically vs people who believe in a higher consciousness. I’m a mechanical guy.
In regards to his emotional outbursts on the lift; All of WAU’s creations seem to have problem regulating emotion. Speculated to be due to physical limitations of the hardware they’re trapped in. Even though Simon is the most stable, it’s still reasonable to think that there are either logical processing limitations due to his “flat scan”, or processing limitations of the cortex chip when presented with something as complicated as a human intelligence.
Even if we’re going to presume he is as Catherine described; “a sound mind in a sound body”, this could just be his breaking point. The underwater facility. WAU’s creations. The physical trauma of the train crash. The terror of being hunted by the psychotic helper robots. Maybe that’s just his limit.
That’s all in defense of Simon 3.0’s reaction about the events surrounding the powersuit.
I have no defense for his reaction at the end. From a narrative experience it makes sense that we wouldn’t immediately wake up on the ark; but he’s been through this before. Limitations aside, he’s got no excuse.
Though, this actually leads me to a side-theory about Catherine’s ultimate fate; that she seemed ‘uniquely suited’ to being trapped in an omnitool because of her lack of strong emotion - but what if she recognized the limitations of her environment? The one time she becomes truely emotional is when the omnitool dies.
I bought it during the steam’s autumn sale. It was 90% off. And a few days later, it is 95. A bit scummy if you ask me… I don’t care about the money. The difference in price is like 1.4 euros. It’s the principle of it. I can still just refund it and buy it again.
