SOMA: CogSci, AI, weird robotics, underwater bases
September 24, 2015 10:37 AM Subscribe
SOMA, the new sci-fi horror game by the creators of Amnesia, the Dark Descent, came out this week. It was influenced by the works of Greg Egan, China Mieville, Philip K Dick, and (MeFi's own) Peter Watts.
Parts of the game are reminiscent of Junji Ito's killer-fish-with-legs manga Gyo, the creepypasta wiki SCP Foundation, and the dank futuristic corridors of Alien.
For a strong taste of this game's vibe, I recommend this very well done piece of fiction and video.
Parts of the game are reminiscent of Junji Ito's killer-fish-with-legs manga Gyo, the creepypasta wiki SCP Foundation, and the dank futuristic corridors of Alien.
For a strong taste of this game's vibe, I recommend this very well done piece of fiction and video.
Poor Carl Sempkin, he's right here, and tired of your hangups on appearance.
posted by The Power Nap at 10:40 AM on September 24, 2015 [4 favorites]
posted by The Power Nap at 10:40 AM on September 24, 2015 [4 favorites]
It really does feel like a Peter Watts novel in game form.
Jesus, no thanks.
posted by gottabefunky at 11:12 AM on September 24, 2015 [4 favorites]
Jesus, no thanks.
posted by gottabefunky at 11:12 AM on September 24, 2015 [4 favorites]
Well, I always thought South of Market was kind of creepy...
posted by happyroach at 11:17 AM on September 24, 2015 [3 favorites]
posted by happyroach at 11:17 AM on September 24, 2015 [3 favorites]
Except Soma.FM is pretty awesome, thanks.
That said, I was very interested in this when I first saw it. I wasn't too keen on Amnesia, so I don't know how this compares, but at least it seems more narrative driven? Off to read the linked articles!
posted by symbioid at 11:35 AM on September 24, 2015
That said, I was very interested in this when I first saw it. I wasn't too keen on Amnesia, so I don't know how this compares, but at least it seems more narrative driven? Off to read the linked articles!
posted by symbioid at 11:35 AM on September 24, 2015
I would say this game is much more narrative driven than Amnesia. There are more characters as well, and actual back-and-forth dialogue. The world feels more fleshed out, and the writing is leagues better. While Amnesia was all about cultivating an oppressive atmosphere, SOMA is more of a worldbuilding exercise, with the player slowly discovering new aspects of the futuristic setting: technologies, culture, environmental issues, politics, scientific discoveries, etc.
posted by One Second Before Awakening at 11:41 AM on September 24, 2015 [1 favorite]
posted by One Second Before Awakening at 11:41 AM on September 24, 2015 [1 favorite]
I wasn't that keen on Amnesia either but am enjoying playthroughs of this, for what it's worth. I think the ideas it explores have more meat to them than the Amnesia games, and even if I guessed what was happening almost the moment the mindfuckery part begins, it's done well. I mean, you can get into some really profoundly uninteresting, deep into your own asshole tangents of pure tiresomeness with the main theme, and this doesn't (as yet, the guy I'm watching isn't done with the game).
posted by automatic cabinet at 11:45 AM on September 24, 2015 [1 favorite]
posted by automatic cabinet at 11:45 AM on September 24, 2015 [1 favorite]
'Creepypasta' is right up there with 'millennial' and 'EDM' in the list of terms that make me want to hurl.
Anyway, the game looks great - I enjoyed Amnesia a lot.
posted by GallonOfAlan at 11:59 AM on September 24, 2015
Anyway, the game looks great - I enjoyed Amnesia a lot.
posted by GallonOfAlan at 11:59 AM on September 24, 2015
It was influenced by the works of Greg Egan, China Mieville, Philip K Dick, and (MeFi's own) Peter Watts.
Probably Aldous Huxley too?
posted by kneecapped at 12:13 PM on September 24, 2015 [1 favorite]
Probably Aldous Huxley too?
posted by kneecapped at 12:13 PM on September 24, 2015 [1 favorite]
SPOILERS
The central question here is about continuity of consciousness. Is a copy of me, no matter how faithful it is, actually me? The narrative leads the player to believe this at first, and then starts throwing bombs. I think it gives up pretty early on matters of "humanness," especially when the killing starts. The whole issue of WAU as the-savior-who-must-be-stopped lest we stop being human is rather ludicrous, coming as it does from sentient robotic constructs only loosely derived from scanned human consciousness.
Ultimately, we, unthinking users of Star Trek transporters, like to believe in continuity. SOMA exposes this notion as a comforting lie. Or rather, a terrifying lie, which is probably another way of saying the same thing.
The "have your cake and eat it too" ending was a bit of a cop-out, though. Otherwise I enjoyed the ride, all 14 hours of it. It is a brilliantly realized story, and well worth the time.
posted by Frodo's Magic Underpants at 12:37 PM on September 24, 2015 [2 favorites]
The central question here is about continuity of consciousness. Is a copy of me, no matter how faithful it is, actually me? The narrative leads the player to believe this at first, and then starts throwing bombs. I think it gives up pretty early on matters of "humanness," especially when the killing starts. The whole issue of WAU as the-savior-who-must-be-stopped lest we stop being human is rather ludicrous, coming as it does from sentient robotic constructs only loosely derived from scanned human consciousness.
Ultimately, we, unthinking users of Star Trek transporters, like to believe in continuity. SOMA exposes this notion as a comforting lie. Or rather, a terrifying lie, which is probably another way of saying the same thing.
The "have your cake and eat it too" ending was a bit of a cop-out, though. Otherwise I enjoyed the ride, all 14 hours of it. It is a brilliantly realized story, and well worth the time.
posted by Frodo's Magic Underpants at 12:37 PM on September 24, 2015 [2 favorites]
I'm really looking forward to playing this. (And avoiding spoilers as much as possible, so probably not reading this thread for a while.)
posted by naju at 1:23 PM on September 24, 2015
posted by naju at 1:23 PM on September 24, 2015
*carefully shades eyes to avoid spoilers*
This looks like my kind of crack! That last link is just like the SCP, but done with the budget for live actors. Veddy eenteresting....
posted by Kevin Street at 1:53 PM on September 24, 2015
This looks like my kind of crack! That last link is just like the SCP, but done with the budget for live actors. Veddy eenteresting....
posted by Kevin Street at 1:53 PM on September 24, 2015
I got a big kick out of watching a playthough on YouTube. It looks like it would be hella fun to play. There are some full playthroughs with no commentary if you're interested in the story but not in playing it.
posted by Elementary Penguin at 3:51 PM on September 24, 2015
posted by Elementary Penguin at 3:51 PM on September 24, 2015
I want to play this so so badly, but I got motion sickness with Amnesia because I had to constantly spin around to check that no one was behind me. It was basically an hour of "IlovethisIlovethisomgwtfisgoingoneeeeeee*PUKE*" and so I'll probably stick to watching playthroughs.
Super excited!
posted by erratic meatsack at 4:02 PM on September 24, 2015
Super excited!
posted by erratic meatsack at 4:02 PM on September 24, 2015
Have to save my shekles for a gaming pc, since intel adapters are not supported, but I am looking forward to finally playing this someday.
posted by pjmoy at 4:21 PM on September 24, 2015
posted by pjmoy at 4:21 PM on September 24, 2015
Holy crap that Mockingbird clip. They're definitely channeling Watts.
posted by mikurski at 10:02 PM on September 24, 2015 [1 favorite]
posted by mikurski at 10:02 PM on September 24, 2015 [1 favorite]
Super Bunnyhop's review is pretty good. I watched someone play about the first hour of this and without getting into any spoilers, it certainly felt like an evolution of the gameplay mechanics used by Amnesia put into a fresh setting. Between this and Until Dawn, it's a good time to be a fan of horror games, I think.
posted by sparkletone at 10:49 PM on September 24, 2015
posted by sparkletone at 10:49 PM on September 24, 2015
I completed it the day it came out, so about eight hours on Tuesday. At about an hour in I thought it was interesting, at hour two I was intrigued enough to keep playing, but it was around hour four when the game really sunk its hooks into me. The game to me, is a crescendo, the more I played and the deeper I sunk into the ocean and in Pathos II the better it got. It's a slow burning game with great pacing, other than Life is Strange I can't think of a recent game that's as well told.
Frictional's blog has some amazing entries on it and here are three that relate to SOMA (They also talk a lot about Alien Isolation which was heavily inspired by Amnesia: The Dark Descent):
Alien Isolation and the Two Hardest Problems in Horror
Thoughts on Alien Isolation and Horror
4 Layers, A Narrative Design Approach
The monsters are the most disappointing part of the game. For how great the environments look and feel the monsters mostly bled together and ended up mostly being frustrating obstacles that had a very tight leash around your character. It's extremely obvious and broke my immersion in a few places. There was only one monster who really got my blood pounding and that was close to the end of the game. When I first heard them talking about SCP as an inspiration it got my hopes sky-high but I wish there had been more to it.
All in all it's a large step up from Amnesia in terms of everything, really, except for the spooky-horror bits, which is fine, the game is excellent.
posted by Neronomius at 12:39 PM on September 25, 2015 [2 favorites]
Frictional's blog has some amazing entries on it and here are three that relate to SOMA (They also talk a lot about Alien Isolation which was heavily inspired by Amnesia: The Dark Descent):
Alien Isolation and the Two Hardest Problems in Horror
Thoughts on Alien Isolation and Horror
4 Layers, A Narrative Design Approach
The monsters are the most disappointing part of the game. For how great the environments look and feel the monsters mostly bled together and ended up mostly being frustrating obstacles that had a very tight leash around your character. It's extremely obvious and broke my immersion in a few places. There was only one monster who really got my blood pounding and that was close to the end of the game. When I first heard them talking about SCP as an inspiration it got my hopes sky-high but I wish there had been more to it.
All in all it's a large step up from Amnesia in terms of everything, really, except for the spooky-horror bits, which is fine, the game is excellent.
posted by Neronomius at 12:39 PM on September 25, 2015 [2 favorites]
SPOILERS
I agree the some of the monsters had problems, but if they had taken a page out of Alien: Isolation's book in regards to AI I feel things would have been different.
I think the monsters great failings were the fact that they lacked characterization. Ross was the only one that had any sort of dimension to him, and he wasn't really a threat. Giving Atkins or any of the proxies more personality would have done wonders.
I wouldn't want the monsters removed, because that route in 'A Machine For Pigs' suffered from lack of conflict. Thomas Grip stated early on in SOMA's development that he felt monster AI didn't have to be that complicated to be effective, just that the monsters have to be 'different'. I think that was a misstep on his part, but other than that I loved the game.
I have to admit, the Atkins zombie running full tilt at me once spotted, filled my pants with chili.
posted by The Power Nap at 11:47 AM on September 27, 2015 [1 favorite]
I agree the some of the monsters had problems, but if they had taken a page out of Alien: Isolation's book in regards to AI I feel things would have been different.
I think the monsters great failings were the fact that they lacked characterization. Ross was the only one that had any sort of dimension to him, and he wasn't really a threat. Giving Atkins or any of the proxies more personality would have done wonders.
I wouldn't want the monsters removed, because that route in 'A Machine For Pigs' suffered from lack of conflict. Thomas Grip stated early on in SOMA's development that he felt monster AI didn't have to be that complicated to be effective, just that the monsters have to be 'different'. I think that was a misstep on his part, but other than that I loved the game.
I have to admit, the Atkins zombie running full tilt at me once spotted, filled my pants with chili.
posted by The Power Nap at 11:47 AM on September 27, 2015 [1 favorite]
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posted by One Second Before Awakening at 10:38 AM on September 24, 2015