There's a big, if unintended, reveal in Soma, Frictional Games' longin-the-making horror follow-up to Amnesia. It's set underwater. Initially some people (not us) thought it was set on a spaceship, due to the abundance of grimy Giger-influenced corridors. But I've been walking across the ocean floor, following red lights in the dark and cowering at horrendous noises echoing through the waters. At no point was I ever in outer space.
Is your first thought BioShock? Soma's definitely not that. Horror is tonally dominant here, and the parts I played were entirely focused on exploration and puzzle elements. Like Amnesia, then, but with a greater emphasis on poking around.
It's not all set underwater, but it's these sections that must have been the biggest challenge in terms of environmental design. It was when the demo cut to protagonist Simon standing on the ocean floor, with limited vision of what lay ahead, that Soma started to feel like something new. The dark green color palette, the momentary image of sea life hovering overhead, and the vague outline of structures in the distance all made the unknown feel pretty exciting. The murky screenshots Frictional provided don't do the horror vibe justice.
It's a backdrop that enables the studio to experiment with new ways of scaring us, aided by an ambient soundtrack and the constant noise of Simon's breathing gear.
Following the lights, I encounter two abandoned underwater structures along the way. I also hear a couple of horrendous screams, about 30 seconds apart—another of Soma's subtle clues you're heading in the right direction.
My last task in the demo is to find a cutting tool, in order to slice through the thick cable wrapped around a metal door and impeding my progress. In the last few seconds of my playthrough, a robotic creature shrieks and makes a run at me.
It's a shame that Soma's voice acting risks undermining its atmosphere. Throughout the demo, audiotapes activated by clicking on dead bodies and other scenery filled-in the story, but they were overcooked, let down by recordings that I'm hoping are temporary or unfinished. Soma was far more effective when it let me piece together its story without people talking over it. While the audiovisual design is so credible, the cast drag this into B-movie territory.
This first look at Soma demonstrates how Frictional's world-building has escalated since Amnesia. I'm intrigued to explore the other corners of this new environment, and spend some time in the company of its enemies to see how the developers are handling that side of things. As far as subject matter goes, Soma is a strong move for Frictional, and as far from BioShock in execution as you'd hope for.
Samuel Roberts
DEVELOPER: Frictional Games
PUBLISHER: In-house
LINK: www.somagame.com
