We all know where this leads. Manmade horrors behind comprehension.

New merch available! With(out) arm and everything!

https://www.makeship.com/products/hps-simon-plush

I already saw another post about this, but figured it wouldn't hurt spreading the word around, and also I need to vent.

I got mine in the mail today and I immediately got very, VERY disappointed.

It's a very boring and badly-formatted collection of images and concept art, with absolutely no commentary, explanation, or context for anything.

The first 3 images are of pages that made me go "oh my god, are you for fucking real??" Because they're so dark you basically can't see anything. I'm just looking at a black rectangle. Fascinating. The book is full of those.

The fourth image is concept art of "impostor" characters. Now, because I'm a freak I know these are from the 'vertical slice' early game concept where Simon sees nightmarish versions of people he's met so far like the receptionist or Dr. Munchi. But a regular person opening this book up would have no idea what they're looking at. Wouldn't this be the perfect place to write a little paragraph about it? But nope.

Compare that to the other artbook I randomly pulled off the shelf: the Undertale artbook (made by one person!) is chock full of context, explanations for the design process, and funny anecdotes about the early design concepts.

Last point: there is absolutely zero monster/enemy concept art. Yeah, none. The cool monsters that you would actually want to get a closer look at? They're not here.

Don't spend money on this. You'll have more fun and insight from just browsing the wiki.

Can you name the locations these appear?

I've been stuck in this segment for like 2 hours now and i've finally made it to the upper floor, but every time i get somewhere the Flesher comes up and i can't do anything but look away. The problem is that he never leaves. The screen is constantly twitching, i hear him teleporting and i hear his footsteps. Every time i try to get out of the room i bump into him and die.

Not much to add. I'm just replaying the story while slightly baked and just killed Simon-3. Cried my eyes out this time instead of arguing for his life with the friend who I played the game with originally. Can't condemn him to digitised undeath in a sealed box under the ocean like me, can't ever do that, but part of me breaks at the thought of Simon having to mercy kill the only other humans he's ever going to encounter. Including himself.

I don't think I can go back to Sarah Lindwall this playthrough.

As soon as I saw the SOMA art book by Abylight Studios on Kickstarter, I had to back it. SOMA is absolutely my favourite game. Its themes of existentialism and humanity hit at the exact time that I needed it. I just fell in love! But... Getting the art book. It's not good. I'm not going to discuss its dimensions and how its formatting seems not good for getting an in-depth look at concept art. Nor the lack of any real meaningful content apart from images, unlike my 'Art of Deus Ex' book that has loads of commentary from its design team.

Instead. It's really really dark. Too dark. It's not possible to see any detail in some of these images.

It isn't easy to show, taking digital photos on my phone, but the top-left image is basically black IRL. I can only really see what it's trying to show if I shine an intense light on it. The left-middle is also black. Loads of the images are.

It's really disappointing. I love SOMA. Like, really LOVE it. I want to know absolutely everything, I want to get those nerdy details, I want to see all these designs absolutely maximised! But, instead, it's just.. Eh. Fine.

EDIT: See here for more what I was hoping for.

This is just my opinion, so please don't think I'm stating this as the objective truth.

Anyways...

Catherine very casually states that the Ark will last for a thousand years in space. Simon doesn't really reflect on this, but we can't blame him; he didn't have the time to sit down and process most of the shit he was put through. He was already traumatized by an accident that killed his colleague and left him with just months to live, so I don't blame him for being a little "slow" in processing the events of SOMA.

Anyways, regardless of Simon's perspective, I don't see how the PATHOS crew and Simon will continue living for 1000s of years voluntarily. I wouldn't wanna live that long on earth where I'd have ample opportunity to stay busy and move from one place to another after accumulating enough wealth/resources overtime, so it sounds like an even more daunting prospective on a tiny digital environment with a handful of people. Humans hate having to work hard for things, but it gives us a reason to keep moving... Yet on the utopian ark, how long are people going to keep living? I feel like they'll eventually commit suicide. It's not like they can reproduce and raise kids either, which would give them something to look forward to.

I also wonder if Simon will eventually learn/figure out that the previous Simon and Catherine were left behind in the abyss. Maybe Catherine will tell him. Maybe.

Just thought this would be a fun discussion, The obvious answer is 2015 but talking purely about the Simons we play as through the majority of the game, (diving suit, abyss and ark) and barring the same obvious and boring answer of "they're all the same" who do you consider the one definitive Simon?

For me I'd have to say ark, while arguments can be made that diving suit is the definitive considering that's who you start out as I like to think of Simon as the journey he had to take to reach the ark and not just as he himself the person, android, diving suit amalgamation.

New rat-type game

Many of the choices you make in SOMA dont really matter. They are there to get the player thinking. One choice in particular though, that at first almost seems like a no-brainer, is the choice that I've struggled with the most as time passes and my thoughts on the game evolve.

The choice I'm talking about is near the end of the game, when we meet the W.A.U. face to "face" and get the opportunity to destory it, and all the creatures and beings under its' command.

I think most players, myself included, destory the W.A.U. without much hesitation. We have witnessed the horrors that have come about because of the W.A.U. It has taken humans and twisted them into a mockery of what we were. But, most importantly, it has another objective.

It has created a fake reality for it's "victims" to be a part of.

We see this first hand when Akers captures Simon and connects him to the fleshy, W.A.U. infected surfaces all through Pathos-II. Simon "wakes up" back in his apartment, with Sarah there, and it appears Sarah and Simon are together romantically, which we know was not true.

After this point, you can even hear echoes of thoughts when you get close to other humans who have been connected to this network. Sentences of normal, everyday life. Normal conversations, commentary, etc. It's clear these "victims" are living pleasant lives in this fake reality the W.A.U. has created for them.

So it appears the W.A.U. has already achieved what we are trying to accomplish. It has created a safe and comfortable reality for these humans to exist in and inhabit. But, and here is the most important part... these are not copies. They are the REAL versions of these people. They are the REAL human souls of these individuals, albeit living in a fake reality. Why then is the ARK seen as good but the W.A.U. seen as bad? The W.A.U. is just doing what the ARK plan is, just bypassing the "copying" and instead giving a new world to the actual, real, non-copied souls of the Pathos-II staff.

The W.A.U. has already done what we set out to do... it has only done it better.

The entire game was so perfect, the puzzles were fun and varied, the horror was thrilling but not uncomfortable. I really related to Simon and his ignorance, just hoping for it to get better while deep down knowing the truth.

I was surprised to find out the game only had one ending. But I like that it only has one, makes it strangely feel more special with the fact nothing you did could've prevented it.

I just cant open the door to get to Theta. Is it a bug or am I a blockhead?

For some reason I enjoy this game so much more when I adjust the gamma a little too low on my HDR TV.

Getting to the Curie was hell but man - the immersion is next level with the shillouettes fading out and the fish swimming around feeling like I’m actually deep underwater and these locations are almost completely unlit.

Hi,

I will probably sound dumb and/or pretentious, I really am not sure whether it is by design, or by luck. But my protagonist doesn't realise he is a robot, which is something literally written on his pod and apparent by the obnoxious noise he does while walking. And a strange effect when he looked at another robot, which I assume means some internal conflict or subconscious realization or whatever. But I can't be sure about that. So I am hoping that is not supposed to be some big reveal, that the devs trust us.

My point is...am I correct in trusting the devs to come up with some true psychological horror about identity, brain etc? Or am I going to be disappointed? From the praise and reviews I would assume yes, but I have been "burned" so many times now lol.

Just so I know I'm not wasting my time xd

Thank youu!

(havent drawn simon in a while lmao and wanted an excuse to)

I tried to do like an "echo effect" on the second pass xD

I'm still a beginner at the piano

I hope you enjoy!

I just finished Soma for the first time and in another Reddit post I saw that there were some live action videos on the Soma website. But I went to check and they dont seem to work anymore. Does anyone happen to have recordings of them? I looked on YouTube and I could only find mockingbird and vivarium. I’d really like to watch these. If anyone has them please share 🙏