The Ultimate SOMA Discussion Thread

[Fortigurn]

So:

With the revelation that the game is set underwater, and that at least some of the antagonists will be mechanical parasites that control human bodies...

...what the hell are these mechanical parasites? Are they leftovers from a lost "alien" civilization? Is this "alien" civilization still alive, and continuing their experiments on humankind?

I don't think they are mechanical parasites controlling human bodies. I think they are digital copies of the person's own consciousness, which are added along with mechanical appendages, to the human's existing body. Meanwhile the human's brain is taken and placed elsewhere. And sometimes a digital copy of the human's consciousness is placed inside a mechanical device which then thinks its human.

I see a progression here.

1. First contact: the humans find and examine mysterious mechanical devices which appear to be inert junk.

2. Response: in reality the machines (or their masters, through the machines), are actually studying the humans in turn, and recording everything about them with the aim of eventually copying them.

3. Transformation: humans are later captured, their brains removed from their skulls and placed in machines which copy their consciousness. These copies of consciousness end up in a machines (as we saw in Mockingbird). Meanwhile, the human's left over body has a mechanical brain inserted (with a copy of the original human's consciousness), and in some cases has mechanical appendages added. Perhaps Disco Ball Head man is a beta version, and the bodies on the tables, with minimal modification, are the later versions.