Soma Thoughts and Influence

[mmrs]

Hello. I havent finished the game, nevertheless i am aproaching its closure i believe... I am currently at TAU... and in the midst of all the creepy environments and awsome soundtrack i thought that i should give my two cents...

The atmosphere and environment sounds are outstanding, the story is well developed so far. Maybe there are influences from other media that established paradigms in horror and sci fi. Philip K. Dick influences, Asimov... I may be incorrect in my assumption, but the alien atmosphere oozes constantly. I think it is part of the objective of the creators... to infuse the player with a sense of unease... I also enjoy the loneliness of the protagonist, the humming of the machines, the light effects and the overall attention to detail.

I am playing the game on a ps4... so the visuals arent outstanding as some screenshots i saw, nevertheless the experience is intact.

I think i am quite bored of the current trend in videogames... free open worlds lack a cohesive structure to the narrative... hence the story can become tedious, full of inconsistencies.

I would like to thank the team responsible for such a well crafted, scary and philosopical game.
I am a fan. Looking forward for more games under your quality signature.

Thanks

[SlackerinDeNile]

I agree with you, the story and narrative in this game were fantastic, thought-provoking and surprisingly intelligent. However, as many critics have noted, it was rather inconsistent and Frictionals horror repertoire got in the way quite a bit, I feel that the WAU was made out to be a worse entity than the story is actually suggesting it is, mostly just to give something to creep players out and keep the gameplay exciting and challenging I guess.

[Muco]

Hello, I also have some thoughts about thoughts and influences of the game.

I have not played the game at all but I've seen people play it. Different people on different occasions and with slightly different results. However I believe that I've got a overall good overview of the game and the story as well as some of the lore.

Now I have scoured this forum a little bit, aswell as other sites (maybe not thorough enough?) for actual Inspirations and Influences behind the game. I saw something on a FAQ about influences from some older games and what not but nothing (that I've found) that feel solid enough.

Thing is that ever since I started to watch the gameplay etc. I have felt that the story have a striking resemblance to (atleast) some elements of Aldous Huxleys novel "Brave New World". Not to mention the similiarities like the fictional drug 'SOMA' or the name of the resident castes "Alpha", "Beta" (where the "real" humans live) and the other three (Gamma, Delta, Epsilon = worker quarters). Also the idea that everyone lives a (sort of) happy and enjoyable life, or are forced to anyway.

I also think that there might be a source of inspiration from the philosophy of Body & Mind Dualism by the likes of René Descartes.

Maybe or maybe not. But that's why I've written this Post. Hopefully someone can shed some light on the matter? I would really like to know!

[GhylTarvoke]

According to Frictional, the fact that SOMA shares its name with the drug from Brave New World is coincidental.

SOMA is certainly inspired by the philosophy of consciousness, but it's not explicitly dualist.

[Muco]

Heh, okey. Thanks for answering!