Soma is a 2015 survival horror video game created and published by Frictional Games. The story follows Simon Jarrett, who finds himself on an underwater research facility under unclear conditions. This facility contains machines that show human-like traits, such as having a personality and awareness. Simon explores the facility's history while trying to understand his situation and what may happen next.
Soma's gameplay continues ideas from earlier horror games by Frictional Games, such as Amnesia: The Dark Descent. Players avoid dangers quietly, solve puzzles, and experience a strong sense of being in the game. However, unlike previous games, Soma focuses less on managing items and more on the story and character development.
Soma was released on September 22, 2015, for Windows, macOS, Linux, and PlayStation 4. It was later released on December 1, 2017, for Xbox One. A version for Nintendo Switch, developed and published by Abylight Studios, was released on July 24, 2025. Critics generally praised the game's story, themes, atmosphere, sound, and voice acting. However, some criticized the design of enemies and how they appear in the game. A new game called Ontos, inspired by Soma, is expected to be released in 2026.
Gameplay
Soma is a survival horror video game that includes psychological horror elements. Players experience the game from a first-person viewpoint. During the game, players meet many creatures, each of which represents different themes in the story. Throughout Soma, players find many clues, such as notes and audio tapes, which help create the game's mood and explain the story. Like other games made by Frictional Games, players move the story forward by solving puzzles, exploring areas, and hiding from enemies. If players fail to avoid monsters, they may die. However, two years after the game was first released, a "Safe Mode" was added. This mode keeps the monsters in the game but stops them from harming the player. As in previous games by Frictional Games, players cannot obtain weapons. The only way to survive is to try to run away from or hide from the monsters.
Plot
The story Soma takes place in the year 2104 and is set in PATHOS-II, an advanced research station and underwater facility in the North Atlantic Ocean. PATHOS-II was originally built in the 2060s by companies Haimatsu and Carthage Industries to mine thermal energy. Later, its purpose changed to space technology, including the Omega Space Gun, a device that launches satellites into orbit without using rockets. The facility’s operations are managed by the Warden Unit (WAU), an advanced artificial intelligence connected to all computer systems in PATHOS-II.
After a comet struck Earth in 2103, PATHOS-II became the last known human settlement. The surviving crew struggled with isolation and other challenges that threatened their survival.
In 2015, Simon Jarrett survives a car accident but suffers serious brain injuries. He agrees to an experimental brain scan. During the scan, he loses consciousness and awakens in 2104 at Site Upsilon, a geothermal power center in PATHOS-II. There, he meets Catherine Chun, who explains that he has traveled to the future. She tells him that a comet destroyed Earth, and PATHOS-II is now the last human outpost. Catherine invites Simon to Site Lambda, where he learns that she is a brain scan of a PATHOS-II employee stored in a robot.
Simon discovers that Catherine’s original human body died in 2015 after failed medical treatment. Her brain scan was later used to create an AI version of her. The WAU, the facility’s AI, took control and transformed surviving humans into bio-mechanical hybrids to preserve humanity. The only way for human data to escape Earth is the ARK, a digital archive containing brain scans of PATHOS-II personnel. Simon agrees to help Catherine recover the ARK and complete her mission.
To reach the ARK, Simon travels to the Theta site to retrieve a submarine called DUNBAT, which can survive deep ocean pressure. However, the WAU has damaged the submarine, forcing Simon to go to the Omicron site to build a new body. There, he receives messages from Johan Ross, a WAU-converted AI who warns him to destroy the WAU. After creating a new body, Catherine transfers Simon’s consciousness into it. Simon must then decide whether to end the life of his original body or leave it to face whatever happens.
Simon descends to the deepest part of the ocean, Site Tau, where he retrieves the ARK. He finds the last human survivor of PATHOS-II, who asks him to end her life. Simon then travels to Site Phi, where the Omega Space Gun is located. Along the way, he visits Site Alpha, where Ross reveals that the material used to create Simon’s new body was designed to destroy the WAU. Ross tries to kill Simon to stop the WAU from adapting to Simon’s immunity but is killed by a mutated creature.
At Site Phi, Simon learns that Catherine’s original human body was killed when others refused to launch the ARK. She copied the brain scans of PATHOS-II personnel into the ARK before it was sent into space. Simon realizes that the version of himself on the ARK is a copy, not the real him. Catherine’s systems fail, and she dies. Simon is left alone in the deep ocean.
In a post-credits scene, the copy of Simon on the ARK awakens and reunites with Catherine in a peaceful, simulated world. The ARK drifts into space, leaving Earth behind.
Development
Soma began development in 2010 with the creation of new technology for the game engine. The idea to set the game at the bottom of the Atlantic Ocean was decided quickly by Frictional Games co-founders Thomas Grip and Jens Nilsson. Grip mentioned this was something they had wanted to try for a long time. During development, the game’s story changed several times before reaching its final version. An earlier version of the game was later released as an easter egg. The storytelling was designed to depend on the player’s choices instead of providing clear instructions. This allowed players who skipped details like audio logs and notes to still follow the plot. The main theme of Soma is consciousness, and the game was created to explore ideas about free will and identity. The game’s atmosphere was influenced by the work of writers Philip K. Dick, China Miéville, and Greg Egan.
To create realistic sound effects that match the game’s mood, audio director Samuel Justice used a system he called "the room size system." Instead of using technology to make sounds, he recorded real environments that matched the game’s needs, such as the echo of a large hall. This method helped capture over 2,000 different footstep sounds.
In January 2025, publisher Abylight Studios announced a partnership with Frictional Games to release three of their recent games (Soma, Amnesia: The Bunker, and Amnesia: Rebirth) on the Nintendo Switch.
Marketing
A teaser trailer showing gameplay from the video game Soma was released on October 11, 2013. The official website’s information page includes a quote from author Philip K. Dick. A second trailer for the game was released in April 2014.
Two live-action short films, Vivarium and Mockingbird, were filmed one after the other at LeftJet Studios in Seattle over nine days. The films were made by Imagos Films, an independent film company located in Seattle. Imagos Films also created a series of live-action clips for Frictional Games, which were planned to be released monthly in 2015 and connected to the story of an upcoming game. Due to production issues, the release was delayed. On September 28, shortly after the game’s release, Frictional Games shared the first clip on their YouTube channel titled "SOMA – Transmission #1," with seven additional clips to follow each day. The live-action miniseries serves as a prequel to the game’s events, inspired by its plot and characters but not strictly part of its official story.
Imagos Films, in partnership with Frictional Games, produced a feature film tentatively named DEPTH, known as "Project Apophis" during production. The film’s director is Don Thacker, and clips from it were used in Soma’s marketing, such as the "Transmissions" webseries. The film features actors Trin Miller, Josh Truax, and Rachelle Henry, and was expected to be released in 2016.
Reception
Soma received "generally favorable reviews" according to the review aggregator website Metacritic.
Richard Wakeling from GameSpot gave the game a 9 out of 10. He praised the "engaging and thought-provoking" story, the "impressive" writing and voice acting, and the atmosphere and sound design, which together create a sense of "dread" and provide a "chilling," "edge of your seat" feeling. However, Wakeling disliked the sections where the player walks on the ocean floor, calling them "dull, plodding affairs" and "incredibly linear." Philip Kollar of Polygon also gave the game a 9/10. He wrote: "I don't know if SOMA will scare people as much as Amnesia did, but it is without a doubt a stronger game, with better pacing, smarter writing, and more powerful subject matter. This isn't a horror game about obfuscation; events aren't building to a huge, shocking twist. More than anything, it's about the process of dealing with the horror of reality." Caitlin Cooke from Destructoid awarded the game a 9/10 as well. She stated, "SOMA gets everything right about the survival horror genre. It's like someone created the perfect video game mixtape—a little bit of abandoned underwater atmosphere from BioShock, detailed environments like Gone Home, and (of course) the frenzied monster mechanics from Amnesia. Even if you dislike non-combat-oriented games, I dare you to give it a try."
Tim Turi from Game Informer awarded the game an 8.5 out of 10. He commended the sound for convincingly immersing the player in the game, as well as the "eerie" environments, the "simple," "reliable" controls, and the "intriguing" narrative. In his review for GamesRadar+, Leon Hurley wrote: "A disturbingly different take on interesting sci-fi concepts let down by a slow start… but worth it overall." Hurley praised the "great" story, "likeable" characters, and the "interesting and unpredictable" locations. He also commended the game for its ability to pull the player through the story by providing rewarding situations, although Hurley did feel "lost" at times, as there are no distinct directions. IGN's Daniel Krupa scored the game an 8.1/10 and wrote: "SOMA is a sustained exploration of an original and thought-provoking idea. The concept of artificial intelligence has been explored by lots of science fiction, so it isn't unique in that regard, but it makes particularly intelligent use of video game conventions to present those familiar ideas in new and surprising ways."
Criticism of Soma focused on the implementation and design of its enemies. While Cooke generally enjoyed the monster encounters and their "unique and frightening" designs, she felt disappointed that there were only a few different types, most of which only made one appearance in the game. Turi found that the cat and mouse gameplay of stealthily evading monsters now felt "formulaic" in the genre and "required patience." Wakeling wrote that while the encounters were necessary to provide adversity, he felt they were otherwise "tedious" and found himself "clambering to get back to the story." Hurley wrote that the monsters lacked "threat" and "never really deliver… they're little more than dumb ambulatory obstacles," being overcome by the player "looping around behind them, or slipping past while they obediently investigate thrown objects." Alex Avard of GamesRadar+ praised the game's "Safe Mode" update from 2017 that decreased the threat of the monsters, having felt they were originally "unwelcome interruptions to an otherwise enthralling mystery," but instead in Safe Mode gave the "high-minded story the space it always needed to breathe." He wrote that the enemies' typically passive behavior and discernible forms improved the game's atmosphere and themes while allowing him to fully engage in the narrative, writing: "I'm no longer beset with frustrated paranoia or constantly distracted by my own survival instincts. Instead, my attention is entirely focused on engaging with Simon's personal journey and learning more about the history of PATHOS-II."
After ten days of release, Soma had sold 92,000 copies, exceeding the 20,000 copies made by the developer's previous game Amnesia: The Dark Descent in its first week. In March 2016, Frictional Games announced that the game had sold more than 250,000 copies and that the company was close to breaking even, which required them to sell 276,000 units. In a blog post commemorating one year of release, Frictional Games estimated that the sales figures had exceeded 450,000 copies. By March 2021, 1 million copies were sold on PC alone. At the 2016 Golden Joystick Awards, Soma was nominated for three categories: Best Original Game, Best Storytelling, and Best Visual Design. In 2018, GamesRadar+ ranked the game 8th in their list of "the 20 best horror games of all time."