SOMA Gameplay Trailer Confirms Release Date

A new gameplay trailer was released for the upcoming Frictional Games horror title, SOMA. The game is drop dead gorgeous and the release date is set for September 22nd on Steam for PC and for PS4. The game captures horror like few games out there and gameplay trailer is extremely tense.

The game instantaneously looks like a mix between Alien: Isolation and BioShock. There's a steady gameplay pace and a really deep sense of atmosphere that Frictional Games managed to capture in SOMA.

Aesthetically the technology looks like something out of a cyberpunk film; old dusty monitors, large keypads, clunky buttons and lots of large tubing help sell the atmosphere.

The basic gameplay appears to fit within the atmospheric walking-simulator horror sub-genre, similar to Amnesia, Slender: The Arrival or Penumbra. However players can interact freely with a lot of the environmental objects scattered about. What's more is that it's possible to use the items to interact with the environment. You can plug things in, unplug things, throw things, pick things up, smash things or operate things. Sometimes they do something useful and sometimes the objects are just there for decoration.

However, one of the most impressive aspects of the game is the natural way players can deal with the enemies in the game; they actually react to the environment. SOMA isn't just all about walking round and pressing buttons, and this is where it separates itself from the likes of Dear Esther or Gone Home. You will have to be proactive in defending yourself. You can throw objects, open and close doors and attempt to get away from the crazy cybernetic creatures. If this game doesn't have teleporting enemies, this would be a huge step up over Alien: Isolation, only because the xenomorph in Alien: Isolation wasn't always naturally moving around in the environments and would occasionally teleport around to keep the intensity up on the player. It was a bit immersion-breaking since it became less about the xenomorph being an organic enemy and more about it being strategically placed to provide manufactured tension.

Hopefully SOMA doesn't get bogged down with teleporting enemies around all too often. I understand in some segments they'll obviously want to raise the tension levels so you can expect to stay on your toes, but it would be nice in some segments if the horror just plays out organically where players will have to think on their toes and enemies will constantly adjust and react to that.

Story wise, I have no idea what's going on but the player-character encounters some really messed up robots. One of those robots tries really hard to convince the player-character that he's human, but it doesn't go so well.

As the player is attempting to access new areas of the map that's when they're tasked with shutting down the reactor but the crazy robot creature thing that looks like a deformed version of a Big Daddy from BioShock comes running in to kill the player.

SOMA definitely looks intense and the game is set to launch on September 22nd, 2015 for PC and PS4. You can learn more about the game by paying a visit to the official website.