Friday 29 May 2015

SOMA Release Date And Gameplay Trailer


After almost five years of blood, sweat and tears we can finally make the following announcement:

SOMA, our upcoming sci-fi horror game, will be released on the 22nd September this fall on PS4 and PC.

And to celebrate that, here are 12 minutes of uncut gameplay footage:



Here are three quick bits of trivia about the video:

1) When the video starts we are about 1 hour into the game.

2) The protagonist is not an amnesiac. He has an established past, knows who he is, but isn't at all sure about the situation he's in.

3) There are lots more things to explore in this level than what's shown in the video. For instance, you can avoid the robot attack completely by acting differently.

That's it for now! We hope you like the footage and we're looking forward hearing what you think about the game after release!


34 comments:

  1. At last!!! Now i'm impatiently counting days to play SOMA...
    Thanks guys!!!

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  2. This is really awesome, and scary. I have no doubts about the quality of your title. I wish I will have the courage to finish it...

    I also really like the smooth controls and interactions, I wish more game will try to provide such things.

    (off topic: the captcha is maybe a bit too hard, it took me more than 20 trials, and I am human)

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    1. Are you really sure? Because looks like a robot from where I am standing ;)

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  3. Friekin' wow!

    The mouse icons look like they'll need to get a bit of getting used to (they kinda stand out a bit much now so maybe if we can make them a tad less bright?) but it looks fantastic so far from what I've seen (my doubts from the piggy machine are starting to fade!).

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    1. Yeah, the icons should be semi-transparent or give the player the ability to set their opacity. It's too bright on this trailer video.

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  4. Also, 22 Sep - we have a release date!!!

    Will you guys release via GOG at the same time as everywhere else?

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  5. I must say it's truly wonderful how high quality horrors you people make. It's truly a proof that horror genre can live on thanks such smaller studios like yours, which do not require like 7 million sales figure is expected to be satisfactory. As Amnesia The Dark Descent began to earn profit after just 36 thousands sold. Also what are current sales figure of Amnesia The Dark Descent? In 2013 it was about 1 million as far I remember.

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  6. Im so excited about SOMA.Hey Thomas I have one question,can you tell us a system requiements for the SOMA.Can low-budget video cards run Hpl Engine 3?

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    1. Depends on what a low budget card is. Last time I checked the game ran on my asus ultrabook ~30fps at 720 (and been optimized since). So if you do not demand too much perf wise (eg 60fps @ 1080), older cards should work!

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    2. Well,im using AMD HD 6570 2GB and I can run Amnesia everything on "high" except SSAO, number of samples makes a game lag when I put it on high.Im little curious about your HPSL.What is the diffirence beetwen HPSL and HLSL or GLSL.I know that most of developers today are using Directx.

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    3. They came up with their own shading language to avoid writing shaders for PC & PS4 separately (that is, twice) - this way, they can just write the shader once, and then a tool "translate" it for each platform.

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    4. *correction: [...] and then have a tool "translate" it [...]

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    5. Thanks,I understand now :)

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  7. Just that bit of conversation with the "robot" sold it for me :) the story is going to have really interesting themes

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  8. So, is like a machine for pigs? Because it looks disturbingly like a machine for pigs.
    It looks like there's no reason at all to wander these halls besides moving forward the plot that someone else laid out for you. No health, no items, no inventory, solutions to puzzles just lay there in the next room. Like there's nothing to cling to while waiting for a guy with a script to appear and read his next predestined page. No sanity to keep, no health to refill. No light gem or visibility meter or something to keep an eye on. You just walk around pushing levers and sometimes monsters instakill you? Is that all it has?

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    1. What reason was there in TDD?

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    2. Tinderboxes, oil and laudanum. While quest items were mandatory, it was completely up to you if you run back to the puzzle, or stay there in the dark to look for more stuff, or may be go somewhere to stand in the light and regain your sanity. Those were parts of the game when you were off the leash and on your own.
      Now AMFP was different because it completely removed health and sanity and there were no objects besides the quest objects and the whole path was linear too. There was never a reason to go and explore or search for something. It was all about walk forward, use the only lever in the room, hear some startling noises, read a note, rinse and repeat. And all the notes that the game shoved into my pocket quickly lost their meaning because while contextualization of gameplay is important, if you have no gameplay to contextualize - what's the point?
      This is not about inventory or items of course. It is about some part of the game that is unique to your specific walkthrough. For example, Myst Online/Uru Live did not have inventory and items either. But the puzzles were tough as nails and it was my notebook where I have been deciphering the D'ni numerical system that was my own personal part of the playthrough.
      Of course, SOMA might still have ways to be interesting the way it looks now. For example it might be a sprawling non-linear labirynth where you look for paths and areas on your own like in Dark Souls. Or it might be based heavily on deciphering enemy patterns like in FNAF. Or maybe there are complex puzzles later on. Or it might have some smart randomization elements etc, etc...
      So my question stands: Is it a real game or a haunted ride? Do my actions matter enough to play it and not watch someone else play it? Is it unlike AMFP? TCR attitude might be contagious for all I know.

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    3. To understand why Machine for the Pigs was as it was you should take a look who was actually a developer. It was studio - The Chinese Room. Frictional Games provided brand, engine, funding and took care of publishing it, but it was The Chinese Room studio production in terms of mechanics changes and overall build of game. It is most important thing that has to be understood to be able to talk properly about both Amnesias and how they may influence SOMA.
      And about inventory and stuff - it may just be a thing that just doesn't look good for trailers. Trailers purely focused on main element, of scare and of lack of clarity about situation. And fiddling in inventory would rather not fit into flow of trailer. But this is only what I think, and clarifying in this terms would be very good from side of Frictional Games.

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    4. I don't think you can tell just from this single video how similar or dissimilar to AMFP the game will be, or what that means for the gameplay. Furthermore, FG was experimenting with a new approach to storytelling, which is also something you can't really get a feel for just from short gameplay videos alone. Last time they did that, they revitalized the horror genre on the PC! Remember, different aspects of the game work together to hopefully give us something that's more than the sum of its parts - we'll see how it all worked out when the game is released and we get a chance to play.

      P.S. As others said, AMFP was made by a different studio, a studio that's famous for making Dear Esther, an exploratory art-game where your only purpose is to peace together a narrative scattered about an island. So, they made AMFP to incorporate some of of that style - some people liked that, and some did not.

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    5. The rabbit hole goes deeper than that. As far as I know Thomas once said that Amnesia The Dark Descent was partly inspired by Dear Esther. So there's definitely some chemistry going on between the two companies.
      But yes I am aware that it was a different company that made AMFP. It's just I'm being extra cautious just in case. After AMFP I almost thought that I have just witnessed survival horror dying to story-driven-whatever right before me. But now I know that Amnesia brand of horror lives on thanks to Alien Isolation and it probably will not hurt to look at more experiments.
      It's just I'm not sure if I would be able to actually play this, or I'll have to put on a let's play and get some Castlevania running while at it. Because strings of rooms with lonely switches bore me to tears.

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    6. Okay, we're gonna see if I double post again...

      Anonymous: Re Inventory:

      http://somainfoportal.weebly.com/general-faqs.html

      This gives the impression that, like AMFP, there won't be an inventory screen, but unlike it, you'll be able to pocket items, so to speak, instead of holding them out in front of you. So I don't imagine combining is an option.

      slowpoke: From what little we know, I don't think your concern that you wouldn't like it is unreasonable. I understand that you are meant to try to piece together individual situations, like the Semken one in the trailer. But I'm not sure if you would consider piecing together those individual stories to be an end in itself.

      Re: being unique to you: you can supposedly make decisions that will change small things. Like you might be able to kill the Semken Mockingbird. If you are invested in the experience, that could be meaningful. Maybe those decisions could keep you invested, in contrast with AMFP's lack of any decisions I can remember.

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  9. This is great news! I love what you've done with the engine, it looks great, and I love the small (or "small") touches like in-game note reading and UI interaction, it helps maintain the flow and overall immersion. I can't wait to see how your section-based storytelling works in practice, and how it comes together in the overall game. I think I have a relatively good idea about where you're going with the story, and I'm pretty happy about that as well (although it might be too early to really have a reasonable idea at this point).

    @Thomas or anyone from FG:
    One final question - could you tell us what version of AngelScript HPL3 uses? (I assume that's still the scripting language used?) I might write some general tutorials on basic object/class usage in client code, as well as an introduction to OOP for the custom story/modding community, so it would be good to know for reference.

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    1. Should be latest (or at least close to latest) version of Angelscript.

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  10. Excellent. The game looks good, :)

    I hope it has lots of cool things to interact with (like computers and machines). Not necessarily puzzles, but the world tends to feel more alive with this things.

    Also, gotta love the mindscrew.

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  11. "Show the monster as late as possible, if possible never."
    What happened to that, Thomas?

    Didn't really like the trailer in all honesty. To those who say it's scary - that's a lie. But I hope there's more to it than this. Can't wait for the release though.

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  12. I'm a little confused; is the game Windows only (it only says "PC"), or is it also for Mac/Linux like the Amnesia games were?

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    1. PC as in "Personal Computers" meaning Windows & Mac... or at least I hope so.

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    2. On the wiki page, it says it'll be for Windows, Linux, OS X and PS4

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  13. Really great job guys.

    I find myself driven and compelled by curiosity with very little fear, where as in Amnesia it was a wonderful dose of both as fear constantly lurks behind curiosity. But perhaps it's just me and I wonder how the experience will truly be once I am immersed in the game. From the footage itself, I can safely say that I was not scared at all. With Amnesia, I could only play for 20 min or so until I have to take a mental breather.... it was an absolutely fantastic experience that I've never had in gaming before and didn't think it was possible until I experienced it. I'm curious what type of experience this game will bring out, and do forgive me for the high expectations.

    I do hope there is some sort of inventory system, or something that echoes or is better than the system in Amnesia because it adds an RPG element that help players feel more immersed/invested in the character. I'm really looking forward to play this game... please don't let this be another letdown like Machine for Pigs.

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  14. Thomas, is the nonlinear game-play to act as the new sanity management we saw in TDD?

    I would just be a bit concerned that if you have the insta-save system of TDD and allow a "plug-and-chug" method of story progression, that would lessen the knowing dread that melting walls in TDD always invoked in the player.

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  15. Was the structure gel based on the "black oil" from X-files?

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  16. On PS4, will the game run at a nice (50Hz or more) framerate?

    I'm hoping 50fps or more. In my opinion, a good framerate is more important than resolution - if you have to lower resolution to get 50 fps, than so be it! I realize that I'm in the minority, though, and that framerates don't show up in magazine screenshots.

    I loved Amnesia and I'm gonna get this game regardless of framerate, though. :)

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  17. Will SOMA be DRM-free on Humble Store like Amnesia?

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  18. Wow, i honestly can't wait for this^^ Is the Beta still ongoing? Are there ways to participate?

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