Few games nowadays decide to take on interesting topics. This is one of the reasons why I personally love horror games. They aren’t afraid to discuss the dark topics that games, and most other media, work hard to avoid. This is incredibly true of the new horror game, Soma.

Soma is made by the guys who made Amnesia: The Dark Decent, which was praised when it released for being one of, if not the, scariest game ever. Soma certainly does not take this title from what I consider the current champion P.T., but Soma does something that Amnesia never quite got right.  It tells an incredibly immersive story that constantly is asking the player a single question. Is a copy of a person still a person?

Through the game you play as a copy of a British man. This man lived in our time period but his brain was scanned to be used as a research puppet for scientists. You as the player wake up hundreds of years later inside a mechanical body.

The viewer is told that the world was hit by a massive comet that destroyed all of the surface and left only people in a underwater research facility alive. One of these researchers was working on a project called the ark. The ark is explained as a digital haven that she would download peoples brains into, before planning to launch the ark into space.

As you adventure through the desolate remains of the facility you meet the mechanical copy of several of the researchers that died on the ark. One of the ones that you meet is the copy of the woman who had the idea for the ark. She tells you that she does not know if the ark was launched like it was supposed to be, and asks you to accompany her to the launch site and check on it.

As you go through the path you realize that the A.I. that was in control of the facility has gone crazy and used a special kind of gel to reanimate human bodies and turn them into monsters. Each of these monsters is unique and you only meet them once. They all work on different rules. Like one you can’t look at with out the creature killing you. They do  a good job of mixing up each area and making each monster uniquely scary.

Soma has a great atmosphere. A good portion of the time I was scared more by my own shadow than anything else, which is definitely a good sign. It has particularly good voice acting, all the actors are good and believable. The graphics are gorgeous. I highly suggest this game to fan of stories like I, Robot or fans of horror in general.

To read more from Checkpoint, check out the post Allison Road.