Scariness Relative to Signalis :: SOMA General Discussions

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Calvinball8 has SOMA

Jun 9, 2023 @ 11:50pm

Scariness Relative to Signalis

I've been playing some of this and really enjoyed it so far. Probably going to keep going regardless of the response I get, but just for safety I wanted to ask this.

How scary is this game relative to Signalis? Based on what I've played so far, they seem to have the same types of horror, specifically ambiance and being chased, with this game also adding some terrifying existential concepts that I don't know yet. During my time with Signalis I wasn't feeling particularly scared or anything for almost the whole way. I'm generally not great with jumpscare horror, which I know this game isn't for the most part, but I don't know if Signalis just isn't that scary or if I have a high tolerance to these kinds of horror.

If Signalis was to be a 5/10 in scariness, where would this game land? I just want to be prepared for it, I'm not going to stop playing if I'm told it's fairly high.

Also because I know it's an important question, I am somewhat afraid of the ocean. I'm scared of deep open water with nothing in sight, but as long as there's things around I love the ocean. So the first part of walking around underwater didn't scare me at all, but that one underwater castle level in Spyro 2 freaked me out a bit due to the endless expanses of nothingness on every side of me.

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Showing 1-10 of 10 comments

Gdudism

Jun 10, 2023 @ 6:14am

Havent played Signalis, guess I will check it out.

You need to play this game, regardless if its perhaps too scary for you. Your fear of oceans doesnt help but trust me, the story and cool exploration is very well worth it.

Perhaps restarting on safe mode might be an idea? if not, then just do your best at the monster sections, they are nicely paced and dont overstay their welcome, most monsters you only see once.

As a heads up for you to help prepare. Sections on board the MS curie (third level or so) and in the abbyss, especially Site Tau, are brutally difficult with their respective encounters. Dying there is the norm. Delta and omicron are for the most part monster free though.

Have fun and enjoy.

Calvinball8 has SOMA

Jun 10, 2023 @ 2:41pm

Originally posted by Gdudism:
Havent played Signalis, guess I will check it out.

You need to play this game, regardless if its perhaps too scary for you. Your fear of oceans doesnt help but trust me, the story and cool exploration is very well worth it.

Perhaps restarting on safe mode might be an idea? if not, then just do your best at the monster sections, they are nicely paced and dont overstay their welcome, most monsters you only see once.

As a heads up for you to help prepare. Sections on board the MS curie (third level or so) and in the abbyss, especially Site Tau, are brutally difficult with their respective encounters. Dying there is the norm. Delta and omicron are for the most part monster free though.

Have fun and enjoy.

So far after almost 2 hours nothing has been too much for me, and I don't think anything will be. Even if it is I still plan to go all the way. I just wanted a general gist for what to prepare myself for rather than something to judge whether I'll go through it or not.

Also I doubt I'll go with safe mode just because I get the feeling the story works better in normal mode since everything is supposed to be extremely disturbing, so keeping the horror in is probably best for the experience.

Thanks for the response!

Sticky Wicket has SOMA

Jun 16, 2023 @ 2:01am

Originally posted by Calvinball8:
Originally posted by Gdudism:
Havent played Signalis, guess I will check it out.

You need to play this game, regardless if its perhaps too scary for you. Your fear of oceans doesnt help but trust me, the story and cool exploration is very well worth it.

Perhaps restarting on safe mode might be an idea? if not, then just do your best at the monster sections, they are nicely paced and dont overstay their welcome, most monsters you only see once.

As a heads up for you to help prepare. Sections on board the MS curie (third level or so) and in the abbyss, especially Site Tau, are brutally difficult with their respective encounters. Dying there is the norm. Delta and omicron are for the most part monster free though.

Have fun and enjoy.
So far after almost 2 hours nothing has been too much for me, and I don't think anything will be. Even if it is I still plan to go all the way. I just wanted a general gist for what to prepare myself for rather than something to judge whether I'll go through it or not.

Also I doubt I'll go with safe mode just because I get the feeling the story works better in normal mode since everything is supposed to be extremely disturbing, so keeping the horror in is probably best for the experience.

Thanks for the response!

Absolutely right, the story works better with no holds barred, and the horror is more of an existential nature as you mentioned in your OP.

Last edited by Sticky Wicket; Jun 16, 2023 @ 2:03am

Gdudism

Jun 18, 2023 @ 7:31am

Alright. But dont forget, that first Tau section holds very relevant notes. Studying them with Yoshida there on regular mode is nigh impossible.

Would be curious to hear your thoughts when your done.

Last edited by Gdudism; Jun 18, 2023 @ 7:53am

Headshotkill has SOMA

Jun 19, 2023 @ 3:45pm

Okay just finished the game, won't spoil anything directly.
Just to let you know I was kinda bored during the first levelscause the robot enemies weren't very scary but ♥♥♥♥ really starts to hit the fan once you get to Theta and it only gets worse from there on.
Story is very good though, don't worry about missing some bits of lore, you'll likely understand the big picture by the end.
Difficult to give this game a scary point out of 10, I'd say it's equally scary to Amnesia: The Dark Descent. I was much younger when I played that game though so it felt more scary, now that I'm older I have a stronger will to push on instead of cowering in a corner. This game does give you waaaaay more existential dread from it's story compared to Amnesia: dark descent, this is something different than scary, it stressed me out and made me glad I'm not actually living inside the game.
The following might be a bit of spoiler but shouldn't ruin the game for you:
Later on there's a chapter where you have to navigate the dark depths of the ocean and IT IS SCARY, it's exactly the type of fear you describe near the end of your post.

Last edited by Headshotkill; Jun 19, 2023 @ 4:13pm