History YMMV / SOMA

** Some players are convinced that the actions of [[spoiler:WAU]] may be ultimately as good as Simon and Catherine's, and that even if it has no consequence on the actual ending, [[spoiler:choosing to not destroy WAU]] may be the better choice. [[spoiler:The results of WAU's attempts at making the last of humanity live on are certainly horrific, but looking back you can notice it was getting better at them, resulting in Simon, a fusion of organic and robotic that ultimately had the capability to destroy WAU itself. And WAU has copies of the same minds stored in the ARK. What may be better, a chance that humanity will be revived on Earth one day, in a very different form but still able to adapt and evolve, or being forever stuck in an immutable virtual paradise?]]

* NauseaFuel: The [[BodyHorror effects]] that overexposure to the structure gel does to humans is...[[{{Gorn}} not pleasant to look at]].

* VindicatedByHistory: While initially having a somewhat mixed reception compared to Frictional's other games (especially due to being much less directly the kind of horror they were known for at the time), the game has seen a steady growth in popularity in the years since its release, which has even been [[https://frictionalgames.com/2021-03-amnesia-rebirth-five-months-later-and-soma-sells-1m-copies/ confirmed in a blogpost by Frictional Games]], and is even viewed by some as holding up even better than their breakout successes in ''{{VideoGame/Penumbra}}'' and ''VideoGame/AmnesiaTheDarkDescent'', both of which were widely [[SeinfeldIsUnfunny influential on a rash of indie horror games following in their footsteps and improving on them]].

** Simon himself, very much so. [[spoiler:Every version of him, except for the final copy that gets uploaded into the ARK, either dies or is left alone at the bottom of the sea, forever. His original human self dies of a brain injury from a car crash where his close friend was killed, his first copy is either killed by his next copy or wakes up alone with Catherine nowhere to be found, and his second copy watches the ARK take off without him, and in despair lashes out at Catherine. Then he has to watch helplessly as she splutters out of existence, without giving them a chance to reconcile or say goodbye. He is left alone, buried at sea, forever. The last we see of him is him desperately begging Catherine not to leave him]].

** Any time the BrainUploading[[spoiler:/[[CloningBlues Brain Copying]]]] element comes into play, it's [[http://www.gamespresso.com/2015/10/the-four-endings-in-soma/ guaranteed to be one of these]]. First comes [[spoiler: finding the audio logs the human Simon made leading up to his death, and having it really sink in that you're playing a robot with Simon's mind copied into it]]. Then comes a massive one in Site Omicron, wherein [[spoiler: you begin playing another copy and have to choose between murdering the previous copy of Simon, or leaving him to wake up locked in the site alone forever]]. And then the ending delivers the biggest one of all: [[spoiler:Simon and Catherine successfully copy themselves onto the ARK, but the copy of Catherine on the Omnitool and the second copy of Simon are left behind in Pathos-II - and Simon's ensuing rage starts an argument that overloads the Omnitool, leaving him alone at the bottom of the sea]].

* ContestedSequel: As a SpiritualSuccessor, while many agree that ''SOMA'' is much better than ''VideoGame/AmnesiaAMachineForPigs'', some feel that it still lacks compared to ''VideoGame/AmnesiaTheDarkDescent'', mostly due to ''SOMA'' not feeling a swell-paced as ''The Dark Descent'', the monster designs not being nearly as memorable, and the game overall not having as much of a dark and foreboding atmosphere as ''The Dark Descent''. That being said, most can agree that ''SOMA'' is a great game in its own right.

* PlayerPunch: SOMA is an unrelenting beatdown of Player Punches.

** Catherine. [[spoiler:Was she a truly selfless person who operated for the greater good of saving at least something of the dying human race, no matter the cost? Or was she just manipulative towards Simon, thought she knew better than everyone else, and was the stress that shuts her down at the end, due to her true self finally showing up?]]

** Catherine: She actually had to be encouraged by others to stand up for herself, and she's not liked by the other staff. Brandon Wan's journal notes that she makes him uncomfortable, while Dr. Masters' profile on Catherine states that she is “weak in character, the perfect victim to be domineered and pushed around by others.” She feels ''enormously'' guilty over ApocalypseCult that springs up around her ARK program, causing many scanned subjects to kill themselves [[ForcedToWatch right in front of her]]. She tells Simon that she "knows that she's not an easy person to like," and that she just thought her colleagues trusted her" when referring to how her colleagues [[spoiler: killed her in a panic]]. Tragically, her lines heavily implies that [[spoiler:her last thoughts before she was killed were of total isolation. Even as an AI, it appears that she still continues to hold those negative thoughts as she tries to befriend Simon in spite of his initial mistrust and outright calling her 'disgusting' for his Brain Duplication incident. And then right at the end when Simon curses at her for not being transferred to the Ark, she 'dies' once again with the knowledge that Simon hates her]].

* AuthorsSavingThrow: After many players and reviewers said that Soma would be better if it ditched the monster stealth gameplay, Creator/FrictionalGames release a free "Safe Mode" for the game two years after release. While the monster are still around in this mode, they are completely unable to kill you, so you are free to enjoy the story without worrying about the stealth mechanics.

* BrokenBase: Even a lot of positive reviews note that the game's horror aspects are a lot weaker than its story. How much of a problem this is tends to depend on the reviewer.

** Many PATHOS-II scientists committed suicide immediately after their brain scans had been completed and uploaded to the ARK. Was it because they believed Mark Sarang's theory of continuity, or had they crossed the DespairEventHorizon after the comet impact caused the end of the world, leaving them with nothing to look forward to but the promise of an afterlife on the ARK? Both?

** Many PATHOS-II scientists committed suicide immediately after their brain scans had been completed and uploaded to the ARK. Was it because they believed Mark Sarang's theory of continuity, or had they crossed the DespairEventHorizon after the comet hit, killing their loved ones and ending human civilization, leaving them with nothing to look forward to but the promise of an afterlife on the ARK? Both?

* Many of the PATHOS-II scientists committed suicide after their brain scans had been completed and uploaded to the ARK. Was it because they believed Mark Sarang's theory of continuity, or had they crossed the DespairEventHorizon after the comet hit, killing their loved ones and ending human civilization, leaving them with nothing to look forward to but the promise of an afterlife on the ARK? Both?

** It's also patently obvious to most players that [[spoiler:Simon is going to be left behind in the ocean and only a copy of him will board the Ark]] after the first instance of this exact same thing being revealed. Doesn't stop [[spoiler:Catherine from leading on both the player and Simon]] into thinking that it's a straight-up transfer]].

** Brandon Wan [[spoiler: decides to be a hero and, while the rest of the Theta survivors escape to the shuttles, destroys the lift and breaks the stair door console, trapping Akers and some Proxies, temporarily, with him, alone. He then ''made as much noise possible'' while running to one of the rooms, locked the door, made ''more'' noise just to ''call out the monsters'', and then slit his throat, preventing them from capturing him. And while this didn't stop the Theta crewmembers heading for the shuttle from avoiding a grizzly fate, it ''did'' give other crewmembers time to get out and head for Omicron]].

* HarsherInHindsight: The player is forced to make sadistic choices to progress the story but the Amy Azzaro encounter stands out half a decade later: [[spoiler: She's in the power room of the Upsilon B shuttle station. The WAU appears to have created artificial lungs for her to survive, and the player as Simon needs to unplug at least one of the cables keeping her alive. Unplugging both results in a MercyKill and a false sense of security since Simon's shuttle will still crash anyway.]] This scene can be uncomfortable (even for a SurvivalHorror game) after the UsefulNotes/COVID19Pandemic, making it virtually impossible not to think about the patients put on ventilators to survive.

** It's also patently obvious to most players that [[spoiler:Simon is going to be left behind in the ocean and only a copy of him will board the Ark]] after the first instance of this exact same thing being revealed. Doesn't stop [[spoiler:Catherine from leading on both the player and [[WhatAnIdiot a truly dense Simon]] into thinking that it's a straight-up transfer]].

* WhatAnIdiot: After having experienced being copied ''twice'', and having a full explanation of the brain scan process and the functioning of the ARK, ''and'' plenty of time to think it all over, somehow Simon ''still'' doesn't get it, and gets pissed off at Catherine when it happens a ''third'' time. Pretty much every player understands at that point of the game that only a copy of Simon [[spoiler:will get to go on the ARK]], so Simon's outburst is difficult to understand. Tragically, it's enough [[spoiler: to break Catherine, leaving Simon completely alone]].
** He may seem stupid, but this is justified at the very start of the game as a byproduct of the brain injury. The Simon from 2015 is forgetting small things in his apartment, like where he's kept the radioactive tracer fluid or to hit "send" after writing a whole email. With his brain injury making him forget little things and fail to connect the dots, it's understandable that his copy would fail to understand how the whole process works until the very end.
** Also, with Catherine overloading the circuits in the omnitool at the end, we see that strong enough emotion/stress can actually damage hardware. We can assume the suits Simon is in have stronger hardware than the omnitool, but given the amount of extreme stress/terror/shock/grief that Simon's experienced throughout the game, it's quite possible that all of it was doing small amounts of damage over time. This would mean that by the end of the game, his circuits aren't working at 100%, so that plus the brain injury may cause him to have trouble with complex concepts.
** Additionally, it's explained briefly at one point that older brain scans were "flatter", and less complete and effective at capturing the personality than the later ones. Since Simon was a very early brain scan of a brain that was already damaged, it's likely that his full intellect and personality is limited somewhat. He shows limited understanding throughout the game that seems worse than his initial level of intelligence when he was human.

* HarsherInHindsight: The player is forced to make sadistic choices to progress the story but the Amy Azzaro encounter stands out half a decade later: [[spoiler: She's in the power room of the Upsilon B shuttle station. The WAU appears to have created artificial lungs for her to survive, and the player as Simon needs to unplug at least one of the cables keeping her alive. Unplugging both results in a MercyKill and a false sense of security since Simon's shuttle will still crash anyway.]] This scene can be uncomfortable (even for a horror game) after the UsefulNotes/COVID19Pandemic with so many patients being put on ventilators to survive.

* ContestedSequel: As a SpiritualSuccessor, while many agree that ''SOMA'' is much better than VideoGame/AmnesiaAMachineForPigs, some feel that it still lacks compared to ''VideoGame/AmnesiaTheDarkDescent'', mostly due to ''SOMA'' not feeling a well-paced as ''The Dark Descent'', the monster designs not being nearly as memorable, and the game overall not having as much of a dark and foreboding atmosphere as ''The Dark Descent''. That being said, most can agree that ''SOMA'' is a great game in its own right.

* VindicatedByHistory: While the initial sales of the game were lackluster, the game has seen a steady growth in popularity in the years since its release, which has even been [[https://frictionalgames.com/2021-03-amnesia-rebirth-five-months-later-and-soma-sells-1m-copies/ confirmed in a blogpost by Frictional Games]].

* PlayerPunch: SOMA is an unrelenting NoHoldsBarredBeatdown of Player Punches.

* PlayerPunch:

* VindicatedByHistory: While the initial sales of the game were lackluster, the game has seen a steady growth in popularity in the years since its release, which has even been [confirmed in a blogpost by Frictional games](https://frictionalgames.com/2021-03-amnesia-rebirth-five-months-later-and-soma-sells-1m-copies/).