The SOMA Iceberg: A Deep Dive

One thing that you didn’t mention about the ending is that for the entire game the player is moving from one Simon’s perspective to the next: at the start of the game from 1 to 2 which you then play as for a majority of the game. Then from 2 to 3 to go deeper with the pressure suit. But then finally, at the end of the game, the player has been conditioned to think they will go now from Simon 3 to Simon 4 on the ARK but it’s the first time in the game that the perspective doesn’t change. I think this makes Simon 3’s frustration at the end of the game much more relatable to the player since they too are expecting the perspective to shift again. Although they do eventually show Simon 4’s perspective on ARK afterwards

10:28 Because of the 'coin toss' metaphor. It's not a coin toss, it's just that new Simon has the memories of old simon, meaning from HIS perspective he 'won' the cointoss and transferred over, when that's not how it works.

Simon had difficulty understanding the difference between "Copy" and "Move". Then again, it is an outstanding situation to be in.

it's crazy to think that the first Simon doesn't even know about the events of soma at all

I like to think that Simon was the wau’s final step in preserving humanity. That Simon launching the arc was always the ultimate goal of the wau, always stumbling towards this end along the way.

I also think Cathrine kinda manipulated Simon, but I don’t think she did it intentionally or maliciously. She might‘ve put Simon II to sleep in order to just not upset Simon III, because she isn’t really comfortable in dealing with his (understandable) emotions. Also Simon is her only hope. If he gets too upset to continue, she‘s kinda f*cked. Of course she would do everything in her power to not let that happen. I honestly can’t really blame her…

Absolutely love that people still talk about this masterpiece! Thank you for the video!

Soma's audio talking about war in the surface might seem like cut content about when the apocalypse plot was about war in the surface, but one might interpret it in the sense that the chaos from the comet led to the remaining survivors entering in conflict and riots to survive Which, in a setting like SOMA, it's weirdly hopeful. It implies that there are people still alive in the surface, and as a result there's hope that humanity can survive

"Imagine sleeping on a seat, then waking up to find yourself as a god damn door" This game doesn't fuck around

I love this game and the psychology behind it. I would not decide to kill my copies and when he is alone at the end, I would go back to them and think about reviving the base and probably make Carthrine repair

Soma is right up there w Silent Hill 2 for some of the best thought-provoking horror ever made. It is so grounded and feels Simon feels so relatable. I remember hearing about the continuity and the coin toss and thinking it sounds fishy but not knowing exactly why till thinking about it more.

There is an underlying theme surrounding the player choices: Let it live in a crippled state, or end its misery. Every choice is like this. They are each a smaller version of the final choice with the Wau. The way you felt about all the previous choices will inform what you will feel about this huge choice. Do you leave life on Earth in a crippled state, or end all life for good.

18:46 An autoinjector is usually something like an EpiPen which allows an untrained individual to administer medication directly into the body, usually through a needle. They're preferred for untrained persons since the mechanism is spring loaded which means you just press it against your thigh after taking off the safety and it'll administer the medication, removing the chance for breaking the needle inside the person. I can only imagine that the black box is something similar but you stick the injector in the back of your neck.

Techically killing the WAU is better outcome, because it could infect the fishes. Humanity might be lost, but the underwater creatures will exist. It's like a new era for the world. As for Catherine being less shy, could be due to the fact she speaking behind a screen, many people have more confidence speaking behind a screen and not in person.

One thing I’ve always had in mind with Soma was Theta, specifically the imagery of the site. The imagery goes in line with “the mouth of the beast” as when opening the main entrance, the doors dramatically open like a mouth swallowing you in. With this imagery in mind, you can piece together the literal human body with Theta. With the first floor of Theta being the mouth with there being little to no grime anywhere if you brush your teeth of course. There isn’t a single dead body on the first floor not counting the servers room with the stray proxy. Once you get to the second floor, it will take the imagery of the throat/stomach it seems. With dead bodies sparingly littered around the area and of course my boy Terry Akers. There are quite a bit of fleshy piles littered across this section, indicating why it would be the stomach as we ourselves dissolve our food with little bits of it sometimes getting stuck in the throat and stomach. Finally, you get to the 3rd floor that I always forget the name of. Going off the imagery, it’s the Pancreas and intestines with piles of fleshy mass everywhere and dead bodies littered in every single corner too. It’s pretty obvious that this system is the intestines etc with these factors. Finally, you get to the tubes in Theta where we, Simon, leave this section of the game. Now I could be wrong about the intestines, with this section being either the larger or small intestine. I mean they’re literally a maze of tubes connecting to all the sites seemingly showing us they are the intestines. But other than these factors, the end of the tubes is the anus, where finally the imagery of Theta is done. It’s a very interesting way of thinking what these sites and obviously Theta in particular show us how much work was put in to the game. I mean going off this imagery it’s obvious links to humanity, which is what the game is built around. I’ve just always wanted to talk about this subject since I’ve never seen ANYONE talk about this amazing imagery in the game. Like I said before, there could be other hints of imagery at other sites in the game, but I got midterms so I can’t check those out yet. If you’re reading this really long comment, thanks for taking a read buddy. Do tell me your other thoughts about the game or we can debate about this stuff together.

Cathrine had put Simon to sleep for a couple of reasons.. It would have been painful for simon 1 to suddenly be alone, and the two simons might have fought each other if one was obviously going to progress and the other had to stay on that level. Secondly; It would have been a strain on resources for both simons to try and progress or work together. There was no way for Simon 1 to get down there.. She wanted to keep a divide between the simons to make the wound easier.

The AI is much more in line with real AI tech, not the Superminds we see in Movies. We gave the AI the task to prevent human death, and that is exactly what it did. Perfectly. If someone is suffering, or unable to move, or wants to die isn't part of the task we humans gave it. It found the best way to prevent as much death as possible. It did exactly as asked. Nothing more, nothing less. And that is a real danger of AI, doing exactly what we want it to, but Humans not making the task clear enough.

Great. Now I have the Iron Lung and the SOMA Icebergs with the greatest most tranquilizer voice to listen to while falling asleep! btw. Love your vids, keep it going man

I love how both the ARC and the WOW basically does the same thing, uploading and trapping consciousnesses in a virtual reality paradise.

23:35 is the best summarization of the whole 'coin toss' some people find it hard to wrap their heads around. It's just a change of perspective, a meta thing the game does because the 'new' Simons are what progresses the story. The game follows them like a cameraman in a movie follows the part of tue shot where there's action. The only 'coin toss' there is is the one that decides which of the copies survives/gets to progress (and that isn't really random chance, it's the result of the 'old' copy's actions) and not which of the bodies the 'real' version will 'inhabit'.