SOMA (Talking Simulator)

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VileTerror
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SOMA (Talking Simulator)

Postby VileTerror » 30 Mar 2018, 14:56

So, I'm glad to see that Alex and Cam finished SOMA together. I was hoping for a little more depth in analyzing the content of the game, but I suppose that might have to happen in some other venue. Their focus during the analysis seemed to be asking and answering whether SOMA needed the medium of interactive fiction to really convey the themes and narrative effectively. That's not a bad question, but the game raises so many wonderful topics for discussion that I felt a little cheated that they didn't pursue them in greater depth.
I would have especially liked to hear their thoughts on SOMA as an examination of dementia and systemic memory loss. While it's not explicitly stated to be the case with either Catherine or Simon, I thought the subtext pretty quickly established that both of those characters could have been functioning on highly simplified versions of their own original minds. Having worked in a retirement community, I've seen some pretty devastating effects from loss of brain tissue. SOMA spoke to me on a level where it helped me to question just how much I've lost, and just how different of an entity I would be right now if I had never suffered any memory loss or confusion of past events.

I am glad that Cam also made the decision to allow the WAU to "live," and without even having to agonize over it. I've seen so many people online state that they straight up jumped at the chance to murder the next big evolutionary step on earth out of some misplaced atavistic sense of revenge or because they assumed the WAU's actions to be evil.
I feel as though no one ever told those players (or Ross) that Hell isn't real, since there is no form of torture which a human mind won't eventually be able to fetishize. Yeah, an oversimplification, but it has been my experience that the human mind is far more malleable and capable of robust recovery than a lot of people seem to give credit. One may never be able to recover loss memories, but there are numerous examples of people thriving after traumatic brain injuries at the “cost” of becoming “new people.” I felt as though SOMA was hinting at that constantly throughout.

(if someone has the power to get Cam and/or Alex to read this, I would appreciate that. Thank you)

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