Upcoming Horror Game SOMA Has A Safe Mode

Frictional Games made waves back in 2015 with the release of SOMA for PC and PlayStation 4. The game was a terrifying ride through an underwater base in an attempt to escape from some genetic monstrosities. Well, the game will finally make its way to the Xbox One this holiday season starting December 1st but when it does it will include a new game mode.

IGN is reporting that Frictional Games will release SOMA onto the Xbox One starting December 1st and it will come with a Safe Mode. This will be the first time that the horror survival title will be on an Xbox console. The Safe Mode will also roll out simultaneously for PC in addition to being available for the Xbox One. The mode will also be available for the PlayStation 4 but it won't be available on December 1st. The Safe Mode will launch for Sony's system at a later date, but the developers didn't specify when the mode would be coming to the PS4.

So what exactly does the Safe Mode do for a game like SOMA? Well, for gamers interested in playing the game without having to worry about dying, getting caught, or being overrun by the monsters that roam throughout the game's terrifying underwater facility, you can use the Safe Mode to travel around, identical to the "Wuss Mode" mod that came out a year ago.

All of the enemies will no longer pose a threat to the player, meaning you can examine and explore the game world without worrying about constantly being followed and killed by the game's enemies.

SOMA played out similar to Frictional Games' other title, Amnesia, where players would encounter dark forces and the screen would get hazy and blurry and hard to see. In Amnesia players had to rely on moving around and about while avoiding the dark spaces and the creepy rooms. In SOMA it's a little difficult to avoid the creepy places because the entire facility is creepy.

It makes sense that a Safe Mode would be made available for a game like this given that in order to progress through many of the segments you have to directly move past or through or around some of the monsters that haunt the halls of the underwater research facility the PATHOS-II.

Just like Frictional Games' other titles, you won't be able to fight back against the enemies, which is why the Safe Mode does make sense. Given the many small corridors, hallways, and junctions you have to pass through in SOMA and how the enemies are usually always there to foil your pathway, it's sensible that if you keep getting killed the Safe Mode will be able to better engage in the game's philosophically driven story mode.

It's hard to talk about the story without spoiling anything, but essentially players take on the role of Simon Jarrett as he attempts to navigate his way through the story and escape from the facility.

The game was reviewed quite well when it first released back in 2015 and soon Xbox One gamers will be able to get in some game time with the title as well. There has yet to be any info about the game having 4K or HDR support for the Xbox One X, which is something that's kind of disappointing. It also doesn't appear in the game list of Xbox One X-supported titles, so you won't get any additional benefits if you did decide to purchase the game for Microsoft's new console.