Soma’s central philosophical horror is established early and reinforced throughout: consciousness copying produces two identical individuals, not one transferred consciousness. When protagonist Simon Jarrett uses the Structure Gel to ‘transfer’ to a new body, both Simons exist — one remains behind, one continues forward. The game never lets this be ambiguous.
What Frictional Games built into this scenario: every player choice about which version of Simon to prioritise was meaningless. There is no way to choose which Simon gets to continue. The transfer always leaves one behind. The player’s sense of narrative agency over Simon’s survival was, from the first transfer, a feeling without a corresponding fact.
The game ends with Simon-in-the-ARK — a version of Simon in a simulated paradise — unable to help the Simon in the physical world who continues existing in deteriorating conditions. Both Simons are real. Both Simons know about each other. The ending is not death; it is the permanent coexistence of two people who will never meet.
Frictional built SOMA as the game that explores what identity means when it can be copied — and answers that the question remains unanswerable even when it becomes your immediate problem.
This is why I always check every corner. Never know what’s been left for the observant player.
Environmental storytelling on another level. Thanks for documenting this so clearly.