Sometimes, a game developer becomes so adept at a specific genre that you have to take note when they make something new. For instance, I don’t think I’ll ever let a roguelike developed by the Hades team, Supergiant Games, fly under my radar ever again.
If psychological horror is more your thing, you’ll likely already know about Frictional Games and its legendary game Amnesia: The Dark Descent. Well, the same devs also made a science-fiction-based horror game called SOMA, and it’s currently only $3 on Steam for the 2025 Autumn Sale.
SOMA is currently 90% off for the Steam Autumn Sale
If you’ve never heard of the title before, SOMA was released back in 2015 but continues to scare people to this day. It doesn’t rely on cheap jump scares to get its kicks, instead relying on the amazing atmosphere that Frictional Games have mastered over the years. However, it also prompts you to think about humanity and identity, as well as where the line between a person and an AI is drawn.
Here’s how Frictional Games describes it:
The radio is dead, food is running out, and the machines have started to think they are people. Underwater facility PATHOS-II has suffered an intolerable isolation and we’re going to have to make some tough decisions. What can be done? What makes sense? What is left to fight for?
Enter the world of SOMA and face horrors buried deep beneath the ocean waves. Delve through locked terminals and secret documents to uncover the truth behind the chaos. Seek out the last remaining inhabitants and take part in the events that will ultimately shape the fate of the station. But be careful, danger lurks in every corner: corrupted humans, twisted creatures, insane robots, and even an inscrutable omnipresent A.I.
You will need to figure out how to deal with each one of them. Just remember there’s no fighting back, either you outsmart your enemies or you get ready to run.
At the time of writing, SOMA has racked up an impressive 95% positive review rate, both in terms of recent reviews and lifetime ones. That puts SOMA in the gold-standard “Overwhelmingly Positive” rating on Steam, which very few games can claim to have. So, if you need a new scary game to play (especially for Halloween), you have until October 6th to grab SOMA for just $3. Sounds like a steal to me.