If you’ve been playing through SOMA (which, if you’re a horror fan, you should be doing right now), perhaps you’ve encountered an issue with progression in a specific area.
Before you read on, some of the stuff discussed might be considered spoiler-ish for some, but it might be a risk you need to take to make sure you don’t experience what I did.
While the CURIE section is laid out in such a way that you can end up skipping an entire section, the game is designed to work with you if you don’t see an escape vessel the first time through that area. However, in the Delta area, a nasty, game progress-stopping bug can arise in rare circumstances. If you find yourself unable to progress in Delta, then please read ahead.
The issue occurs in the Delta area, as indicated above. This is the area with an insane robot that talks to itself and hardly seems to notice you, along with the rather cute K8 helper unit. After exploring the area for a while, eventually you will figure out how the nearby antenna relay works (I’m not just going to give the answer to you!), and you call in Zepplin 049. This is where things may go wrong. You’ll know there’s an issue when the cargo that has been dropped off by the Zepplin does nothing. There is a crate, but you cannot open it. What looks like an Omnitool station appears inert. There’s a power switch — aha! But alas, all attempts to use it will be fruitless.
Don’t start thinking you overlooked something; you haven’t. No, in fact, if you cannot insert your Omnitool into the Zepplin’s controls, then there is nothing to be done. Simply save your game, or perhaps not, and exit to the main menu. Next, pick “Load Game,” and choose your last autosave in the CURIE section. This will likely drop you into the escape pod that you just recently left the CURIE in, right before you have to pull the power cords and run for your life.
Repeat this section, but be sure you get this part right! If you die here, the game will inexplicably reload the newest autosave as generated in the Delta section, and you’re right back to square one — the glitch will most likely still be active. Once you do make it aboard the escape ship (again), the Delta section should load up once more. Run through the level, communicate with the proper Zepplin, and cross your fingers. If the Omnitool station still refuses to respond, then reload that save from the CURIE section again. Rinse as repeat as needed; I only had to do this reload twice, because I failed escaping from the CURIE on my first reload.
Have you experienced any other glitches in your first hours with SOMA? Or has your experience been far more glitch-free? Let us know in the comments below!
