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The existential dread of horror game Soma has been manifested in a plushieOh good
Oh good
Image credit:Frictional Games
Image credit:Frictional Games
The sinking terror that comes of having no fixed identity and being trapped alone thousands of metres beneath the ocean has been compacted into the soft, comforting (?) form of a plushie. Frictional Games, the creators of first-person horror gameSoma, launchedthe soft toy depictionof the game’s protagonist Simon onMakeship, aka Kickstarter for plushies. Normally, we don’t report on merch - why would we? - but there is something deeply and darkly funny about making a fleece-coated fuzzy huggy wuggy about the psychologically harrowing experience of being forgotten under the sea. Then again, Frictional Games are not the first to do this sort of thing.
The statue of limitations for spoilers on Soma is long gone (and the appearance of the plushie constitutes a spoiler in itself), so let’s remind ourselves why Soma is such a disturbing, philosophical horror.
Stranded, alone, and terrified, you have to listen to their (your?) horrified screams and pleas as you leave them (you?) behind. At the end of the game, you perform one final transference of consciousness to escape the dying facility. A paradise-like storage space for AI awaits, safety from all the grime and rust and fear you’ve gone through. Sanctuary, comfort, companionship. The transfer works!
But this time, you’re the one left behind.
In this light, I could see why someone might want to cuddle Simon. Not for their own sake, but for his. Soma is a game about abandonment, identity, and what it means to have a body (also, one of ourbest horror games). I definitely didn’t play it and think: “Cute!” But at the time of writing over 500 people are willing to pay for an adorable totem of existential isolation, yet more proof that the ambivalent appeal of the cute-horror fusion is real. I can respect that.
Like I say, Frictional Games aren’t the first to farm fuzz from phobia. Edwin points out there is aplushie of Pyramid HeadfromSilent Hill 2, for example. You can also get thecursed monkey pawfrom torch-lit terrorizerPhasmophobia, thegoblin guysfromDread Delusion, and of course themany freaky friendsfromFive Nights At Freddy’s- a horror series ripe for plushification. What makes me marvel at Soma’s plushie is that, while these others represent something unabashedly harmful - monsters, curses, enemies out to get you - poor little Simon is a soft symbol of aconceptualhorror. You can’t defeat or outrun or even hug away the horror of Soma. It makes this little robot fleeceboi all the more unsettling. It is a toy that makes me laugh, nervously.
