There’s more happening at Frictional than just Amnesia.
Developer Frictional Games is currently working on the fourth game in their iconic horror franchise, Amnesia (for all the creepy details, check out our interview with the developers right here). Titled Amnesia: The Bunker, the game looks gloomy and fiddly in that distinctly Amnesia way, and its World War I setting holds new horrors and surprises for players who appreciate its whole brand of ‘helpless horror.’
But some gamers may also know Frictional as the developer behind SOMA, the sub-aquatic sci-fi horror-tinged game that came out in 2015, and have long been curious about whether the much-loved game would ever receive a follow-up. Well, during DualShockers’ chat with Fredrik Olsson, Creative Lead on Amnesia: The Bunker, we found out that Amnesia isn’t the only game Frictional is currently working on a game that, while by no means a sequel to SOMA, will be more in that style than the Amnesia series.
Here’s what Olsson told DualShockers when asked about SOMA: “We are still very much interested in doing more SOMA-style stuff. He [Frictional Games co-founder Thomas Grip] is still very much working on a bigger project that you can say has much more of this kind of philosophical stuff like you saw in SOMA.” Olsson didn’t reveal more about the game, but if this job posting for a Narrative Designer from January is anything to go by, the game will be a blend of “sci-fi and horror,” much like SOMA was.
SOMA was a fascinating beast. Despite its horror atmosphere, the game was less focused around running away from monsters and ghouls than Amnesia, with its story exploring themes like consciousness, free will, and artificial intelligence. In fact, in 2017, a couple of years after the game’s release, Frictional actually added a ‘Safe Mode’ to the game, which removes the monsters so that players could focus instead on the story.
During our interview, Olsson also gave a hint as to what kind of games we can expect more broadly from Frictional going forward. “As for what the future will hold, if anything you’ll experience maybe more gameplay-focused experiences from us, but that doesn’t mean that we won’t also be doing cool, thought-provoking, and philosophical stories, because they can exist together,” he told us. “It doesn’t have to be a walking sim for it to have an intriguing story.”
There’s no word on release dates for this SOMA-style game that’s in the works, but Amnesia: The Bunker is set to come out May 15, 2023, following a short delay.
