[gtsteve]

It's got some brilliant writing and voice acting as well. It's also not too long a game, I played about an hour a night and completed it in a week. It's not a giant time sink like some games try to be.

I'm definitely interested to hear about similar games - I was never able to find anything that quite compared. Amnesia looked quite dated and unpolished by comparison after playing SOMA and I couldn't quite get into it.

[jjoonathan]

I've never found anything that compared either.

I recently had another pleasant hard sci-fi surprise, though: Horizon Zero Dawn. I didn't expect it to take the backstory (or even the main story) seriously, but it did, and it did a brilliant job of it.

[wheybags]

I had exactly the same prejudice. "Shoot robot dinos with a bow and arrow" doesn't sound like a premise that could possibly have a decent underlying story, but they actually pulled it off.

[ehnto]

There is nothing like the story and atmosphere of SOMA, but some notable games in the ballpark of "unique, low combat, engaging story" are:

Obduction, The Talos Principle, Alien Isolation (some combat), INFRA (creepier than expected)

[account42]

Frictional's first game, Penumbra: Overture also fits in my opinion (although not if you already consider Amnesia to be too dated).

[Ace17]

I found Kairo to be a little gem in this style.