For those with SOMA on PC, the horror adventure holds one final puzzle to solve. Inside the installation folder, there’s a password protected .rar called ‘_supersecret’ and a group of clever survival-horror experts have already cracked the code.
Thanks to Redditor Mueckenmann and other support from the comments, the SOMA community have opening the mysterious file. It’s full of concept art, unused models, dropped music, and tons of left-over ideas from when SOMA was still called Depth. Looking at all these behind-the-scenes material, it’s fascinating to see how the game has evolved. Just don’t look until you’ve completed the story. Needless to say, there are major spoilers in the video below.
How to Explore the _supersecret.rar on PC
- 1. Go to the SOMA installation folder. Ex. Program Files (x86)/Steam/SteamApps/Common/SOMA
- 2. Open the file _supersecret.rar
- 3. Input the code: 19PzQ8arc11rkdv
_supersecret.rar Concept Art, Image Files & Video
Thanks to Geek Remix for a complete overview of every file in _supersecret.rar
Along with behind-the-scenes videos showing off glitches and the process used to capture certain sound effects, there are loads of concept art from scenarios and characters that never appear in the finished version of SOMA.
It appears a large cross-section of the game went through significant changes to both the story and the enemies you encounter. The first few hours of SOMA are shown in an edited video, giving a good look at an earlier version of the adventure.
At one point, Simon’s reasons for the brain scan procedure was completely different. Instead of appearing at Pathos-II in the blink of an eye, Simon experiences a dream-like transition as he leaves the hospital, finding himself in an alien environment, and finally discovering Catherine Chun (who herself looks different, with a different voice actor) in the Thermal Plant.
Human enemies in heavy underwater suits called the Cabal were once involved. In the video above, Simon leads one of the cultists into a trap, pulling a switch to electrocute his opponent.
That’s just a portion of all the cut content and ideas presented. WAU once talked, its tendrils growing in real-time to take over environments, while the Subway citizens had their own monstrous alterations. This is just an awesome look into the background of a long-term project. The released version appears to be a far stronger product, but we still wander what could’ve been.
Source: [1]
Kevin Thielenhaus is a freelance writer for The Escapist. Find him on Twitter here.
