YouTuber Jacksepticeye, whose real name is Seán William McLoughlin, recently shared a disheartening update in his video titled 'A Bad Month.' He disclosed that he had been working on an animated show based on the critically acclaimed survival horror science fiction game, Soma, only to see the project fall apart, leaving him "quite upset."
Soma, developed by Frictional Games, the creators of the Amnesia series, was released in 2015 and quickly garnered praise for its immersive storytelling. Jacksepticeye, who has often cited Soma as one of his favorite games, streamed it extensively upon its launch. His passion for the game led him to pursue an animated adaptation.
In his video, Jacksepticeye expressed his frustration over a challenging period marked by the cancellation or stagnation of several creative projects. He revealed that the Soma animated show was a significant endeavor he had been excited about for over a year. The project involved extensive collaboration with the game's developers and was on the brink of entering full production when it unexpectedly collapsed.
“I had a very large creative project that I was very excited to do, and — I don’t actually know if I’m allowed to say what it is — I’m just going to say what it is, and then if I’m not allowed to say it then this next part won’t be in it,” he explained. Jacksepticeye went on to describe his deep affection for Soma, ranking it among his top video games of all time due to its compelling narrative.
He had planned to play the entire game in one video but held off in anticipation of the show's announcement. However, the project disintegrated abruptly after an unnamed party decided to take it "in a different direction," a development that left Jacksepticeye reluctant to delve into specifics due to his emotional response.
“We were making really great progress on that, and then it all just fell apart out of nowhere,” he lamented. The cancellation not only dashed his hopes but also upended his plans for 2025, as he had intended to focus heavily on the show, reducing his usual content uploads.
“I had planned a lot of my year around it. I was like, you know what? I won’t be able to upload as much because I’ll be focusing everything I have into that. But at least I’ll have a really cool creative thing to show off. And I’ll have something for you and we can talk about it and share it and be part of this thing together and have fun with it. And then it all fell apart,” he said, voicing his frustration and uncertainty about his next steps.
Following the release of Soma, Frictional Games continued to expand the Amnesia series with 2020's Amnesia: Rebirth and 2023's Amnesia: The Bunker. In a statement made in July 2023, Frictional's creative director Thomas Grip mentioned the company's intention to move away from solely focusing on horror, aiming to explore other emotional qualities in their games.
"While all of our games have been horror in some way, what we really try to do is to get a kind of playable immersion," Grip stated. "We want to give the player some sort of immersive fantasy, be that being a [World War 1] soldier trapped in a bunker or a robot stuck at the bottom of the ocean. Horror games naturally are where emotions are front and centre. Games really excel at this. However, we are also exploring themes outside of making things spooky."
