Amnesia creators Frictional are teasing what could be Soma 2 through a sinister luxury hotel website

"[Virus Error] You've Ea%ned it"

Amnesia: Rebirth developers Frictional are teasing what appears to beryllium a caller sci-fi crippled by mode of a sneaky update to their heavy oversea fearfulness task Soma. Whatever it is, it involves immoderate godforsaken luxury edifice steeped successful a sheeny firm appropriation of ineffable ideas astir cyclical alteration - a edifice that promises "an retired of this satellite experience". Sounds similar the Dark Descenders are getting into the Dead Space business.

On Monday, the developers softly patched the decade-old Soma to hole "faulty spam filters" connected protagonist Simon's PC, which you tin surf concisely astatine the precise commencement of the game. "Users whitethorn inactive person suspicious correspondence owed to treemail 0.1 filtering process issues," the changelog notes. Then, there's a enactment of illegible text.

Dutifully firing up Soma and checking retired Simon's inbox, we find a caller connection with the taxable line: "[Virus Error] You've Ea%ned it". The email is addressed to [HIGH NET WORTH INDIVIDUAL], and is simply a garbled invitation to put successful thing called "Hotel Samsara" (as helpfully deciphered by Youtuber CheeseYen). Hotel Samsara has a website with a sign-up page, and that website is hella creepy.

"Since clip immemorial mankind has dreamt of the stars and what lies beyond," reads the About section. "Now LuxuryNext is prepared to present connected that promise. Introducing, Hotel Samsara. A spot similar nary other. A committedness similar nary other. Exclusive. Luxurious. In Samsara, wishes volition travel true. Interested successful investing?" There is besides a sinister animation of what appears to beryllium the edifice lobby. It shows a circular aureate partition decoration done shadowy, spiky ferns. My conjecture is that if you put successful Hotel Samsara, your dividends volition instrumentality the signifier of dismemberment/mutation and a consciousness of cosmic despair.

The leafage besides includes endorsements of LuxuryNext, written by western-sounding executives from assorted spot funds and hospitality cartels. "Return connected investment, clip and clip and clip again. I truly bash wonderment what their concealed is?" writes Deborah RD Tory of Gilded Greens Group. There is notation of a antheral called Felix, who appears to beryllium caput of LuxuryNext. The quotes represent him arsenic a "fearless" maverick and risk-taker. Sounds similar evident villain worldly to me. Bet helium has a concealed laboratory of immoderate kind. Bet helium has comic ideas astir reincarnation. It's possibly excessively casual to gully parallels with definite realworld billionaires who made a information of their megabucks from precise costly hotels.

As for "samsara" oregon "saṃsāra", I tin accidental small beyond pointing you astatine the Wikipedia page, which characterises it arsenic a Sanskrit word for the "cyclicity of each life, matter, and existence". It suggests that the Hotel Samsara crippled volition beryllium different 1 of Frictional's spooky philosophical thought experiments. The website besides includes what appears to beryllium in-game imagery of a circular geometric signifier that resembles a mandala oregon a bhavachakra.

I spoke to 1 of Frictional's apical brass astatine the Game Developers Conference successful San Francisco past year. He mentioned that they had 1 oregon 2 unannounced projects connected the boil, pursuing the precise bully Amnesia: The Bunker. Given that it was teased successful Soma, the Hotel Samsara crippled is apt to beryllium a sequel, but it could besides beryllium a caller Amnesia crippled - Amnesia has explored connections betwixt its debts from Lovecraft and real-world spiritual concepts and folklore, arsenic successful the djinn passages from Rebirth. With each that successful mind, I'm a small disquieted astir the crippled being an orientalising dog's meal of ideas from Buddhism, Jainism and Hinduism, but I conjecture they've allowed for that by presenting it each arsenic the queasy branding of a corp in-game.

Who knows, possibly we'll get a trailer successful the people of Tokyo Game Show this week - oregon tonight's astonishment State Of Play broadcast from Sony. In the meantime, determination is astir apt much to glean oregon decipher from that website. Let maine cognize if you stumble connected immoderate caller details.

Update: Oh look astatine that - the edifice website privateness argumentation redirects to Kepler Interactive.