SOMA dev introducing a monster-optional 'Safe Mode' to the horror game

When SOMA makes its console debut on Xbox One next month, the game is doing so with one noticeable (and optional) addition. Developer Frictional Games has opted to introduce a 'Safe Mode' to its aquatic horror game that looks pacify to the cast of hostile monsters found in the game.

The mode itself represents a unique way to tweak a game's difficulty outside of the traditional methods and, at the same time, open SOMA up to players that may have had difficulties experiencing what the horror title has to offer in its original form.

There's been debate over the inclusion of a skip-combat option for video games in the past. Horror is one such genre where devs can see how such a feature can potentially open a game up to more players by doing so.

As Rock Paper Shotgun points out, members of SOMA's modding community have made their own attempts at pacifying the game's enemies in the past. With Frictional Games' official Safe Mode however, the ability to play SOMA as a monster-free atmospheric horror game will extend to players on to the Xbox One and, eventually, the PlayStation 4 as well.