Frictional Games, the team behind horror hits like SOMA and Amnesia, didn’t show up at this year’s Horror Game Awards Halloween Showcase, but it’s kicking spooky season off right with a brand-new reveal. Working with Kepler Interactive, the studio released a creepy teaser for a new project called Hotel Samsara. The short video features mysterious shots of an eerie, empty hotel, accompanied by strange chanting in the background, ending with a voice saying “something new.”
Along with the teaser, a website went live that looks like it’s promoting a fancy investment opportunity. It promises a luxury experience and even includes fake reviews. But fans quickly realized this wasn’t just a normal game announcement–it was the start of a hidden puzzle.
It’s been pointed out that one paragraph had certain bolded letters. When put together, the letters spelled out “steganog,” which might be short for “steganography”–hiding secret messages inside normal text or images.
After signing up for email updates, users received strange messages with hidden phrases like “FOLLOWERS OF __.” These clues sparked a full-blown mystery, with fans delving into the website, emails, and even old game files to uncover answers. Many believe this new project could be connected to SOMA, or possibly a brand-new horror story.
As the community solved clue after clue, Frictional Games posted a thank-you message along with the teaser. “We really wanted to try and create something fun to show you a bit of what we’ve been working on,” its said. “What we didn’t expect is just how much you would impress us with your ability to all come together as a community and work with each other to solve everything we threw at you.” The studio even admitted it had to make the puzzles harder once it saw how quickly fans were solving them.
Frictional also said how much fun they had watching the community come together–not just to solve puzzles, but also to create jokes, memes, and theories.
“It’s been a pleasure, waking up excited every morning to check the Discord and seeing which rabbit holes you ended up falling into,” it continued. While we still don’t know exactly what Hotel Samsara is, one thing is clear: Frictional has once again captured fans’ attention with their unique mix of mystery, horror, and storytelling. Whether this turns out to be SOMA 2 or something completely new, the hype has already begun.
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