Make sure that you have updated graphics card drivers
Because SOMA uses OpenGL 3.3, your graphics card may not support the minimum version required or your drivers may be outdated even though you can run most other games (which use Direct3D). In order to learn more visit the Graphics Card Troubleshooting Guide.
Make sure the game is updated
Disable performance demanding features
Some of the game settings are very demanding for certain computers. Here is a list of the most performance heavy options in the game:
- Anti-Aliasing: Smoothes out visible edges in the image. It might make the game run quite slow on older computers and should give a good boost if disabled.
- World reflection: A few levels have full world reflection which can be quite heavy on some cards. Check first and then disable if needed, although world reflection looks very pretty! If removing world refection helps a lot, consider first turning down SSAO settings before turning off world reflection.
- Shadow Quality: Put this to Low for a large boost in fps, but less smooth shadows. Medium should almost have as good quality as high, so if you want to give a little boost, setting it from high to medium is a good option.
- SSAO on/off: For older cards, turning off SSAO can increase performance a bit. Make sure to turn up gamma slightly though as having it off makes the screen brighter. Also note that some older cards might freeze if SSAO is on (due to shaders running in software).