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Because SOMA uses OpenGL 3.3, your graphics card may not support the minimum version required or your drivers may be outdated even though you can run most other games (which use Direct3D).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.
Note: This is the proper fix for upside-down graphics as well for the black screen issue that Intel HD cards experience.
Make sure the game is updated
Turn off post effects
Go to Options > Graphics > Advanced and here you can turn on/off all of the different effects in the game. No restart of the game is needed for these changes, so simple go back to game and see if it has been fixed.
Reset game settings
Sometimes changes you have made can cause problems with the game. In order to fix this you need to reset the game's settings. Go to the game's save directory and remove the [username]_user_settings.cfg file. Then start the game and try playing the first level without changing any options. If all works, you can exit the game and carefully change a few settings at a time.
- Vista, 7 & 8.x: Documents\My Games\SOMA\
- Linux: ~/.local/share/frictionalgames/SOMA/
- Mac OS X: ~/Library/Application Support/Frictional Games/SOMA
Steam overlay
The steam overlay can sometimes cause issues. You can disable the overlay using the following:
- Go into Steam > Library
- Right click SOMA and select Properties...
- Uncheck "Enable the Steam Overlay while in-game"
- Uncheck "Use Desktop Game Theather while SteamVR is active"