Frictional's latest sci-fi horror adventure Soma is a clever piece of philosophical pondering wrapped up in a stylish H.R. Giger-inspired package. To further flesh out its ominous universe, Frictional is releasing a series of live-action webisodes set as a prequel to the game.

Released daily between now and 5th October, these shorts set up what life was like on Pathos II before everything went wrong.

The first episode, below, contains minor spoilers for the story. It's nothing beyond what you'd gather from the game's first hour, but if you wan to go into Soma completely cold (which I'd recommend), you should probably watch this after playing the game.

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You may remember two years ago Frictional released two live-action teaser trailers for Soma. These new episodes star the same actors, but where the earlier teasers opted for a single-shot fixed camera emulating found footage, this new prologue spin-off is filmed in a more cinematic style with more tightly edited cuts.

Unfortunately, the acting still leaves something to be desired, and the dialogue can be quite clumsy at times (much as it was for the game). If anything, this debut episode proves how much better Soma works as a piece of interactive fiction, as even its smart ideas fail to come across as anything novel in this awkwardly staged adaptation.

As for Soma the game, Frictional noted on Twitter that a patch is out now for the PC version that fixes crashes, stuttering, and missing levers and cabinet doors. PS4 owners will have to wait until later this week for this update as it needs to go through certification first.