At The Game Awards, we got a first look at Ontos, the next game from Amnesia and SOMA developer Frictional Games.
Ontos takes things back to the sci-fi horror flavoring of SOMA, and is described as a spiritual successor to the 2015 game.
Ontos Trailer Checks In to a Hotel of Horrors
The cinematic trailer for Ontos is narrated by the excellent Stellan Skarsgård and sees a mysterious protagonist emerge from a pod in search of answers at a strange hotel on a moon base.
The official description leaves a bit of mystery, but gives you a decent idea of what to expect from Ontos.
What begins as a search for answers quickly spirals into something far stranger. As you delve deeper, guided by fragments of your father’s past, you must confront disturbing revelations about the nature of reality- and your place in it. Your beliefs will be questioned, and you will be pushed far out of your comfort zone. Choose your path and face the consequences.
Ontos features an immersive narrative with a tactile, systems-driven gameplay experience. Ingenuity and research are your greatest weapons. You’ll scavenge materials, manipulate intricate machinery, and engage with analog systems requiring careful calibration and hands-on interaction. Planning is key, choose wisely or suffer the consequences. There’s no ‘one solution’; instead, the goal is what you can make of a situation.
Ontos is scheduled to arrive in 2026 on PS5, Xbox Series X/S, and Steam.
After building an iconic horror gaming legacy with the Penumbra series and Amnesia: The Dark Descent, the Swedish developer made its most revered title in SOMA, a celebrated sci-fi horror game that remains one of the best-written horror games of all time.
Frictional returned to Amnesia seven years after The Dark Descent in 2020 with Amnesia: Rebirth, a divisive follow-up (that I absolutely love). Then, in 2023, the developer experimented with an action survival horror approach for the series in Amnesia: The Bunker. It proved to be a success and showed a new side of Frictional.
