During The Game Awards, which were held last week, we got a deluge of announcements, many for new games. One such announcement was for a game called ONTOS, a first-person sci-fi mystery thriller slated to release in 2026 across PC, PS5, and Xbox Series.
Check out all of the winners and the announcements at The Game Awards 2025.
The game is being developed by Frictional Games, the Indie studio behind the Amnesia series and the critically acclaimed SOMA, the latter of which ONTOS is a spiritual successor to. You can watch the announcement trailer that was shown during the TGAs below.
According to the game’s press release, in ONTOS, players will become Aditi Amani, an engineer who is in search of the truth about her estranged father on the repurposed moon hotel Samsara. Built atop an old mining colony, Aditi will have to explore this interconnected, maze-like environment, where stories and revelations are tucked away, lying just below the surface.
Gameplay will consist of scavenging for useful tools, manipulating intricate machinery, and facing intense moral quandaries as players come face-to-face with horrific Experiments throughout Samsara. With no ‘one solution’ to any given obstacle, players will have to rely on their wits and ingenuity to uncover the mysteries at the heart of ONTOS and deal with their choices.
ONTOS will also feature Golden Globe-winning actor Stellan Skarsgård among its voice cast, as no doubt many of you have already picked up from the trailer.
“After more than 10 years of development it is incredibly exciting to finally announce ONTOS. This is easily our most ambitious project yet in terms of scope, production values, and sheer thematic ambitions,” says Thomas Grip, creative director and co-founder of Frictional Games. “Where SOMA tackled consciousness, ONTOS aims to do the same thing with the very nature of reality. A lofty goal – yes – and a risky one too. I feel we have managed to create something that does just that though – a game that lets you actively engage with the mysteries of existence headfirst. I am personally dying to see how players react to it.”
Frictional Games has found a publishing partner for ONTOS in Kepler Interactive, the publisher behind such titles as Sifu, Pacific Drive, Rematch, Ultros, and most notably, Clair Obscur: Expedition 33, which one a record-breaking 9 awards at the TGAs, including Game of the Year.
ONTOS was originally announced back in September of this year, via an innovative and immersive ARG (Alternate Reality Game) made in collaboration with Kepler Interactive. Through a mysterious clue found in SOMA’s 10th anniversary update on PC, players discovered a series of social accounts, websites, and strange messages that led them to uncover some early teases about ONTOS’ philosophical story themes and locations.
Hopefully, we won’t have to wait long to see more of the game and get a release date, so be sure to check back here at the GSC in the future!
Wishlist ONTOS now on PC, PlayStation 5, and Xbox Series X|S ahead of its release in 2026.
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