Frictional Games just dropped the announcement for Ontos at The Game Awards 2025, and it’s exactly what you’d hope for from the studio that traumatized us with SOMA and Amnesia. This is their most ambitious project ever, over 10 years in development, featuring Golden Globe winner Stellan Skarsgård, and tackling the nature of reality itself. If SOMA made you question consciousness and what it means to be human, Ontos wants to shatter your understanding of existence entirely. It’s set in a creepy repurposed moon hotel called Samsara, launches in 2026, and based on the trailer, it looks appropriately horrifying.
From Consciousness to Reality
Thomas Grip, creative director and co-founder of Frictional Games, explained the philosophical jump from SOMA to Ontos: “Where SOMA tackled consciousness, ONTOS aims to do the same thing with the very nature of reality.” That’s a lofty goal, possibly an impossible one, but if anyone can pull it off, it’s the team that made SOMA one of the most thought-provoking horror games ever created. SOMA forced players to confront what makes someone “them” when their body is gone and their mind is copied into machines. Ontos apparently goes deeper.
Grip admits it’s a risky project with ambitious thematic goals, but he believes they’ve created “a game that lets you actively engage with the mysteries of existence headfirst.” He’s personally dying to see how players react to it, which is both exciting and terrifying. When horror developers are eager to watch players squirm, you know they’ve cooked up something special. Or deeply disturbing. Probably both.
Welcome to Hotel Samsara
You play as Aditi Amani, a resourceful engineer exploring the moon hotel Samsara in search of truth about her estranged father. Samsara is a vast labyrinth built atop the ruins of a failed mining colony, an open and interconnected environment that you’ll navigate while uncovering cryptic experiments and unsettling encounters. The hotel concept is perfect for horror because hotels are inherently liminal spaces, places where people pass through but don’t belong. Now add “on the moon” and “built on failed colony ruins” and you’ve got nightmare fuel.
The name Samsara is significant. In Buddhist and Hindu philosophy, Samsara refers to the cycle of death and rebirth, the endless loop of existence driven by karma. Naming the location after this concept suggests Ontos will deal with cycles, repetition, and the inability to escape certain patterns. Given Frictional’s love of philosophical horror, expect that name choice to be deeply meaningful to the story.
No Single Solution
Frictional emphasizes that there’s no “one solution” to obstacles in Ontos. You’ll need to use ingenuity and resourcefulness to find your own path through challenges. This approach fits perfectly with their design philosophy. Amnesia let players solve problems creatively rather than forcing linear solutions. SOMA presented moral choices without clear right answers. Ontos continues this tradition of respecting player agency and intelligence.
Gameplay involves scavenging materials, manipulating intricate machinery, and engaging with analog systems requiring careful calibration and hands-on interaction. This tactile, systems-driven experience means you’re not just clicking highlighted objects. You’re actually working with complex mechanisms, figuring out how things function, and potentially breaking them if you’re not careful. It’s immersive sim design applied to psychological horror.
Stellan Skarsgård’s Mysterious Role
Golden Globe winner Stellan Skarsgård is part of Ontos’s talented voice cast, though his exact role hasn’t been revealed yet. Skarsgård is known for bringing gravitas and complexity to roles, from his terrifying turn in Lars von Trier films to his scene-stealing work in Marvel movies and Dune. Having an actor of his caliber involved signals that Frictional is investing heavily in narrative performance and production values.
The trailer features a disturbing voiceover that’s likely Skarsgård, speaking about experiments, consequences, and the nature of reality. Whether he’s playing Aditi’s father, a scientist involved with Samsara’s secrets, or something more sinister remains unclear. But hearing that distinctive voice in a Frictional Games horror context is already unsettling.
The Horrific Experiments
Throughout Samsara, you’ll encounter horrific Experiments (capitalized deliberately by Frictional) and face intense tests of morality. The trailer shows glimpses of body horror, people undergoing disturbing procedures, and reality warping in unnatural ways. These aren’t just jump scares or monster encounters. They’re philosophically unsettling scenarios that force you to confront uncomfortable truths.
Frictional clarified that while players will encounter horrific scenes, this isn’t purely a horror game in the traditional sense. It’s more accurately described as an unsettling and unnerving thriller. Think of how SOMA balanced existential dread with moments of genuine terror. You weren’t constantly running from monsters, but the atmosphere kept you on edge, and when horrific encounters did happen, they hit harder because they weren’t constant.
Built on HPL4 Engine
Ontos runs on Frictional’s new proprietary HPL4 engine, the latest evolution of the technology powering their games since Penumbra. Each engine iteration has brought significant improvements to visuals, physics, and interactivity. HPL4 should enable more complex environmental interactions, better lighting for atmospheric horror, and improved character animations to sell the body horror elements shown in the trailer.
The trailer’s visuals look significantly more detailed than SOMA, which makes sense given the decade of development and engine improvements. The moon hotel setting allows for stark contrasts between sterile sci-fi environments and organic decay where the failed colony underneath bleeds through. Those visual contrasts between clean future tech and rotting infrastructure should create powerful atmospheric tension.
Over 10 Years in Development
Grip mentioned that Ontos has been in development for more than 10 years, making it the longest development cycle of any Frictional project. That’s a massive investment of time and resources for an indie studio. SOMA released in 2015, meaning they started conceptualizing Ontos around the same time or shortly after. Grip noted there were “lingering concepts about how we could advance the experience” from SOMA that they wanted to explore further.
However, Ontos isn’t just SOMA 2. It’s a spiritual successor, meaning it shares thematic DNA and design philosophy without being a direct sequel. You don’t need to play SOMA first, though fans of that game will likely appreciate the connections and evolution of ideas. The move from underwater research facility to moon hotel, from questioning consciousness to questioning reality itself, represents natural progression rather than repetition.
Frictional’s Swedish Team
Ontos is being developed by Frictional’s Swedish team specifically. The studio has multiple teams working on different projects, which explains how they’ve been able to support Amnesia: The Bunker and other titles while Ontos was in development. Having a dedicated team spend a decade refining a single vision should result in a extremely cohesive and polished experience, assuming they didn’t get lost in perfectionism.
Ten years is a long time in game development. Technologies change, design trends evolve, and team members come and go. The fact that Frictional stuck with Ontos for this long suggests deep commitment to realizing their vision rather than chasing market trends. That’s admirable but also risky. The gaming landscape in 2026 will be very different from 2015 when they started. Whether Ontos resonates with modern audiences remains to be seen.
Consequences and Morality
Frictional promises that your choices in Ontos will have consequences. You’ll face intense tests of morality while encountering the Experiments throughout Samsara. This isn’t new for Frictional. SOMA had that devastating choice at the end that forced players to confront whether copying consciousness meant killing the original. Those moral decisions stuck with players precisely because they didn’t have clean answers.
Ontos appears to expand on this by making moral tests a regular occurrence rather than climactic moments. If the Experiments involve people trapped in situations where reality itself is unstable, your choices about helping or abandoning them could have metaphysical implications beyond simple good versus evil. What does it mean to save someone if reality isn’t fixed? If their existence might be an illusion? Those are the kinds of questions Frictional excels at asking.
Released Across Platforms in 2026
Ontos launches in 2026 for PC via Steam, PlayStation 5, and Xbox Series X/S. No specific release window beyond “2026” has been announced, but horror games often target the fall season leading into Halloween. Given the 10-year development cycle, Frictional probably won’t rush the final stretch. They’ll release when it’s ready rather than hitting an arbitrary date.
Kepler Interactive is publishing Ontos, which is interesting. Kepler is a cooperative publishing label created by multiple indie studios including Ebb Software (Scorn) and Awaceb (Tchia). Having a publisher that understands indie development and respects creative vision should help Ontos reach wider audiences without compromising Frictional’s artistic control.
SOMA’s Legacy
SOMA deserved more commercial success than it received. Critics loved it and the horror community recognizes it as a modern classic, but sales were modest compared to its quality and impact. One commenter on the announcement called it “a truly underrated game” and expressed hope that Ontos would be a commercial success for Frictional. That sentiment is shared widely among horror fans who want to see the studio thrive so they can keep making ambitious, thoughtful horror experiences.
The spiritual successor branding should help. People who missed SOMA now have a decade of positive word-of-mouth recommending it. Having Stellan Skarsgård involved generates mainstream attention beyond the usual horror game audience. And the gaming landscape in 2026 is more receptive to narrative-focused experiences than it was in 2015. Ontos has a real shot at being both critically acclaimed and commercially successful if Frictional executes on their vision.
Frequently Asked Questions
What is Ontos?
Ontos is a sci-fi mystery thriller from Frictional Games, positioned as a spiritual successor to SOMA. You play as engineer Aditi Amani exploring a repurposed moon hotel called Samsara to uncover truth about your estranged father while confronting disturbing experiments and questions about reality itself.
When does Ontos release?
2026 for PC, PlayStation 5, and Xbox Series X/S. No specific release window beyond “2026” has been announced yet.
Who is developing Ontos?
Frictional Games, the studio behind SOMA, Amnesia: The Dark Descent, and Amnesia: The Bunker. Specifically, their Swedish team has been developing Ontos for over 10 years.
Is Ontos a horror game?
It’s described as an unsettling and unnerving sci-fi thriller rather than pure horror. Expect disturbing scenes and body horror, but the focus is on psychological dread and philosophical questions about reality rather than constant monster encounters.
Do I need to play SOMA first?
No. Ontos is a spiritual successor, meaning it shares thematic DNA and design philosophy without being a direct sequel. You can play Ontos without having experienced SOMA, though fans of that game will likely appreciate the connections.
Who is Stellan Skarsgård playing?
His specific role hasn’t been revealed. Skarsgård is part of the voice cast, likely playing a significant character given his prominence in the marketing, but whether he’s Aditi’s father or someone else remains unknown.
What themes does Ontos explore?
Where SOMA tackled consciousness and identity, Ontos aims to explore the nature of reality itself. Expect philosophical questions about existence, morality tests with no clear answers, and disturbing revelations that challenge your understanding of what’s real.
What kind of gameplay does Ontos have?
Immersive narrative experience with tactile, systems-driven gameplay. You’ll scavenge materials, manipulate intricate machinery, engage with analog systems requiring calibration, and solve problems with multiple possible solutions. Choices have consequences.
Why This Matters
Frictional Games redefined horror gaming twice already. Amnesia: The Dark Descent proved that making players helpless and vulnerable was more terrifying than giving them weapons. SOMA demonstrated that existential horror about identity and consciousness could be as disturbing as any monster. Now Ontos is attempting to do for reality what SOMA did for consciousness, which is an absurdly ambitious goal that most studios wouldn’t dare attempt.
The fact they spent over 10 years developing this shows genuine commitment to realizing a difficult vision rather than chasing trends or rushing to market. In an industry dominated by live service games, battle royales, and safe sequels, Frictional is making a single-player narrative thriller about philosophical questions that most people avoid thinking about. That’s worth celebrating and supporting regardless of whether Ontos ultimately succeeds at its lofty goals.
Horror games need more projects like this, experiences that trust players to engage with complex ideas and uncomfortable truths. Games that prioritize atmosphere and narrative over constant action. Games that respect your intelligence and aren’t afraid to leave you unsettled rather than providing cathartic violence. If Ontos delivers on even half of what Frictional is promising, it’ll be one of the most important horror releases of 2026. Wishlist it on Steam, tell your SOMA-loving friends, and prepare for your understanding of reality to get thoroughly messed up.