SOMA creators delay ONTOS to 2027
ONTOS, the next game from Frictional Games — the Swedish studio behind SOMA and Amnesia — won't arrive in 2026. The developer confirmed the title is now targeting 2027, per Gematsu, for PS5, Xbox Series X/S, and PC via Steam and the Epic Games Store. If you were looking forward to one of the more ambitious narrative horror games on the horizon, you'll have to wait a little longer.
The game
ONTOS was announced at The Game Awards 2025 and immediately caught attention. It's a spiritual successor to SOMA — Frictional's 2015 sci-fi horror game that sold over a million copies on PC by 2021 — and has been in development for more than a decade, as noted by Wikipedia). The setup: protagonist Aditi Amani travels to the Samsara, a hotel built on the ruins of a lunar mining colony, after her late father — a brilliant scientist turned reluctant prophet — leaves a cryptic will asking her to find his legacy there. Things, predictably, get dark fast.
The studio describes ONTOS as narrative-first, leaning on moral choices rather than combat — the same design DNA that made SOMA a cult hit. What makes it stand out from the crowded horror field is the voice cast: actor Stellan Skarsgård (Dune, Chernobyl) is involved, lending the project a cinematic weight unusual for an indie studio.
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— ONTOS (@ONTOS_Official) July 2, 2026
ONTOS is our most ambitious game to date, both in terms of its size and scale, and in the depth and layers of our story and gameplay.
In order to deliver this vision, we have decided to push the release of ONTOS to 2027.
We look forward to sharing more updates about… pic.twitter.com/QUllB7afdu
The delay
Frictional kept the explanation brief. The studio said ONTOS is "our most ambitious game to date, in terms of scope, story depth, and gameplay complexity," and that realizing that vision required more time. No specific technical or creative setback was cited — just ambition outpacing the original schedule.
That's a familiar story in the industry right now: developers are increasingly choosing a delayed release over a rough launch. For a studio whose reputation rests entirely on atmosphere and story, shipping something unfinished would carry real risk.
What to expect
No pricing, no localization details, and no exact release window within 2027 have been confirmed yet. The platforms are locked in — PS5, Xbox Series X/S, Steam, and Epic Games Store — so at least console and PC players know it's coming their way. Frictional says more news on characters and the game's world is coming soon.
Given SOMA's legacy and the ten-plus years of development behind ONTOS, the extra wait is probably worth tolerating.