Rats, brains, and a lunar nightmare: Frictional Games shows 10 minutes of ONTOS gameplay

Frictional Games, the Swedish studio behind SOMA and the Amnesia series, has shown ten minutes of gameplay from ONTOS at gamescom 2026's Opening Night Live. The sequence puts protagonist Aditi Amani inside a horrifying lunar laboratory packed with live rats and a puzzle built around human consciousness — and it's already circulating widely after the August 25 broadcast.

The setup

ONTOS takes place on the moon, inside a repurposed mining-colony hotel called Samsara. Aditi travels there after her late father — a brilliant scientist now regarded by some as a prophet — leaves a will asking her to visit and find his legacy. What she finds are illegal experiments that push well past any ethical line.

The studio describes it as its most ambitious project to date in both scale and narrative depth. Fans of SOMA will recognise the DNA: first-person exploration, environmental storytelling, notes to read, characters to talk to, and puzzles that force you to sit with uncomfortable ideas. The setting and themes are new, though. Where SOMA asked what makes a mind human, ONTOS plants that question in a grotesque physical context — rat brains, living tissue, consciousness transferred in ways that are meant to unsettle.

Stellan Skarsgård provides voice acting, adding a layer of prestige to what is already one of the more anticipated indie horror titles in the pipeline.

The delay and what's next

ONTOS was originally planned for 2026. Frictional confirmed in July that it is now targeting 2027, citing the ambition of the project as the reason. The delay puts it alongside a crowded field of narrative games, but Frictional's track record — SOMA sold 450,000 copies in its first year — gives publisher Kepler Interactive a solid platform to build on.

The game launches on PS5, Xbox Series X/S, and PC. No price or regional exclusivity details have been announced yet. If the gameplay reveal is any indication, ONTOS is shaping up as one of the more genuinely unsettling experiences of 2027.