Ontos Gamescom 2026 Preview: Frictional's Sci-Fi Horror

Ontos is an upcoming sci-fi horror and psychological thriller from Frictional Games, the studio behind Soma and Amnesia: The Dark Descent. It is not an esports game. Frictional describes it as a spiritual successor to Soma, set in a repurposed moon hotel called Samsara. The developer delayed it from 2026 to 2027 on July 2, 2026 (per Game Informer), and it is planned for PlayStation 5, Xbox Series X/S and PC. PCGamesN published a hands-on Gamescom 2026 preview on September 15, 2026, and its writer came away unsure how she felt about it.

What Ontos is

According to Game Informer, players control an engineer named Aditi Amani, who visits the moon hotel Samsara at the invitation of her father, described as a cryptic scientist-turned-prophet. Reality is unstable there, and Aditi has to confront unsettling truths about her father's past and the nature of existence. Wikipedia adds that the game is played from a first-person perspective and that its "Experiments" are narrative puzzles built around moral choices, with several ways to solve most of them.

80 Level quotes Frictional's pitch of an immersive narrative with tactile, systems-driven gameplay: players scavenge materials, manipulate machinery and work with analog systems. Samsara itself is described as an interconnected labyrinth with labs, casinos, empty pools and moon caves.

The game was announced at The Game Awards 2025 and is published by Kepler Interactive, according to Wikipedia. In a social media post reported by Game Informer, Frictional said it needed more time for what it called its most ambitious game to date, and that is why the release moved to 2027.

What PCGamesN saw at Gamescom

The preview, whose headline calls Ontos a game about rats, liars and lying rats, covers a short demo. Here is what she describes:

• The first choice: a captured rodent is wired to a mind-control helmet. Reading the clues nearby lets you free it, or you can put it out of its misery.
• The experiment: the demo's "experiment" (Ontos' word for a level or mission) is about lying. You need an access key held by a scientist called Crombie, whose consciousness appears to be trapped in a circuit board powered by rats, while his body sits in a chair in the next room.
• The three outcomes: the writer describes killing him, freeing him, or letting the network take over his body. She tried more than one and describes the second as uncomfortable to watch.
• The end of the demo: it stops as she enters the next area with the key, so the consequences of her choices are not shown.

The verdict so far

PCGamesN's impression is mixed. She praises the way the game hands you weighty decisions and lets you do harm just because you can, which she finds tantalizing and unsettling in equal measure. She criticises the dialogue and puzzle as heavy-handed: the vocal hints from Aditi and the rat board made the "right" conclusion obvious, and for a game that talks about layers of deception, decision-making felt too easy. She also says the demo ended before she could judge the effect of her choices, and that as it stands she is not sure Ontos reaches the depth of Soma's writing about what it means to be human. She adds that she is still intrigued by what comes next.

This is one person's impression of a short, early demo, so it says little about the finished game.

What we do not know yet

• Exact release date: Frictional and Game Informer say 2027, with no specific date in the sources I retrieved.
• How the choices branch: Wikipedia says the narrative is nonlinear and choices affect the rest of the story, but PCGamesN could only see one short sequence.
• Length and price: neither appears in the sources reviewed here.

Ontos and Soma: how they compare

Frictional calls Ontos a spiritual successor to Soma, meaning it shares philosophical themes and gameplay rather than being a sequel. Wikipedia quotes Frictional founder Thomas Grip as saying Ontos has a more cerebral focus than Amnesia, which was aimed at a primal kind of fear. PCGamesN also notes the Soma DNA, especially the way weighty choices are placed in the player's hands early on.

Frequently Asked Questions

What is Ontos?

A first-person sci-fi horror and psychological thriller from Frictional Games, set in a moon hotel called Samsara.

When is Ontos coming out?

In 2027. Frictional announced the delay from 2026 in July 2026, and no exact date was given in the sources I reviewed.

Which platforms will Ontos launch on?

PlayStation 5, Xbox Series X/S and PC, according to Game Informer and Wikipedia.

Who is the protagonist?

Aditi Amani, an engineer who visits the hotel to learn the truth about her estranged father.

Is Ontos related to Soma?

Frictional describes it as Soma's spiritual successor. It is not a direct sequel.

Sources

• https://www.pcgamesn.com/ontos/gamescom-preview-2026
• https://gameinformer.com/2026/07/02/ontos-the-next-horror-game-by-the-developer-of-soma-and-amnesia-delayed-to-2027
• https://80.lv/articles/horror-game-from-developer-of-soma-amnesia-the-dark-descent-postponed-to-2027
• https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ontos_(video_game)