Some studios chase trends. Frictional Games chases the nature of reality.
And based on the reveal of ONTOS at The Game Awards 2025, they’re about to melt our collective brains all over again.
The creators of SOMA and Amnesia have teamed up with Kepler Interactive for their most ambitious project yet, a sci-fi thriller about truth, memory, and the terrifying spaces in between. It’s already shaping up to be one of 2026’s biggest narrative releases, especially now that Frictional has Golden Globe winner Stellan Skarsgård in the cast. A flex.
ONTOS will launch on PC, PS5, and Xbox Series X|S next year. Wishlist it while your sense of self is still intact.
Welcome to Samsara
In ONTOS, you play as Aditi Amani, an engineer searching for her estranged father inside Samsara, a repurposed luxury moon hotel built on the bones of a failed mining colony.
It’s lonely, it’s labyrinthine, and every corner has a story that probably does not want to be found.
Players will:
- Scavenge tools and components
- Solve environmental puzzles
- Tinker with intricate machinery
- Uncover Experiments that feel morally cursed
- Decide who Aditi becomes by the end
There’s no single solution to anything. ONTOS is built for curiosity, problem-solving gremlins, and people who love stories that refuse to hand themselves over neatly. (So… Unruly Folk.)
Watch the official ONTOS reveal trailer below:
A Spiritual Successor to SOMA
Frictional Games says ONTOS picks up the thematic torch from SOMA, but pushes even further.
Where SOMA tackled consciousness, ONTOS is about the nature of reality itself.
Go big or go home.
Creative director Thomas Grip describes it as their “most ambitious project yet,” and honestly, this team has never missed when it comes to atmosphere, dread, and narrative weirdness. ONTOS looks dense, layered, and uncomfortably human. The good stuff.
Kepler Interactive Keeps Winning
Between Clair Obscur: Expedition 33, Pacific Drive, Sifu and now ONTOS, Kepler Interactive is fully in its arthouse blockbuster era.
They’ve become the publisher to watch, curating bold, auteur-driven titles with style and narrative teeth. ONTOS fits that ethos perfectly: Odd, gorgeous, and built by people who know what they want to say.
We are absolutely here for the Kepler Cinematic Universe of Weird.
What We Know So Far
- ONTOS is developed using Frictional’s new HPL4 engine
- Story involves existential mystery, sci-fi horror elements, and non-linear problem-solving solving
- Aditi Amani might be one of the most interesting protagonists Frictional has written
- The Samsara Moon Hotel is open, sprawling, and full of narrative threads
- There’s a heavy emphasis on player-driven morality
- It already feels like a GOTY contender for 2026
Related Links
- Official Website: https://ontosgame.com
- Frictional Games: https://frictionalgames.com
- Kepler Interactive: https://kepler-interactive.com
TLDR;
- Frictional Games announces ONTOS, a sci-fi mystery thriller for 2026
- Spiritual successor to SOMA with a heavier focus on the nature of reality
- Features Stellan Skarsgård
- Built in the new HPL4 engine with Kepler Interactive publishing
- Wishlist now on PC, PS5, Xbox Series X|S
ONTOS looks like the next big psychological narrative juggernaut. We’re ready to be ruined.
Stay unruly.
