Preview: You need nerves of steel for 'Ontos'
"Ontos" relies on disgusting horror scenarios and puzzles. Jumpscares, enemies, or action? None to be found. Can that work?
The Swedish development studio Frictional Games ("Soma", "Amnesia") is working on a particularly disturbing treat for horror fans. Their new sci-fi thriller "Ontos" eschews cheap jumpscares and monsters. Instead, the game confronts me with psychological horror and difficult decisions.
"Ontos" is not scheduled for release until next year – but I have already played through the playable nightmare in advance. My first impression: those Swedes are crazy. And I mean that as a compliment.
Off to Samsara
In "Ontos", I investigate the lunar hotel Samsara. Where guests once stayed overnight, terrible experiments are now being conducted. Mad scientists are tackling the big questions of existence. What does it mean to exist? Is there such a thing as a soul? And what is "reality" anyway?
As you might imagine, such questions cannot be answered with conventional methods. In the Samsara Hotel, brutal experiments are used to cross every moral boundary. Human dignity is not inviolable here; it is trampled underfoot. Sometimes it is also pierced, sliced, and electrified by abstruse machines.
Source: Kepler Interactive
My father was significantly involved in this nightmare. Well, not my father, but the father of the player character, Aditi Amani. He led the research facility and was celebrated as a prophet by his subordinates.
After his mysterious passing, I explore his legacy on the moon and search for answers amidst failed experiments and insane scientists.
During my moon expedition, I immediately notice how pretty "Ontos" looks – and how claustrophobic Samsara feels. I explore exclusively narrow corridors and small rooms. In return, the game environment is all the more packed with details.
Every texture looks razor-sharp, and even the smallest elements have been elaborately modeled. That's a good thing, because while I search the rooms full of scientific equipment for clues, I am very close to the objects with the first-person camera.
Source: Kepler Interactive
Tactile interaction options also ensure closeness. For example, I don't just open doors with the press of a button, but use the right analog stick to interact with them: I first push a safety lever down and then pull the door towards me. In another place, I cut through electrical cables with a soldering iron or type passwords on a touchscreen.
I like this analog, "hands-on" control. It reminds me of VR games where I have to lend a hand myself. The game world feels much more credible due to the manual interactions.
Source: Kepler Interactive
Experiments with rat servers
On my expedition in the preview demo, I discover an intercom through which one of the researchers makes contact with me – Doctor Zike. He seems to be locked up somewhere. His colleague, Doctor Crombie, on the second floor could give me a badge that would allow me to reach Zike. But be careful – I should stay away from the experiment.
Arriving on the second floor, I stumble involuntarily over the ominous experiment in Crombie's dark lab. A bald man with bloodshot eyes sits apathetically on an office chair. He is drooling and wheezing. Neurological probes are stuck in his head.
A repulsive sight – and a perfect example of the kind of horror with which "Ontos" wants to give me nightmares.
Source: Kepler Interactive
Suddenly, someone speaks to me: "Who's there? Don't touch anything before I talk to you." The voice comes from a part of the room that is separated by an iron curtain. I run to the partition, push it aside (again with the right analog stick, of course), and see an even more disturbing sight than before.
A wall full of pinned rats. Small monitors next to the rodents reveal to me that, contrary to their lifeless appearance, they still have a heartbeat. Similar neurological probes to those I saw on the half-dead man in the office chair protrude from the animals' heads. It looks as if the rats are connected to each other via the probes.
Source: Kepler Interactive
And suddenly the voice sounds again from a small loudspeaker in front of the hellish apparatus. While the stranger speaks to me, the rat wall awakens. Their jerky movements and squeaking suggest that the animals are suffering hellish torment.
"Thank God you've come!", the voice screams while the rats writhe in pain. Wait. What did I just experience? Am I talking to a rat wall?! What the hell is going on here?
The voice introduces itself as Doctor Crombie. His experiment went wrong. The researcher transferred his consciousness from his body into this "rat server". And now he is trapped in the collective rat brain, while his soulless shell vegetates in the office chair.
Source: Kepler Interactive
Tough luck. I want to help the researcher and search the lab for clues on what I need to do to free Crombie's consciousness from the rat wall. A nearby whiteboard reveals, for example, which probes I need to remove in what order and which buttons I need to press on the nearby computer afterwards.
After a few minutes of searching, I find all the relevant clues and follow the instructions. I am nervous. If I accidentally remove the wrong probe or press the wrong button, I could quickly screw up my rescue mission.
Source: Kepler Interactive
It gets particularly disgusting when I manually pull the probes out of the bald head. The things seem to be stuck deep inside. The tearing out is accompanied by a "juicy" sound – as if I were pulling out parts of the brain with them.
The open wounds bleed. The pale body in the office chair suddenly moans and begs me to stop. But the voice from the rat server motivates me to continue: "That's just an empty shell, there's no mind left in there. Ignore what he says."
I get an uneasy feeling. Should I stop? On the other hand, I've come this far – stopping now would be nonsensical. So I follow through and experience how the almost lifeless body awakens again at the push of a button at the end of my "operation".
Mission accomplished... or is it?
Decision paralysis
Crombie thanks me and gives me a badge that allows me to enter other rooms in Samsara and reach Doctor Zike. While the researcher talks to me, he twitches again and again – suspiciously similar to the rats on the wall.
I go back to the first floor to inform Doctor Zike about my progress via the intercom. Proudly, I announce that I have transferred Crombie's consciousness from the rat server back into his brain.
His reaction surprises me: "My God, what have you done?"
Source: Kepler Interactive
Zike explains that I didn't put Crombie's real consciousness into his body, but an artificial copy. I killed the researcher and overwrote his soul with a cheap knock-off. Fuck.
At this point, my demo ends. The development studio tells me that my actions will have far-reaching consequences later in the game. The developers are not surprised that I chose the supposedly morally "correct" option. "Ontos" is a game that will repeatedly confront me with such difficult decisions and wants to lead me astray with clever deceptions.
Source: Kepler Interactive
The developers also reveal that there are a total of three different outcomes for Crombie's experiment. I am curious and play through the demo again.
In the second run, I don't listen to the cheap copy. I destroy the rat server and thus kill the consciousness that lives in the collective rat brain. Afterwards, I carefully remove the probes from Crombie's bald head – just as I removed them in the first run according to the lab instructions.
Crombie wakes up and thanks me. He behaves differently than the cheap copy did before. The researcher speaks clearly – and he doesn't constantly twitch while doing so. Operation successful – this time for real.
Source: Kepler Interactive
After that, I play through the demo a third time – after all, I want to know what the last option looks like. Now it's time for a more brutal approach. Screw all instructions. I rip the probes out of Crombie's head at random. The researcher dies. The copy of his consciousness remains trapped in the rat server forever. The worst-case scenario for both Crombie variants. By the way, I get the badge anyway – I swipe it from the lifeless Crombie body.
Is that enough for a whole game?
My time with the "Ontos" demo showed me three fundamental things. First: Frictional Games has created a disgusting, repulsive, and disturbing game that torments me with existential fears instead of jumpscares. Second: The game world feels wonderfully tactile and "real" thanks to the satisfying interaction system. And third: My decisions in "Ontos" should be well-considered.
I am curious about what concrete effects the three outcomes of the Crombie experiment could have on the story and the further course of the game. One thing is certain: when I start the finished game next year, I will not always choose the most obvious solution to a problem.
Source: Kepler Interactive
After the demo, one central question remains unanswered for me: Can this puzzle-heavy, exploration-oriented game principle entertain me for an entire game? In my three playthroughs, I didn't discover any enemies or other dangers for my player character. Frictional Games confirms to me that "Ontos" is not a traditional survival horror game.
Despite the lack of enemies and threats, "Ontos" has the potential to cause discomfort. The various experiments that were already hinted at in the trailers certainly look disturbing and unsettling enough. Whether they are enough to carry an entire game, however, remains to be seen. In any case, I am curious to see if this sick experiment works out..
"Ontos" will be released sometime in 2027 for PS5, Xbox Series X/S, and PC. Microsoft invited me to the preview appointment at Gamescom.
My love of video games was unleashed at the tender age of five by the original Gameboy. Over the years, it's grown in leaps and bounds.
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