Frictional Games Unveils ONTOS Gameplay Trailer at gamescom 2026
This marks Frictional Games' return to narrative-driven sci-fi horror since SOMA, with a premise that questions the nature of reality and pushes the boundaries between science and ethics.
Key Facts
- Frictional Games and Kepler Interactive released the ONTOS gameplay trailer at gamescom Opening Night Live 2026 on August 26, 2026.
- ONTOS is a spiritual successor to the 2015 horror adventure SOMA, developed by the same team.
- The game is set in Samsara, a lunar base and hotel, where protagonist Aditi Amani investigates her father's mysterious legacy.
- The trailer depicts experiments including brains being inserted with devices and human consciousness transferred to a server of rats.
- ONTOS is scheduled for release in 2027 for PC via Steam, Epic Games Store, and GOG.com, as well as PS5 and Xbox Series X|S.
Reporting from 3 sources: 4Gamer.net, Denfaminicogamer, Game Spark.
At gamescom Opening Night Live 2026, broadcast on August 26 Japan time, Frictional Games and Kepler Interactive released a new gameplay trailer for their sci-fi adventure ONTOS. The game is a spiritual successor to the 2015 horror adventure SOMA, developed by the same team. The trailer depicts the lunar base and hotel Samsara, where protagonist Aditi Amani, daughter of a cult prophet, investigates her father's mysterious legacy. The footage shows unsettling experiments, including a scientist named Cranby inserting suspicious devices into brains and servers connected to large numbers of rats, with one scene depicting human consciousness transferred to a server composed of multiple rats. ONTOS is scheduled for release in 2027, and will be available on PC via Steam, Epic Games Store, and GOG.com, as well as PS5 and Xbox Series X|S. An exclusive footage reveal by Irish YouTuber Jacksepticeye was also announced for August 26.
- The trailer is the world premiere, shown during gamescom Opening Night Live 2026, broadcast on August 26, 2026 Japan Standard Time.
- Frictional Games describes the game as a sci-fi mystery adventure, while the sources also frame it as an SF horror adventure.
- The premise centers on Aditi Amani, daughter of a cult prophet, who visits the lunar base and hotel Samsara to investigate her father's mysterious legacy.
- Footage shows a scientist named Cranby running experiments that insert suspicious devices into brains, along with servers connected to large numbers of rats.
- One scene depicts human consciousness being transferred to a server composed of multiple rats.
- Frictional Games and Kepler Interactive are co-publishing, with Kepler Interactive named alongside the developer in the announcement.
- An exclusive footage reveal by Irish YouTuber Jacksepticeye was announced for August 26, separate from the gamescom trailer.
- Samsara is described as a massive, maze-like hotel and lunar base where the protagonist explores and encounters the experiments.
Synthesized by Yomimono from the 3 cited sources below, including Japanese-language reporting where cited, then editorially reviewed before publishing.