I had the good fortune last week to play ONTOS, one of the games I’m most excited for. It was recently delayed to 2027, but getting this hands-on eased the pain of the increased wait a little, at least. For those unfamiliar with the game, it’s the spiritual sequel to SOMA, one of my all-time favourite video game stories. SOMA dealt a lot with the themes of “self” and “immortality”, shaped through a Ship of Theseus-like philosophical story in a world full of half-human, half-robot creatures that were copied into their new bodies.
And that’s exactly what ONTOS looks to explore even deeper. It doesn’t take place in the same world as its predecessor, but the themes are very much the same. In the demo I played, I started in a futuristic room where a rat was plugged into a device through all kinds of wires, and if you take the time to read all the documents (heavily recommended to do so) you’ll learn more about what they are trying to achieve.
Later in the demo, we find a scientist connected to a rat server via various wires in his brain. He’s unable to speak with us directly, but an intercom near the wall full of rats tries to convince us we’re talking to the real person, not just the proxy. The game is extremely good at creating a form of doubt within each scenario, and you’ll be pondering every decision you make. I opted to return the consciousness back to his body, and it “seemed” to be the right choice until the end of the demo, when his colleague hinted at possibly having restored the wrong “version”.
I’m sure the full game will explore such themes more, and I’m very much looking forward to playing it. It looks great, and the narrative seems to hit all the right notes. There is NO combat in the game at all, and from what I understood, no focus on chase sequences like some other games in the genre. When I played SOMA in “Safe mode” I really appreciated the option, as those “hide under the bed or in a closet” types of gameplay from titles like Amnesia were always a giant turn-off for me. So I’m glad this one focuses on the philosophical quandaries over body horror and jump scares. The devs present at the booth also informed me that we can expect a runtime of around 20 hours, which is great! I’m very much looking forward to the full game next year!
Robby lives and breathes video games. When he’s not playing them, he’s talking about them on social media or convincing other people to pick up a controller themselves. He’s online so often, he could practically list the internet as his legal domicile. Belgian games-industry know-it-all.