You Can't Pet The Talking Rat Wall In Ontos, The New Space Horror Game From Soma's Creators, But Surely It Can Run Doom

Frictional Games, the development studio behind acclaimed horror titles Amnesia: The Dark Descent and Soma, has released a new 10-minute gameplay video for their upcoming project, Ontos. Set in a bizarre, mad-science hotel located on the moon, the game is described as a philosophical horror experience. The newly published footage offers a closer look at the game's mechanics, atmosphere, and narrative direction, shifting the focus toward open-ended exploration and puzzle-solving rather than constant jump scares.

The video highlights a more deliberate, puzzle-centric approach to horror. Players are shown interacting with a variety of story-rich sci-fi objects, including terminals filled with emails, whiteboards covered in blueprints, and large, chunky dictaphones. Rather than facing immediate, aggressive monsters, the player's main obstacle in the footage is a swiveling security camera, which can be easily bypassed by throwing a cardboard box to block its line of sight. This suggests a gameplay loop focused on environmental manipulation and stealth.

Visually, Ontos features a distinct aesthetic characterized by curved, padded walls, brightly colored pipes, utility signs, scratched metal, and glossy glass surfaces. Despite the clean, retro-futuristic design, the environment maintains an unsettling atmosphere. The video showcases subtle psychological tension, such as a "no running" sign placed right before the player enters a dark, ominous corridor. Additionally, paper lanterns scattered throughout the environment hint at deeper, more sinister narrative elements yet to be fully revealed.

One of the most talked-about elements of the game is an artificial intelligence server constructed entirely out of rats, referred to as the "talking rat wall." The gameplay video demonstrates how players interact with this entity, showing individual rats with technological gadgets implanted in their heads. When the networked rat wall speaks, the collective tails of the rats twitch in unison. Players are tasked with performing a gruesome process of rewiring these implants to progress, with the developers confirming that there are multiple ways to resolve these experimental scenarios.

The footage also hints at thematic and narrative connections to Frictional's previous work. Journal entries discovered during exploration mention clones and copies, sparking speculation about potential plot links to the existential themes explored in Soma. The developers have also shared additional details about the open-ended nature of these laboratory experiments in a recent Steam blog post, promising a highly interactive and choice-driven experience.

Ontos is scheduled to launch next year. While the newly released footage leaves many questions unanswered regarding the full scope of its narrative and the true nature of its biological technology, it confirms that Frictional Games is continuing to push the boundaries of atmospheric, narrative-driven sci-fi horror.