Ontos Gameplay Video Reveals Lunar Lab Puzzles and Rat Wall

Frictional Games has released a new 10-minute, loosely edited video for its upcoming philosophical horror game, Ontos. The footage provides a first substantial look at gameplay, revealing a game focused on open-ended exploration and environmental puzzles within a mad science hotel on the moon.

Frictional have framed Ontos as more of a creepy and deranging puzzler than a game of monsters and spiking heartbeats. The only direct threat shown is a swiveling security camera, which players can reportedly bypass by lobbing a cardboard box.

Exploration and Environmental Storytelling

Most of the showcased gameplay involves peaceably interacting with sci-fi ephemera to uncover the story. Players examine terminals full of emails, study whiteboards with layouts and blueprints stuck to them, and handle chunky pronged dictaphones the size of your forearm. The report notes overt plot connections to Frictional's earlier game, Soma, found in journal entries discussing clones and copies.

The lunar facility itself is described as visually striking, with curving padded walls, colored pipes, bright utility signs, and a mix of scratched metal and glossy glass. It is not a nice place, with details designed to create unease. These include a 'no running' sign cheekily positioned at the entrance to an ominous dark area and ominous paper lanterns that recall the porcine masks from Amnesia: A Machine for Pigs.

The Infamous Rat Wall

A central and bizarre element shown is the game's 'talking rat wall,' an AI server composed of networked rats. The gameplay sequence starts with a single rat squirming on a table, its head fitted with gadgets and surrounded by instructions for their correct insertion or removal. This leads to an encounter with the full rat wall, where the player is invited to perform a similar process of gruesome rewiring. The report describes the serried rat tails twitching like tongues while the entity talks to you.

Frictional Games has indicated there are several ways to resolve this scenario, as mentioned in an accompanying Steam blog post. The developers have framed Ontos as an experience meant to be deranging and philosophical.

Release and Anticipation

The game is scheduled to launch next year. The Rock Paper Shotgun report concludes with a positive early impression, stating the current verdict on whether Ontos will be any good is 'yes.' The publication has already demanded the right to review it according to its traditional selection ritual of 'first person to be named Edwin, wins.'