ONTOS Is Coming to Xbox in 2027 With High-Stakes Puzzle Choices on a Moon Base

What we know

ONTOS is set to arrive in 2027 for Xbox Series X|S and Xbox on PC. The new sci-fi adventure from the creators of SOMA takes players to Samsara, a former lunar resort repurposed as a science lab, where puzzles can be solved in multiple ways and choices carry serious moral consequences.

Players take the role of Aditi Amani, who is drawn to Samsara by the cryptic legacy of her estranged father. Her search for answers leads into a facility whose experiments challenge ideas of identity, consciousness, and the connection between mind and body.

A demo shown to press and creators at gamescom 2026 revolves around retrieving a key from a base scientist named Crombie. Crombie has copied his consciousness into a server made of rats and has been incapacitated, while the key remains around his neck beneath wires and probes connected to his brain.

One puzzle, several choices

The scenario can be approached in dramatically different ways. Players can shut down the server and attempt to restore Crombie to his body, use the copied consciousness to overwrite his original mind, or cut the system without taking either action—killing both versions in the process and making it possible to take the key.

ONTOS does not overtly identify a single correct answer. Instead, it allows players to decide how to handle a situation and reacts to those decisions, including variations that may unlock different dialogue lines or responses. The setup also indicates that other characters may react to choices made along the way.

While its premise deals in scientific horror and existential dilemmas, the demo was not presented as conventional horror built around pursuing enemies or stealth. Its focus is on puzzles and the exploration between them, with a degree of player-led experimentation that gives it elements associated with immersive sims.

Exploration, resources, and tactile interaction

Samsara contains terminals, audio logs, locked cabinets, and other discoveries that provide clues about the experiments and the base's wider story. The demo also includes a test rat-server, allowing players to learn how its probes and machinery work before dealing with the full-scale puzzle.

Resource management is part of the design as well. A blowtorch used to cut server wires relies on a limited supply of oxygen canisters. Reaching a puzzle with a preferred solution in mind but without the materials needed to carry it out can force players to improvise, while encouraging them to search beyond the most direct route.

Interactions are deliberately hands-on: doors must be unlatched and pushed open, drawers are physically pulled out, and nearly every object can be picked up and examined. That approach makes investigating the environment part of solving challenges, since seemingly minor details may prove useful later.

ONTOS will be available in 2027 for Xbox Series X|S and Xbox on PC. It will support Xbox Play Anywhere, allowing play on both console and PC at no additional cost through the program.