In the avalanche of announcements that overwhelmed us last Tuesday during the Opening Night Live of gamescom something has inevitably been left behind, and we can now recover it calmly: the independent studio Frictional Games and Kepler Interactive took advantage of the German stage to show the first gameplay sequences of ONTOS, a sci-fi thriller expected for 2027.

In ONTOS we will play the role of Aditi, engaged in the exploration of Samsara, a converted lunar hotel in which we will come across "experiments" that are nothing short of disturbing and in situations that are anything but reassuring. Each setting will be in its own right and will have to be observed with extreme attention, because what we notice or ignore will end up determining the outcome, punctually testing our morals.

The video released in recent days, entitled "The rat server experiment", stages one of these episodes. The person responsible is Crombie, a scientist who arrived at Samsara to seek answers about the essence of his individual self: in an attempt to give life to an artificial mind, he transferred his psyche to a server powered by a mass of interconnected rats. The result is chilling, because while the voice of the machine insists that it be reconnected to the original body, it is the latter who begs Aditi to stop. "I assure you that the mind does not exist. Go ahead."

It is up to us to decide how to get out of it. We can explore the environment and look for hidden clues and then follow the instructions given by the rodent machine to the letter, or try an alternative way, or even let ourselves be guided by the morbid curiosity to see what happens and ruin the whole experiment. There are no right or wrong solutions: it will only be our morals to determine which path Aditi will take.

Finally, the presence in the cast of Stellan Skarsgård, winner of a Golden Globe and nominated for an Oscar, is worth mentioning, confirming the ambitions of a project that was born openly as a spiritual successor to SOMA, the acclaimed title signed by the Swedish team itself. We leave you now to the trailer, enjoy!