As Frictional Video games prepares to launch its subsequent recreation,Ontos– Later this 12 months, artistic director Thomas Grip reiterated that the expertise wouldn’t be as “anxious and horrifying” because the studio’s earlier movies. In an interview with GamesRadar, Grip mentioned the expertise can be “fully completely different” than an ordinary survival horror recreation.
βIn a extra customary horror recreation, say the very first thing. amnesiathe main focus is on the participant surviving in a terrifying atmosphere,β Grip mentioned. in Ontosthe main focus is extra mental. It is about encountering unusual and sometimes extremely disturbing conditions through which gamers are tasked with determining the perfect strategy. So, your typical amnesia– One thing like a recreation the place you encounter a stalker monster, Ontos You’ll come face-to-face with a person trapped inside a pc made from rats. β
He went on to clarify the design intent behind it: Ontos It isn’t about making it a “anxious or scary recreation within the conventional sense.” Ontos It isn’t nearly survival. As an alternative, Grip mentioned the sport is extra of a “hands-on expertise” and is targeted on offering gamers with “heavy, thought-provoking themes. The purpose is to evoke this deep existential worry that lingers lengthy after you have completed enjoying.”
Concerning puzzles, that are a staple of many survival horror video games, Grip defined that the bigger ones primarily revolve round “interactive story scenes,” whereas the smaller, customary puzzles are scattered all through the course of the sport. The answer to those puzzles can also be fully as much as the participant’s discretion, with “a variety of choices for methods to full them.” In relation to fixing puzzles, it is usually doable to “smash every little thing”. Ontos We function the narrative penalties of those failures.
Grip described these bigger puzzles, referred to as Experiments, because the spotlight of the sport, and went on to check them to the standard boss fights within the basic Shadow of the Colossus from the PS2 period. These large-scale sequences usually require gamers to easily take part in “prolonged preparation for experimentation”, testing instruments and making an attempt out completely different interactions accessible.
“In some methods, you may examine it to Shadow of the Colossus, the place the boss battles are the core of the expertise,” he defined. “Many sequences and areas of the sport are principally simply an extension of organising for an experiment: testing instruments, discovering methods to work together, conserving assets, understanding the stakes, and total simply gathering sufficient data to have the ability to overcome these complicated, layered eventualities. (β¦) A lot of the sport is constructed across the looming pleasure and worry of what the subsequent massive experiment can be.”
Ontos ‘ was launched simply final month with a trailer displaying off a few of its eerie visuals. The title can be launched on PC, PS5, and Xbox Sequence X/S later this 12 months, and stars Stellan SkarsgΓ₯rd of Andor fame.