esportsVi snakker AI, spillængde og indflydelser med udviklerne bag OntosPublished April 16, 2026 Ontos blev afsløret ved sidste års The Game Awards med stor fanfare, da det er den legendariske udvikler bag gyser-succeser som SOMA og Amnesia-serien, der står bag. Selvom det kan betragtes som en slags spirituel efterfølger til førstnævnte, er det også noget helt nyt på mange måeder, selvom det fortsætter med at trække på studiets faste designtraditioner. Det beskrives som et "sci-fi adventure that takes you to the edge of reality,", og det virker ret tydeligt gennem den første gameplay-teaser fra showet. Vi havde chancen for at sidde ned med Creative Director Thomas Grip for ikke blot at spørge ind til inspirationerne, og hvordan skuespilleren Stellan Skarsgård blev involveret, men også hvad studiets holdning er til AI-værktøjer i spiludvikling, og hvilken type spil Ontos ender med at blive, når det udkommer. Som vi normalt gør har vi efterladt Grips kommentarer på originalsprog, altså engelsk, for at være sikre loyaliteten imod kontekst og intention bag hvert svar. Lad os starte med at få slået det her fast på pragmatisk vis; kan du beskrive hvilket slags spil, genremæssigt, vi kigger på her? Er det her lige så suspense-præget som SOMA, eller noget mere direkte som The Dark Descent? "Neither! I guess that it is closer to SOMA than it is to Amnesia, but it really is a new beast. All our previous games have had this core tension of being hunted and stalked by something. In ONTOS that is no longer the case, and the focus is instead on the player tackling these highly analog scenes, experiments of sorts, filled with choices, stakes, and disturbing subject matters. "As an example, the player comes across a guy that tells you he is trapped in a server made out of rats. You must now get to the bottom of what is going on and decide what to do. Make a wrong move and he might end up dead, or perhaps something worse... "So much of the game is the build-up to these scenes. You explore Samsara to discover facts, tools, and resources, and then these scenes put you to the test. There are other puzzles and encounters in between, but they are not the main focus of the experience." Hvilken slags længde kan spillere tillade sig at forvente? Har I en idé om hvor lang tid det gennemsnitligt tager at gennemføre spillet? "It will be very much up to the player. In a scene like the rat server one, the player can just choose to pull the plug, kill the person, and then exit with a much-needed item. That might take a player a few minutes if they brute force the puzzle in this way. "Or they can spend an hour to search the scene, talk to the computer claiming to be a person, experiment with the equipment, and so on, managing to save them. "There are also optional areas and other activities players might skip for more ethical reasons, or simply not find. On top of that, a big theme in the game is the idea of "how far are you willing to go to know the truth?" and play time is partly dependent on how you answer the question. "All that said, a fast and casual player not really engaged with the puzzles might play for something like 10 hours. But a curious one, determined to uncover all of Samsara's secrets, can play for well over 20 hours - by far our longest playtime to date." Kan du kommentere lidt på hvordan Stellan Skarsgård blev involveret i projektet? "This is really all due to our publisher Kepler Interactive and their involvement. The game is very much driven by characters and how they deal with the themes that the game presents. So, to have performances that really sell and deliver these emotions and content is key to the experience. "Once Kepler came on board, we were talking about hiring various actors we could consider in order to really bring this home. Stellan was brought up as a perfect fit for a specific role, and to my big surprise and amazement, we managed to bring him onboard. "He takes on the very complex role of Felix, the owner of the moon station Samsara, and Stellan does a stellar job at it. It is extremely cool for his first foray into video games to be ours. As a fellow Swede it really warms my heart too." Ontos' verden ser ret analog og fysisk ud, som bringer os direkte til den nuværende debat om AI-brug, og fordelen ved at benytte disse værktøjer i visse henseender. Kan du forklare lidt om hvordan studiet ser disse værktøjer, og om disse benyttes i Ontos? "I feel quite strongly about not using AI for a few reasons. I work in this industry because I, as a human, love the creative process of making games. Why would I want to hand that process over to a computer? "Similarly, I want to see art and stories created by other humans - things that have real thought and meaning behind them. If I feel that about the content that I watch and enjoy, why would I want to be a part in removing the humanity from art too? "I think it is also a very slippery slope when it comes to control. When something is created by essentially nobody, who can you ask why there are certain decisions, details, and so forth? We are creating spaces and interactions that we want to have very specific meaning for the player and want to be very careful on the control we have over this process. That control is quickly lost when you start automating away the human input. We want to be extremely careful or risk losing a very core essence of the craft. "Because of this, even creating quick mock-ups and such feels really wrong to me. I would much rather just do a shitty stick man sketch that an artist can interpret and go from there together. I think this is a much better way of talking about ideas and making meaningful art." I et spil der i brede træk består at puslespil, og hvor det til dels er meningen at spillere skal stoppe op og blive udfordret, hvordan håndterer I så sværhedsgrader? Er der specifikke grader, eller ønsker I at designe én bred udfordringsprofil, der stemmer overens med jeres konkrete vision? "The way our bigger scenes work is that there is no "right" solution. There are only really choices and consequences. Some of these options might be more hidden and could be considered puzzles. But they are not required for players to progress and can often be mixed with another solution. "It is hard to explain without spoiling but, as an example, when you encounter the rat server, you only really need to get hold of a key in that environment. Doing so is quite simple, and you can basically manage by just randomly interacting with stuff if you want to play it that way. "However, careless players will cause misery and will potentially suffer consequences. Both in the moment and further into the game too..." Føler I som et studie et pres for at udbrede appellen ved jeres spil, og hvad er jeres tanker om de rapporter der placerer spilbranchen i dyb krise grundet en skrumpende marked for oplevelser som Frictional tilbyder? "I have never thought of the market as shrinking. Quite the opposite! I know there are also more games than ever too, but you still see quality titles selling better than ever. So, I see it all in quite a positive light. "Appeal is interesting. A game like ours (a mind-bending and disturbing experience about the nature of reality) is not typical Saturday night entertainment for some people! However, we still want to get as many people as possible interested in the things we want to create, and I really feel people are interested in these kinds of experiences if given the chance. So, you need to balance how you present the content and ideas and, overall, just make sure players have an engaging experience. "The more people that can enjoy the game, without us diverging from the thematic goals, the better." Hvis der er én ting som I virkelig ønsker spillere skal føle, når de oplever Ontos, hvad skulle det så være? "For them to think of reality in a way they never considered, leaving them with some mixture of awe and a deep, existential dread that takes years to go away!" Originalquelle: www.gamereactor.dk →
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