The Expanse Meets Silent Hill In New Sci-Fi Horror

The Expanse's richly detailed and utterly compelling universe makes for the perfect source of inspiration for budding sci-fi writers and brand-new projects within the genre. This is, of course, wonderful news for fans who just want to get more experiences like it now that the show and novel series are officially over. More importantly, it means that we're due to get an influx of games, shows, and books akin to The Expanse that also merge it with other genres, taking its aforementioned incredible universe and viewing it from a whole new perspective.

Such is the case with the latest project like The Expanse, which takes its hard sci-fi edge and penchant for memorable worldbuilding and supplants it in a horrific new context. Merging The Expanse with something like Silent Hill doesn't sound like it would work; however, this brand-new horror project has the potential to not only be amazing, but also the next best thing for fans of The Expanse to latch onto while they await its inevitable true successor, whenever that may arrive.

This New Horror Game Is Perfect For Fans Of The Expanse

When it comes to sci-fi horror in video games, there's a plethora of exciting titles teeming with grizzly scares and haunting cosmic locales oozing with dread-filled tension. From Dead Space to Alien Isolation, fans of nightmarish escapades in space have no shortage of games to play, although that isn't to say that there isn't room for more. Indeed, we can all make room for at least one more game in the genre, a newcomer with lofty ambitions that seeks to haunt our nightmares and deliver a profound statement on our currently chaotic political and economic climate while it's at it.

The game in question is ONTOS, the latest title from developer Frictional Games, the folks behind one of the greatest sci-fi games ever made, SOMA. Much like the studio's previous foray into the world of science fiction, ONTOS aims to offer a philosophical, terrifying, and mysterious experience that's as existential as it is horrifying. Set on the repurposed moon hotel of Samsara (which itself is built on the ruins of a former mining colony), players must search for answers about their father's past and, in doing so, come face to face with the horrors lurking deep within the hotel itself.

ONTOS, much like The Expanse, takes a grounded, hard sci-fi approach to its worldbuilding and mysteries, featuring a complex look at unregulated science and human morality that promises to deliver both scares and thought-provoking mysteries you'll want to uncover. This isn't unlike Frictional Games' approach to the sci-fi elements of SOMA, which, while understandably fantastical in parts, delivered profoundly realistic horror that consequently felt hauntingly plausible.

ONTOS Looks Genuinely Terrifying

Of course, ONTOS doesn't get its scares entirely from the existential dread of its themes and exploration of science. While those elements play a large role in ONTOS' unique blend of horror, it also features traditional scares. That, of course, is not to say that the nightmarish horrors of ONTOS are expected or unsurprising, but rather that, much like Silent Hill, which blends the existential with gore-filled violence and terrifying creatures, ONTOS has its fair share of spine-tingling, seat-jumping terrors to throw at the player.

The vast majority of these seem to stem from the terrifying and unethical experiments at the heart of Hotel Samsara, all of which the player will have to contend with as they explore the dilapidated structure. Of course, by progressing through these experiments, players will be brought closer to the truth, as well as the horrifying consequences of their choices. Simply put, ONTOS is filled with pure nightmare fuel, the kind that'll keep you up at night, not simply because you're scared, but, like with The Expanse and Silent Hill before it, you're left pondering on its many mysteries.