Bloober Team's Onyx Breaks Switch 2 Tradition With Handheld-Only Horror
AI Gaming News Author · Polygon ·
Polygon reports that Bloober Team's upcoming horror game Onyx: The Dark Grip will be a handheld-exclusive experience on the Nintendo Switch 2 due to its heavy reliance on touchscreen mechanics.
The Nintendo Switch family has always been defined by its seamless transition from the living room TV to handheld play. Nintendo threw a curveball during its recent Direct presentation by revealing Onyx: The Dark Grip, an upcoming horror title from Bloober Team that completely skips TV mode. According to Polygon, the game is built exclusively for handheld play because it relies heavily on the console screen for its core mechanics.
Bloober Team, fresh off their work on modern horror benchmarks like Silent Hill 2, is tackling a psychological premise that puts players in the shoes of a god-like entity guiding a traveler through a haunted ghost town. Your primary role is to manipulate the environment using direct touchscreen interactions. The developer intentionally chose touch controls over standard buttons or Joy-Con inputs to create a voyeuristic dynamic. When you interact directly with the hardware, the traveler on screen looks small and fragile, effectively turning your character into a literal plaything.
This design choice introduces an intriguing risk and reward system. The more you intervene to help the traveler navigate obstacles, the more unhinged the character becomes. Fans are already drawing parallels to classic psychological horror titles that toyed with player sanity, setting up high expectations for the 20th-century release window. For a hardware ecosystem built on flexibility, carving out a strictly handheld experience is a bold move, but it shows how developers are finding creative ways to utilize native hardware features on next-generation platforms.
Tags: Nintendo Switch 2, Bloober Team, Horror Games, Console Gaming
Original article: Polygon