Silent Hill 2 Remake studio and Cronos: The New Dawn creator Bloober Team has officially announced Onyx: The Dark Grip for Switch 2 – formerly known as Project M – at Nintendo Direct September 2026.
Earlier this year, fans had passed whispers about how the developer applied to trademark the title in 2024.
But no one dared to start a rumor ambitious enough to explain how unusual Onyx: The Dark Grip really is – the psychological horror game steeped in fluffy mist is playable exclusively in Switch 2 handheld mode.
The Dark Grip initially looks like a 2.5D Silent Hill game in its Nintendo Direct trailer. Protagonist Holden seems like a tired and unremarkable man, with his face peppered in 8 o'clock shadow and a sensible suede coat on his back, but even mundane aspects of his life are being manipulated by a supernatural force slowly eating all his sanity.
This sounds like it could be Silent Hill 2 and its unhelpful hero James Sunderland all over again – but, this time, the player is that supernatural force. That's right, we've all been offered a new job as Pyramid Head without abs.
"Survive as a vessel and interfere as a god," instructs a Nintendo press release. Onyx: The Dark Grip's trailer disclaims that the game can only be played in the Switch 2's handheld mode, since players will have to use the console's touch screen to perform interventions like unlocking doors, reading NPC minds, and moving objects.
But when you interfere with Holden's reality, he perceives you as a poltergeist, and the world starts to fuzz in shades of gray as he goes fully crazy.
"Play as the mysterious Entity," Nintendo continues, "guiding the actions of a lone traveler who arrives in a desolate ghost town. Manipulate the environment with your supernatural powers, solve puzzles, confront terrifying creatures and don't let your puppet descend into the depths of madness. Blur the line between the game world and reality."
Bloober is good at that – from its 2016 breakout game Layers of Fear to its work on the Silent Hill franchise, the developer favors horror narratives that grab a candlestick to melt the line between art and real, deep-breathing life.
And, while The Dark Grip will be the first Nintendo exclusive for the developer, Bloober CEO Piotr Babieno is a noted fan of Nintendo's few horror games.
"This is a vision that could only exist on Nintendo hardware," Babieno said about Onyx: The Dark Grip in 2025, when the game was known as Project M. He also assured fans of games like Resident Evil, Silent Hill, and 2002 GameCube exclusive Eternal Darkness that they "will immediately feel at home" playing Onyx: The Dark Grip.
Well, let me start packing my things.
Prepare yourself for even more upcoming horror games in 2026 and beyond.
