Bloober Team’s Japanese‑style partnership secures Switch 2 exclusive for Onyx: the Dark Grip

Bloober Team’s Japanese‑style partnership secured a Switch 2 exclusive for Onyx: The Dark Grip (Newslocker), slated for release on Nintendo Switch 2 in 2027 (Gematsu, DualShockers, Dread Central Media LLC, Polygon.com). In Onyx: The Dark Grip, you guide a traveler vessel as a mysterious Entity (an in‑game force that manipulates the environment) shapes the surroundings to help advancement, though it endangers the traveler’s sanity.

Onyx: The Dark Grip can only be played in handheld mode on Nintendo Switch 2 because its touchscreen functions prevent docked play (DualShockers, Polygon.com). In Onyx: The Dark Grip, you solve puzzles, alter the setting, face frightening monsters and lead a solitary traveler (Gematsu, Dread Central Media LLC).

Before working on Onyx, Bloober Team created games like Layers of Fear and helped with the Silent Hill 2 Remake, shaping its design (DualShockers, Polygon.com). Bloober Team is using the popularity of the Silent Hill 2 Remake as a foundation for creating Onyx: The Dark Grip (Gematsu).

Tymon Smektała spent thirteen years (Newslocker) developing Dying Light before he took the role of executive director at Broken Mirror Games. GamesRadar+ conducted an interview with Piotr Babieno and Tymon Smektała (Newslocker). Tymon Smektala said, “I will feel satisfied and I will feel fulfilled when we will actually find a creator like that.” (Newslocker).

The reveal states that the game will merge gameplay and real life, though it does not explain how (Dread Central Media LLC). The Entity is able to shift obstacles aside and activate a generator to assist the traveler (Polygon.com). When players exert more control over the Entity, the traveler’s mental state deteriorates further (Polygon.com).

Onyx’s sanity system resembles the one found in the 2002 GameCube game Eternal Darkness (Polygon.com). In the 2002 GameCube title Eternal Darkness, the sanity gauge drops when an enemy sees the player, leading to stranger effects as sanity falls (Polygon.com).

Broken Mirror Games, the publishing arm of Bloober Team, has been operating for under a year (Newslocker). Broken Mirror Games released Onyx: The Dark Grip, which Broken Mirror Games labels as one of the handful of Nintendo‑only horror titles released in the last ten years (Newslocker).