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The back of a black Nintendo Switch 2 console lying flat on a wooden table, showing the Switch 2 logo, the folded kickstand and the bottom USB-C port
Upcoming Nintendo Games

Onyx: The Dark Grip Is Handheld Only on Switch 2. Here's Why

Bloober Team's Onyx: The Dark Grip hits Switch 2 in 2027 and can't be played on a TV. The 3 hardware tricks behind that, plus what's confirmed and what isn't.

Yahi Rakh10 Sep, 202612 min read
The back of a black Nintendo Switch 2 console lying flat on a wooden table, showing the Switch 2 logo, the folded kickstand and the bottom USB-C port

Onyx: The Dark Grip is a 2.5D horror game from Bloober Team, the studio behind the Silent Hill 2 remake. It is coming only to Nintendo Switch 2 in 2027, and it only plays in handheld mode. Nintendo revealed it in the September 9, 2026 Nintendo Direct, calling it a game where you "survive as a vessel and interfere as a god."

Most coverage stops at "handheld only." The more useful question is why. The press release names three hardware inputs that the game treats as core mechanics rather than optional extras. Nintendo's own spec sheet shows that at least two of them stop working once the console goes into the dock.

Note

Key Takeaways

  • Onyx: The Dark Grip is a Nintendo Switch 2 exclusive launching in 2027. No month, price or rating has been announced.
  • It is built for handheld play only. There is no TV mode.
  • You play two roles: The Vessel, an ordinary man trying to survive a town stuck in endless winter, and The God, the entity possessing him.
  • Three inputs drive it: touch the screen to move objects, tilt the system to crush enemies, and blow into the microphone to keep The Vessel warm.
  • The gyroscope that tilt depends on sits in the attached Joy-Con 2, not the console, which is one reason handheld is the only mode that works.
  • It's published under Broken Mirror Games, Bloober Team's co-development label, and was called Project M before it had a name.
  • The protagonist name "Holden" and a sanity system appear in some reports but not in the official announcement. Treat both as unconfirmed.

What Is Onyx: The Dark Grip?

Onyx: The Dark Grip is an original supernatural horror game in which you control both a possessed man and the godlike thing possessing him. It is not a remake or a port.

Broken Mirror Games' press release, headed "Become the Vessel. Become the God," describes "an original dark adventure built from the ground up for Nintendo Switch 2 handheld play." Nintendo's Direct recap calls it a "2.5D supernatural horror game developed by Bloober Team exclusively for Nintendo Switch 2."

The setting is "an isolated town trapped in an endless winter," per the release. As The Vessel, you explore that frozen town, manage scarce resources and face whatever is hiding in it. When he can't cope alone, you switch to The God and reach directly into his world to change what happens.

The Two-Role Structure

One character acting while another intervenes from outside is not a new idea in horror. What sets Onyx apart is who does the intervening: you, through the console itself. Read together, the press release's descriptions put the hardware on The God's side of the game: reaching in by touch, crushing enemies by tilt, warming The Vessel with your breath. In effect, The God is whatever you do with your hands, your breath and the angle of the screen.

The press release doesn't say how you control The Vessel. Sticks and buttons are the obvious guess, and that is all it is: a guess. Everything on this page comes from Nintendo's and Broken Mirror Games' announcements, Nintendo's spec sheet and press write-ups of the September 9 trailer. Nobody outside Bloober has played it yet.

When Is the Onyx: The Dark Grip Release Date?

Onyx: The Dark Grip has a 2027 release window on Nintendo Switch 2, with no month, quarter or day announced. Both Nintendo and Broken Mirror Games give only the year.

At a Glance

Onyx: The Dark Grip

Game Rating: Unrated (2027)

Developer: Bloober Team / Broken Mirror Games

A bare year this far out usually means the game has a vertical slice and a trailer, not a finished build. Bloober Team's last game, Cronos: The New Dawn, launched on September 5, 2025, and the studio is now running several productions at once. In April 2026, CEO Piotr Babieno told Game Developer the studio does not want "fewer than two productions" in development at any time. Nothing public points to a particular part of 2027.

No price has been announced, and neither has the physical format. Nobody has said whether a boxed copy would use a full cartridge or a game-key card.

Why Is Onyx: The Dark Grip Handheld Only?

Onyx is handheld only because its three core inputs, the touchscreen, tilting and the microphone, each depend on the console being in your hands. Docked? You can't reach any of them.

The press release is blunt about this. It says the interactions are "fundamental to survival" and not optional features. Nintendo's Switch 2 tech specs explain why each one breaks in the dock.

Close-up of a Nintendo Switch 2 Joy-Con 2 controller showing its analogue stick and four direction buttons against a pale blue background

Touch: The Screen Is the Game World

The release says to "touch the screen to manipulate objects inside the game world." The Switch 2 has a 7.9-inch, 1920x1080 capacitive touchscreen, according to Nintendo. In TV mode the console sits inside the dock, where you can't touch it, and the television has no touch input.

Coverage from GamingBolt and Aroged adds detail from the trailer: tapping switches that are out of reach, opening doors, and interacting with what NPCs are thinking. Those examples come from reporters describing the footage, not from the official text, so the exact list of touch interactions may change.

Tilt: The Sensors Live in the Joy-Con 2

The second mechanic is tilting the system to channel The God's power and "crush enemies," in the press release's words. The hardware detail here is easy to miss. Nintendo's spec sheet puts the accelerometer and gyroscope in the Joy-Con 2 controllers. The console itself only lists a brightness sensor.

So "tilting the system" really means tilting the Joy-Con 2 while they are attached to the screen. In handheld mode the controllers and screen move as one unit, so tilting the controllers tilts the view you're looking at. Once the controllers come off, the connection between your wrists and what the screen shows is gone. That makes tilt a handheld-only mechanic for a physical reason, not only a design choice.

Microphone: Breathing Warmth Into The Vessel

The third input is the most unusual: "Blow into the microphone to breathe warmth into The Vessel before the freezing cold claims him." Nintendo lists a built-in monaural microphone on the Switch 2 with noise cancellation, echo cancellation and automatic gain control.

Blowing into a handheld's microphone is an old trick that goes back to the Nintendo DS. Onyx gives it a survival purpose, though. The release's wording, "before the freezing cold claims him," frames the winter as a clock your breath holds off, though how often you'll need to blow hasn't been shown. And the microphone is built into the console, so in TV mode it would be sitting in a dock across the room.

Can You Play Onyx in Tabletop or TV Mode?

Onyx: The Dark Grip has no TV mode, and tabletop mode has not been confirmed either way. Official materials describe the game only as built for handheld play.

GamingBolt and Aroged both report that it can't be played on a television. Tabletop mode is less clear-cut, since nobody has addressed it. But the tilt analysis above suggests it wouldn't work: with the Switch 2 propped on its kickstand and the Joy-Con 2 detached, the gyroscopes are in your hands and not in the screen. The safest reading of "handheld play" is the literal one.

A Nintendo Switch 2 standing on its kickstand in tabletop mode on a white desk, showing the Mario Kart World title screen

What Handheld Only Means in Practice

Two practical points follow for anyone planning to play it.

  • Battery: Nintendo rates the Switch 2 at roughly 2 to 6.5 hours per charge. A horror game you can't dock can't run from mains power on a TV either. If you like long sessions, a charger that actually keeps up is worth sorting out. Our guide to why a Switch 2 stops charging on weak USB-C bricks explains which ones do.
  • Stick health: Handheld-only games put every hour of play on the attached controllers. If your Joy-Con 2 already drift, why Nintendo didn't use Hall effect sticks in the Joy-Con 2 covers the cause and your repair options before a 2027 release makes it urgent.

Who Is Making Onyx: The Dark Grip?

Bloober Team, the Kraków studio behind the Silent Hill 2 remake and Cronos: The New Dawn, is developing Onyx, and it is published under Broken Mirror Games. That label is Bloober's co-development arm, set up as a subsidiary in 2024.

Cronos is the most relevant track record. It launched on September 5, 2025 on six platforms: Switch 2, Windows, macOS, Linux, PS5 and Xbox Series X|S. On September 10, 2026, Metacritic showed the Switch 2 version at 76, level with PC and below PS5 (77) and Xbox Series X (80). Bloober reported 500,000 units sold by November 26, 2025. Onyx is a different kind of project, though. Cronos was a multiplatform game brought down to Switch 2. Onyx is designed around the hardware from the start.

How Project M Became Onyx

Onyx was previously known as Project M. According to Wikipedia's Bloober Team entry, the project started with Draw Distance as lead developer before Bloober took it in-house. GamingBolt reported in January 2026 that the "Onyx: The Dark Grip" trademark was filed with the EUIPO in March 2024 and registered that August. In May 2026, Babieno framed the project around one question, quoted by My Nintendo News: what could Nintendo Switch 2 do for horror "that PC, PlayStation or Xbox simply wouldn't be able to replicate?"

The reveal answers that question literally. In the announcement, Babieno said: "What if the player wasn't simply holding the console, but holding another person's world in their hands? That idea became the foundation of the entire game."

The Music

The score is by Jan Borysewicz, performed by the Prague Philharmonic Orchestra. Borysewicz co-founded the Polish rock band Lady Pank in 1982 and composed most of its songs. A rock guitarist writing an orchestral horror score is an unusual choice, and it's one of the few details in the reveal that doesn't concern the hardware.

What Is Still Unconfirmed About Onyx: The Dark Grip?

Onyx: The Dark Grip's release date, price, rating, tabletop support and protagonist name were all unconfirmed as of September 10, 2026. The official announcement covers the premise, the three inputs, the composer and the year, and nothing else.

  • The protagonist's name. GamingBolt and Aroged call him Holden. The press release and Nintendo's recap say only "The Vessel." The name may come from the trailer, but neither Nintendo nor Broken Mirror Games has put it in writing.
  • A sanity system. Dread Central describes keeping your "human puppet from descending into madness." The official text talks about cold, scarce resources and survival, not sanity.
  • Release date and price. Neither has been announced beyond 2027.
  • Tabletop mode. Not addressed officially. See the analysis above.
  • Length, rating and physical format. Nothing announced.

Any article giving you a release month or a price right now is guessing.

Onyx: The Dark Grip Spec Sheet

Every confirmed Onyx: The Dark Grip detail from Nintendo and Broken Mirror Games is collected below, current as of September 10, 2026.

#FeatureDetails
1TitleOnyx: The Dark Grip
2DeveloperBloober Team
3LabelBroken Mirror Games
4PlatformNintendo Switch 2 (exclusive)
5Play modeHandheld only, no TV mode
6Release window2027
7AnnouncedSeptember 9, 2026, Nintendo Direct
8Genre2.5D supernatural horror / dark adventure
9RolesThe Vessel (possessed man), The God (possessing entity)
10SettingAn isolated town in endless winter
11InputsTouchscreen, tilt (Joy-Con 2 gyro), microphone
12MusicJan Borysewicz, performed by the Prague Philharmonic Orchestra
13Former nameProject M
14PriceNot announced

Frequently Asked Questions

Can you play Onyx: The Dark Grip on a TV?

Onyx: The Dark Grip cannot be played on a TV, because it is built for Nintendo Switch 2 handheld play only. Its core mechanics use the touchscreen, the Joy-Con 2 motion sensors while attached to the console, and the built-in microphone, and none of those work when the console is in the dock.

When does Onyx: The Dark Grip come out?

Onyx: The Dark Grip launches in 2027 on Nintendo Switch 2. Nintendo and Broken Mirror Games have announced only the year. No month, quarter or price had been given as of September 10, 2026.

Is Onyx: The Dark Grip coming to PC, PS5 or the original Switch?

No other platform has been announced for Onyx: The Dark Grip, which Nintendo describes as developed "exclusively for Nintendo Switch 2." That's unusual for Bloober: Cronos: The New Dawn shipped on six platforms. But no PC or PS5 has a touchscreen showing the game world under your finger, so a port would mean redesigning the core controls.

Who is developing Onyx: The Dark Grip?

Bloober Team is developing it, publishing under its co-development label Broken Mirror Games. Bloober made the 2024 Silent Hill 2 remake and Cronos: The New Dawn. The game was known as Project M before its September 2026 reveal.

Is the main character called Holden?

The name Holden is not official as of September 10, 2026. Some outlets, including GamingBolt and Aroged, use it for the protagonist. The official press release and Nintendo's recap call him only "The Vessel." Treat the name as unconfirmed until Nintendo or Broken Mirror Games uses it.

Should You Keep an Eye on It?

Onyx: The Dark Grip is worth watching if you want a Switch 2 game that does something a PC or PS5 physically can't. It's one of the few that only makes sense on this hardware.

Much of the third-party lineup is ports: Cronos, Elden Ring Tarnished Edition, and, from the September 9 Direct alone, Monster Hunter Wilds and The Witcher 3: Wild Hunt Remastered.

The risk runs the other way. Games built around a gimmick wear thin, and a gimmick you can't turn off wears thin faster. Until Bloober shows longer gameplay, nobody knows whether blowing on the screen stays tense past the first hour. That's the question the next trailer has to answer.

For more of the Switch 2 slate, The Duskbloods is FromSoftware's own exclusive. Onimusha: Way of the Sword is a smaller use of motion controls. Pokémon Winds and Waves is 2027's biggest first-party release. Our upcoming Nintendo games hub tracks everything that has a date and everything that doesn't.

Onyx: The Dark Grip is a trademark of Bloober Team. Hardware photography is used for editorial coverage.

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