An upcoming co-op horror game called P.O.N. is putting a villainous spin on the superhero fantasy, casting players as low-level criminals trying to complete jobs while a superpowered hunter stalks them. In other words, P.O.N. looks a lot like seeing one of Batman’s famous predator encounters from the crooks’ side, but how well that works in practice remains to be seen as it has yet to launch on Steam.
Made by a new indie dev called Team VAC, P.O.N. was originally announced by indie publisher Spaghetti Cat in early June 2026. It is played entirely from the first-person perspective, casting players as one of the members of a criminal group specializing in organized theft offered on the dark web. When they finally land a big job to steal some highly specific supplies, it turns out to be more complicated than it might seem at first, with a Batman-like superhero complicating their job with his presence. The premise places P.O.N. firmly in the co-op horror genre that has been thriving in the 2020s.
P.O.N. Is Basically Batman: Arkham From the Criminals’ Perspective
Anyone familiar with the predator encounters of the Batman Arkham games may find P.O.N. interesting, loosely recognizable, or both. Those sequences normally put players in control of Batman as he hides above or around a room, isolates armed criminals, and gradually whittles down a terrified group that knows it is being hunted. P.O.N. essentially tackles that very same premise from the opposite perspective, which naturally makes for a much tenser experience.
P.O.N.’s Superhero Hunter Is Controlled by a “Super AI”
The premise helps distinguish P.O.N. from the many first-person co-op horror games built around teams entering dangerous locations and trying to make it back out. Team VAC specifically describes the game’s main threat as a “super AI” that monitors what the players are doing, then figures out how to surprise them with brutal attacks, all in an attempt to deliver maximum tension. The Batman-esque menace is best avoided with stealth and, when all else fails, running really fast while hoping someone else is running slower.
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According to the project’s official website, P.O.N. has been in development by a two-person team since July 2025. While 14 months is not a particularly long time for any modern game to be in the making, the upcoming title is listed as “coming soon” on Steam as of September 2026. What exactly “soon” means is unclear, especially given that the project has already missed its original Q1 2026 launch target. Official promotional materials hint that P.O.N. could launch in early access without explicitly saying so, while its current Steam page offers no indication that an early access release is planned.
P.O.N. will support four-person co-op multiplayer at launch. Third-party data from SteamDB suggests it is currently one of the most-wishlisted upcoming co-op horror games on Steam. For added context, it is the overall 54th most-wishlisted title on Valve’s storefront as of September 22, 2026, sandwiched between Haunted Paws and inXile Entertainment’s Clockwork Revolution at numbers 53 and 55, respectively. P.O.N. is planned to launch as a PC exclusive, though Team VAC confirmed it will consider console ports afterward.
