Recent reviews by EMB

I'll preface by saying I do enjoy walking simulators and essentially every other game by the Chinese Room.

That being said I don't think I can recommend this one unless you are a diehard walking sim fan. As someone who plays a ton of walking sims I enjoyed it, but mainly due to the VA work. Shout-out to Frank on the hill with some of the most heart-breaking dialog ever.

I'll list the cons first:

* The most glaring issue is that the story is akin to a sci fi character drama. There is not much development from a plot perspective past the first hour outside of the interactivity between the different characters. There's no Amenesia MFP ending here and I think that's unfortunate.



* The optimization for PC is very poor for some reason, I found it worst in the first zone. I can run Elden Ring on max settings with no stutters, why can't I walk through this nice town without massive FPS drops (on medium)

* The movement is very slow with no real means to speed up significantly. This is normally fine, but when faced with such a large area it does become a bit daunting. It didn't bother me much, but I would not blame anyone getting impatient at how long travel takes.

The Good:

* The VA is nothing short of incredible, reminded me of Death Stranding type quality. Everyone involved does an amazing job and honestly salvages the middling gameplay aspects. The writing is also good, though I found the ending a little pretentious.

* The setting is beautiful even if it does become a bit tiresome due to the game dragging.

* The soundtrack is also amazing. And the overall sound mix in the game is done very well. The queues for radios and phones were well placed to avoid a tone of wandering.

Probably the worst modern installment of anything Frictional has done. Loved Rebirth, loved SOMA, but this is like Penumbra without any variety or soul.

To sum it up in one two words: Short and Tedious

I don't know why developers think people want to repeat their tedious collection tasks running around similar looking areas collecting things to unlock different places. You don't have the enjoyable combat or enemy AI of a triple AAA studio. And that's fine, but don't make it so I need to repeat things on easy because the combat is the worst part of this game.

Honestly, not sure what the good is here. Seems like a step backwards with story-telling and location design. Rebirth had an excellent location design. This one is just "Bunker" the entire time, with some minor variations. And the combat is very samey. You don't have the puzzles or enemy variety of Rebirth, or even OG Amnesia etc. It's just "Find the note to locate the thing."

Honestly think Frictional should stick to the walking sims with some hiding elements, half the items in the game are irrelevant. This "collect a bunch of stuff and do a gameplay loop of repetitive tasks" is the antithesis of what makes a good narrative horror. And they don't have the budget to make the combat feel interesting IMO, and that's fine, but hopefully this is their last foray into the "combat heavy" type of game.

Also game was very short, probably 3-4 hours of total gameplay with me having to spend an additional hour walking backward repeating nonsense after I got trapped in a room on easy.

From a horror aspect not particularly scary. But it is an extremely well written and presented story. With gameplay that felt very SH/RE. Overall, really good game.

Lots of things not going for this game:

- Non-stop and often disorienting jumpscares. Several times you are expected to randomly change direction since something just pops up in front of you. Often these things will just lock you in place by accident and you will die. Also rising music stings and sudden images aren't scary, they're just tedious.

- Narrative. The story is essentially one giant hook with a boring and cliche payoff that negates everything that occurred. The story does not advance far from "These winery people were ♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥ and a bunch of people got sick and were quarantined" until the literal epilogue. Sure there are some other notes that indicate what happened outside of that, but it was almost irrelevant to what was happening with the protagonist

- Chase mechanic. Several of the drawn out puzzle chases are comically tedious. You just run around, keep the monster at arms length and heal slowly if it hits you while solving a puzzle. To the dev's credit there is a "make this thing stop pursuing you in puzzles" which while I didn't use, I strongly recommend since the chase adds no tension.

Visually it's nice and I have played plenty of horror walking sims I've liked but this game really fails in story, which I feel you can't do in a horror game like this. Shame too, since the wine premise could've been taken in a more interesting direction.

Very interesting concept and great execution. Isn't much of an action game but reminds me of a better version of Frogware games like Holmes, Sinking City, etc. Also doesn't drag on forever with repetitive tasks, ironically enough.

Strong story driven "stealth" game. Different mechanics give you multiple ways to approach each situation. The introduction of other characters is interesting and adds depth to both gameplay and the story.

Strongly recommend, but keep in mind the game only takes ~10 hours to complete.

Horror game with varied mechanics, interesting gameplay and a decent story. It's a bit odd at points, but I found myself enjoying the playthrough.

This game is a puzzle solving 'walking simulator' in the sci-fi horror genre. Gameplay is isometric, all operations done via mouse.

Pros:

* The atmosphere is well done, isometric presentation really lets the devs be creative in environment design
* The VA for the protagonist is pretty damn good for a lower budget title
* Puzzles are decent, at a certain point you'll likely need to use a guide though, because some are not very straightforward. But it's nowhere near the tedium of some point and click titles, 1977 KGB, the guest, etc.
* Overall the game is fun, and story does not stretch on too long, though much background is conveyed through text.

Cons:

* Plot isn't that great, but isn't bad for a horror title. I won't talk much about it to not spoil anything but don't expect some crazy thriller twists.
* Female VA sounded like she had bad sound balancing or something at beginning
* Some regions need to be saved at certain times or it will cause you to replay cutscenes/unskippable dialogue while you try to figure out puzzles.


Overall, I'd reccomend the game (when it's on sale) if you like horror/point & click titles. It's no SOMA, but it's not bad.

Gameplay is comparable to Amnesia Dark Descent. Storyline is told through notes and some some text from narrator.

Overall I'd say the story is 6/10 because it got pretty loose at the end.

Gameplay is a 7/10 for horror game wise, motion is smooth though I found myself getting caught on some things while running. Has an added mechanic at a certain point that was interesting.

As far as spooky atmosphere and whatnot the first half is a solid 8/10. No real reliance on jumpscares through very good tone setting.

Definitely pick this up on sale if you like horror games.

Quality horror game. Reminds me a bit of one of my favorites Miasmata.

Couple things about the game:

* Navigation is challenging, not overly so, but you'll find yourself in places you don't expect. Personally, I found this interesting since most areas loop and "try" to direct you correctly, but the gameplay is definitely non-linear.

* The things that can kill you are easy to evade in general, the game is not particurarly challenging in that regard, which IMO is correct for a horror game that is story driven.

* Plot is well rounded, the ending could be considered a bit speculative.

* The ambiance and "spookiness" of the environement is very well done. Little reliance on jump scares by establishing an overarching sense of dread.

* Quality of the voice acting is high.

IMO if you like games like Miasmata, Penumbra, Amnesia, SOMA you should like Kholat. So long as the navigation is not a turn off.

Gameplay time is around ~3-4 for completion. Full completion w/o a guide would probably take a while. Note that full completion (finding all notes) is possible due to hints ingame.