Self-labelled as a psychological survival horror game, Holstin instead feels closer to an evolution of the original Alone in the Dark into an intelligent, atmospheric jaunt.
I know that’s a bold claim. The original Alone in the Dark, from 1992, has all the hallmarks of the early and golden age of survival games: restrictive camera and movement, puzzles, scarce items and anti-combat design. The tension and atmosphere that made the game memorable was a result of that combination, but what made it really, really memorable for me was the setting and those moments when something is just out of sight, but you know something is there. It’s very much what made Parasite Eve II and the early Resident Evil titles exceptional too. That — whatever the word is for that — is exactly what Holstin builds on and it does so in a way that feels not just fresh, but also exciting and new.
Holstin certainly ticks all of the boxes, but it’s where it pushes beyond that makes it feels like it’s going to be an absolutely massive deal. The demo that I played while at Day of the Devs earlier in the year was all about shadows as well as light and movement puzzles — critically though, it was about perspective. Perspective, that is, as in viewpoint.
That’s because, despite it being played from an isometric angle, it’s not a fixed viewpoint in each room, even though most rooms do look perfectly laid out for it to be. The camera can be rotated at 90-degree points, giving you four different angles to rotate between each time you enter a room. It’s not a faff, in fact, it actually feels more natural than holding to rotate, but it also captures that tension of the survival horror classics I mentioned earlier.
Add to all of that the demo’s strange tentacle creatures that block your path when they’re not in direct light and it makes for a really tense atmosphere; Bundle that with the darkness and notes and character interactions that tell of a looming threat and you’ve got a real recipe for success.
Sonka’s now released two of the three planned demo components for Holstin, and together they already do a great job of depicting an isolated town where something has gone seriously wrong, complete with lumbering infected citizens and brash, emotional characters. The second demo educates on the flight and fight mechanics that it’ll launch with, including showing off another phenomenal twist on perspective — the camera sliding from isometric down to an over-the-shoulder (RE4-style) shooter viewpoint. It feels impressive, and seamless, when it happens and genuinely surprised me given the somewhat pixel style of the main game and how it’s replaced with cell-shaded character art.
Holstin is easily one of my most anticipated survival horror games, and that’s saying a lot as the genre seems to be returning with a vengeance at the moment.
Holstin is currently in development, when it does launch its expected to do so for Windows PC.
