Saturnalia Reviews

Pulls some punches I wish it didn't. But this is one of those survival horror games in the vein of Siren and Pathologic which rely just as much on resource management as they do upon the intrinsic value of knowledge to a player who has to make tough risk/reward calls all the time. It's not as intense as either of those, which is my main issue. But you will sometimes discover, in terror, the consequences of an obscure decision made hours prior and entire mechanics far, far too late to save you from regretting the past. Pretty interesting. Marvelously atmospheric, thanks in large to some fantastic fucking sound design. The story here is interesting too, and worth playing through if you can stomach the rest of this somewhat challenging but unfortunately too generous survival horror adventure.

Only 57 reviews for this cracker? Saturnalia came out around the time of Signalis and it's heartbreaking to see it so sorely overlooked, still. I finished this before it came to Steam but just look at that trailer. Listen to it. Beyond its gorgeous and arresting sketchy giallo-infused visuals (and an absolute banger of a theme), Saturnalia is a unique, compact, intimate, mechanically mysterious, narratively intriguing and oppressive (bordering on hostile) investigative mystery horror game. It’s so investigative, in fact, that you get a clue board that records all your discoveries. I love a good clue board. It took me a while to get into its peculiar rhythm and even then I rarely felt safe or truly got my bearings. You see, while there might be something stalking the Sardinian town of Gravoi, it’s Gravoi’s dark, match-lit and strangling passages that are the real monster. I don’t want to say any more because a large part of the game’s appeal for me was discovering its secrets and working out what the hell was going on... but I adored Saturnalia. It's a travesty that something this distinctive and unique didn't get more attention from horror fans.