It isn’t often that a first-person horror game is introduced that does a good job bringing together the elements that truly make for a scary experience. After playing the Steam demo for FOBIA - St. Dinfna Hotel by Pulsatrix Studios, I have to say that they got really close to an accurate build to put it all together. While the graphics, gameplay style, and general build-up through the experience were all pretty on point, I thought some of the controls were a bit weird themselves.
Gameplay
Waking up, locked in a hotel room with no idea what is going on around you, the game starts off with a solid introduction to what to expect through the game. You have to explore the single room you are in for notes and clues that will help you open up various items in the room. Reading through notes is the only way you will really know how to proceed through the puzzles, so make sure you are ready to indulge in lore and clues when you play this one.
Starting with a strange number plate that gives you a sequence to open up a briefcase, you will come across your first key and a note. Here you will be able to open the safe in the room and unlock the door to your bathroom. Being in the bathroom brings you your first experience with the cutscene horror and introduces you to the type of visuals you can expect during the scare-heavy moments in the game. Once this cutscene ends, you will be able to leave your room.
Now you find that the hotel is pretty much destroyed and will be difficult to move around, but there are maps on the wall that mark the important notes, such as open doors, clear pathways, and a locked drawer location. This is likely how the whole game will provide the maps to you as you proceed further through the game.
A good thing to note is the saving system requires you have a special clock in your inventory that you can use on grandfather clocks in the hotel. There are multiples in the hotel, so you will need to use it with the one in the nearest safe room to whatever you are currently working on solving. Don’t forget to take the clock device out of the grandfather clock after you save if you don’t plan to use that save spot again, but it will take up one of your limited inventory spaces.
Your inventory is set up similar to what you would expect from a Resident Evil game. You have a limited number of slots and most items take up one slot each. You will come across items that can be combined, such as gauze and medical tape to make a bandage which can then be combined with first aid alcohol to make a first aid kit. Eventually, you will unlock a chest that can be used to store items you aren’t actively using. This is useful when you have tools as well since they will take up two slots in the inventory, but only horizontally. At least looking around the hotel will lead you to find backpacks that will add one item slot to your inventory.
As you make your way through the bulk of the demo, you will experience a number of scare moments, learn that when the ghost is nearby the power goes out, being near the ghost is what causes damage as she is radioactive, and how to handle bigger puzzle elements. Make sure you are ready to either remember a lot of information or take notes as you go through this game because there are clues from the start of the demo till near the end that is used to put together a passcode. There will also be a key card system to learn, which is color-coded, and a list of codes can be found to help provide further access.
Expectations
When it comes to the confusing controls, I would imagine these can all be patched up as the game continues its development. Some of the things I found weird include: you can’t close a door to a room you are in (such as the safe room with the save location and item chest) even though it is mentioned that the ghost can’t open doors, you have to remove the clock device from the grandfather clocks just to put it right back in in order to save instead of just interacting with a clock that has the device in it to save in the same location again, you can’t turn bigger items to fit vertically in your inventory, and you can’t combine items you pick up when you have a full inventory.
To clarify further on the last one, I had a full inventory with medical tape and first aid alcohol in the list and I found gauze. But instead of just being able to pick up the gauze and combine it with the medical tape to make a bandage, meaning I wouldn’t need the extra inventory slot, I had to make room for it. The worst thing is I can’t just simply drop an item, collect the gauze and combine it, then pick up the item I dropped. You have to completely discard an item to make space. This is incredibly inconvenient and doesn’t make a lot of sense.
Games are better when you give players more control options and let them play the game how they prefer to play them. I hope they decide to open the controls to the game to be more open to players doing a mixture of gameplay styles instead of restricting them with such limiting controls. If this is what I found in the demo, I can only imagine what a full game made with these limitations would end up playing like. It is really the only downfall I experienced through this demo.
Verdict
FOBIA - St. Dinfna Hotel is on a fast track to being a top-tier first-person horror experience! Once they hammer out the few issues with controls, this game will truly be one worth experiencing. After playing the demo for this game, I am really excited for it to be finished. When I first saw the demo was available, I didn’t think it was going to be such an amazing horror game, so it is a pleasant surprise. While this game is offering its demo, I strongly suggest horror fans give it a go!
