FIRST PLAY HOLSTIN PC
Words Alan Wen
Survival horror can often be split into two camps – one harking back to the PS1 era of fixed cameras, puzzles and scarce resources; the other an action-focused approach for which we can thank
Resident Evil 4
when it put the camera over your shoulder.
Nostalgic indies have been embracing more of the former of late… but Holstin asks, why not do both?
A lot like Bloober Team with The Medium, this is a Polish developer, Sonka, taking inspiration from its country’s post-Soviet atmosphere (which sort of fits a survival horror vibe). In the town of Jeziorne-Kolonia, something is clearly wrong as the place is overrun with creepy tendrils that are causing people to turn into… well, not humans.
With a demo that first has you trying to find your way out of a house, there’s a traditional approach where you’re wandering around trying to figure out how to pass a door or a room blocked off by those tendrils. Fortunately, you discover they shrink away when exposed to light… though you’re short on lightbulbs and fuses. But while this is all rendered in evocative pixel art, it’s no 2D game, as you can rotate the isometric perspective.
Another demo shows that it isn’t just about puzzles, as you’ll also find yourself fighting monstrous enemies. It’s here that the camera switches to a more modern over-the-shoulder perspective when you aim a gun, giving you free aim. There’s added strategy too: instead of only focusing on headshots, you might opt to shoot an enemy’s arm to stop them attacking you, or go for the legs to put them on the floor. Of course, if you want to conserve ammo, stealth-crouching is also an option.
No word on a release date yet, but a third demo is due on Steam – where you’ll also be able to explore the streets of Jeziorne-Kolonia, which appears to be twinned with Silent Hill.