Developer: Pulsatrix Studios
Publisher: Maximum Games
Reviewed On: Xbox Series X
Code Received.
Whenever a new survival horror title comes down the digital road, I always sit up and take notice as a fan of the genre. Pulsatrix are also clearly fans, and touch on a lot of the elements of the big hitters in the genre, while also bringing their own individual flavour. In fact they bring a LOT, and one can wonder if it’s more ambitious than the framework will allow. We’re given exploration, heavy implementation of puzzling, combat, elements of moment to moment alternate environments… Fobia: St. Dinfna Hotel packs a lot into its survival horror package, but occasionally it buckles under its own weight.
The story sets up a familiar yet sturdy premise. Aspiring journalist Roberto arrives at the titular hotel after gaining information from somebody named Stephanie, pertaining to multiple missing persons over time. However, soon after checking in Roberto finds himself in a rotting, warped version of the hotel, its corridors patrolled by disturbing creatures. Putting his detecting skills to work, Roberto scours the building trying to discover the reasons for both the phenomena and why he’s been handed a role within it.
The presentation of Fobia is possibly it’s strongest suit. The hotel itself is very well realized, with nicely rendered photo-real environments, interesting creature design, and great optical effects. Sound design is also strong, with a very real feeling of the building, heaving under the pressure. And then we come to the voice acting, which is strong so long as you select the intended Brazilian Portuguese track, which is in canon with the setting and excellent across the board, giving the game a real flavour. Or you can go with the English dub, where the English voice over for Roberto is bad enough to make you wonder if it’s an intentional spoof of old survival horror dubs. It isn’t.
Similar to the current iteration of Resident Evil, we have a first person approach to floor layouts, locked doors, and the backtracking motif. You’ll slowly make sense of the environment, while picking up story and lore along the way. However, Fobia manages to throw other elements into the mix, such as a Project Zero style camera mechanic that can reveal hidden routes and alternate versions of rooms from a different time period. It’s stylistically very interesting, but they could have expanded on it, as the need for it is heavily signposted.
The game’s biggest asset is its puzzles, which are plentiful, packed with variety, and often satisfying to crack. It’s almost tempting to think that the game should have focused on them altogether, even more so when you take into account the wildly uneven firearm combat. Aside from guns feeling very underwhelming to use, it’s also fairly clumsy. Standard enemies are relatively easy to dispatch, but once you find boss enemies it’s clear that the controls just aren’t refined enough to make them anything more than deeply frustrating, especially considering the controls seem to lock up in heavy encounters, with me only able to shoot again once i swap to another gun, a luxury the small arenas don’t really afford.
Pacing can also be an issue, with the lack of a map can often lead to aimless wandering, especially as the entire route is altered about halfway through the game. Also, anybody that played early Resident Evil games will be familiar with the environment progression in the last third, and the uniform area design leaves things even more indistinguishable without a guide on hand. There are also some dragged out time jumping flashback sequences that frankly seem like padding, and would have been better off as short cut scenes.
The frustrating thing about Fobia is that it’s almost excellent. With some significant pruning of the runtime, especially in the final third and the more action side of things getting some fine tuning, this would be a genre banger. As it is, we have a lovingly crafted, but occasionally uneven and unfocused curio that intrigues, sometimes frustrates, but makes you think that the studio’s next game could be something to keep an eye on.
