Picture this: You’re in a small European village, there’s an ominous church, and you don’t quite know where to go. This could be the setup for countless Italian horror films. It’s also where we find our protagonist at the beginning of the Saturnalia demo, which went live as part of Steam Next Fest. The demo sets you free to complete simple objectives that eventually open up into a larger, interwoven mystery. It’s all vaguely interesting from the start, but it’s the off-kilter sketchbook visuals that make me want to explore further.
After heading to church to meet her paramour, Anita retreats to their villa to kick off the conundrums. What’s going on at the mines? What’s up with the strange rituals held in this small town in Sardinia? Who’s this dude sleeping on the couch and why do I need to keep an eye on him? Frankly, even suggesting that I need to “keep an eye” on someone who’s crashing on my couch gave me major college flashbacks. It’s clear from the beginning that something very strange is afoot, and it’s all accented with scratchy, amorphous art design that makes it more unsettling than it really is.
Disorienting by design
The deeper you get into Saturnalia, the more likely you are to run into a mysterious creature that stalks the streets. Avoiding encounters gets easier the more you play, as you’ll eventually learn the layout of this labyrinthine location. Don’t count on rote memorization for too long, though. Saturnalia lets you switch between characters, each with their own unique abilities. One may be more suited to a particular situation than another, or may be necessary for solving a specific puzzle. Once all of your characters die, however, the town’s layout changes.
There are still plenty of literal signposts to help you get around, but switching up the structure throws a disorienting wrinkle into the mix. Add in the pressure of pursuit and the branching puzzle nodes and you have a game with a sense of progression as sketchy as its visuals. In addition to shifting roads, your characters lose all tools and consumables while keeping progress, shortcuts, and key items.
So far, the puzzles are fairly straightforward, requiring practical items like hammers. Controls are about as intuitive as you’d expect from a survival horror game, where half the horror is in fumbling around frantically as you attempt to flee. Beyond that, it’s hard to get too much of a grasp on how Saturnalia will play out as its mysteries deepen. The demo is timed at 40 minutes, but you should be able to pick up where you left off when the full game launches.
Stop-motion scares
Developer and publisher Santa Ragione cite rotoscoping film techniques and stop-motion animation as the inspiration behind Saturnalia‘s art style. Both are certainly apparent in the execution. It’s a smart move, because even when things get janky it’s easy to chalk it up to the quirky art style that falls somewhere in the realm of a lost PlayStation 2 game. Parts made me think of Manhunt and Madworld in equal measure. It’s an intriguing concoction I’m keen to see more of when Saturnalia is ready.
Another thing I’d like to see more of is the actual horror. The few moments I spent hiding in a confessional didn’t really up the tension much. From what I’ve played, I imagine the suspense will come in the form of a general sense of foreboding. The town certainly supplies plenty of that, especially as the moodier colors seep in from the periphery. If Saturnalia leans on that in lieu of cheap running and hiding tricks, it might be worthy of busting out the ol’ gaming notebook.
