I love a game that’s enamoured with the old-school Silent Hill flavour of horror; puzzles that somehow suit the world while not really making much sense, inexplicable monstrosities, the feeling that there’s some kind of dark other dimension threatening to creep through into the tenuous one that we call ‘reality…’
I also have a thing for games that flaunt Polish culture, being of Polish blood myself. I have strong ties to Poland, regularly visit family there, and have memories tied to that country from ever since I was a littl’ un and my grandma would make me ‘Twarog’ cheese mixed with vanilla, sugar, and cinnamon. It was just a pile of mashed sweet cheese really, but I uphold that humble dish in my daily life to this day. I have a Twarog in my fridge right now, in fact (probably past its nosh-by date, now I think about it…).
Holstin is a fascinating indie horror game made by Polish studio Sonka. It’s set in a quiet lakeside town in the north of Poland called Jeziorne-Kolonia, which I believe is fictional, but sounds like exactly the kind of town where I’d frequent summer camps as a young teen. Holstin does some things that are comfortingly familiar for an old-school horror fan, but other things that in their own little ways blow my mind. For example, the game is played from a seemingly isometric perspective, but you can rotate the camera to see things that you otherwise wouldn’t and solve puzzles. It’s a simple thing, really, but it looks great. Check out this little clip I took below:
The thing that really gets me though is the combat perspective. The combat demo takes place in the basement of a history museum where the museum curator chap (who has a weird mutated leg) affably tells you how not to get torn apart by the, I dunno, mutants? Zombies? out there in the tunnels.
Here’s the cool part: when you aim your weapon, the camera zooms in from the isometric perspective into a full-on Resident Evil 4-style over-the-shoulder camera. It’s an absolutely awesome effect, and somehow by not being in this perspective all the time makes it more effective at pulling you into the horror. In some ways Holstin’s aesthetic reminds me of last year’s very good indie survival horror Signalis, but it goes several steps further.
The combat itself actually leaves a bit to be desired in terms of bullet impact registering on enemies, and what’s actually quite a punishing system whereby your stamina drains really fast when you’re aiming. But hey, the devs link you to a feedback form after the demo asking for your thoughts, so clearly they’re still working a lot of this stuff out (and highly opinionated ass that I am, I let them know my feelings loud and clear).
The other part of the demo was more focused around puzzle-solving, and drenched in atmosphere, which oozed from the screen like those vile fleshy tendrils oozed from the walls of the Polish house you’re in. With the tendrils sensitive to light, there’s a whole system of swapping light bulbs and switching fuses to navigate the house, with strange characters breaking up the heavy mood.
There’s the boy hiding in a wardrobe (who somehow teleports between wardrobes on different floors, and refuses to tell you how); there’s your co-worker/partner who rings in every now and then to utterly bollock you for absolutely everything you do; and your mother, or some apparition of her, who the player-character is surprised to see in this cursed house but, with classic dream logic, quickly accepts her presence.
The voice-acting here is fantastic, like really good. It’s all in Polish (not sure if there’ll be an English dub), but the characters are so in tune with Polish inflections, colourful swearing, and what I’d describe as ‘distinctly Polish directness,’ that even if I didn’t understand the language, I’d still recommend playing this with Polish sound and English subtitles. Beyond the actual conversation, the high-quality voicework boils right down to the little things, like when something you interact with doesn’t work or something just doesn’t fit, he mutters kurwa or some other exasperated expletive under his breath. It’s really subtle, but really real, and brilliantly observed.
There aren’t really any threats as you move through the house, shoving furniture about, investigating shelves lined with pickled veggies in jars, and solving light puzzles to get the tentacles to retract into the ground so you can get past. However, the ominous music, the fact that you have to sometimes deliberately switch off the lights in a certain area you’re going through in order for the lights to be on in the next area, all while the boy talks about how he’s scared of some ‘White Lady’ in the house, creates a quietly brilliant horror ambience.
I love what I’ve seen of Holstin so far. Its camerawork is original, and its Polish-centric presentation is grounded, making the horror feel closer to home. All this is wrapped in a great big Silent Hill blanket, right down to the sleepy lakeside setting (which, in fairness, Poland has an abundance of). It’s extremely promising, and I thoroughly recommend you play the demo on Steam this Spookmas.