Kholat is a compelling release set against a fascinating backdrop that drew me in early and kept me playing. It offers a memorable, if not completely satisfying, experience that's worth checking out.
If you haven't played a good, atmospheric exploration horror like game set in frozen mountains in a Russian region, then this game is for you. It's beautiful, climatic, based on a true story. It is not too long but worth playing just for the the story and the immersive feeling it gives to you.
Kholat's narrative exploration is ambitious, and the real world base for its plot, the recreation of exploring a bewildering and unforgiving landscape and the audio-visual design were all superb. But for what it gets right, the mounting flaws in its design only become more evident and distracting.
Its ideas reveal the game Kholat wanted to be, but its aspirations soar far higher than the game it became. What good is a mystery if you don't care about what it might tell you?
There is, possibly, an interesting story behind this one, but it's quite a slog to get to it. Bought it on sale; glad I didn't pay full price for it. Sean Bean, who doesn't die in this one that I can tell (he seems to die in most of the recent movies I've seen him in), can't save it.
I was lured into playing this game by the voice acting cast. Unfortunately that was the best part. The game is yet another walking simulator a la Dear Esther only with enemies (annoying orange thingies). Luckily, there aren't many of them. The game is an artistic attempt to explain why 9 Russian students went missing in the Ural Mountains in 1959 sadly by using paranormal theories and ghosts (the orange thingies). A failed attempt in my opinion. The core gameplay is all about walking and collecting collectibles-notes that drive the story forward. With the shift button you can run but only short distances. When trying to run you will always hear heavy breathing which gets annoying after a while. The game has a map but it doesn't tell you were you are. You notoriously don't know where you are. That and the orange enemies are a major source of frustration especially at the beginning. On the positive side not knowing where you are makes you remember locations and using that knowledge you always trying to locate yourself on the map which is somewhat fun. Poor optimization. At 1080p the game runs on average 40 fps on a high end pc. Only for hardcore walking simulator fans.