A number of years in the past I needed to be on very robust painkillers to assist me sleep, and whereas I did not have extra nightmares than traditional, the standard of those I did have was markedly extra bizarre than what I used to be used to. Enter Saturnalia, “a fever dream impressed in equal components by genuine Sardinian tradition and basic Italian giallo horror movies”. Introduced a yr in the past and “coming quickly” in 2022 to the Epic Video games Retailer, this extraordinarily unsettling slice of nope – but additionally sure – simply acquired a brand new trailer. If Stanley Tucci visited this city on his quest to eat good ravioli, his remaining piece to digicam could be from inside an imminently-afire wicker effigy.
A lot of this sounds actually cool. You play as just a few totally different characters, who’ve totally different expertise however are all making an attempt to flee Gravoi. The city has an unspecified however presumably horrific winter solstice ritual, and by switching between the characters, or teaming them up, the plan is to flee earlier than the ritual occurs. There isn’t any map, so you need to simply study your approach round city (together with a maze of underground tunnels and shortcuts), all of the whereas being hunted by one thing. Should you get caught, you turn to a different character and may attempt to free your friends – but when everybody will get caught the city resets, so though you retain your different progress you need to remap the entire place once more.
Saturnalia is juggling a number of balls, what with investigating a thriller, exploring the city, all of the horror stuff (folks rituals are yer basic horror, proper?), fixing puzzles, after which additionally the roguelite potentiall of resetting the city. It instantly makes me marvel if there is a story rationalization for that taking place. Possibly the city is not even actual, and is inside a baby’s snowglobe.
But in addition: simply take a look at the the factor. That unsettling violet sky. The deep shadows. The flare of a match. Tunnels filled with flames. The jumble of issues it makes me consider is various (together with The Village, Bizarre West, and a jumper my brother owns), and it looks like a type of kaleidoscope horror video games that displays a number of your self again. On the similar time, the specificity of the Sardinian cultural inspirations make that trailer really feel very cohesive, prefer it’s a correct place with a correct plan, nonetheless unusual it is perhaps. So mainly: I am effectively up for this.
Look out for it on the Epic Video games Retailer later this yr, apparently.