Kholat is a horror game built in unreal engine 4 by IMGN.PRO . It's all about exploring and surviving in a terrifying environment in Ural Mountains. The story is based on a real incident that happened in February 2, 1959 where 9 skiers found their deaths in an abnormal way. Many theories, flourished out of this mystery and so, this game was created. The narration of the story borrows the voice of Sean Bean known as Ned Stark in the " Game of thrones " series, Boromir in "Lord of the Rings " . The music and the sounds are great and give a more immersive tone in your playthrough.
The visuals are stunning and make an atmospheric environment in which you can really feel the frost of the mountains in the warmth of your room. The game is on first person which always helps immersion on horror games and you start your journey on the foot of the mountain. You progress through the storyline as you find coordinates written on the snow, or the things of the people who lost their lives.
You will find yourself lost after the first 25 minutes of playing, but you will soon realize that this is your constant state. In the beginning, i welcomed that feeling, but after a couple of hours of wandering around while being lost, i became so annoyed to the point of turning off the game and moving on to something else. Saving the game is a pain in the ass. You can't save manually, you have to get to the next safe zone to secure your progress, so if you die you have to tour your way again from your last checkpoint. Ok, combine that state now with your lack of orientation and you will get my frustration.
Your only weapons in your journey are your map and your compass. Danger beyond the hostile weather, the frost and the wolves lurks in situations where some orange specters appear that if your character makes contact, dies instantly. In addition, these specters often run out of something, so you have to follow their path in order to survive. They work as a mark so you know you are on the right path. Plus you must always have in mind that the hero dies easily so keep an eye on your standing. There is a Slender-like specter that appears occasionally which makes you feel spooky.
Do i recommend on getting your hands on it? Well if you played Slender and you liked it you will probably like this one too . For others like me who ask for more than just good visuals this isn't the case. It had me on board at the beginning with the scenery and all this mystery on the air but at the end after hours of sightseeing while i was trying to figure out where to go and waiting for something more to occur i lost my appetite. As i say concepts on games ,movies ,novels etc can't be liked by everyone . This one has a more limited spectrum of people who will be satisfied. However that doesn't make it a bad game.
You can find Kholat on Steam here
You can find Kholat on G2A here
Check the Dyatlov Pass incident here
