In the same way a gourmet chef mixes flavors, game developers often experiment with combining two different ideas or concepts in an attempt to create a satisfying experience. And in both games and food, many combinations fail to take shape and gain mainstream success. There are people that enjoy chocolate mixed in with popcorn, but it is undeniably a niche flavor combo. In that same vein, there are combinations of gaming genres likeBack 4 Blood’sco-op, first-person shooter, deck-building experience that work for some but are considered a miss by others. On the other end of the spectrum are combinations that are so perfectly in sync that they cease to seem like combinations and are instead a distinct harmonious flavor. Like chicken and waffles or peanut butter and chocolate,Saturnalia’s deliberate combination of survival horror and rogue-lite mechanics initially feels foreign and off-putting. But as it marinates, the game turns into a flavor profile entirely its own that will undoubtedly shape the future of horror games.
By definition,Saturnaliais a high concept, simple idea.A group of playable characters stuck in a mazeof a small town is being pursued by a mysterious monster while they try to unravel the mystery that surrounds them and escape. The game is, at its core, a mashup of rogue-lite and Metroidvania mechanics with the AI alien fromAlien Isolationthrown in. When all these individual elements are combined and put into an indie horror aesthetic and context the resulting game isSaturnalia.
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After an innocent beginning, the game takes an extremely sinister turn when Damiano betrays his pregnant mistress Anita by seemingly calling a demonic-looking silhouette to their location. After this initial encounter, the player explores the sleepy Italian village of Sardinia as Anita and slowly amasses a cast of characters equally confused and afraid. The primary and really only necessary objective is simply to escape Sardinia with as many characters alive as possible. But as the player wanders the maze of streets that make up Sardinia it becomes increasingly clear that the village holds deep dark secrets just waiting to be uncovered.
While the only objective that is required of the player to “finish” the game is to simply escape with at least one character, the player can choose their own level of involvement in the happenings ofSaturnalia’s story. In searching for a means of escape the player will naturally come across clues that are scattered all over town and logged in an in-game journal. As more and more clues are discovered the journal becomes a spiderweb of intersecting information all shedding more and more light on the sinister nature of Sardinia.
From recruiting townsfolk for the party of playable characters to unraveling the mystery of the origins of the monster and finally executing a plan of escape,Saturnaliagrants the player an extreme level of freedom. And it’s in that freedom that the true beauty of the game lies. Supermassive’s 2015 sleeper hitUntil Dawngave players the freedom of choosing the actions of the characters in a typical horror movie.Until Dawnpresented choices like running a certain way or hiding at specific times.Saturnalia’s approach is significantly more broad, giving the player the freedom to make those same moment-to-moment decisions while also influencing their overarching goals.
ArtisticallySaturnaliais just as ambitious and successful as it is in the storytelling category. Not only isSaturnaliaone of the most beautiful games of 2022, but the game holds its own in the discussion of the most beautiful games of all time. Characters and their movement animations are effectively expressive and evocative in spite of the total lack of spoken dialogue. The game’s color palette provides a unique flair and bathes a game that takes place almost exclusively in darkness in believable and tone-appropriate light. And the decision to not attempt a photo-realistic art style gave the developers more leeway in human movement breaking natural laws in a way that makes for a significantly more frightening experience.
Layered under the visuals is sound design that is arguably even more effective in crafting the atmosphere. The rare instances of music being dominated by high-pitched vocals set a tone that is both unsettling and extremely urgent. But it’s in the use of silence whereSaturnaliaspeaks loudest. Walking through the streets of Sardinia and hearing the player character’s footsteps, but also footsteps of other townsfolk accompanied by their closing their doors as they hear the player approach clearly communicates the message that the player is in a place in which they don’t belong raising the sense of urgency for escape.Saturnalia’s sound design perfectly communicates a feeling of haunting loneliness and unease elevating the entire experience into the stratosphere.
What is most disturbing about the loneliness of Sardiniais the knowledge that the player isn’t alone at all. Being aware of the monster’s ever-present wandering keeps the player on the move never wanting to spend too long in one place for fear of being found. That feeling of unease and tension and the player’s heart rate both shoot through the roof at the sight of the monster’s telltale yellow fog rolling in. The sight of the fog and the sound of the monster’s eerie clicking growing louder consistently puts both the player and the player characters on edge. Those sensory signs of the monster’s presence are only elevated by the combination of the way in which the monster is always depicted as a simple black silhouette with large horns protruding from its head, and its slow and extremely deliberate movements. Through body language, the monster communicates to the player a sense of futility and inevitability as the slow movements create no sense of urgency only further solidifying the fact that the player is trapped in Sardinia with this thing.
As it is,Saturnaliais a truly excellent game. But the introduction of the rogue-lite mechanics is what creates meaningful stakes for not only the characters but also the player themselves. After each game-over, the streets of Sardinia are reshuffled, forcing the player to feel just as hopeless, lost, and disoriented as the characters they control. The threat of reshuffle causes the player to carefully consider each and every decision.
While the rogue-lite mechanics ofSaturnaliawork to make the game extremely difficult and at times frustrating, the accessibility features built into the game allow players of any skill level or investment to enjoy themselves. Rather than simple difficulty settings, the player is allowed to change specific elements of the game like infinite matches, unlimited sprint, and even turning off the reshuffling mechanic entirely to best suit their own play style. Accessibility settings like those included by Big Trouble and Santa Ragione demonstrate a clear desire to make the game approachable and set a new gold standard for accessibility settings with regard to difficulty.
Playing throughSaturnalia’s beautiful mixture of rogue-lite, survival horror, and Metroidvania mechanics feels like being among the first people in the world to experience peanut butter and chocolate. Big Trouble Game Studio and Santa Ragione have crafted an entirely new flavor profile that in just a few short years will be so popular audiences everywhere won’t be able to fathom a world before the existence of said combination.
Saturnalia is available on PlayStation 4, PlayStation 5, Nintendo Switch, Xbox One, Xbox Series X/S, and PC. Game Rant was provided a PS5 code for this review.
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