Saturnalia is a cooperative project between Santa Ragione and Big Trouble Game Studio. It takes the standard Survival Horror genre and combines it with a variety of original aspects to create something that is far more than the sum of its parts. Despite a few stumbles, this ambitious indie horror game is incredibly memorable despite lacking in action or hard-core horrors. Its ingenious gameplay concepts combine with an arthouse visual and giallo-inspired story.

A game like Saturnalia may be categorized in numerous ways while also defying them. On the one hand, it's a very traditional hide-from-the-monster game where the objective is to evade a monster by hiding, moving slowly, and being aware of how much noise you create. On the other hand, it features multiple characters who can all be found, killed, and saved, a phone-based fast-travel system that enables switching between them even at a distance, and a nearly roguelike element where streets and alleyways between key locations can completely alter how its city is navigated if all characters are lost.

Saturnalia stands out amid the crop of excellent horror games coming out by Halloween 2022 in terms of audiovisual output. Its intimate third-person viewpoint is enhanced by an appearance that seems hand-drawn, with close-cropped draw distance making even its larger settings feel little cramped. Characters appear to move at a slower framerate than the surroundings, giving the impression of stop-motion animation while the world moves past at a fluid speed. Saturnalia is certainly artistic and strange, but at some points it also manages to be frightening in exactly the right manner, particularly when players are left trying to navigate a recently reorganized town layout. The game is almost always beautiful to look at, and the basic minimalist soundtrack perfectly completes the game's eerie ambiance.

The clues screen from the scary video game Saturnalia, which has a variety of hints dispersed over a complex screen.
The good-but-not-great survival horror gameplay in Saturnalia falls short of the same bar. The main elements of the game are exploring the town's many nooks and crannies while avoiding monsters and collecting essential things. The players can access different environments and discover additional options and plot beats by picking up specific key items. Overall, everything works very well, and a few monster presence evolutions liven things up a little, but the gameplay doesn't really change much from beginning to end, keeping mostly to the same combination of acquiring goods and figuring out how and where to utilize them.

Each character has a unique backstory and skill that adds some flavor to the proceedings without seeming like the typical horror film-derived tropes. They become unique not simply in terms of personality, but also because they have new lines of inquiry to pursue as events develop. Paul is using a flash-capable camera to capture pictures of objects all around the world while looking for information about his parents (and maybe stun a monster or two). Instead of static landlines, Sergio has a satellite phone the size of a tank that can be used to change characters anywhere in the world.

A illuminated door is in front of Paul, a character from the horror game as retro bowl Saturnalia, and there is nothing but darkness behind him.
While Anita has a map of the town's mining underground, which is more than a little helpful when navigating its darkened passages, and a compass to guide her through the town, Claudia is a young teenager with a body thin enough to slide into areas that others can't, often being able to use them as shortcuts. They may be played solo, or a chosen character can convince others to join them. They can even communicate with one another through text popups while they are exploring together.

Each of Saturnalia's character's story arcs is intriguing, and ultimately, it is their stories that drive the game's most fascinating momentum. The main horror game tale of Saturnalia isn't really terrifying or even the most inventive one ever presented. The way it plays out, though, is a lot of fun and continuously fulfilling, with complex themes of tradition, treachery, and family tragedy woven into a broad variety of actors, objects, settings, and historical relics that are all monitored on a big "clues" screen.

The survivor horror game's Claudia Before a town that is well-lit, Saturnalia is visible.
Insofar as they manage to keep everyone alive, players may or may not solve everything by the end of the adventure because each character has their own sub-story, but an adjustable difficulty setting offers greater challenges for those who want them and an impressive array of mechanical accessibility options so that players of any skill level can enjoy the game (or even those deathly afraid of running out of matches in the dark).

In the end, Saturnalia is difficult to recommend as a must-play horror title because of how divisive both its presentation and its gameplay are likely to be. It won't be everyone's cup of tea because of the slower pacing, fairly minimalist gameplay, and mysterious story approach. But those who enjoy exploration and are searching for a lovely, atmospheric mystery (with only a few things that lurk in the shadows) will find Saturnalia to be a completely original journey that is well worth going on.