Developer: Dumativa, Cellbit
Publisher: Dumativa, CriticalLeap
Steam Deck Compatibility?: Playable
Rrp: £19.99 (Steam)
Released: 28th November 2024
Available on: Steam
Played Using: Xbox One control pad
Approximate game length: 25+ Hours
[Note: Normally I try not to post twice in a day (or even in a week) but in this instance,with Next Fest happening at the same time, I felt a rare double post was required.]
I do my best to try and keep an eye on what games are coming out that might interest me, even if it takes me literal years to finally get them or play them once I have them. Yet despite my best efforts, good (or at least interesting), games slip past me and this is one such game. I was initially surprised that I had heard nothing about this game when it came out. However, in my research into it, and the universe it’s connected to, I’ve come to understand why it happened and will likely happen again and it all comes down to the language barrier.
While researching this game I discovered that it’s actually part of an expanded universe revolving around the Ordem Paranormal, which is a fictional group of Paranormal Investigators. Originally this was a campaign setting and rule set for a tabletop role-playing game created by Rafael Lange (otherwise known as Cellbit on Youtube). It has spawned graphic novels, books and of course a tabletop RPG among other things. As far as I can tell it’s only available in Portuguese currently which is a shame for me as I’d love to explore this universe more.
This game was crowdfunded through a site called catarse.me which is a Brazilian crowdfunding site, which makes sense considering that this game and this universe’s creator are Brazilian.
Enigma of Fear (it throws me off every time I read the title that there is no ‘the’ at the start) is a survival horror game that takes inspiration from the likes of Resident Evil.
You play as Mia and her dog Lupi. Mia is an agent of the Ordem Paranormal, which as mentioned above, is an organisation of Paranormal Investigators. She has arrived at an area known as ‘The Perimeter, in search of her father, who has gone missing while investigating the area.
Control can be switched between Mia and Lupi, when playing as Lupi you’ll find that you can’t stray too far from Mia. If you go too far away control will be reverted back to Mia and Lupi will return by her side.
One of the big mysteries of this game starts from the menu screen. There’s a button that’s just above the ‘Close Game’ button labelled ‘Leave’. Originally I pressed this button mistakenly when trying to quit the game. What this button does is zoom the camera out and pan it up to show the silhouette of a person in chains. You can interact with this person, causing them to strain against the chains holding them aloft, but can do nothing else other than return to the main menu. Having completed the game, all I shall say is that this screen becomes important later.
Clicking ‘Begin’ thrusts you directly into a puzzle to solve, a fairly simple one, involving choosing the correct symbols to begin, but still one that requires you to pay attention to some small clues. In this case, it’s the fact that three symbols and no others have blood stains on them. This should tell the player exactly what kind of game this is, specifically it’s a puzzle game that requires you to pay attention to context clues.
This is definitely a game that I recommend keeping a pencil and paper nearby for, not because you’ll need to create maps but because sometimes this game will give you a clue to something you won’t encounter for several hours.
There is another layer to this game that relates to an ARG. While this ARG has finished you can still solve the puzzles which involve looking in the games files and using decryption tools of various forms.
This isn’t purely a puzzle game, there are hostile creatures and hazards that you will need to dispatch or avoid. As such, it should be unsurprising that you can die in this game, either from taking too much physical damage or psychic damage (or maybe it’s a sanity, the game never actually says). There isn’t any health bar for you to see but the edges of the screen will become more splattered with blood the more injured you are. If the damage was psychic in nature the screens edges instead gain a purple colouration and seem to have tendrils showing, the tendrils growing as you take more psychic damage.
As you explore the area that makes up The Perimeter you will occasionally find safe rooms (or areas in some cases). In these locations you’ll find a radio where you can speak with two other agents. Speaking to these agents is effectively like using a hint system, though unlike many hint systems they’ll never actually just tell you the answer.
Alas no game is perfect and I wouldn’t be doing my (self assigned) job if I didn’t mention where this game falters. The voice acting is a bit weak, especially with the main character. She just seems to not emphasise the right parts of her sentences at times and can make her sound a bit uncanny at times.
At times the voice acting almost sounds like it was recorded in someone’s bedroom rather than in a studio and at times the volume of the dialogue is very quiet for seemingly no reason.
This is a game I think anyone who likes puzzles or horror shouldn’t skip out on. It really is a shame that it seems to have been so ignored. I heartily recommend giving this game a go!
If this appeals to you perhaps try;
Resident Evil Series
You Will Die Here Tonight
Beacon Pines
