When it comes to horror games or games where suspense is a primary factor, what games do you think of? Just from personal experience, I would have named Phasmaphobia, Resident Evil, The Evil Within, Dead Space, or Bioshock.

Creating a game where suspense is the primary factor is no easy task. Setting the mood, adjusting the atmosphere, and pushing the narrative forward are just some of the important factors when creating a memorable moment or a jump scare that will haunt players for their lives. This is what Pixelsplit tries to do with their upcoming game REVEIL.

Now, more than likely, you have probably not heard of this game. Honestly, before PAX East 2023, we had not either but that is the blessing of these gaming conventions.

We get to experience things we might have missed completely if we had not gone. So why are we talking so positively about a game we had never heard of before PAX East? The game has stuck with us, even now.

Gameplay

REVEIL’s core gameplay is fairly simple. Walk through the level, solve puzzles, and find your daughter; however, just like many other suspense horror games, this task is easier said than done. Every time you think you are about to catch up to her, she slips out of your grasp.

The demo starts out with the player, the father, in the house and he wanders down to his daughter’s room. Oddly enough, she is not there but the door you came in is now locked. At first, we thought she was playing a prank on us and that the only way to escape was to solve her puzzles. Now, most of these puzzles are simplistic in nature like a child could do, but that doesn’t make them any less difficult for those inexperienced.

The game thankfully is willing to help players that need a hand. If you fail a part of the puzzle, it will make it so that it’s less likely to happen again. Once out of the daughter’s room, we found ourselves at a carnival. Now, the carnival appears to be ordinary but there seems to be something darker going on.

Once entering the fun house, the darkness starts to take its toll causing us to wander endlessly. First through a mirror maze that definitely caused us to get turned around a few times. Once out of that maze through, the house seemed to want to lure us deeper. A dark force was pulling us in using our daughter as bait.

Takeaways

Psychological thrillers are always one of our favorite types of games. REVEIL‘s suspense and anticipation build off kept us on edge leading us down a dark path wanting to experience more. The only downside to the game is its controls.

The controls were a little hard to use with the mouse, especially with some of the puzzles requiring rapid hand movement. If the game has controller support, hopefully, it doesn’t have motion controls because the necessary movements might drive players insane.

REVEIL‘s story and puzzles seem to be going in the right direction, it just needs refined controls. The game’s graphics on the show floor seemed a bit sluggish, but that was most likely due to the computer’s overheating. Yes, you could feel the heat radiating off them, so hopefully, the game is not too graphically intensive.

At the moment, there is no official release date for REVEIL but it is in development for Windows PC (via Steam).