Dark Atlas: Infernum – PS5 Review

Maybe I’m getting jaded by the indie horror offerings. If it’s not zombies, it’s eldritch horror. Dark Atlas: Infernum offers the latter. After a successful Kickstarter campaign, Night Council Studio’s debut delivers some strong world building but I left it feeling a little underwhelmed. There are seeds of promise here but a couple of technical issues and poorly placed checkpoints have given me some frustration.

The story is heavily influenced by cosmic horror. You play Natalia, a captive mother desperate to find her lost son. She’s a member of the Night Council whose occult activities have brought her into The Word’s clutches. The Word largely toys with Natalia and instructs her to forge a magical book that will open a portal for him  Whilst this is happening, the world is undergoing a minor apocalypse. Celestial beings have descended to Earth and the chaos they’ve brought is told over regular radio broadcasts. I find this stuff to be fascinating but it feels so separate to the task Natalia is given. I felt so cut off from the bigger events and I would’ve loved to have seen that mayhem represented. At best, you get an early glimpse of the unrest but the descriptive bulletins do a much better job of selling it.

Outside of that, the interplay between The Word and Natalia is fiery. She spends most of her time imprisoned in distress. Unfortunately, there’s a couple of twists that really make her out to be an useful idiot. By the time the credits roll, I can’t see her as empowered. The Word has a badgering presence and he does spend most of the game in control of the situation. Beyond the radio broadcasts, you get further lore from written notes. I think the world is pretty fleshed out, although it’s very by the numbers. We hear more of the Night Council but, as the only two remaining inhabitants, Natalia and The Word exist in a pretty empty landscape.

That landscape is at least varied. It’s not the sharpest but the mix of modernity and Eldritch geometry does help sell the unknown lurking beneath the surface. I did find it too dark on my display and the game crucially lacks brightness settings. The is an option to give Natalia a mild aura but that only seems to emit when reaching walls. There was one late-game challenge that required me to blast my brightness right up to see where I was going.  That said, I really like the intricate level design and the occasional moments of grandeur.

There is a sense of a true descent. Beginning at street level, you see some of the decay that’s hit the top layer. From apartment buildings, bars and restaurants, you’ll pick your way through the Night Council’s quarters before plunging underground. There’s a nice pacing to it but I think that’s helped by my preference to avoid dealing with monsters.

One misstep is the English voice actors. The performances can be quite hammy. Natalia is especially overboard and it doesn’t quite land right. The Spanish alternatives do sound like they have a better grasp of tone and I sense their dialogue lines up better with the subtitles. From a technical standpoint, it did seem to noticeably hitch. I assume it’s due to loading as a new area will invariably stutter.  I also had one instance of being unable to interact with a key item.  A quick restart solved it and, in general, some items were fiddly to grab.  Having a crosshair on screen did seem to help.

It is, unfortunately, one of those games where you’re regularly hunted. These entities will populate the areas whilst you do the usual snooping for clues. Being caught, can take you back to the start of a level and any progress tends to be undone. Checkpointing is horrid which makes dealing with stealth something of a chore. Enemy patrols are predictable but the game likes to spice things up by making them invisible. You will gain an item to see them but it’s one more thing to juggle whilst you’re exploring the levels.

At the outset, you can choose to have monsters activated or take a more story-driven approach. The latter does keep them in cutscenes but they will not bother you in gameplay. That can allow a reason to replay the game but the game doesn’t punish you for taking the easy way out. The levels are mostly self-contained. Doors can be unlocked for easy access and I did find most areas easy to navigate. They do have a good sense of place, although it can be familiar horror ground.

The puzzles felt straight forward. Solutions are usually found in notes or at least hinted at. I was not stuck for any codes and I felt that stuff came naturally. Again, with the tightly-designed areas, it was hard to put a foot wrong. That’s arguably why I prefer a monster free time. More fail states invite more repetition. Whilst the constant threat might be the intended experience, I don’t enjoy being pushed back to square one so often. There are hiding spots, beginning in side rooms before providing Natalia with lockers. Running seems mostly out of the question. There’s a stamina to manage and any chase will drain it quickly. Being in the presence of an entity gives our heroine chills that can also kill her.

With the monsters removed, there’s still plenty of atmosphere. The dank and dreary surroundings look suitably grim and the soundtrack does a wonderful job of delivering an unsettling ambience. Sound in general is well done. Hanging chains rattle, contraptions move and doors unlock eerily to create unease.

There are moments where Dark Atlas: Infernum delivers the right kind of dread and otherworldly spectacle that I come to these games for. Unfortunately, the voiced performances and poor checkpoint placement make for a frustrating time. Taking the choice to remove the monsters eliminates the threat and left me with a straight-forward adventure.