Unholy: A Disappointing Horror Adventure

Unholy, a new horror adventure game, promises an immersive experience filled with desperate main characters, malevolent cults, and emotion-fueled powers. However, despite its potential, Unholy falls short in execution. Unresponsive controls, frustrating instant deaths, and erratic AI make for a disappointing and frustrating seven-hour journey. Let’s explore the reasons why Unholy fails to live up to its promise.

A Desperate Journey to Rescue a Son

The protagonist of Unholy is Dorothea, a young mother whose son, Gabriel, has been captured by a religious cult called Spring of Eternity. Determined to save her son, Dorothea enlists the help of a spiritual guide and ventures into Eternal City, a supernatural underworld. She must face armored guards and zombies to rescue her child, but the flaws of the game soon become evident.

A Dark and Detailed Environment

While the landscape of Eternal City is not drastically different from the real world, it is cloaked in darkness and destruction. The developers have put effort into crafting an immersive and apocalyptic environment, filled with tendriled subway tunnels and candle-lit tributes to the dead. However, the game fails to make proper use of this atmospheric setting.

Emotion Controls: A Missed Opportunity

Dorothea’s journey is not just physical but emotional as well. In Eternal City, she can harvest emotions from corpses and use them to her advantage. Each emotion, such as anger or sadness, can be used as a tool to overcome obstacles. However, the execution of these emotion controls is flawed. Enemies are only momentarily stunned by Dorothea’s attacks, leaving players frustrated and vulnerable to counterattacks. A lack of melee attack options and cumbersome ammo selection further detract from the gameplay experience.

Frustrating Stealth Mechanics

Unholy heavily relies on stealth mechanics, forcing players to adopt a sneaky approach. However, the game’s clunky controls and sluggish movement make evading enemies a frustrating ordeal. Dorothea often gets stuck on the environment, and enemies can easily block her escape routes. The unreliable stealth system, particularly against larger groups of enemies, adds to the game’s overall dissatisfaction.

The Mask: A Mixed Blessing

To navigate the dangers of Eternal City, Dorothea wears a mystical veil that grants her special vision modes. This mask reveals interactive elements and can be upgraded to protect her from poisonous gas and detect invisible enemies. While these features are useful, the inability to activate the mask while using the slingshot is a frustrating limitation. The mask also fails to hide the poorly animated cutscenes and lackluster dialogue delivery.

Lack of Meaningful Choices and Forgotten Elements

Unholy introduces various gameplay elements that quickly fade into obscurity. The upgrade system, which requires players to collect mementos, offers few buffs that significantly impact gameplay. Most upgrades are forgettable, with the exception of increased ammo capacity. Additionally, mechanics like the running slide move offer little practical use beyond the initial tutorial.

A Missed Opportunity for a Horror Adventure

Unholy had the potential to be an engaging horror adventure, but its execution falls flat. While the dark and detailed environment captures the essence of an apocalyptic world, the frustrating controls, unreliable stealth mechanics, and forgotten gameplay elements make for a disappointing experience. Players are left longing for more polished and satisfying horror games.