Agni: Village of Calamity Preview – Survival horror with an Indonesian twist

There are some video games the place you possibly can establish their influences nearly instantly, and Agni: Village of Calamity was a type of video games for me. Inside the first couple of minutes of enjoying it at Gamescom, I used to be excited about Resident Evil, Alan Wake, after which, as issues turned more and more unusual, I began getting just a little little bit of a Backrooms vibe. It’s an fascinating combination, significantly as a result of Agni is bringing these acquainted survival horror concepts into an Indonesian setting.

Developed by Indonesian studio Separuh Interactive, Agni: Village of Calamity follows Agni, an investigator from a covert Indonesian police unit who has gone in opposition to orders to seek for her lacking companion within the distant village of Desa Purba. What begins as a police investigation shortly descends into one thing significantly extra supernatural and psychologically disturbing.

The demo instantly established that Agni isn’t relying solely on typical weapons to outlive. She has a type of precognition, whereas numerous objects she discovers can grant her extra skills.

The primary of those I encountered was a lantern, adopted by a bracelet, with every offering Agni with one other software for coping with the more and more weird world round her. The lantern is especially essential when coping with sure enemies. Gentle can be utilized to wreck or destroy among the creatures you encounter, giving the sport a mechanic that instantly jogged my memory of Alan Wake.

There are additionally extra conventional survival horror encounters, and that is the place Agni feels most acquainted. Ammunition is proscribed, enemies are harmful and easily operating in direction of each downside with a gun isn’t essentially the very best answer. The sport encourages you to consider the way you strategy encounters, whereas its psychological horror parts continually work to make you query what you’re seeing.

The digicam additionally provides to that old-school survival horror feeling. Some areas use fastened or cinematic digicam angles, significantly when exploring, earlier than shifting perspective when the motion calls for it. It’s a way that works significantly effectively when the intention is to limit your view of what’s ready across the subsequent nook.

Agni’s Indonesian setting is the place the sport has the largest alternative to face out. The builders are drawing closely from Indonesian horror movies and folklore, moderately than merely recreating the acquainted haunted mansions and deserted laboratories we’ve seen numerous instances earlier than. There’s a particular sense of place to Desa Purba, whereas the rituals, creatures and supernatural parts give the sport an id past its apparent influences.

The extra supernatural sections are the place I discovered myself most . There are moments when the sport strikes away from typical survival horror and begins enjoying with actuality, creating environments that really feel more and more disconnected from the world Agni began in. That is the place the Alan Wake comparability turns into significantly acceptable, with the sport clearly eager to discover psychological horror alongside its bodily threats.

And but, I did come away from enjoying just a little undecided concerning the expertise as an entire. There are some good concepts right here:  the Indonesian setting is fascinating, the supernatural skills give Agni one thing to differentiate herself from different survival horror protagonists, and the combination of useful resource administration, fastened digicam angles and psychological horror exhibits that Separuh Interactive understands the style. Beneath all of that, although, the underlying formulation is acquainted. Very acquainted.

That’s not essentially a criticism. There may be clearly nonetheless an urge for food for traditional survival horror, and Agni is doing a great job of placing its personal cultural spin on that basis, however after my Gamescom demo, I wasn’t fairly as enthralled as I hoped to be, and I’ve to hope that the extra fascinating parts are explored extra by later components of the sport.

Separuh have already teased additional mechanics and surprises, together with concepts geared toward gamers who keep in mind the experimental mechanics of basic PlayStation-era survival horror. There’s clearly extra to Agni than what I skilled at Gamescom and that’s why I’m maintaining an open thoughts.

Agni: Village of Calamity has the foundations of an intriguing survival horror recreation. Its Indonesian setting provides it a particular flavour, whereas the mix of supernatural skills, useful resource administration and psychological horror may finally make for one thing rather more fascinating than its acquainted influences initially counsel. I simply must see extra.