Game Review - Kholat

A little bit of history before I go head-first into this review. Does anyone know about the Dyatlov Pass Incident that occurred February 2 1959? It was an event that led to the unexplained deaths of nine hikers on the eastern side of Kholat Syakhl, along the northern Ural Mountains in Russia.

After being missing for some time with no news, family members of the hikers demanded a search and rescue expedition eight days after their expected time of arrival to Vizhai. Rescuers found their campsite six days later, badly damaged and covered in snow.

All of the hiker’s possessions were still inside, including clothes and provisions. It was also noted that the tent had been cut open from the inside, hinting that something had spooked the group and they fled into the snow.

The bodies were discovered in separated positions, the first two were found within the forest, having attempted to make a makeshift fire since they wore nothing but their underwear. Others were found around, all of who died of hypothermia. It took two months for the weather to lessen to find the remaining bodies, all of which bore fatal injuries to their bodies, major skull damage, chest fractures. As though they had been hit by something of tremendous force, yet bizarrely they showed no external injuries of any type.

The incident fell into a notorious investigation with many theories as to what led to the death of the nine individuals. Certain evidence pointed towards a freak avalanche, uncertain facts pointed towards the supernatural/extra-terrestrial, and others even pointed towards a secret Russian military operation.

Even to this day, the truth is not known.

So, why not design a game solely to answer that question?

Kholat is a survival horror game developed by Polish team IMGN.PRO, using the Unreal Engine 4. In it, you take the role of an unnamed protagonist who attempts to uncover the truth behind the disappearance and deaths of those young hikers from said incident.

A chilling start on your bitter journey,

On the off-set, the game is very beautiful. Visuals are very striking and after reducing the motion blur by almost 95%, I was able to enjoy the dense landscapes with elated awe.  However, there are the occasional screen-tearing issues but nothing to jarring in terms of the overall experience.

Music and audio is also very pleasant and engaging. We are even treated by the talented Sean Bean himself as a form of narrator for the majority of the story, as well as the wonderful Mary Elizabeth McGlynn to memorise us with a peaceful credit song. In-game audio is spot on, with the bitter, howling winds screaming through your headset and the soft, calm patter of water droplets as you explore the twisting caves.

In terms of gameplay, it certainly throws you into the deep end. The main element of the game itself is that of a walking simulator, in the mind-set that the game drops you in the middle of nowhere with barely any idea where to go. So it’s up to you to navigate the dense landscape with the help of the in game map and compass. It’s actually somewhat refreshing to play a game like this where nothing is holding your hand. Everything that there is to discover is all up to you and your own skills.

The caves are just as pretty as the outside environments.

It puts me in the mind-set of other games of its type, such as The Vanishing of Ethan Carter. Another fantastic and gripping game.

The exploration can sometimes be quite frustrating, with a sprint mechanic that only allows you to run for a few seconds. (Although that makes somewhat sense, have you ever tried to run fast in thick snow?) But the environments certainly makes up for some of that vexing back-tracking.  

The other side of the gameplay is survival. It is possible for you to die in this game. Whether that’s by falling to your death, being crushed by falling boulders, falling victim to a deadly spike pit, or something much more sinister.

The main enemy you will encounter is something that I found very fascinating once I noticed it. Being almost completely invisible to the human eye, it’s only as you are close to it do you notice the utterly horrifying outline of the beast haunting these dark and lonely mountains and it is shocking to find such a beast in your path with just seconds to react.

What is that..?

I do have a gripe with this game however and it will be a common problem that reviewers will pick up on, is that the ending is somewhat ruined by its rushed and ruthless pace. No overall question is ever fully answered, in fact they are replaced by numerous other questions. For a game that is thick of story elements, relaying upon an incident that comes from real life itself. The ending came across as something very dashed and forced. I’m aware of an extra ending segment if you collect all of the hidden diary pages throughout the map but that has the same problem as I mentioned above. No answers, more questions.

In the end however, I somewhat imagine that was the developers main goal. To work with the notion that the events of the Dyatlov Pass Incident is something that will never be truly known, and so we will be left pondering upon the ending concept for Kholat as well.

One of the most unnerving locations in the game.

For a final conclusion, the game gave me three solid hours of tense, atmospheric gameplay. The horror was very gripping, music beautiful composed and a story that had me wanting more. Kholat can be purchased on Steam for £14.99. And as a whole, I give this game a 7/10.  

The Beginning of the beginning

So, it has been a while, little blog. Once again I am very sorry to neglect you for such a long time. I can assure you it is not your fault. You are a good little diary. One that tolerates my madness and strife and wishes nothing more than to make my life more organised and sensible.

On that topic then, I have some good news.

As part of my new life-change. I have committed myself to writing an entry into this diary every day.

This blog will become my proper journal, filled with my thoughts and feelings on the course of my life. I have always intended this to happen when I first created this blog but the slow decline in my writing and the lack of self-confidence to publish even the smallest of sentences meant that I had immediately push down on the brakes before even starting the engine.

So, let’s get the ball rolling.

Today is my second to last day off my current job. I have to work this evening till 11pm, head home, catch a few Z’s before returning promptly at 6:30 to start the early shift. To be honest, these kind of shifts are frustrating as hell, simply because the pressure you are under in order to get some rest so you can be fresh and ready for the next morning. This never works out for me, I am too much of a worrier. I worry whenever I step away from the job, knowing that the smallest thing can derail the entire thing for me the next morning. Thankfully, nine times out of ten, this is never the case. But it does happen.

Anyway.

I have been spoilt rotten by the chef here this evening. He’s such a sweet guy. I’m gonna miss him when I go, but I have to remind myself of a simple fact. It is not goodbye, it is simply ‘Catch ya laters.’

I hate goodbyes, the finality of it all. Sometimes whenever I see someone go, I know that somewhere down the path I work, I’ll see them again. And everything will be as it should be. But then, all I have to do in the mean time is think about all the fun and excitement I’ve had with them and that’s enough to make me realise that I was lucky to have met someone like them.

Funny how people react differently to that kind of behaviour.  

And just like that...

Seriously, I devote time and energy into a blog post that I want to share with people in the world. And then I go and forget all about it and come back a month later and think to myself, FFS why didn't I continue on with that?

Well. Fuck it. I am still being very healthy. I haven't been to the gym since yesterday mind you, and that was kind of intimidating. Isn't it strange for a gay man to be VERY intimidated when he goes to a place where strong, sweaty and handsome men work out and look amazing? Weird, right?


Then again. I have a problem with men in general.

Men are assholes realistically.

90% of all the men I know in my life are bastards. They either care nothing about me or use me to get everything that they want and then forget that I exist. It's no surprise that I get on a lot better with women.

I read in an article a while ago describing about the social standing and emotional outcome of a child who grows up with no strong father/male role-model. In the short answer to this statement, it's not very good. They either become very aggressive to compensate for the loss of authority or revert into a form of passive behavior.


Anyway, it doesn't matter. I'm just writing some bullshit here. Not like anyone will read it anyway.

So after a year, I went to the gym...

Boy, oh boy. Do my legs hurt.

I haven't been to the gym in a very, very long time. I guess I'd just been really lazy during the last year or work was always making it difficult to work around the right times but yeah.

Around three hours ago, I went to the gym.

I only went to do my running on the treadmill and I had a very specific goal. 5k run, basically 3.1 miles.

A long time ago, I used to be able to make this run in just around 25 minutes. So it's a target of mine to try and see if I can do it.

Anyway. I managed to complete my 5K run today with a time of 32 minutes. So not bad at all. I was going to take a photo of the treadmill screen but I left my phone in the locker.

So today I have managed to do my exercises as well, so in total I have achieved a 5k run. And the following exercises.

Photo taken on 2 February 2014

The original shots

OK. So I forgot to do this yesterday when I was making the original blog post but I decided to take some photos of myself to see if I can track my progress with my workouts and see in the end whether or not I can see the proper change.

Photo taken on 31 January 2014

I should be a little nervous about putting my shots up like this but FUCK IT. I mean, if I can see the difference as I go along then that would be great.