Kryva Hora Demo - Can you survive the radiation and mutants luring the the fields of Kryva Hora?

Hello fellow Gamers, Racula here and welcome to another exciting XPN Gaming review! Brought to you from the developers - WOMBEX Games, Kryva Hora is a survival horror game set in found footage style gameplay.

Let's take a look at the demo and see what it's about.

Survive to Save The World in Kryva Hora

Taken a few months after the tragic explosion in Chornobyl, a camcorder was found with a disturbing recording made in the area, close to Chornobyl. Set in found footage, players find themselves having to survive and escape from the mutants and the hostile environment.

Though this is only a demo and not the full game, it does contain some features such as: microphone driven gameplay and procedurally generated level elements, it also contains puzzles - which are mandatory for your survival. Also when you die, players have to start over on a new generated level, so players will have to explore and survive from scratch each time. To survive, players can either run or hide from the mutants, but must remember to keep quiet, pretty much like the game A Quiet Place, with the microphone driven gameplay, which to me makes any game more fun and interesting to do.

So how does it play?

So the Kryva Hora Demo is mainly played on keyboard, using the standard buttons to move around, the number buttons 1 - 4, are used for: equip/unequip, the main radio communication, using Medi Kits and radiation syringes. Other buttons used are to run, crouch, inventory and using the flashlight.

Keyboard Controls

Players start the game, on the outskirts of a town and to make their way to the facility nearby. On the way, messages pop up saying you need to find items, like a radiation detector - which is very handy as it can help not only detect when radiation is nearby, but radiated mutants as well, radiation syringes, flashlight and batteries, oh also the key card to get access into the facility as well. Once inside it becomes more interesting, as a note is left before entering saying their are 2 mutants trapped inside and they weren't kidding either. They are indeed trapped behind doors and you can hear them clear as day. Though they won't be unleashed until the power is back on. That's when the fun begins with having to hide from them to get around and find the components for the communication radio, as well as a code for a door. Once players have both then you can gain access to the compound's lab, what's inside? You'll have to play the demo to find out.

What happened here?

That radiation can't be good

Found Footage Graphics and Audio

The Kyrva Hora Demo uses Found Footage graphics, which makes the game look more like an old video - VHS and it is a nice touch the game. It makes the grim palette and stark lighting more emphasizing on the oppressive mood and the feeling of isolation, seem more real. The soundscape is equally impactful, relying on subtle natural sounds and minimalist music to amplify the tension, the music becomes more dramatic when a mutant has spotted you and is giving chase, kind of like any Elder Scrolls game when you've been spotted and the music changes for battle.

This gives me the creeps

The narrative, which is hinted through the environmental storytelling and scattered notes throughout the demo, promises a rich, lore-driven experience. The fragments of dialogue ad notes also suggest a deeply personal and tragic story, lurking beneath the surface.

Final Thoughts

Though the demo is completable within an hour, however I really struggled with the game and playing via keyboard only on my first playthrough. Moving around wasn't the issue I had, it was more the trying to use the number buttons, to heal up and bring the radiation down whilst running around and exploring. On top of that, I could't find the battery part for the main radio to work, I looked everywhere and couldn't see it. Also the microphone driven gameplay, doesn't really seem to work with the mutants that I came across. The only way the mutants could find me, was I either stood in their line of sight, or I used the radio, to make it fake talk/make a sound and attract them to me. To which that has to be within a certain radius for them to hear.

Overall as it stands, Kyrva Hora is looking to be an interesting game, when it fully comes out and they can fix the issues in the demo. If what they mentioned in the their trailer is going to happen such as: multiplayer, Twitch integration, hard mode, optional permadeath, microphone features and other things as well, then this may make the game a good one to try out and play. For me, I will be keeping my eye out for this game and any updates for it.

Kryva Hora Demo is available to play on Steam and the full game will be released at a later date.

Steam

Thank you to everyone who took time out of their day to take a moment to read this review, your support is always appreciated and means a lot to me.

XPN Rating 3.5 out of 5

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