Kholat Review (Nintendo Switch)

Review code provided with many thanks to Imagination

Based of True Events

Kholat is a game based off the Dyatlov Pass Incident. This is where nine student hikers died under mysterious circumstances in the Ural Mountains in 1959. The game begins by recounting these events but that kind feels like where the horror ends. Let’s see where it does.

You start the game by being dumped into an abandoned town next to a train station. I guess the nameless character is adept at train driving as there is literally no one else in this deserted town. You are kinda then just left to it. I began my adventure by walking around the buildings seeing if I could enter them. I even spent a bit of time exploring the train tracks for reasons I don’t understand.

Eventually I felt compelled to follow a path into the wilderness. I came across a campsite with a note on it which provided some background as to what happened to the students. Then some giants rocks rose and fell and a ghost killed me. It was at this point I was thinking ‘OK then?’ Once you find this campsite you find a map, a compass and a flashlight to start your epic quest to find more notes.

On your map you are given coordinates to the other notes but on handheld mode these are really hard to see unless you use the zoom function which felt awkward. Not only that it’s hard to get your bearings from where you are on the map since the game doesn’t tell you. You kinda have to make your best guess and go from there. Me being me I just opted to just wander about until I found another note. When you find a new note it’s usually accompanied by a creepy event like the sky changing colour or a ghost wandering around in the distance.

Not That Scary

If you’re not a fan of horror don’t worry, this game isn’t that scary. The horror element at play here really is that fact this game is loosely based off real events. A common horror troupe used to give you the hibbie jibbies in films. The game does create a sense of loneliness as you’re exploring this cold vast wilderness and that is quite effective. When ghosts pop up I found it more humorous than scary as the models glow and clash with the realistic backgrounds. When I was killed by a ghost who appeared to try to cuddle me I was more frustrated than scared. If you’re not careful and you walk on thin ice you may also fall into a pit of spikes and also die, so back to the last checkpoint.

The Cold Outdoors

The graphics are really impressive. This game was an early title to take advantage of the Unreal 4 engine on its original release. While of course the Switch version is obviously a downgrade, a lot of the graphical effects remain in tack. The outdoors feels cold to look at and you see the chilling wind blow across you as you explore. The sound effects of this game are also impressive. The sounds of the wind and the trees fully immerses you in the experience.

Of course there are drawbacks on the Switch version. There was regular pop in of textures walking about and the ghostly figures really didn’t blend in well with the realistic backgrounds. For a short period I generally enjoyed exploring the wilderness and was just appreciating the attention to detail. The trouble was getting lost only holds a novelty for so long until you just want to progress in the game. This was probably another attempt to make the game scary but instead it lead to stress of where to go next. You have a limited sprint capability so much of the time it feels like the game plods along at a snails pace.

Often I would try to explore a new area only to hit a dead end with the only form of progression appearing to be backtracking and finding a new path. Sometimes I would get stuck in frozen streams. The character can’t jump so I was forced to restart the game. Since the checkpoints are at the location of the last note sometimes this is quite far back.

Take a Walk

While the graphics and sound are something to behold. Kholat ends up being more of a frustrating walk in the wilderness than a memorable horror experience.

If you love your horror and you don’t mind the slow pace of a walking simulator this is worth experiencing. I will say though the game really did make me miss taking long walks in the mountains. Haven’t done that in a while.

Final Verdict: I’m not sure