Pneumata PS5 Review
Summary: The dark atmosphere and thrilling plot are essential elements of a good horror. Pneumata has both, but it also has a few technical issues.
2.8
Horror, horror
What’s the biggest advantage of being a solo developer? You work on your own. And the biggest disadvantage? Also: you work on your own. As a result, an ambitious project may emerge, which will nevertheless suffer from a lack of polish. This is the case of Pneumata by Antonio Alvarado.
Private detective David Hernandez wakes up one night, disturbed by a noise outside his house. On checking this out, he finds a VHS tape on the porch. The footage implies that the character’s missing wife Jamie is still alive. The message seems clear: if David wants to find Jamie in one piece, he needs to pay a visit to the city of Milton.
As a psychological horror, Pneumata aims to blur the boundaries between sanity and madness. The very beginning finds David in poor mental condition: he suffers from hallucinations and exhibits severe symptoms of memory fragmentation. This may shed light on what is to happen in Milton.
The place looks gloomy and creepy (with an emphasis on the latter). The hostile atmosphere literally leaps off the screen. And when the character arrives at the sinister apartment, things get even worse. It turns out that the residents of the mysterious complex disappear; David needs to find out the reason.
You eliminate various types of enemies, using whatever you have at hand. And ammunition is definitely not what you have at hand, which implies that a firearm needs to be used wisely. Another thing that you sooner or later lack is the inventory space – you need to rearrange your items. In this respect – and in several other respects – the game resembles Resident Evil.
I found the plot captivating – I was genuinely curious how it ends. Alas, by the time you complete Pneumata, you’re in for a real nightmare. I don’t mean the atmosphere, but various technical issues.
First of all, the game loads inaccurately at times. Having been killed, the character returns to the last checkpoint. It’s so obvious, isn’t it? But Pneumata seems to bend this rule. I observed the situation when David was killed by a boss, the game loaded and… it turned out that not only did the protagonist survive by some miraculous means, but he also defended the boss. I was confused.
The sound also does not work as it should. For example, snooping around on the first floor of the abandoned house, I heard a radio playing. Strangely enough, having left the house, I heard the sound even louder than when I had stood by the device.
What also irritated me was that Pneumata has no map, thus most of the time I spent wandering lonely as a cloud and pondering where to head to thrust the story forward. But what really – really! – drove me up the wall was an issue with the character movement.
Sometimes David generously runs when I just ask him to walk, and sometimes he can’t run at all, crawling mercilessly instead. This has nothing to do with the protagonist’s health, so far as I observed. What causes this bug, I don’t know; all I do know is that this is the last thing I need when I feel the stinky breath of a giant madman behind me.
The game was developed in Unreal Engine 5 and it looks decent – especially for a title made by one person. Locations look insanely creepy; I appreciate a play of light and shadows. However, one can’t just get over the feeling that it’s too dark at some points.
Final thoughts?
Pneumata tells an interesting story with atmospheric visuals. However, technical issues made the title so frustrating that I was fighting the urge to uninstall it before completing it. Thankfully, the game is relatively short – its completion takes no more than several hours, including your constantly getting lost there. It’s not a bad horror – it just needs more work.
About the Author
Dagmara Sorceress from The Witcher's homeland and Yennefer's classmate (got better grades than Janka). Addicted to the mechanical keyboard clack; always looking for an opportunity to make this lovely sound.
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