Developer: Dumativa, Cellbit
Platform: Dumativa, Nuuvem
Platform: PC
Tested on: PC
Enigma of Fear – Review
Enigma of Fear is a rather unique project that might need some explaining. The game is set within the world of Paranormal Order, which is an extended universe created by Cellbit, a Brazilian content creator on Twitch and YouTube. Paranormal Order is originally a series of tabletop RPG campaigns that Cellbit ran on his channel, with him acting as the DM and several other creators and guests playing characters within the world. In 2020, Cellbit partnered with indie developer Dumativa to make a game based on the same universe. This leads us to Enigma of Fear, a detective adventure game that was released at the end of last year with much success. It’s time to do some paranormal investigating.
Story
If the above paragraph scared you off, fear not! Absolutely no knowledge of Paranormal Order is required to play this game. It’s a complete stand-alone adventure filled to the brim with lore and worldbuilding, and while some characters are familiar to people who have watched the TTRPG campaigns, you won’t be confused if you haven’t. You play the game as Mia, a young woman and also a paranormal investigator. After her father goes missing in ‘The Perimeter’, a sort of supernatural dimension that exists parallel to our world but where all kinds of monsters are real, Mia must take her dog and friends to search for him. This excursion is dangerous and filled with mysteries, challenging Mia as she runs into all sorts of creatures, both benevolent and very hostile, to find out where her father went. And naturally, you might learn more about the nature of The Perimeter than you can ever expect.
Graphics
Enigma of Fear has an interesting design where the characters are shown in 2D pixel art but they’re running around in a 3D world. While this sounds jarring, it’s actually wonderfully animated and gives the game a very unique look. The character portraits when interacting and talking are also in 2D including some animation, though it’s more of a comic book style. This blend of different types of art works nicely to illustrate the complex, layered world the game takes place in. While the environments do take a bit of getting used to when trying to navigate because of depth perception, we overall think it greatly helps the game’s atmosphere.
Sound
We won’t complain one bit about the soundtrack of this game either, as it was quite enjoyable to listen to. The songs fit the mood, and there are some boss battles with catchy beats, which is always a plus. The sound design in terms of sound effects was great too. The game comes with voice acting in several languages. Personally, we did find the English voice acting to be a bit rough around the edges, we definitely don’t think the people hired were professionals or perhaps this was their first gig. While not atrocious, the line delivery kind of took us out of the game sometimes. The original language for the game is Portuguese though, so we can’t judge if that voice acting might be better.
Gameplay
Enigma of Fear is an adventure game that focuses mainly on collecting clues and solving puzzles, though there are some horror elements in there and you can expect combat to keep you entertained. The game has a very simple control scheme but aiming can be a bit difficult because of the 3D environments. As Mia you walk around, interact with items, and pick up things that look relevant. If you want, you can also control your loyal dog to get into spaces Mia can’t. You have a gun on you from the very start to shoot at enemies with, as well as a walkie-talkie and a flashlight. The walkie-talkie is important since it allows you to contact your friends, who work as a hint system basically. At any point in the game where you’re stuck or don’t know what your next objective is, you can talk to them and get directions.
A main element of the game is explorations of The Perimeter. When interacting with items, you can inspect them up close and turn them over, revealing secrets. Your flashlight also has different modes with an infrared light allowing you to look for certain clues. A lot of the lore in this game is optional, but it’s easy to get engrossed in the story and Enigma of Fear is very rewarding when it comes to exploration. The puzzles are also diverse and engaging enough, and not too hard and not too easy. Some of them contain meta elements, such as one puzzle that requires you to go into the options and turn down all the audio in the game to hear a secret message. Backtracking is needed but doesn’t get annoying.
The combat is not too complicated and feels more like extra flavoring. While healing items and ammo are technically limited in supply, we never really ran out. You also get a melee weapon very early on that you can use on most enemies. Some enemies have special mechanics to beat them and the same goes for the boss battles. A lot of them feel like little puzzles in their own right where you need to find out how to beat them. The game is rather pricey for an indie title, but if you take your time exploring, there is easily upwards of fifteen hours of gameplay here, which is a very decent chunk.
Conclusion
Enigma of Fear provides a cool experience for people who like adventure games with a creepy twist. The plot really manages to draw players in from the start and stays rewarding until the very end, which goes a long way in keeping us playing. The combat might be too simple for most people, but the puzzles are really fun to solve and make up the meat of the game. So overall, a pretty great indie title that is worth checking out.
No Comments