Kholat

I'm a fan of so-called "walking simulators," games that don't hold your hand, and Siberian folklore, and was still disappointed with Kholat. I imagine people who do not share my passions would be even less forgiving of this game's many flaws. Thumbs down, cannot recommend.

It looks like a beautiful, atmospheric, big open landscape to explore, right? Except that it's monotonous for the most part. And there is no wildlife, no other characters. Just lonely, slow walking. There are a few spectacular sites to see, but they are a very tiny percentage of the world. If the game just had those sites, it would just be a 20 minute short walking game, which honestly would have been preferable.

It looks to have a deep, enigmatic story, right? It's even narrated by Sean Bean! Except that the story is quite superficial indeed, and the storytelling mediocre. It is told by journals and articles you find, but not by your exploration. The point of the exploration is just to find the text.

The gameplay comprises frustrating navigation using a compass, "find the hidden object by its sound" scenes, and several very frustrating chase sequences, which if you fail will cause you to reload annoyingly far from where you were. That's not a summary of the gameplay: that's literally the whole of the game.

I often, after finishing a game, like to go back and collect all the items to get a full sense of completion, but with Kholat I was happy to finish and stop there. Navigating the monotonous world is not rewarding, and the missing texts are not compelling.