Developer: Dumativa, Cellbit
Platform: PC
Gene(s): Action, Adventure, Horror
Publisher: Dumativa, Nuuvem Inc
Enigma of Fear is a paranormal survival RPG game. This game was developed by Dumativa, Cellbit and published by Dumativa, Nuuvem. There are not many games out there that have a similar playstyle to Enigma of Fear, making it unique. This review was done on Windows.
Enigma of Fear is a single-player game where you take on the role of Mia, a paranormal detective searching for her missing father inside the Perimeter. The perimeter, which does not exist, stands at the corner of the world filled with several occult secrets. Mia, with the help of her friends and her trusty dog, investigates clues to unravel the mystery behind the Enigma of Fear whilst trying to defend herself from monsters and uncovering challenging puzzles.
The game does not have a tutorial that introduces players to controls/keybinds. However, when interacting with items, the keybinds with their actions are displayed at the bottom. I would suggest players just quickly look at the keybind map in the options menu, as they are extremely simple and easy to get used to.
The game starts by presenting the player with two game options: normal and detective. Normal allows for the use of Mia’s mind maps and having access to every location. The detective will enable players to play more immersively, where they are not given access to Mia’s mind maps and have to take down evidence in their real-life notebook. For my run in this game, I played it in normal mode, which was still quite difficult, so I can only imagine it being even more challenging when not given the map to use.
I would say that there were times when you could become totally lost in how to progress with the game, even with context clues, which can be challenging. For instance (without any spoilers), access to the music room took me over 20 minutes to figure out, and it happened by accident when I was bashing things left and right. I do wish there was a bit more guidance or possible hints presented to the player, at least in normal mode, it would make it less frustrating for some. I do, however, understand that point of view from the developers making this game solely based on you having to rack your brains on fully understanding clues and unveiling the mystery.
The game has wonderful voice acting, which is well-suited for each character’s designs. The voice acting matches well with the text display with no given lag, giving players a smooth experience. I really enjoyed how the character dialogue designs were more sketched comically, drawings with bodily expressions to match the tone of the dialogue. The graphics in Enigma of Fear feature pixelated character designs with 3D/2D elements in the foreground/background of the game it almost resembles retro games. The game has outstanding graphics that blend this world of pixelated vibrant characters with almost hand-drawn soft visuals for the backdrop. Additionally, the game has crazy and smooth camera pans that add great impact to various locations. Sometimes the camera will pan into a low side angle to put focus on Mia and the shining totem behind her. Or pan across to reveal a huge house to be explored. The camera moves on its own, which is done so well and timed perfectly to a bigger suspense. The music and sound effects build an emphasis on the atmosphere that Mia explores, which is heavily immersive. In complement to the visuals, the game has a very terrifying ambience. Music can be subtle, with occasional guitar strums to intense battle music. I did like how, in some instances, the music changed to a more upbeat tone, like when using the cassette players. The guitar would strum similar to Spanish songs that would have a mellow tune. The music, accompanied by environmental sound effects like frogs croaking, wind whooshing, and birds cawing, did a wonderful job at creating the world Enigma of Fear is based in.
Enigma of Fear plays in a creative way where you play in a sort of a loop as you uncover more and more about this supposed Enigma of Fear. The games include combat, evidence collection, and puzzle-solving. Puzzles in this game are not as easy as you’d expect them to be. The developers seem to intend to rely on players to fully comprehend and remember essential clues to solve puzzles, which may be a hurdle for some. I thought that this was a really good way to get players to fully engage in the game and put great emphasis on the story that is being told through the narrative. Something else that shocked me was the ability to switch between Mia and Lupi (her dog), as you can use Lupi’s sense of smell to detect where to go next. Lupi also can get into areas Mia is not able to in order to help her progress forward. It’s a cute mechanic that lets players look at the gameplay from two different perspectives. Lupi does have a range that she can only go as far as.
Enigma of Fear, as stated earlier, incorporates combat, which is mainly through the use of a gun. The aim of using the gun is done in a very smart way where you will see a red X and a circle around the target you are aiming at, but in some cases, it does not work the best. After dodging attacks, it seems the gun loses focus on the target even though you are pointing in their direction. At times, I preferred the stealth option, which got you to sneak up on blood zombies and take them from behind. The game also does not provide you with infinite ammo, so you have to strategize your attacks accordingly.
A feature in the game that makes the gameplay not as excruciating (especially after combat scenes, which are slightly clunky) would have to be the respawn, rather than dying and respawning where progress is completely reset. In Enigma of Fear, you respawn back in the radio room, which is like a safe room and can easily backtrack to where you originally died. Upon arrival, monsters that have been killed tend not to respawn again, which is great and less nerve-wracking.
Another feature I liked, which is solely based on the normal mode, is Mia’s mind map, which has such an interesting laid-out design of various locations and areas she has explored. Some areas on the map will have the evidence highlighted that Mia interacted with, as well as show unexplored rooms. Unfortunately, you cannot interact with lit-up evidence on the mind map, so you need to remember what you have interacted with. The minimalist design with a blueprint format goes a long way, as you can see where the evidence and rooms are that you have interacted with or need to explore.
I thoroughly enjoyed this game as it includes outstanding cut sequences which build upon a lore that is intriguing. The dreary, spooky atmosphere, even being able to play flashbacks as other people are done in a creative form that keeps the player wanting to play more. You know, at first, I thought the game would not be as daunting as it may seem. I had the impression it would play out in a way where you collect items to progress forward, but this game exceeded my expectations. Enigma of Fear really gets the player to fear every move they make. An occultist theme where you’re surrounded by this awful feeling that something will attack you at any given moment is thrilling. I liked that the game has graphics that are cartoon-like but display an array of vivid, dark drawings that go well with the creepy story.
Enigma of Fear is quite a thrilling game inspired by where you are putting your detective investigating skills to use and trying to uncover the secrets within a conspiring occult. You are trying to look for your missing father whilst fighting blood zombies, cracking puzzles, and exploring eerie areas. The story of Enigma of Fear is captivating with its outstanding visuals, so be sure to check out Enigma of Fear!
Overall: 9/10
This is S & S. We are world game explorers. We play games. We have played over 10,000+ games! We travel, we write reviews AND we play more games!!!!
