I experienced a preview of A.I.L.A. It is one of the scariest games I’ve played this year.
I’ve played a lot of horror games in my time. From Resident Evil to Outlast, from third-person zombies to first-person mental asylums. Sometimes you fall into a sense of familiarity with how a horror game presents itself and are somewhat, slightly prepared for what’s next. In comes A.I.LA, and I did not attain that sense of familiarity at all.
Every corridor was filled with unease, dread when a door was locked, and I had to slowly turn around to see what might be waiting—the tense moments every time I walked past a lifeless mannequin. I was filled with constant fear of what was going to happen. A.I.L.A. threw everything, including the kitchen sink at me. Just when I thought I started to understand what A.I.L.A. could do, it upended my expectations, and I can’t wait to see what else this game has in store.
A.I.LA. is an upcoming psychological horror developed by Pulsatrix Studios, published by Fireshine Games, and making its way to Steam sometime next year. I was granted access to a short preview build to get an idea of the game.
A.I.L.A.’s recent Gamescom trailer shows the main character, a game tester using a VR headset, a great narrative point allowing A.I.L.A. to transport us to various different (most likely, all horror themed) places. In this preview demo, I awoke in a confined room nailed to a cross with nothing but a remote control, a TV with static, and a few locked doors.
Using the remote control on the television would transport me to different versions of the room, and this is where A.I.L.A.’s demo begins. Throughout this demo, I was interacting with the environment, finding items to proceed further through this dreary place. From using standard horror staples such as a water valve to cutting off fingers to open a door.
A.I.L.A. interweaves this puzzle like solving with a heavy amount of horror. Navigating these environments, I was always filled with a constant unease of what was going to happen. A.I.L.A. is also quite heavy in the gore aspect, matching the fear with a stomach-churning disgust, like ripping off nails or cutting off fingers with frighteningly horrid sound effects.
This preview was short and was over within 20 or so minutes, and I couldn’t gauge exactly what my purpose was in this creepy environment, apart from figure out a way past or through whatever was halting my progress. Given A.I.L.A.’s reference to virtual reality and AI, our game tester will most likely be treated to smaller short bursts of different areas to “test” these environments with a greater overarching story being told through these experiences. This idea alone gives great potential to the many ideas that A.I.L.A. could explore; think Black Mirror, but with the horror aspect turned up to eleven, with certain locations hinted at like a spooky forest or miserable medieval style areas.
A.I.L.A. without a doubt nails the horror atmosphere; I haven’t felt this scared since the P.T. days, and we all know how terrifying that was. Every room, every turn would fill me with unease. It wasn’t just cheap jump scares either; a slight whisper would set me on edge going down a corridor, in turn having me jump at my own characters heavy footsteps.
Visually, A.I.L.A. looked great and really locked me in all the more. The game ran at a solid 60FPS on high settings, and I found no issues at all throughout. A few cutscenes throughout the demo had some pretty creepy moments or situations where I had to look away. The sound effects are also very well done in A.I.L.A.; room transitions are greeted with a morphed noise that made me tense; progressing through environments feels weighty and impactful, the sound effects are ever present throughout this horrid environment.
For the small slice that this was. I greatly enjoyed my time with it. A.I.L.A. locked in a horror feeling that gave me P.T. flashbacks. The sound design really transports you to the gloomy environments, and the potential to explore various different places fills me with excitement (or dread?) on what possibilities that A.I.L.A. could truly explore.
A.I.L.A. is scheduled for release sometime in 2025 on Steam. A.I.L.A. is available to wishlist now.
If you prefer video form, please check out my preview video below!
