Uventa

Review

It is a dark gloomy night; lightning distantly flashes. You're a security guard taking a cigarette break at a rest area on the grounds; the weather is turning bad and rain will be there soon. Time to make the rounds around the old abandoned school before the rain comes. You put out your smoke, get out your flashlight and walk up the path to the school's gate and enter. You're startled by a distant crashing sound - the local kids must be inside again, you had better scare them off the property! You begin looking around the school for their entry point. The school is decrepit and eerie with the dark stormy night adding to the effect. The rain has started and you hear a crash again; you move towards the sound and find a door ajar and enter. The door closes behind you. Now your adventure begins.

Uventa is the first release on Steam by developer Black Rat, released in late August 2018 and self-published; it is tagged as a Violent First Person Horror Indie with Gore. The game's story is built around real-life events, and some may find the story’s conclusion disturbing. Built with the Unreal 4 engine, the graphics are vibrant and sharp, with an original soundtrack from a lost era. You must explore the interactive environment and solve interesting puzzles while avoiding the ax-wielding maniac that roams the halls of the school. The game does not rely on cheap jump scares, it is exploration, puzzle-solving and hide and seek from a killer who is inside with you. There are collectibles scattered through the environment to gather, though I didn't see a real purpose for them besides adding some interactivity to the title. There are no achievements for collecting them, nor a way to view them once you have picked them up.

The game has a very nice visual style, as you can expect from the Unreal Engine. A lot of work went into setting the atmosphere. The voice acting is in Russian, but there are English subtitles. There are many settings to choose from in order to customize the game quality for the best performance on your pc, including reconfigurable key bindings. There have been some bugs, and the developers have released 2 patches already.  I did find a couple of bugs myself; I will report to them to aid in getting the game to a polished state. The interior of the school is littered with various works of graffiti, which is a great distraction in the otherwise dark eerie building, along with posters and artwork from an era gone-by still clinging to the school's walls. The game has a couple of interesting mechanics that I really liked, but I will leave you to discover them for yourself. With an interesting mix of puzzles to solve, you have nothing but your flashlight and your wits to bring to the conclusion of the story. You must solve all of them while avoiding the entity that is roaming the halls.

I did have a couple of game-breaking bugs, and in some areas of the game, crouching will result in you falling into the game map and being unable to proceed, requiring that you restart your last save point. I also had issues with clipping into doors, resulting in being unable to move. You can also stand in a door, close it, and clip into it to see on both sides. These are being reported so they can patch the title as soon as possible. With practice, you can avoid these actions for the most part. I just try to avoid crouching unless I really have to, and try to open the doors with some distance between it and me.
Once these issues are fixed, the title will be a lot easier to enjoy; looking forward to a patch to address it soon. The gameplay was fun and I loved the atmosphere and the way it progresses.  The cuts scenes are well done and add a great element to the title. I loved all the visual art also (I have a weakness for graffiti and lore, which is abundant throughout the game).

Are you prepared to find the Truth?

Review written by DamageInc.for Zeepond.com!