Supernatural Review – A Short but Spine-Chilling Experience

Despite its rather uninspired name, Supernatural is one of the more unique indie horror titles available now thanks in large part to its premise. Made by a single developer, Supernatural hopes to offer a unique kind of horror experience where the game actively reacts to the player’s actions. For example, the game has a feature where the player can interact with the supernatural entity that they’re investigating by making use of their microphone. Couple that with a compelling mystery that the player has to solve and things get a lot more interesting that ensures Supernatural is not just another horror game.

Let’s get a few things out of the way: Supernatural follows in the footsteps of horror titles that revolve more around investigation and stealth rather than offering up some action set pieces in the vein of games like Resident Evil. It’s also worth noting that investigation is a big part of Supernatural, to the extent where aside from being scared, you’ll be spending most of your time with the game solving puzzles to figure out the mysteries behind the story.

Supernatural is a game I can best describe as a mix of some incredibly interesting ideas wrapped up in a package that might be extremely appealing as many wouldn’t believe. Supernatural has a lot of great things going for it, and some of its more investigative and puzzle-solving aspects are downright fantastic. Unfortunately, the game felt like a bit of a let down because, try as I might, I just couldn’t get the game to recognize my microphone.

This isn’t a small problem either. The reactivity of the game to the player’s voice through the microphone is a big part of the game’s selling point. Without this feature working properly, Supernatural doesn’t really have much in the way of interesting things that haven’t already been explored in titles like Phasmophobia. The fact that the game allows players to have full-on conversations with a paranormal creature, with the extra step of the game also reacting by adding or subtracting frights depending on how you sound has been a most wanted feature for fans of the survival horror genre, and it’s a shame that I couldn’t get it working with my setup.

Aside from the stuff with the microphone issues, Supernatural feels like a competent puzzle horror game. It features plenty of frights on its own, thanks in large part to its unique animations for the titular supernatural entity, as well as some of the hallucinations that players can face throughout their time with the title.

Supernatural puts players in the shoes of Detective Wyatt, who has been tasked with figuring out the mysteries surrounding the disappearance of a housemaid. The game largely revolves around players going from room to room to try and piece together just what happened there. This takes the form of hallucinations, frights, and even puzzles. There’s little in the way of action here, with one memorable moment being unfortunately spoiled by the game’s trailer. Instead, you will spend most of your time creeping around the house trying to follow blood trails and figure out puzzles.

"Supernatural feels like a competent puzzle horror game."

Interestingly, and this does come with a warning for players that might not have the stomach for some of the game’s violent aspects, Supernatural has a lot of gore with copious amounts of blood all over the place. While it never really gets into same ballpark as something like Resident Evil 7: Biohazard, Supernatural certainly gets close to offering up the same level of gore and then some.

A core theme of Supernatural seems to be Wyatt’s own tenuous grasp on reality. The fact that these hallucinations are happening at all is a big tell that the protagonist isn’t quite feeling right and some of the interactions that are possible with the entity tend to further reinforce this interpretation of the game’s story. This might change, however, if you happen to have a microphone with you while playing the game. Supernatural brags about featuring unique gameplay any time you start it up, and even claims to have three endings. Unfortunately, I could only really find one in the time I was able to spend with the game.

Replayability also seems to be one of Supernatural’s core tenets. Since it allows for multiple forms of horror thanks to its interactivity, as well as multiple endings, the game’s relatively short run time is fantastic for players. Each play time is clocked at between 2 and 3 hours, offering plenty of incentive for players to revisit the game to find more clues, and perhaps, a better ending for their character.

"Each play time is clocked at between 2 and 3 hours"

While gameplay is an important part of horror games, the genre tends to live or die based on its visuals and audio, and this is an aspect where Supernatural delivers in spades. Visually, the game’s environments look downright gorgeous, and some of the gory tableaus it often presents feel almost artful if they didn’t look so disgusting. The only real downer here is the supernatural housemaid itself, which, while fine and scary from a distance, starts to veer off into the realm of comedy the closer you get to them. Thankfully, the animations do a great job of doing the heavy lifting here, and the creepy ways they sometimes move can be enough to make anyone feel weird.

When it comes to audio, Supernatural once again hits it out of the park. While there isn’t much of a soundtrack here, what is present does a lot to enhance the already creepy atmosphere of the game. As you explore the hallways of the house, you’ll often hear voices of people or even objects being thrown around right around the corner, only to find no one there. These low-key spooky moments are then punctuated with an emphasis on the bass when you come face-to-face with the housemaid, who is just as likely to toy with you with cryptic hints and vague directions before trying to outright kill you.

The fact that Supernatural is a relatively short game does it a great service, since you’ll never really end up playing the game long enough for it to ever start getting on your nerves or feel tedious. The short runtime means that Supernatural can be a great way to spend an evening for fans of horror games. Even though, I personally had trouble with getting one of the game’s core features working, Supernatural is definitely worth a look for fans of the genre.

This game was reviewed on PC.