A.I.L.A. has you take on the role of a game tester, Samuel, who works for the software development arm of “The Company”. As part of his job, Samuel has to regularly help with the QA testing for any new game that might be under development. His latest job, however, is an incredibly strange one. Samuel is sent a development kit for a new VR-based software – the titular A.I.L.A. – that he has to test out to make sure that it can then be shipped to customers at a larger scale. As you set up the development kit, you realize that A.I.L.A. isn’t just another piece of software or hardware to test, it’s a full-fledged game creation tool The Company can use to build personally tailored experiences for every individual player.

"Getting back to A.I.L.A. itself, plugging it into your test bench and booting it up also introduces you to the eponymous AI, who gives you the rundown behind what makes it tick."

All of this takes place in the year 2038, with plenty of environmental storytelling implying that the game’s core setting is definitely a dystopian cyberpunk one. Samuel lives in a relatively large apartment that also happens to have several doors locked that he can’t get into. Along with this, there are also notices about him running behind on his bills, which locks him out of several important smart home-styled features. Interestingly, the apartment also didn’t seem to have any way to actually get out, though this might just be one of the mysteriously locked doors.

Getting back to A.I.L.A. itself, plugging it into your test bench and booting it up also introduces you to the eponymous AI, who gives you the rundown behind what makes it tick. Essentially, it will put Samuel through a number of different experiences, and with each one, it will learn more and more about our protagonist. Armed with this knowledge, A.I.L.A. will be capable of creating even more interesting and immersive experiences that are tailor-made for Samuel in particular. This premise already has excellent potential, and A.I.L.A. makes good use of its core conceit of examining the character of Samuel through the kinds of horror experiences he likes. It’s also interesting to note that, in the story, A.I.L.A. isn’t supposed to generate just horror experiences.

The opening level once where you get the A.I.L.A. development kit is the one that was presented in the title’s demo, and while it’s an excellent example of how the game in general is able to build up and release tension, it’s also something of a mixed bag. Dubbed the Impossible House, the level has you largely exploring just three rooms and a hallway. It even has a unique gimmick with a TV and a remote that allows you to change the state of the Impossible House House, which can further aid in exploration by unlocking and locking different doors. This creates an incredible first impression, and you’ll constantly be on the edge of your seat as you explore the different rooms in their various states.

"A.I.L.A. will be capable of creating even more interesting and immersive experiences that are tailor-made for Samuel in particular."

However, this opening level also provides quite a few examples of my biggest gripes with A.I.L.A.. Among other things, there just isn’t much in the way of guidance for what you’re supposed to be doing. While it does add to the sense of surrealist horror that the title is sometimes aiming for, a lot of the puzzle solutions feel outright nonsensical. This especially comes to a head when you have to tediously go back and forth between a room and a hallway to find the exact corpse whose finger you need to cut off to then get access to an entirely new room that is otherwise locked with a fingerprint scanner. You’ll be collecting other similarly grotesque puzzle pieces along the way, including eyeballs, and other body parts.

Now, I’m not asking for objective markers that plainly point out the puzzle solutions for me. Rather, the fundamental puzzle design throughout the game feels deeply unintuitive. While other games would use item descriptions, and maybe even give you maps to help you navigate larger spaces, A.I.L.A., at best, gives you vague hints through things like hand-written notes on the wall using blood that you shouldn’t let a particular door close, for example.

While these puzzles might be hit or miss depending on how much you vibe with the more surrealist aspects of the game, the more action oriented levels where you’re constantly moving forwards and making progress feel a lot better in terms of pacing as well as gameplay. Speaking of general gameplay, A.I.L.A. doesn’t really do anything new but it gets the job done. You can obviously move around, crouch, interact with objects, and attack things with weapons. In this regard, there isn’t really much to complain about since the overall experience feels satisfying while the general scarcity of ammo will never really ease the tension you’re feeling.

"Speaking of general gameplay, A.I.L.A. doesn’t really do anything new but it gets the job done."

It is worth noting that, while there are some elements of surreal horror every now and then, A.I.L.A. is quite content in making use of classic horror tropes, be it inducing the uncanny valley effect with the use of strategically-placed dolls and mannequins, or even just having you be on the run from a large axe-wielding man. As is often the case with horror, whether or not these tropes work depends entirely on your tastes in the genre; I personally found it to be hit or miss, with some of the jump scares working quite well, but the use of things like mannequins often feeling overwrought.

Gore is also a major thing throughout the title; even the prologue kicks things off with the protagonist’s palm getting split in two thanks to an axe attack. I would even go as far as to say that A.I.L.A. might have an over reliance on gore, with things often veering into torture territory thanks to scenes like having to pick out glass shards from your feet or needing to chop off your own fingers. Enemies that you get to fight in various levels also have the tendency to die in rather gory ways, from having their limbs sliced off to straight up exploding depending on your weapon of choice.

While the experiences A.I.L.A. creates for Samuel are interesting, the game feels at its strongest and most coherent in the moments between them. Samuel feels like a far more interesting character to explore, and his conversations with the AI shed a great deal of light on who he is. Unfortunately, the narrative doesn’t really go far beyond that, and each of the levels tends to be its own self-contained thing that might have some hints about Samuel’s personality and his past.

"While the experiences A.I.L.A. creates for Samuel are interesting, the game feels at its strongest and most coherent in the moments between them."

When it comes to visuals, A.I.L.A. is quite an impressive sight. The use of modern tools like Lumen and MetaHuman becomes immediately apparent the moment you start walking around the apartment. Even smaller details are quite easy to spot thanks to the overall high visual fidelity. The performance was also quite decent; I was able to run the title on the High preset with an average frame rate of around 110 FPS on a PC powered by an AMD Ryzen 7 7800X3D CPU, an AMD Radeon RX 7800 XT GPU, and 32 GB of DDR5-6000 RAM. On the audio side of things, there isn’t really much noteworthy to say; the sound effects and atmospheric sounds all sound satisfying, but nothing too interesting or new for the horror genre.

A.I.L.A.’s interesting premise does wonders when it comes to creating a strong first impression. However, spending even a couple of hours with the horror title makes its flaws seem more and more obvious. Most of the levels, while quite interesting in their own right, tend to feel quite incongruous with the larger narrative at play owing to how self contained they tend to feel when compared to the overarching plot about Samuel’s state of mind and the gradual breakdown of the A.I.L.A itself. And when it comes to gameplay, the action feels just fine while the puzzles feel downright nonsensical at the best of times. The general lack of guidance throughout levels are also indicative of issues with accessibility, especially in the more puzzle-heavy zones. With all that said, A.I.L.A. is undeniably a phenomenal-looking game, but ultimately, it feels like it holds far more potential than what its full horror experience actually delivers.

This game was reviewed on PC.

As part of his job of being a game tester, Samuel will have to take on unsettling scenarios created by the AI by tapping into his darkest fears. The game hopes to tackle a host of different horror sub-genres throughout its different levels, with players having to take on cults, take part in medieval combat, and solve intense puzzles.

A.I.L.A. is being developed using Unreal Engine 5, and will be making use of the engine’s advanced graphical technologies including Lumen and MetaHuman. The game hopes to be an atmospheric game that immerses players deeply in its many worlds.

A.I.L.A. is slated for release on PC in 2025, and currently has a listing on Steam where it can be wishlisted.

A.I.L.A.

A.I.L.A. is an upcoming sci-fi psychological horror from Sao Paulo based Pulsatrix Studio. Set in an uncanny near-distant future where advanced AI creates digital horror experiences, A.I.L.A. promises to tap into your inner psyche, establish your biggest fears and tug them to terrifying effect. There’s a sense from gameplay revealed so far that players will have a hard time distinguishing between virtual threats and real-life danger. No word on release windows or platforms yet as it seems Pulstrix Studio still need financial backing to finish the project off. Let’s hope they get there as A.I.L.A.’s creepy first-person perspectives look truly horrifying.

Paranormal Tales

Undoubtably inspired by now-vintage found footage horror movie The Blair Witch Project, with a sprinkling of Hideo Kojima’s P.T., Paranormal Tales is a next-gen horror daring players play through tragic tales of missing persons, experienced from the viewpoint of bodycams, mobile phones, and VHS cameras. Developer Digital Cybercherries are utilising Unreal Engine 5 to, in their words, create a sense of hyper-realism. Release date is to be announced, but Paranormal Tales can be wishlisted on Steam now.  

Layers of Fear

Bloober Team’s narrative-driven psychological horror is returning soon to tell its final bone-chilling tale. Comprising Layers of Fear and Layers of Fear 2 rebuilt from the ground up in Unreal Engine 5, plus DLC with brand new stories ‘The Final Note’ and ‘The Writer’ offering fresh perspectives on an already iconic series. Layers of Fear’s recent tech demo showcases ray tracing, HDR, 4K resolution and Unreal Engine 5 exclusive features such as Lumen dynamic lighting and Niagara real-time VFX, crafting an immersive, blood curdling environment. Layers of Fear will be out in June on PlayStation, Xbox, and PC.

Stray Souls  

Blending Alan Wake style psychological horror with Soulslike combat is the atmospheric, third-person action horror Stray Souls. There’s an air of eeriness in the game’s haunted town too, immediately conjuring memories of Silent Hill; ghoulish forests and crumbling, dilapidated suburbs are said by developer Jukai Studio to harbour a well of secrets waiting to be unearthed. Stray Souls makes ample use of Unreal Engine 5’s advanced facial animation innovation MetaHuman too, exaggerating fear with unprecedented photorealism and human emotion. Stray Souls is targeting a 2023 release, with PlayStation, Xbox, and Windows platforms announced.

Quantum Error

Cosmic horror FPS Quantum Error tells the story of daring Californian firefighters sent on a rescue mission to save survivors marooned on a mysterious offshore research facility, a sordid place where things unravelled after attack from an unknown entity. Heavily influenced by Dead Space, with maybe a dose of Metal Gear Solid for good measure, Quantum Error’s intergalactic happenstance look deeply unsettling and atmospheric. Originally targeting a 2022 release, Quantum Error still hasn’t arrived although official gameplay has recently surfaced indicating it’s at least on the horizon. It’ll be playable on Xbox and PlayStation when it finally does come out.

Wronged Us

Indebted to classic survival horror series Silent Hill, Wronged Us tasks players with tiptoeing through the darkness of a rotten town through the eyes of Isaac as he investigates chilling rumours of his dead son’s presence. This open-world survival horror from Delusional Studio is also said to take inspiration from Dark Souls’ quest design, so expect intense combat, challenging puzzles, and a ton of creepy crawlies lying in wait to kill you in a hostile environment. Although there’s no release window yet, Wronged Us has been announced for PlayStation and Xbox platforms plus PC via Steam.

EXP: War Trauma

EXP – shorthand for experience – War Trauma is an upcoming psychological horror from Brazilian dev team Cortez Productions. Assuming command of traumatised World War II veteran Krieger, players must navigate through a strange and mysterious apartment, establishing clues and solving riddles to eventually unravel Krieger’s psyche. With no weapons, Krieger is effectively defenceless against the harmful apparitions lurking down dimly lit corridors. Listed as coming soon on Steam, there’s a playable demo available right now.

Level Zero

Intriguingly described as an asymmetrical survival horror PvP, Level Zero’s premise is simple: a team of four scientists must work together to repair broken objectives to escape a dank facility all whilst evading the clutches of an opposing team of monsters; monsters capable of skulking in the darkness, stealthily eradicating light sources which the scientists depend on to survive. Unreal Engine 5’s dynamic global lighting systems are put to good use here, the contrast between neon and shadow a captivating battle between opposing teams. Scheduled for release in 2023 to PlayStation, Xbox, and PC via Steam.

File Destined  

Psychological detective thriller File Destined features an impressive story with visceral locations, and boy does Unreal Engine 5 do a good job of portraying the unnerving realism of a corridor cloaked in darkness. Clue gathering in the dangerous carbon blackness eventually unravels a deep mystery, with the truth according to developer Metavision Studio being disturbing and unexpected. File Destined is already out and playable on PC via Steam, with positive user reviews highlighting nerve-shredding tension littered with jump scares.

Fort Solis

Fort Solis glooms in sickly red; saturated neon unnervingly illuminates the confines of a docile Martian base, red dust hanging in the air, every viewpoint conjuring a deep sense of isolation and desperation. Whilst developer Fallen Leaf recently shared a first official look at gameplay with barely a second’s worth of actual third-person gameplay Fort Solis still looks stunning, the act of tentatively treading through dark corridors set to be a haunting experience. Coming in Q3 2023 to PlayStation 5 and Windows.

ROUTINE

This first-person sci-fi horror plunges players deep inside an abandoned lunar base, entrenched in the aesthetics of an 80’s vision of the future. Tentative exploration descends into a desperate need for survival, with immersion heightened by full body awareness and deadzone aiming alongside minimal on-screen UI. ROUTINE is coming to Xbox consoles, plus Windows and Mac via Steam, with no release window announced just yet.

Silent Hill 2 Remake

Recapturing the evocative, isolating atmosphere of the original Silent Hill 2 is no easy task, but Layers of Fear developer Bloober Team’s prowess at rendering realistic environments in Unreal Engine 5 seems like they’ll be the perfect fit. Chilling visuals and visceral sound effects are present and correct, as is a liberal dose of fog. Silent Hill 2 Remake is coming to PlayStation 5 and Windows some time in 2023.

Post Trauma

Both a homage to and modern take on classic survival horror games, Post Trauma’s semi-fixed camera angles evoke a sense of early Resident Evil titles. Assuming command of middle-aged train conductor Roman, players must tread through surreal subterranean locales, exploring blood-bathed surroundings unravelling haunted mysteries whilst coming face to face with a host of nightmarish creatures. Post Trauma’s release date hasn’t been announced yet, but it’s said to be landing on PlayStation, Xbox, and Windows when it does come out.

The Shivers / Demonologist

This upcoming ghost hunting co-op game is currently in early access on Steam, with early adopters citing the game’s unnerving terror as an advantage it has over similarly premised titles. In The Shivers / Demonologist players must identify an evil spirit lurking in cursed locales and exorcise it. Playing in squads of up to four, each run through The Shivers / Demonologist will be unique owing to the random concoction of ghosts skulking through the shadows.

The Hauntings

A rival to The Shivers / Demonologist also on this rundown is The Hauntings, an online co-op investigation and exorcism experience for one to four players. Working together as a team of paranormal investigators, unruly ghosts will need to be identified and removed, however these threatening spectres are able to possess players, distracting and hindering the investigation in unexpected ways. Coming soon to Windows, The Hauntings can be wishlisted on Steam now.