Saint Kotar uses elements of cosmic horror, religious trauma and European folk tales to give players a sense of dread on an existential level.
‘Tis new years, a time filled with new beginnings and new opportunities and a chance to go out there and visit a small town in Croatia ….or don’t if you’ve played Saint Kotar. Saint Kotar is a point and click horror mystery game developed by Red Martyr Entertainment and published by SOEDESCO. The game’s story features elements from classic tales of cosmic horror works such as The King in Yellow and At the Mountains of Madness, as well as films such as The Wicker Man.
What is cosmic horror? Well it’s a genre that asks a fundamental question, what does it mean to exist? We as humans have come far. We’ve conquered lands, cured diseases and made amazing technological advancements, but how much of those achievements actually matter in the end? Our planet is just one speck floating in a sea of galaxies. So, what does that mean for us? Are we just ants to something bigger or are we even less than that? That fear, that dread, that madness, that is the horror of cosmic horror. That despite all our greatness, to something beyond our understanding, we are nothing but ants to be stepped on.
In Saint Kotar, we play as Benedek, a monk from Budapest and Nikolay, a former bishop, who are brought to the town of Sveti Kotar to witness a ritual by Viktoria, Benedeks twin sister and Nikolay’s Fiancé but something doesn’t seem right. That night Benedek experiences a horrible dream about his abusive childhood.
When he wakes up, he can’t seem to recall what happened the day before and when he goes upstairs, he only finds Nikolay, who doesn’t know where Viktoria is. What starts as a mystery, finding a missing person, soon turns into trying to stop a mad cult as well as piece together what the hell is happening in this small Croatian town.
The game is a point and click mystery, so you will move your cursor around the painted environments searching for what hints and clues are hidden within. When you can interact with something your cursor will then turn into a set of moving gears, and from there, your character will either interact with the clue or in some cases add it to your inventory.
Anything that’s in your inventory you can use to solve puzzles or combine to make the necessary tools for the said puzzle, seems simple enough. The only thing you should be aware of is who has what in their inventory, as what one character has in their inventory won’t transfer over to the next.
Saint Kotar isn’t exactly a “scary game” there are no real jumpscares or gore-filled monster transformations, but it does bring its own flavor of scares with its atmosphere. Everywhere you go in the game is creepy, from the cottage you’re staying at to the seedy bar in the town square. Everywhere you go feels unnerving to be in and you need to leave as soon as possible. You feel as if someone or something is always watching you but that it’s just out of view. This paranoia-fuelled dread isn’t helped by the fact that the entire town is swamped with mist, a mist that you will learn is more than it originally seems.
That’s not to say that the game doesn’t use gore or jumpscares, it does, it just uses them sparingly. This makes the scenes more impactful. Saint Kotar uses gore in a different way than most games. Instead of using it for quick shock value, it uses it to make you, the player, uncomfortable. These shots are often paired with dialogue, meaning that in order to progress the story the player has to look at these bloody scenes for an extended period of time.
Nothing makes seeing a bloody pile of mushy flesh and bone being eaten away by moths quite as impactful as hearing the character you are playing give off a visceral scream when seeing it. While this works well for gore shots, the same cannot be said about the jumpscares or quick shock moments, as these have a bit of a build-up and the player can usually predict when they’re going to happen, defeating the shock factor.
One of the biggest highlights of these moments is hearing your characters’ disgusted or terrified reactions. Though the voice acting in Saint Kotar can come across as a bit stiff and wooden, when it comes to scary scenes, the voice actors give a fantastic performance and make Benedek and Nikolay sound genuinely terrified. In all fairness, our protagonists are not the bravest of men, they are just a pair of priests…. well, technically a monk and an ex-bishop. While it is refreshing to see a subversion of the standard stoic soldier man with a gun style of a male protagonist, it can make both Benedek and Nikolay come across as pathetic, which will wear thin for some people.
As for the art style of Saint Kotar, it is a mix of mostly 2D environments with photo-bashed textures and painted backgrounds. As for the actual character models, these are entirely 3D with a somewhat stylized look to them. All these different elements can work together when utilized well, but that is not the case for Saint Kotar. While it’s not glaringly obvious, the assets that use photo-bashed textures do stick out. The problem with photo-bashing is that it can make things appear flat when not done correctly. This makes buildings and trees look more like cardboard cutouts than actual parts of the environment.
Pair this with the painted assets and 3D models and now everything starts clashing with one another, making it seem as if they’re not supposed to be in the same scene and once you notice it, it’s hard not to notice it. That’s only a minor gripe with the game’s environments. However that disjointed look does add to the overall unnerving nature of the town itself especially when the game revs up the horror elements during the second half of the story.
Saint Kotar is a mystery game that incorporates horror elements in a way that scares the player on a more existential level. While the setting will unnerve you, the protagonist may get on your nerves, but overall, Saint Kotar is a great game for fans of cosmic horror and fans of intriguing mystery.
Saint Kotar is available on Steam, as well as PS4|PS5, Xbox Series X|S and Nintendo Switch. If you want to check it out, it is highly recommended that you also check out Saint Kotar: The Crawling Man, an interactive comic that explains a bit of the game’s background and is also available on Steam.
