Another week, another indie horror game and once again, it’s from a solo developer. Fortunately, this one feels less derivative and phoned in than Ebola Village, but it still suffers from optimisation issues and a story that takes a turn into the weird, albeit not in a good way. As a first game from a solo developer, there is promise, however, so hopefully the criticism here can be taken as constructive.

The 9^th Charnel takes its name from a mysterious cult that is trying to connect with their idea of God in order to find out the hidden truths of the universe. This is slowly revealed to the player through multiple protagonists in an interesting design choice that doesn’t quite work out. The main player character, Michael, has sections that involve puzzle-solving and exploration (and eventually combat), but Jacques is stuck wandering around a familiar-looking Unreal 5 house, waiting for doors to open on cutscene triggers. I think the game would have been better if the Jaques parts were removed completely, although it’s clear that the developer, Saikat Deb, has ambitions to be a film director in the lengthy and unskippable cutscenes.

Graphically, the 9^th Charnel is inconsistent. Player models have that uncanny Unreal sheen, and there is little to no attempt to make lip sync match the dialogue. The close-up focus on character faces only serves to exacerbate this, and it is often difficult to take the story seriously due to the visual style. Levels are a little more successful, even if a lot of the game defaults to different corridors. Enemies are relatively varied, but I don’t know if they are original designs or assets, as is often the case with low-budget Unreal Engine games.

There is little in the way of audio to comment on. No memorable tunes, enemy screams that are horrific for all the wrong reasons, footsteps that don’t seem to match your movement and voice acting that ranges from functional to downright awful. The script doesn’t give the actors a lot to work with, to be honest, but some of the performances are comical rather than dramatic.

Midway through the game, the two protagonists meet, with an interesting twist to the tale when they do. Unfortunately, the narrative takes a nosedive from that point on. Once combat becomes an option, the game turns into one long corridor until the end. The Charnels are in fact the genetically enhanced individuals that the cult uses to further their search for God, and there was potential for an interesting critique of the lengths that people will go to in order to assuage their guilt and despair. Instead, the final act of the game seems to turn into a Christian sermon on forgiveness and repentance. I mean, all power to those who will benefit from such a tale, but it doesn’t really flow from the story itself.

The first two-thirds of the game involve a mixture of environmental puzzles and hiding from dangerous enemies. Medpacks are relatively common but only restore 15% of your health, and the various stalker types hit hard. This would make for a tense experience were it not for the fact that the stalkers have all had lobotomies, as they will stand there and let you enter a hiding space right in front of them before wandering off. It is still possible to get killed if you get stuck in a corner, but it never feels like you’ve been outwitted rather than made a mistake.

A high point are the puzzles, which are well-designed and range from finding keys and levers to more developed logic puzzles and looking for clues. A couple of tile-based puzzles were genuinely enjoyable, and I think the game would have benefited from leaning into this aspect more than the flawed stealth. Once combat becomes an option, then sadly the game abandons puzzles and morphs into a janky action game. Enemies take an inconsistent number of shots to go down, but tend towards being bullet sponges, ruining the good work elsewhere. The noise they make when dying is horrific and jarring, which doesn’t help matters.