Check out the demo for this slimy survival horror and its reckless disregard for the rules of game point-of-view

Back in early July Holstin grabbed us desperately by the lapels and vomited horrible slime into our faces with this delightful sequence of combat concept that's not quite anything we've seen in survival horror or isometric action before,  a smooth transition from an isometric to over-the-shoulder third person shooting.

Holstin animated GIF

(Image credit: Sonka)

You can now play an updated demo for Holstin that features just this combat, and for me at least it's working just as advertised. It's not as smooth as I'd like but it really delivers the promised experience on mouse and keyboard. (I've seen some people in the Steam discussions saying it's a bit hard to use on a controller at the moment, which is just the kind of thing that can get tweaked after a demo like this.)

PC Gamer's Andy Chalk described it as a game that's "breaking the laws of camera physics in an awesome way" and I can't help but agree. "It's quick and smooth, and not at all visually jarring," he said, "if anything, it reminds me a little bit of the famous Max Payne reload spin, in the way that it's not disorienting even though it so obviously should be."

For those who already enjoyed the previous Holstin demo, this one has you revisit the Janowski house from that one and also dive into a tunnel full of terrible infected townspeople and strange undulating slimy tendrils. The tendrils, I regret to say, are not your friends.

Holstin is set in 1992 in rural Poland, where your character goes searching for a missing friend in a town that's getting stranger and stranger due to some terrible deterioration from an unknown, decidedly supernatural presence. You'll have to scrounge and survive your way around the town while speaking to those few residents who, while decidedly infected and losing their grip on reality, can still answer your questions.

"A psychological survival horror game set in an eerie, isolated 90’s Polish town consumed by an ominous presence. You’ve come looking for answers, but everyone seems possessed by something foul. Explore the festering town, interrogate locals and fight ungodly manifestations to get to the truth," reads the official description.

I do love a festering town and ungodly manifestations. My obsession with cosmic horrors guarantees this.

You can find Holstin on Steam, where it has a demo featuring that compelling combat. It's developed by Polish indie studio Sonka, and doesn't yet have a review date.

Contributor

Jon Bolding is a games writer and critic with an extensive background in strategy games. When he's not on his PC, he can be found playing every tabletop game under the sun.

Read more
White Knuckle trailer still
Ascend through 'ten thousand meters of concrete and decay' in this horrifying 'first-person roguelite speed-climbing game'
A stylized drawing of a horned demon with a skull for a face and glowing eyes peering over a forest cabin.
Bloober Team’s new horror label just unveiled an isometric survival horror game straight out of a comic book: ‘Avoid the Horned Man at all costs’
A cartoon nun looks shocked and scared, bathed in green light.
The new game from the Blasphemous devs is like if Commandos was a metroidvania set in a Spanish monastery, and also the Green Beret kept losing his mind
A series of large explosions in Bio Prototype.
This bizarre roguelike has a new take on the Vampire Survivors formula: letting you build your own custom weapons out of brains, eyeballs, and chimpanzee spines
Uplifted chimp Penn and cyber-rat Trip in the key art for Animal Use Protocol
Animal Use Protocol's dysfunctional chimp-rat alliance drags the Stasis series into a horrible new first-person era
A cybernetic woman holds a silenced pistol
I became a domestic terrorist to steal a lightbulb in the best immersive sim I've played this Steam Next Fest—and it isn't even a Next Fest demo
Latest in Action
Assassin's Creed Shadows promo image
Ubisoft scores a legendary ratio against Elon Musk on his own platform—which hopefully marks a final end to all the Assassin's Creed Shadows' culture war nonsense
Assassin's Creed Shadows immersive mode - Naoe holding a tanto in her hand as two guards fall to the ground behind her.
Assassin's Creed Shadows' first hotfix addresses stability issues and a photo mode crash
A plastic duck dressed like a circus weightlifter
The 5th highest-rated game on Steam in 2022 is back with a multiplayer sequel
Ragnarok Battle Offline
After punishing my graphics card with Monster Hunter Wilds, I've returned to the rock-solid frame rates of my old hunting grounds: Windows XP
A unique aspect of Japanese architecture turned out to be a key reason the Like a Dragon games can reuse assets so effectively—and deliver more compact, memorable open worlds than western cities
Naoe looking at the wrist blade in Assassin's Creed Shadows
Ubisoft says don't compare Assassin's Creed Shadows' success to Valhalla: The latter launched in Covid's 'perfect storm' and feedback on platforms 'less affected by review bombing' is stellar
Latest in News
Assassin's Creed Shadows promo image
Ubisoft scores a legendary ratio against Elon Musk on his own platform—which hopefully marks a final end to all the Assassin's Creed Shadows' culture war nonsense
Tzarina Katarin Bokha, the Ice Queen of Kislev
Total War: Warhammer 3 rolls out a cool Kislev overhaul, changes befitting Tzeench’s magic, new projectile units and creakier skeletal horses
An image of a golden first place award from Geoguessr
'We're actually getting GeoGuessr on Steam before GTA 6': the Google Street View puzzler arrives on Valve's platform this April
Napster client circa 1999
Former music-pirating platform Napster to be reborn rather ironically as a metaverse for musicians to connect with their fans after $207 million deal
The snazzy red and black HyperX Cloud Alpha wireless headphones float in a teal void. The microphone is attached to the headset.
The best wireless gaming headset is now even better in the Amazon Big Spring Sale, boasting a more than $50 discount
A chip being held up in an Intel fab
Intel is reportedly 'working to finalize commitments from Nvidia' as a foundry partner, suggesting gaming potential for the 18A node