Saturnalia

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Four strangers, one Sardinian village, a ritual night that keeps rebuilding the streets.

Platforms: PC, Mac, PlayStation, Xbox, Switch
Price: Paid
Rated: Very Positive on Steam (91% of 134 reviews); Metacritic 80 on PC
Length: about 10 hours, by the makers' count
Players: 1
Made by: Santa Ragione
Released: 2022

Get it on Steam Official site GOG Epic Games Store PlayStation Store Xbox Nintendo eShop

What frightens Four characters are caught in Gravoi, an ancient village in Sardinia, and the ritual at its heart; you search its dark, maze-like streets by the light of a few matches while something hunts you, and when everyone dies the village rearranges itself into a new labyrinth.
Content: blood, violence, references to suicide, abuse and sexual violence.

Saturnalia is a third-person folk horror adventure by Santa Ragione, set in an ancient village in Sardinia. You play four characters caught up in the village's ritual traditions, exploring a maze of streets that changes layout every time they all die, managing matches for light and solving puzzles to stop the ritual.

About Saturnalia

Saturnalia is made by the Italian studio Santa Ragione and came out on consoles and the Epic Games Store in 2022, then on Steam in 2023. It is set in Gravoi, an ancient village in Sardinia, an Italian region rich in its own folklore, and follows four characters whose stories are tied together across generations by the village's haunting traditions.

The village is an elaborate maze, and no two layouts are the same: when all of your characters die, you watch the streets reconfigure themselves into a new form. Your story and puzzle progress carry over between these game-overs, so each attempt teaches you more. You explore largely unguided, using maps found on walls, tools and consumables to open shortcuts, and matches that let you see and solve puzzles but run out.

Each of the four characters has their own ability, suited to a different side of exploring and investigating. Together you uncover the ritual at the heart of the village and look for a way to stop it, while something stalks you through the dark alleys.

Its look is unlike most horror games: artwork and animation inspired by stop-motion and rotoscoped film, in saturated pinks and purples with scratchy, hand-drawn texture. A playthrough takes about ten hours and ends in one of several endings. The makers warn of violence, domestic abuse and some gory imagery, with references to suicide, abuse and other distressing subjects. It suits players who liked the folk horror of Mundaun or The Excavation of Hob's Barrow and want something stranger and less guided.

How to play Saturnalia

Buy it on Steam, GOG, the Epic Games Store, PlayStation, Xbox or Nintendo Switch.
Explore the village with one of the four characters, using maps posted on walls to find your way.
Light matches to see in the dark and to examine clues, and keep track of how many you have left.
Run and hide when the village's hunter finds you; if a character falls, switch to another.
Solve puzzles and open shortcuts to piece together the ritual and stop it.

Screenshots

Carved wooden masks hang on strings from the ceiling of a dark stone room

A man studies a village map on a signboard by the light of a match

A curly-haired woman in a patterned sweater stands in a room with a cross on the wall

A silhouetted figure stands in a lit doorway at the end of a dark corridor

Tips

Learn the landmarks rather than the streets: the layout changes after everyone dies, but your progress does not.
Do not waste matches lighting the way; save them for clues and puzzles.
Check the accessibility options: you can keep the village layout after a game-over or make creature encounters easier.