Fobia - St. Dinfna Hotel

About Fobia - St. Dinfna Hotel

Fobia - St. Dinfna Hotel is the first game of Pulsatrix Studios, an independent studio from Brazil, published by Maximum Entertainment. It came out in June 2022 on PC through Steam, PlayStation 4 and 5, and Xbox One and Series X|S.

You play Roberto Leite Lopes, an amateur journalist who travels to the town of Treze Trilhas in Santa Catarina after a tip from a friend. The St. Dinfna Hotel there has a history of rumours, missing guests and talk of ghosts. Soon after he arrives he finds an old camera, and through its lens the hotel looks different: it shows other moments in the building's past and future.

Most of the game is exploring the hotel and solving puzzles. Rooms are locked, codes are hidden in notes and plaques, and the camera reveals things that only exist in another time, such as a passage or a clue. Along the way you scavenge pistol ammunition and supplies and save only at fixed points, so a careless death can cost you progress.

The hotel is not empty. Gaunt, skinless creatures and larger, many-limbed things move through its halls, and you can shoot, run or hide from them; at times something you cannot kill hunts you. The game looks to the classic Resident Evil games, with a first-person view and a modern, detailed hotel. Reviewers have liked its atmosphere and puzzles more than its combat, and some found it easy to get lost. Keys are clearly labelled, a journal tracks what you have found, and tools such as the crowbar tell you when they are no longer needed. It suits players who enjoy puzzle-heavy survival horror with a mystery to piece together.

It is sold on Steam for Windows, on the PlayStation Store and on the Microsoft Store, with full voice acting in English and Brazilian Portuguese and text in several other languages.

How to play Fobia - St. Dinfna Hotel

1. Explore the hotel in first person, reading notes and picking up keys, items and ammunition.
2. Raise the camera where you see a handprint mark to look into another timeline and find what is hidden there.
3. Solve the hotel's puzzles, such as code locks, with clues from notes and the rooms around them.
4. Shoot the creatures when you must, and run or hide when ammunition is low or the threat cannot be killed.
5. Fill in your journal as you go, and save at the save points whenever you reach one.

Tips

• Save often: saving only works in set places, and a death sends you back to the last one.
• Search every room for ammunition and supplies, and avoid fights you do not need.
• Read every note and plaque closely; many puzzle answers are in them.
• Keep a mental map of the floors, since the hotel's layout is easy to get lost in.
• Look for handprint marks on walls and objects; they show where the camera can reveal or change something.

Questions