By KEVIN HOOVER
Every gamer knows another who balks at any shape, fashion or form of puzzle in their video games. No matter the complexity, even the faintest whiff of a brainteaser and its controller down or off to play something else, leaving the story’s meatiest bits undevoured.
That gamer isn’t going to enjoy POST TRAUMA, the latest from publisher Raw Fury and developer Red Soul Games. Before the opening title and credit sprawl, the game will have already foisted a number-solving sequence onto players onboard a subway train. No enemies, no turns, even – only a literal straight walk to-and-fro while poring over posters trying to collect all the necessary digits. Frustrating, but also an appropriate introduction into what’s to come for those undeterred by a puzzle-heavy experience. And for those who do stick around, the unmistakable love letter to old-school survival horror that POST TRAUMA embodies is a rewarding challenge that’s worth seeing through.
The story at hand is that of subway conductor Roman. While not the only character players will take control of, this is undoubtedly a hellscape of his very own. Roman is an everyday kind of guy. He’s got a nine-to-five. He’s a little portly. He’s also confused as hell as to what’s going on around him and why he’s bashing in the skulls of monstrosities slithering around an abandoned subway station or being spied on by department store mannequins hiding in the dark. There’s no shortage of obstructions stymying Roman’s path to reckoning, chief among them a frequent reliance on puzzle mechanics – a divisive design choice that will endear the game to survival horror die-hards, but may chase away casual players just looking for a good scare.
POST TRAUMA is heavily inspired by pre-RE4 Resident Evils and Silent Hill 2 but still maintains enough of its own identity that it doesn’t get lost in overindulging horror gamers with genre callbacks. Save rooms that require cassette tapes and footlockers for item management harkens back to survival horror’s formative years, but there’s another ‘90s mechanic that crests as the game’s strongest quality.
The fixed camera is back, baby, and you’ll love it here.
Considering the size of the team that worked on POST TRAUMA is less than a half dozen people, the look and feel of the environments behave as though they came out of a studio with unlimited resources (i.e., oodles and kaboodles of cash). Pulsating, throbbing tentacles beckon you to come closer for a look. Walls that seem to breathe with life will challenge your recollection of if what you’re seeing is exactly as you remember or it – or did it transmute into a new orientation? And J-Horror monstrosities culled from the screen and page, influenced by the work of Junji Ito and films like Ringu, skitter about and reiterate that nightmares thrive in black and white. No $15 (USD) game has any right to look as good as POST TRAUMA does, and the fixed camera angles ensure that all the Unreal Engine 5 rendered designs are always presented in the most creative and unsettling way possible.
On the topic of enemy design, imbibe when you can because battles are sparse – a wise choice by the devs. Ever walk through a haunted attraction and stop, if just for a second, to immerse yourself in the gory glory of the surrounding environment, only to be pushed along by other visitors or staff? Or have you ever been so taken with a visually rich and nuanced location in a game but been unable to soak it in because you’re being pursued by something that would rather you see a “Game Over” screen than the meticulously crafted set pieces? That ain’t happenin’ in POST TRAUMA. The team want their backdrop to be the macabre marquee here, not throngs of enemies that need immediate dispatching. So, sit back and absorb it all – that’s why it’s there. And, as already mentioned, the puzzles are the real challenge here, so you’re not going to miss a bunch of boss battles.
A standard playthrough clocks in around six-eight hours, with the majority of that likely spent on frequent backtracking to ensure you’ve collected all the necessary hints for solving puzzles. The dev’s even warn as much, with the game’s description stating you’d be best served by playing with a pencil and pad at arm’s reach. And while every gamer’s mileage is going to vary, POST TRAUMA delivers a AAA experience in a budget-friendly package that even the puzzle-averse would do well to unravel.
POST TRAUMA is currently available on Steam, Xbox Series X/S and PS5.
