If you click on a link and make a purchase we may receive a small commission. Read our editorial policy.
From the studio behind MirrorMoon EP.
Saturnalia, the acclaimed – and previously Epic Games Store-exclusive – survival horror from MirrorMoon EP developer Santa Ragione, is coming to Steam on 8th November.
While Santa Ragione (which also published Lorenzo Redaelli’s stellar post-COVID horror Mediterranea Inferno earlier this year) hasn’t quite managed to get Saturnalia onto Steam in time for Halloween, it remains a spookily good time – whisking players away to the ancient village of Gravoi for an Sardinian folklore-inspired adventure that Eurogamer contributor Simon Parkin called a “horrible nightmare in all the right ways” in his Recommended review.
The aim of Saturnalia is to solve the mystery of Gravoi and escape its confines, exploring and avoiding its horrors along the way. To that end, players can switch between four different characters at will as they try to win their freedom, but if everyone dies, the town reconfigures its labyrinthine layout for another attempt – albeit with narrative and puzzle progress retained.
Saturnalia’s Steam release coincides with an update introducing an optional first-person camera, a photo mode, camera customisation settings, and a monochrome film noir filter for those who like their horror less pyschedelic and more subdued. It also adds a setting for “smoother animations”, switching the initial release’s intentionally jerky rotoscope effects out for more natural 60fps animations, should you find the original style a little too disorientating.
Saturnalia launches for Steam on 8th November, and there’s a 40-minute demo – introducing the world, mechanics, and characters – available to play right now if you’re sufficiently intrigued.