There are two reasons why I was all-in on Holstin fewer than 20 seconds into its PC Gaming Show: Most Wanted trailer. The first is probably obvious: the technical magic that lets it transition from an isometric, exploratory horror game to an over-the-shoulder shooter without a hitch. I'm not sure I've ever seen it done before, and certainly not with this much pizzazz. It's like watching Baldur's Gate become Resident Evil 4; you can't help but be impressed.



The second? That kielbasa. Holstin comes from Polish studio Sonka, and it wears its cultural roots on its bloodied sleeve. The game takes place in the rural Polish town of Jeziorne-Kolonia in November 1992. Our protagonist and his period-appropriate moustache is visiting to uncover the fate of his friend Bartek, but arrives to discover the entire area overtaken by the living dead and all manner of monstrous, many-tendrilled things.



Things which you will then proceed to battle and baffle using whatever means you have to hand. Sonka president and Holstin's game director Rafał Sankowski tells me that the studio is hoping to achieve a natural flow between dialogue—which you can hear in either Polish or English—puzzles, and action throughout Holstin. "There will be a lot of action, there will be hordes of enemies, bosses and mini bosses," says Sankowski, "Between or even in the middle of all that, NPCs will talk to you and puzzles will block your way."



In some instances, "an enemy encounter is a puzzle" in and of itself, says Sankowski. The way he describes it, Holstin sounds like it's leaving room for players to find an approach that suits them. Start shooting, chuck a Molotov, or sneak around. They all have their advantages and drawbacks, not least of which—if you're throwing firebombs—is the fact that fire will spread with wild abandon. "If you throw a Molotov inside a house with a wooden floor… good luck," warns Sankowski.



There's still gonna be plenty of gunplay, though, don't you worry. "There's this opinion that survival horror isn't about shooting or combat, but I don't really agree," Sankowski tells me, pointing out how many guns and enemies you can find across Resident Evil, Silent Hill and Dead Space. Rather than downplaying combat, Holstin wants to make it "more about survival and less about power fantasy."..
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