It's time for something new, at least for me. Are you into horror survival games where you need to stay hidden, survive and at the same time try to solve mini puzzles while exploring the place around you? I'm not gonna lie, for me this genre is something new, I don't really play horror games, they never caught my interest much. I do like horror movies though and I have always been into puzzle games, like i really love puzzle games a lot, so I thought why not to try something new? Horror and puzzle? And that's how I ended up playing Death Relives, developed and published by Nyctophile Studios.

At the start of the game, Adrian, a young man, is sitting in a car next to his mother. The mood is already tense. His father calls, and to be honest, Adrian doesn’t seem very kind toward his mother. Suddenly, they are forced to stop, their car is blocked by a person lying in the middle of the road. Adrian’s mother gets out to check if the person is alive, telling her son to stay inside. Moments later, she is abducted right before his eyes. This is where the game begins. You play as Adrian, a son determined to rescue his mother from being sacrificed by Xipe Totec, an ancient Aztec god. You don’t have any powers, just basic equipment, a flashlight, and a special weapon.

You have four difficulty levels to choose from: Easy, Normal, Hard and Nightmare. I picked Normal, like I always do, because I want to play the game the way it was meant to be played and Normal is fine for me.

No major spoilers, but everything takes place in a big mansion. Even though you come here as Adrian to rescue your mother, in the end it is you who has to survive and that is not always easy. Flickering lights, creaking wooden floors, distant and unplaceable sounds, and a big Aztec guy who keeps talking to himself about how he is going to find you. There are multiple lockers and boxes scattered around where you can hide from him. Now about that “special weapon”… it is not your typical gun or blade. It is a mystical artifact tied to ancient Aztec rituals. Most of the time, using the weapon is not a good idea unless you are running around the mansion looking for something, but there is a time limit, and you need to get “blood” from a “priest” or you will die.

There are multiple places around the mansion where you can save the game. If you die, you can simply load your last save, but your progress will be lost, so it’s a good idea to save regularly. You’ll also come across small puzzles throughout the game and they aren’t hard, but they do take time to solve. While working on them, you’ll need to stay alert, listening for signs that Xipe Totec is nearby and be ready to hide. Sometimes you also need to deal with ghostly “priests” wandering around the mansion. They alert our Aztec guy about your location and tend to show up near puzzles or paths you need to access. Basically the only way to stop them is to eliminate them and to do that, you have to approach them using your sacrificial skin, activated by holding Q and when you are close enough press left click to attack, you also gather blood from them. The tutorial explains this mechanic clearly, and if you die, the game offers helpful hints about how to deal with the priests, what works against Xipe Totec, and how to make your next attempt more successful. Feel free to check those out before reloading a save.

Honestly, Death Relives is a well-made game. Visually, it looks pretty good with no performance issues, and there’s more story beneath the surface that slowly unfolds as you explore. Personally, I didn't find it super scary, but if I were in Adrian’s shoes, I'd be terrified, it absolutely has that creepy atmosphere. I’m not a huge fan of how it ends, but hey, that’s horror game right? What did I expect? Fireworks? Flying unicorns?

I would totally play another game like this, so I can definitely recommend Death Relives. It's not long, took me 2-4 hours on normal mode. So If you enjoy small puzzles, hiding mechanics and a creepy atmosphere, then this game is for you. It blends survival horror with exploration and some light strategy. It keeps you tense and focused the whole time, and if you wanna something more challenging then feel free to pick nightmare mode!

System Requirements:

Minimum:

• Requires a 64-bit processor and operating system
• OS: Windows 10 21H2 or above
• Processor: Intel i3/i5 or equivalent
• Memory: 8 GB RAM
• Graphics: NVIDIA GTX 1060
• DirectX: Version 11
• Storage: 40 GB available space
• Sound Card: Any
  
  

Recommended: 

• Requires a 64-bit processor and operating system
• OS: Windows 10 21H2 or above
• Processor: Intel i7 or equivalent
• Memory: 16 GB RAM
• Graphics: NVIDIA RTX 2070
• DirectX: Version 12
• Storage: 40 GB available space
• Sound Card: Any