Saturnalia

Lore & Background

Saturnalia is set in Gravoi, a Sardinian village where an ancient ritual has been held and a mysterious creature is on the loose. The player controls one of four characters—Anita, Sergio, Claudia, and Paul—through a third-person perspective. The roguelike element is represented by Gravoi itself, which reshuffles its configuration each time all characters are lost. The concept of setting the game in Sardinia was decided early in development, as the island is rich with folklore, cultural stratifications, stories, and masks, and had never been used before in a video game. The developers felt this could serve as an element of identity for Saturnalia, making it immediately recognizable. The game's visuals feature a sketched character style and animations inspired by stop-motion and rotoscoping film techniques, with influences from 1970s giallo Italian movies and Italian comics by Sergio Bonelli Editore.

Reader's Guide

Saturnalia received generally favorable reviews on Metacritic. Edge praised the roguelike mechanic and disquieting mood, noting that the knowledge that Gravoi will be unknowable on the next visit is a major reason why the game leaves players as rattled as they have been by a video game since Immortality. IGN Italia felt that Saturnalia works more as a conceptual idea and visual level than on a strictly playful one, but that this imbalance does not excessively affect the pleasure of the experience. Rock Paper Shotgun appreciated its character and location design in the style of a giallo movie, noting that it ends up feeling more cinematic and theatrical than games that try much harder to do so. The game was released on the Epic Games Store with a year-long standard exclusivity deal and was free for the first week. A post-release update, announced during the Indie Horror Showcase Livestream, brought the game to Steam on November 8, 2023, with additional features including a first-person mode, a hybrid third-person-first-person mode, a photo mode, new accessibility options, and a black-and-white film noir filter. A 40-minute demo is available on Steam.

Did You Know?

• The game's visuals are inspired by 1970s giallo Italian movies and Italian comics by Sergio Bonetti Editore.
• A post-release update added a black-and-white film noir filter and a first-person mode.