SENARA: The Sacrament - PC (Steam) Review

 

SENARA: The Sacrament by developer and publisher Influsion Inc.—PC (Steam) review written by Pierre-Yves with a copy provided by the publisher.

Estimated Reading Time: 5 minutes 

“A claustrophobic ocean liner, relentless cultists, and horrific monstrosities. Inspired by classic survival horror like Resident Evil, gather clues, solve puzzles, and uncover the truth. Where fanaticism and salvation collide, you must make choices beyond mere survival.”

What could go wrong?

Now this review was rather interesting because the horror began before even playing. Setting up in Richard's living room on what became a dark and stormy afternoon, our adventure would soon become a tale of hardware horror. Waiting for me to travel a hefty 550-ish kilometers home, 350-ish miles for our neighbors down south, it was played in my darkened basement, again, on the precipice of a major storm system to add to the anxiety of these claustrophobic hallways. 

SENARA: The Sacrament hit a few interesting notes for us as Richard and I still played through together while miles apart. The introduction had piqued our interest, but it would be how well it could match its description that would make or break the experience… which landed somewhere in the middle. 
 
SENARA hits a lot of key horror survival markers, unfortunately they feel rather mechanical. All of the elements for a great experience are there, but unfortunately miss the mark. Starting with exploration, the ship is huge. Multiple floors, locked doors, stairwells, the inner connectivity is great but it felt empty. Not just empty of people, but empty of feeling. There was often no atmospheric foreboding, just the sounds of the ship, or of the waves if you were out on deck. 

The tension that should build never did because it was generally pretty obvious when someone, or something, was going to come after you. Adding to this feeling is that as you search for the way forward, you may only see a few enemies making you wonder just why you're carrying around so much ammo. 

Until you get the answer. 

Enemies when they appear don't die easily. They also hit like freight trains. So you'll really want to take them out before they get to you. Equipped with a combat knife, you can also get your hands on a pistol, and a shotgun, with some puzzle solving. They make a difference, but they require you to go through a good chunk of ammo at times to get the job done. 

This is where things get interesting. When the human cultists drop to the ground, they are gone. Actually, they are so gone that even their bodies disappear when you turn around. That was creepy. When the more monstrous enemies drop, they'll get back up to keep hunting you unless you're packing grenades. Yes, grenades. You need to hit the monsters with an explosive to remove their corporeal form from the equation. Without it, be prepared for them getting back up for another round. 

Which leads into the second way to play through SENARA, the catch me if you can and hide and seek method. With all of the winding twists and turns, you can easily run away from some enemies and hide. For others, to quote Brendan Fraser from the Mummies, “these guys don't use doors honey” as slamming a door in their face doesn't matter. They'll simply phase through and keep chasing. 

That was definitely an oh crap moment. 

But otherwise, as I mentioned above, it feels empty. You're moving through the ship collecting everything you can “in case you need it”. Not specifically because you actually do. Further reinforcing this is that 10-50,000 won bills are lying around like candy throughout the ship. Dropped into a vending machine that originally states quantities are limited, you can easily buy everything you need, and more, without a care in the world further reducing the stress of what if I run into something. 

 
Which is unfortunate because it was clear how much work went into this. There are several characters that you'll meet and offer you a way out of this mess. Branching storylines that once you've completed one, you are actually offered a way to go back to the very branch moment to choose the other path. This is great if you haven't saved recently, or if you haven't saved before making that choice. 

On a final note, the controls are a little stiff. Part of that is the old school vibe that the developers were going for, but the other feels like there just wasn't enough give to the joysticks when playing with a controller. It felt sluggish to move and look around instead of smooth even with all the sliders set to one hundred. This further distanced myself from the immersion several hours in as it began to feel tedious to explore. 

With a solid base, and several different endings possible, SENARA: The Sacrament felt like it just missed the mark as you explore this giant ship out in the middle of the ocean. 

Score: 6 / 10