Post Trauma

Post Trauma is an ode to classic survival horror games from the PS2 era, such as Silent Hill, Haunting Ground and Rule of Rose. Its nostalgic identity offers a striking setting that represents the genre very well. However, the excessive attachment to certain outdated mechanics compromises the combat system, especially with firearms — which perhaps didn't even need to be present.

Post Trauma is an interesting experiment in the horror genre that tries to bring back classic gameplay styles to a modern age.

Post Trauma offers a nostalgic journey through classic survival horror, but doesn’t quite manage to recapture the magic of its inspirations. The atmosphere and sound design provide an immersive experience, but the gameplay often feels cumbersome, and the story leaves much to be desired. While it hits the right notes for horror enthusiasts, it occasionally stumbles in execution. It’s an enjoyable ride for those seeking a taste of PS2-era horror, but it’s far from perfect.

Post Trauma is a solid debut with flaws typical of a first project, but its passion for survival horror shines, offering a worthwhile dose of psychological terror and puzzles.

Post Trauma sticks a little too closely to Silent Hill in its storytelling, a choice that ultimately doesn’t benefit the experience. Even so, it delivers a short but satisfying survival horror experience, never overstaying its welcome and featuring some cleverly designed puzzles. While it adheres a bit to close to genre conventions, that very familiarity might be exactly why die-hard fans of the genre (and likely only fans) will find something to appreciate here.

Post Trauma is a solid homage to classic survival horror games, largely thanks to its puzzle design, fixed camera angles, and combat style. However, visual bugs, clunky animations, odd design choices, and poor optimization on PC end up undermining the experience.

At first glance, Post Trauma appears to be a meaningful iteration on a familiar formula, but in practice it's more like a cover of a favourite song on the radio. You tap your foot, but you long for the original. [Issue#411, p.114]

It's clear that Red Soul Games is eager to pay tribute to oldschool Resident Evil and Silent Hill games, using Post Trauma to sculpt a modern version of the ancient fixed camera survival horror genre. Though Red Soul Games' attempt is valiant, Post Trauma suffers from the same tropes Resident Evil and Silent Hill had in the good old days. Clunky gameplay and frustrating combat bring down the overall experience, while an overly complicated puzzle structure and Unreal-related performance issues grind Post Trauma's pain train to a halt.

Post Trauma is a failed attempt to imitate Silent Hill, which is spoiled by a weak story, poor gameplay and a heavy legacy of horror classics.

While Post Trauma's art direction is well-polished, and Red Soul Games plays with Unreal Engine 5 to deliver a few polished shots, the whole thing quickly falls apart due to a completely lunar storyline. Its dialogue evokes a bad parody of Silent Hill, as does everything else, for that matter; from mediocre combat to uneven puzzles, Post Trauma retains almost nothing but the flaws of its illustrious predecessors. At fifteen euros, it's not too bad, you might say. Certainly! Red Soul Games should, however, free itself from its inspirations to find its way and overcome its pitfalls, because while there is potential in this team, this first copy goes astray too often to remain memorable.