56 years ago, one of the great mysteries and tragedies of Russia happened when 9 students took part in a winter expedition to travel to Mount Otorten. Things went well at first, until on the 7th day the weather worsened, leaving the students without orientation and forced to take shelter on the nearest mountain - Kholat.
3 weeks passed and when no one had heard word from them, search crews were sent out. Only what they found made little sense - panicked fleeing, wounds that made no sense, and various other anomalies that would continue to be found as more corpses were found in the spring.
To this day, the Dyatlov Pass incident is still a mystery and what happened there is unknown.
One game developer though has stepped up to the plate of this tantalizing mystery and seen the potential for a true horror game. Kholat takes place several years after the Dyatlov Pass Incident when the player arrives in the area and is put into the situation of trying to figure out what happened. Mixing adventure, with exploration and first person horror, in Kholat the player is kept tense with nerves and anticipation. The story, rather then being just dished out in cutscenes, is found through exploration and discovery looking around the region you are in.
Kholat marks Polish firm IMGN.PRO's first forray into active development as a team, having previously served as a publisher and distributor in the region among other things. They've leveraged the funds they've made in the past into doing some stunning work with the Unreal 4 engine and the choice of a real life mystery helps create extra eeriness throughout the game.
It is however, my sad job to inform everyone that the lead narrator in the game is guaranteed to die. That is because he is being voice acted by none other than legendary death herald Sean Bean who was hired by IMGN.PRO for the job, released in news available on their site prior to the press release with today's details.
Kholat is set to be released on April 24th, 2015 on Windows and Mac - possibly with other platforms to follow. It will run you $19.99 to play the game and it is available for Pre-Order starting today via Greenman Gaming.
Now, to honor the anniversary, beyond just the announcement they have released a chronologically narrated version of events in a trailer for everyone to take a peak at:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7831uk8efHg
What do you think of Kholat? Do you think games should look for real world inspiration? Tell us in the comments below!
