From hearing about Crisol: Theater of Idols, I was excited. Not only did the setting look appealing, it reminded me of one particular horror FPS. Finally getting to play it gave me chills. Starting my journey as Gabriel and getting a feel for the controls, it gave me Bioshock vibes instantly. While it does do a lot right, including having one of the coolest mechanics in recent memory, it does start to lose its appeal due to repetitive enemies. Still, I enjoyed Vermila Studios’ shooter a lot, and recommend it to anyone who loves a creepy narrative.
You play as Gabriel, a follower of the Sun God. Not only has he been empowered to fight against a bunch of weird statues and the God of the Sea, he’s a soldier who uses a unique gift bestowed on him by his deity. Blood is the currency of combat. There are no caches filled with ammo, nor are their health potions to keep you alive. Both are powered by blood, and it’s not always in abundance. To get bullets, you drain you health. This simple mechanic creates plenty of tense moments where you have to decide whether to fill up your gun and risk death, or try and escape. Sometimes it isn’t always possible, though.
The enemies on the island of Tormentosa are relentless. While you do get to wield different weapons like an assault rifle and a shotgun, you still have to manage your blood supply. Finding syringes in the wild fill up your health. You can also drain blood from dead animals and people who have perished. Watching this happen is weirdly cathartic and pleasing because you need this blood to survive and to fight. Craving the need to find something dead was something I did far too often.
When it comes to enemies, Crisol: Theater of Idols throws a bunch of mechanised dummies at you. While they do vary in style and attack patterns, that’s kind of the main threat. On top of these, Dolores, stalks you throughout your playthrough. She’ll terrorise you and chase you, where bullets don’t seem to do any damage. Those Bioshock vibes feed into her presence in the game, much like Big Daddy did in that underwater prison. The resource management elements of blood keep you on your toes, whatever you’re facing.
The overall design of Tormentosa is gorgeous, in an eerie yet grandeur way. The story being told kept me interested, but so too did the architecture and level design. You never feel completely comfortable with gunplay, just like Bioshock once did. I know I keep referring to Irrational Games’ masterpiece, but there are many similarities. Crisol: Theater of Idols still feels very much like its own game, though. From these gorgeous stylistic choices of the setting to the way Gabriel plunges things into his body to extract blood, it’s just so cool.
Despite enjoying Crisol: Theater of Idols, I found Dolores easy to avoid, and the enemies never provided much of a challenge. The horror comes from the gothic setting and rarely the threat of getting your face punched in by a haunted statue. It’s also a little clunky when it comes to movement, but this could very well be on purpose. It’s not trying to give you the fluidity of combat seen in popular FPS shooters. It doesn’t want you to fly through areas with speed and efficiency. You may be a soldier, but your facing the creatures of a twisted version of Spain.
Crisol: Theater of Idols is a solid horror FPS. It wears its inspirations proudly on its sleeve. Progress comes from upgrading your weapons at the merchants, but managing blood levels never got tiresome. It’s such a clever mechanic that I feel Vermila should be celebrated for on its own. While fighting the statues becomes repetitive and quite easy at times, there are some relatively good puzzles. Not only that, the design of Tormentosa is always a pleasure to experience and observe.