A.I.L.A

“I’m not going to lie, it hurts that I didn’t like A.I.L.A. as much as I wanted to. Beyond the wildly inventive, genre-blending scenarios that create something unique and interesting, there’s not a lot here. Every chapter feels undercooked, and the horror falls flat most of the time. There is potential for something great here, and I hope Pulsatrix can expand on this in future entries, especially if we get more moments like those towards the end of the Castle chapter.”

“A.I.L.A is a Brazilian title proving the market's growth, featuring an excellent story and exceptional voice acting. The game offers six unique stages, challenging puzzles, and great sound design, creating tension and fear. However, the main drawback is the clunky combat and uninspired bosses.”

“A.I.L.A is an unsettling game that makes you reflect on the relationship between humans and machines, and dares to play with the meta-narrative. It is an episodic narrative adventure with elements of survival horror, designed for those looking for more than just a passing scare.”

“A.I.L.A is a game of two halves: the first half promises an intriguing and compelling narrative experience, with varied gameplay and an immersive world, while the second half tends to fall back on more conventional solutions and loses some of its initial charm. Despite this, the game shines thanks to its original concept, thought-provoking moral choices and engaging art style, showcasing the potential and risks of artificial intelligence applied to a horror entertainment context. It may not be a masterpiece destined to compete with the great classics, but it represents a significant and interesting step forward for the independent gaming scene.”

“A.I.L.A is a game full of extremes. On the one hand, it impresses with its visuals, great level design, and quite enjoyable puzzles. On the other hand, the plot is a complete disappointment. Despite its great potential, it has been poorly executed, and all elements related to combat are simply terrible. And that's just the tip of the iceberg when it comes to this game's problems.”

“A.I.L.A is ultimately a typical genre title — a standard low-budget horror game that, despite offering an interesting concept and a few original touches, doesn’t bring much new as a whole. Still, it’s sure to entertain fans who don’t have high expectations and deliver exactly what they’re looking for.”

“A.I.L.A shows what ambitious, creative, and careful indie horror can do when they work together. That it can combine psychological horror, survival, and action elements while hiding them behind a meta-story makes it a unique game that you should check out. Even though it's not perfect, the game will stick with you thanks to its unique style and memorable moments.”

“A.I.L.A. is a fantastic looking game that makes a great first impression. However, spending a few hours with it is enough to expose some of its flaws, including strange puzzles and a lack of coherence between the storytelling and its many different horror experiences.”

“A.I.L.A features an incredible first act filled with psychological horror and clever puzzles, making for one of the better horror games I’ve played. Everything after, however, is just a fine, bordering on boring and clanky action horror game that simply fails to be as good as what came before. Still worth a try if the game caught your interest, you just might find yourself disappointed after the first hour.”

“If you are looking for a decent horror game, then it is worth picking up A.I.L.A. If you are looking for a satisfying one that rivals The Dark Pictures or Until Dawn, then you might want to look elsewhere. At the end of the day, it just depends on what you are looking for. Hopefully, they will fix more of the bugs in the game, add difficulty settings, and update the visuals in future patches to make the game more accessible to everyday gamers.”

“A.I.L.A dabbles in the delicate space between the tricks developers can play on our minds and the complex places games can take us. Though made by obvious horror fans, it may be genre veterans who grow weary of its predictable paths and tropes.”

“A.I.L.A is a solid horror game that shines thanks to its gorgeous visuals and interesting story. Despite it being a bit predictable, I was entertained and enjoyed seeing everything play out, and the variety of locations made the experience overall feel very unique and kept me interested. Combat parts of gameplay weren't that enjoyable, but I had a great time figuring out the puzzles, and it strikes a nice balance with its difficulty. Still, it's an overall unique and enjoyable time that fans of horror will enjoy. And even though it isn't the greatest experience out of the box, it's playable on the Steam Deck. It doesn't save the changed settings on a new boot, but the visuals look significantly better set to Medium over Low for the most part. Still, either way, it's playable and enjoyable on the go.”

“A.I.L.A confirms Pulsatrix Studios as one of the most promising studios in the horror genre. With its approach of paying tribute to classic games while setting the story in a modern context, the title maintains constant suspense and offers an experience sure to please fans of this style.”

“A.I.L.A told a predictable yet relevant story, but flew a little too close to the sun by implementing too many good features versus narrowing on making a few outstanding moments.”

“Casting players as a game tester, A.I.L.A presents them with multiple experiences to play through, each with their own setting and enemies. What's worrying, however, is how they bleed into your reality. It's an interesting premise, but ultimately it's let down by poor combat and a general lack of polish.”

“A.I.L.A. is a game that has potential but fails with the follow-through. The idea of AI generating experiences meant to terrify you while also affecting you outside of the game still works. The games that represent different horror experiences do a good job of taking something familiar and making it its own. While the puzzles are fine, the combat drags down everything greatly, and the pacing means that the whole game becomes an unenjoyable roller coaster ride. There's a chance for improvement with patches, but at the moment, you'll want to wait and see if things get better before diving in.”

“A.I.L.A works best when it lets the silences and disturbing scenarios speak for themselves, less so when stiff animations or technical roughness come into play. In short, an imperfect but evocative horror game with some interesting insights.”