The Occultist preview: An engrossing story-driven horror

I confess, I have a love-hate relationship with horror. Whilst I adore the unsettlingly beautiful imagery horror can, in some cases, produce, I don’t like jump scares causing too many unnecessary fluctuations in my heart rate. You might then brand me as a scaredy cat but I wouldn’t say that’s particularly fair either. There are so many nuances and strands within the horror genre and the kind that I am drawn to centres on atmosphere and suggestion.

From what I’ve seen, The Occultist may then be exactly my kind of horror game. Developed by DALOAR, formerly Pentakill Studios, The Occultist is an upcoming first-person horror centred around a rich narrative. Players will assume the role of Alan Rebels who travels to the remote Godstone Island to investigate the sudden disappearance of his father. While the island may be largely uninhabited, Alan is able to use his powers as an occultist to delve deeper into its history, including uncovering answers about a macabre cult whose devilish experiments resulted in the island’s eternal damnation many years prior. It’s up to you to finally lift the curse.

As may already be obvious based on that description, The Occultist deals predominantly with occult and body horror. I had the opportunity to sit down with one of the game’s developers at this year’s Gamescom, witnessing around 30-minutes of gameplay and what is abundantly clear to me about The Occultist is that while it may make you jump from time to time, it’s far more concerned with prompting the sensation that something might happen, making your journey through Godstone Island one that’s simultaneously riveting and unnerving.

Take a look at The Occultist in action below.

Everybody has a key aspect that they gravitate towards in a game. For some, it’s combat. For others, it’s exploration but for me, it’s narrative. I adore diving into a good story, and it quickly became clear to me that The Occultist features a killer tale. The opening of the game, for the most part, didn’t include anything of major note. You learn how to jump, duck, sprint - the typical fare you’d expect.

Before long, however, a mysterious light shot past the camera. What it was, I have no idea, but I’m assured by developers that had I been playing the full game, I’d eventually have found out. The mystery had finally begun to rear its head. We then stumbled across a small cabin where Alan was able to interact with his surroundings for the first time. This is where our protagonist picked up his first collectible document.

Essentially, the document gifted the player with some very early clues about what exactly went down on the island - although I’ll omit specifics for spoilers sake. Naturally, a mystery of this magnitude will take the whole breadth of the game to unravel yet quite quickly, I found myself incredibly eager to learn more. All of the information will be gathered in Alan’s journal which I felt offered an intriguing opportunity for the curious amongst us. Yes, The Occultist follows a fixed linear narrative but I like the idea that you can revisit your notes at any point, with the potential to attempt to put the pieces of this mystery together yourself.

Credit / Daedalic Entertainment

It somewhat goes without saying that given that this is a horror and Alan is an occultist, he’ll come up against his fair share of foes. This is where the character’s pendulum comes in as this will form the basis of the game’s combat system. Alan won’t be hands-on brawling with the creatures he comes up against, instead he’ll be making use of his pendulum’s multiple talents. I was shown a sort of megamix of these in action so while the details are a tad hazy, uses ranged from controlling hordes of rats to assuming control of other nearby larger animals.

I also want to add that for the most part, The Occultist is far more concerned with puzzles than it is with enemy encounters - although I did see glimpses of one boss fight, involving a pretty big guy with the various stages of his body set across several floors of a house. How you defeat him, I’m not too sure as that remains a secret. What I can tell you though is that solving puzzles is also something you’ll predominantly do with your pendulum. The ability to control animals, for example, might let you nab something from a high-up location if you’re able to assert control over a bird.

There’s still much I don’t know about The Occultist but I suppose that’s the point. This game is centred around intrigue and mystery, set against a backdrop of atmospheric occult and body horror. You’re supposed to be left mildly confused yet itching for more. With the talented Roger Clark bringing Alan to life, I have no doubt that this will be an emotionally compelling tale. While I’d like to have caught a better glimpse at how enemy encounters will work, the multiple uses of the pendulum intrigue me, and with a solid puzzle system present throughout the game, The Occultist’s future feels bright.

The Occultist is set to launch in 2025 on PlayStation 5, Xbox Series X, and PC.