Habilis is an upcoming horror title launching on Steam next year. Developer ODale Studios, who also developing Mother Hub, has kindly sent us a preview build for us to check out. As always, this is a view into a work in progress, so does not reflect the final game. You can currently wishlist Habilis on the game’s Steam page.

The game’s story revolves around an aspiring young content creator named Nathan Walters who would do anything to find fame. As he enters an abandoned facility he is faced with terrors and horrors that start to affect his mind. Nathan struggles with what he is witnessing as he goes deeper into the madness.

The game starts as Nathan drives up to an abandoned facility and the player’s view is through a body-worn camera just like a content creator would use. It’s a clever way to create a first-person experience and also gives a logical way to be able to zoom in on objects you wish to examine. The rest of the controls are fairly straight forward and there are plenty of prompts as you go.

We’ll try hard not to spoil anything, but Habilis plays out like many other games in the genre. You need to fix broken doors, find codes for computers, and make sure you avoid the horrific monsters that have taken over the facility. There are of course lots of dark tunnels and rooms that create a spooky atmosphere to explore.

It isn’t just puzzles and exploring that help you through Habilis. A fun feature is the use of a flashlight with a battery that constantly drains the more you use it. A clever mechanic is that the flashlight can only be switched back on by using a new battery. We quickly learned not to let the battery die as once you use them up that’s it, you need to find more.

Another aspect of the flashlight is that you need to reload it by holding down a button. This makes it more intense to use at times as it takes a few seconds to change the battery. It can create a bit of a panic as you try to run away from monsters chasing you. Speaking of monsters, you have no attack against them and your only hope is to run as the wind blows.

Taking too much damage from a monster will result in death and reloading back to the last save point. The game autosaves periodically as you check off tasks and mini-missions so there is no need to be constantly saving. During our playthrough, we did die a few times but most of the monsters were easy to get away from once you work it out.

We’re sure by the final game this will be tweaked and more monsters and dangers added. The overall gameplay feels quite solid at this stage and it’s easy to see where the developers are taking it. We did have some issues with sound positioning on our surround sound but these are issues that will most likely be solved when the game is finished.

Habilis feels like a game that will please horror fans. The atmosphere is dark, the screams of people are chilling, the gameplay is what you would expect, and Nathan is a likeable character. The game isn’t due out for quite some time but stick it on your Steam wishlist if this kind of game appeals to you.