Tenebris Somnia Review – A Nightmare Between Two Worlds

Tenebris Somnia Review

Tenebris Somnia is an indie survival horror game with a really interesting hook. Its visuals have a pixelated 2D top-down adventure game appearance, but all the trailers also showed full movie-quality FMV sequences. It almost looked like Tenebris Somnia was a generation leap from Faith: The Unholy Trinity, which is a game I deeply love. I just had to know what this marriage of aesthetics would turn out like. Horror fans, read on, because you are in for a very unique experience.

I don’t want to give away too much of Tenebris Somnia’s narrative, because uncovering it is a large part of the game’s appeal. The set up is that the player controls Julia. The game begins with her visiting her ex’s apartment. When she arrives, Julia discovers the windows boarded up, and the short film they made together destroyed. She finds blood and broken mirrors. The game’s first puzzle has Julia walking through a black door. When she exits, Julia finds herself in another version of the apartment. Now there are strange markings on some of the doors, and everything has been rearranged. Soon after, she confronts her first nightmarish creature.

FMV Horror

Tenebris Somnia’s narrative is fantastic. It had me completely compelled to keep playing and uncover its mysteries. It really helped that every now and then the player is treated to an immaculately directed FMV sequence. These usually highlight a supernatural event or major story moment. A lot of the plot is told through the main gameplay, but the writing and presentation of Tenebris Somnia’s story stand amongst the all-time greatest horror video games.

Tenebris Somnia’s gameplay is a marriage of survival horror and point-and-click adventure game. It’s a pixelated top-down perspective survival horror game, like Corpse Party. Visually, it really reminded me of Laplace’s Demon (if anyone else has ever played that Super Famicom horror JRPG). The player has to examine everything and collect items. There are puzzles everywhere that largely involve reading clues, and using items, in the correct context. Sometimes items have to be combined.

Point-and-Click Adventure Elements

The reason I write Tenebris Somnia is a survival horror game mixed with a point-and-click adventure game is because its emphasis is on puzzle solving. It controls like a survival horror game, but there’s so much more item collecting and noggin’ using. There aren’t any pixel-hunting clicking sections, but the player will be going back over areas, making sure they didn’t forget any items.

There is some light combat. The player has to hold L2 to ready a weapon, then press R2 to use it. There are melee weapons, as well as some guns. But combat really isn’t a focal point of Tenebris Somnia. It’s more like a way to interact with the game’s horrors. There are always threats, but the majority of the gameplay is puzzle-solving. Julia will find herself in an area, and the player has to find every item and be creative about how to apply them. The monsters are there to frighten the player and keep tension high. The combat doesn’t have variety, but it’s really about how the player reacts to monsters.

Truly Freaky

The threat of monsters, combined with the freaky music and excellent sound design, really had me walking on eggshells the whole game. I was scared several times, and I think of myself as pretty steeled to horror. Every time an FMV sequence came on-screen it was always exciting. I knew they would be creative, but many of them were truly horrifying.

As much as I loved every part of Tenebris Somnia, there is some bullshittiness to the puzzles that many modern players will hate. Some of the logic leaps needed really reminded me of 90s Lucas Arts and Sierra games. For example, in the first area, I had found all the items, and I knew to look on a certain page in a book for clues. Part of the book’s readable passage read “you need the acids of the Tartarus, tamed by iron and blessed by sunlight”. This meant that I had to use the glass I found in the room with sun peeking through the window to collect some blood from the bathroom mirror. There were several more steps after these to the puzzle that all fell into place easily for me, but I was stuck for a while because I didn’t realize I could use the glass on the bloody mirror. I ended up figuring it out, but it didn’t feel like a proud moment of cleverness. I was just kind of mad at the game.

Special and Unique

I can’t praise Tenebris Somnia enough. I love the pixel graphics. The FMV sequences are incredible. The music and sound effects kept me in a state of dread. This game was inspired by the likes of Silent Hill, Clock Tower, and Faith: The Unholy Trinity. If any of these games mean anything to you, then Tenebris Somnia is a must-play. The only mark against it is that the puzzles are going to turn off a lot of people. They’re very intricate, old-school puzzles. A high percentage of them have moments of stumping frustration. The whole game is also less than 10 hours long, without much replay value. But I loved Tenebris Somnia so much that a couple of hours in, I preordered a physical copy from LostInCult. If you’re a survival horror or point-and-click adventure game fan, then Tenebris Somnia is likely a game of the year contender for you.

***PS5 code provided by the publisher***