Mundaun is a fantastic game to play through for survival horror fans, offering a creepy story that’s been completely crafted with hand-drawn illustrations from a single developer. Now available on consoles and PC, the game presents an immersive adventure through a unique penciled-in world that’s not like any other survival horror experience.
In Mundaun, players take control of a young man who travels to a dark, secluded valley of the Swiss Alps to uncover the mystery of his grandfather’s death and face off with a malevolent entity that resides there. Unraveling the secrets of Mundaun will take some exploration and solving some intricate puzzles. The game also employs a “cause-and-effect” feature that will disorient players when faced with sinister characters, making for some of the scariest moments.
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I would say that exploration is encouraged in Mundaun, given how fantastic everything looks in the game. While the story is certainly well-crafted and offers many creepy and unsettling moments, I will say that I don’t think I’ve ever worked through a survival horror game so slowly. The penciled visuals literally had me in awe from start to finish, and I spent so much time soaking in just how beautiful each setting looked, even if there was always a foreboding sense of dread.
Again, I have to stress how amazing it was to traverse through a horror environment that’s been completely drawn together. I had to stop to check every minute detail I could find, as the hand-drawn images simply made everything I was looking at more interesting. Every nook and cranny has been carefully illustrated, and even every single picture or portrait you can find hanging can be seen as a work of art. It might be a spooky horror game, but even so, the best word I can think of to describe it is still “beautiful.”
While this isn’t a shoot-em-up adventure like the Resident Evil games, there are combat elements to be found in Mundaun alongside puzzle-solving and exploration. A pitchfork and a rifle will be at your disposal if you choose to take on the malevolent forces you encounter in Mundaun. While fighting is possible in certain situations, I found that I was better off taking the stealthy approach, as the combat controls felt a little clunky. In any case, the action is limited, and playing through Mundaun takes some patience with a heavier emphasis on the atmosphere and exploration.
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It’s early into the year, but it’s still easy to go ahead and rank Mundaun as one of the best indie games of 2021. There are a few rough edges, like the driving and combat controls feeling clunky, but these only served as small qualms for an overall very fun experience. It’s definitely a must-play game for fans of classic adventure games and survival horror.
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I had a lot of fun playing through Mundaun, and the story of how it was made makes all of that even more impressive. The game was developed by Hidden Fields, a one-man studio founded by Swiss programmer and illustrator Michel Ziegler, who sketched out everything you see in Mundaun with pencils. The process has taken Ziegler years to complete the game, and you’ll be able to see why once you delve into it yourself. You can literally see the heaps of effort that must have been put into every single scene.
“It is surreal to finally be able to share Mundaun with players across the world. It has certainly been an emotional roller coaster working on the project for so many years,” Ziegler said of the game. “The Alps hold a special place in my heart, and I wanted to create an experience that embodies my summer trips as a child, while paying homage to the brilliant but dark folklore of the region. I am so thankful for the support of the team at MWMi who helped bring my vision to life, and I hope everyone enjoys playing Mundaun as much as I enjoyed making it.”
Mundaun is now available for digital purchase on PlayStation5, PlayStation4, Xbox Series X|S, Xbox One, and PC via Steam and the Epic Games Store. A Nintendo Switch version will be released in April 2021. You can watch the official trailer below.
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