The adventure in Ural mountains is a slow paced, ambitious horror game. Based on “true story” as well. [Sept 2015]

If you love horror games, Kholat is one game that will give you a delectably terrifying experience.

An amazing story based on actual events. KHOLAT is a standout game in a genre that often fails to deliver.

Kholat is a compelling release set against a fascinating backdrop that drew me in early and kept me playing. It offers a memorable, if not completely satisfying, experience that's worth checking out.

While much of Kholat can feel repetitive as players roam aimlessly through the barren landscape, the spine-creeping sense of dread that accompanies the rest of the game more than makes up for it.

The atmosphere and the feeling of being lost and hopeless in a harsh environment is where Kholat really delivers its memorable experience.

Kholat is an atmospheric adventure game that is creepy but really should not be labeled as a horror game. With a wonderful art style and amazing sound effects, Kholat should still please horror fans and adventure game fans alike.

It doesn’t achieve that solemnity in its narrative that you’re expecting in this kind of games, nor runs its plot elegantly, but we’ve been through four hours looking for notes and picking them in these woods, till the end. And that should mean something.

As it is I believe Kholat is still worth playing but just be aware that frustration and tension will be present in equal measure.

An interactive book with lots of pretty pictures, a virtual movie with a great atmosphere. Kholat is somewhere between keeping the player engaged and making him/her bored. The game's strongest assets are: grim atmosphere and a very interesting place the action is set in. It's worth taking a shot.

Kholat has its flaws, especially when it comes to plot. However it is registered as a good game for the simple reason that it achieves its main target, which is to offer excitement. With its remarkable atmosphere, Kholat embraces the player in an immersive experience.

Kholat is a great looking game that can capture the imagination of players very quickly with its impressive environments and with the initial narrative about the real world set of events on which it is based. Unfortunately, the developers have failed to find a way to keep interest up in the long term and the inability move at will across the landscape and the limited functionality associated with the map quickly become frustrating.

A great narrative experience but rather dull from a gameplay standpoint. [Aug 2015, p.62]

Kholat is based on actual events, and creates an interesting and enigmatic world to explore. It isn't perfect or particularly outstanding, but it does deliver an enjoyable adventure for those who love mysteries and exploring.

There's an interesting atmosphere of anxiety in Kholat, effectively keeping us in front of the screens - that's biggest advantage of the game. On the other hand, developers quickly ran out of ideas that would make the exploration easier and more interesting. Still, Imgn.pro's debut is largely successful.

A good attempt to offer a different approach to terror, though somewhat diluted because of repetition on its mechanics and a lack of originality.

The premises were interesting for a different horror experience, but the slow pace and the frustrating gameplay often spoil the good time.

Overall an enjoyable experience that has a fantastic presentation but just lacks much depth in gameplay.

If you’re really, truly desperate for a new adventure-horror game in the vein of Dear Esther and you consider yourself to literally have the patience of a saint, at the very least Kholat will look and sound pretty as you play it. Anyone who doesn’t want to deal with tedious gameplay, a confusing story, or frustrating progress roadblocks however should steer clear.

Sound, controls, graphics and Sean Bean - all fine. But it's just not scary enough and has a weak story which is bad for a horror game.

Kholat’s strength lies within the atmospheric loneliness in big areas. Horror and suspense unfortunately fall short.

Good graphics and tense situations can't really save the player from the slow and tedious exploration and the cheap deaths. This kind of devices aren't exactly great from a game design standpoint, and relegate this product to a meager passing grade.

Kholat tries to be everything – a survival, a horror, a first person walker. It might have worked well if all those elements had been polished properly. [08/2015, p.66]

The world of Kholat is magnificent, but the promises of a cool story and memorable gaming experience do not really come true. Using the map and compass are fun, but frustration and boredom are near. Too bad, because especially the Dyatlov Pas-incident is a good subject for a game.

Kholat is genuinely scary, sometimes to its detriment. You will have to push yourself to continue playing at times.

Kholat's narrative exploration is ambitious, and the real world base for its plot, the recreation of exploring a bewildering and unforgiving landscape and the audio-visual design were all superb. But for what it gets right, the mounting flaws in its design only become more evident and distracting.

Kholat is a visually wonderful horror game that allows players to give their own explanation of the events. It is however frustrating because of limited movements, unavoidable deaths and an unclear plot.

Visually stunning, but a slog to play through. [Issue#164, p.90]

KHOLAT nails the experience of being atop a snowy mountain during volatile conditions, and the idea of it being based on a true story is intriguing. Ultimately, though, the execution falls short and you’re left with a shallow experience that is hard to find the fun in.

Kholat is a Horror experience game with a first person perspective. It has many gameplay issues but its main problem is the lack of fear and strong emotions that any Horror experience should be able to create.

With such an interesting story and a great narrator, Kholat truly dropped the ball in what could have been a great narrative, instead delivering nonsense dialogue and an incomprehensible plot.

For better or worse, this game REALLY brings out the fun of actually being lost in the mountains. I’ll leave that to your interpretation.

The exploring horror game is inspired by real events and offers a great chilling atmosphere. Gameplay part of the horror is merely average unfortunately.

If the writing were cleaned up and the scares implemented a bit more effectively, Kholat would be better able to take advantage of its unique, real-world premise. As it is, only the most ardent fans of exploration games are likely to find much to enjoy.

Supposedly Kholat is six hours long but we couldn’t tell because we stopped playing after two. [Aug 2015, p.084]

Story is the worst nightmare in Kholat. I expected supernatural stuff, maybe dark sci-fi, or some evil KGB agenda… But the writers took all these three plot ideas, then added parallel worlds, secret objects and cruel science experiments. This is the most absurd and eclectic mishmash of themes I have ever seen in a horror game that tries to look serious.

Simply put, Kholat fails to properly balance its moody aesthetics while keeping the player actively invested. It is yet another case of an experience that is beautiful to witness, but boring to actually engage in.

Its ideas reveal the game Kholat wanted to be, but its aspirations soar far higher than the game it became. What good is a mystery if you don't care about what it might tell you?