Let me get this out of the way: I might not be the biggest fan of Blumhouse as a studio (I prefer outings of theirs like Vengeance or BlacKkKlansman over, say, Paranormal Activity), but I really appreciate their production model, giving totally creative freedom and a wide theatrical distribution to up and coming filmmakers on a tighter budget. I was really intrigued with how well their production model would fare after the announcement of their videogame publishing label, Blumhouse Games, which is fully focused on horror titles. I may have missed the first few titles released by them, but I had the chance of checking Crisol: Theater of Idols out, and while I don’t think it’s the greatest thing since the invention of sliced bread, I really appreciate its release and the chance given to its development team.

Crisol: Theater of Idols is set in an alternate take of Spain, very originally called Hispania. In it, you play as Gabriel, a devout follower of the Sun God, who is set on a mission by said god to go out and defeat a priest who preaches about a rival Sea God in a desolate island. You know, the typical religious rivalry stuff. It would have been an easier task if it wasn’t for the fact that the island as a whole is infested with reanimated mannequins who are hellbent on murdering everyone in sight, and can kill you with ease. But the Sun God hasn’t forgotten about you, so he decides to bestow a superpower of sorts (or a curse, it depends on how you see it) upon you.

After getting beaten the hell up by the first enemy you encounter in the game, the Sun God “blesses” you with the ability to manipulate blood to turn conventional weapons into holy firearms that can actually damage the mannequins chasing after you. That sounds like a fine upgrade, but there’s a catch: bullets are only conjured with your blood – if you want to reload your weapon, you gotta sacrifice a chunk of health in the process. In theory that results in a conundrum for the player: should I try to save my health and avoid confrontations whenever possible, or should I follow the rule of ” the best defense is a good offense”?

In reality, however, things aren’t as deep as they should. The interesting condition thrown at the player when confronting enemies isn’t as punitive as it should for the simple reason that it’s not hard to come by health pickups, be them syringes which resembled Bioshock‘s healing items, or the corpses of freshly killed animals. You can absorb their blood and restore them without any issue. As a result, this didn’t make me fear for enemy encounters, especially since Gabriel is slow as molasses, and whilst enemies aren’t fast either, there is some kind of glitch with their attack movement, making them connect their strikes even when they are a postcode away from you.

I just resorted to attacking them, as you gain upgrade points by doing so. My other issue with this strategy is the fact that they are really, really, REALLY spongy. In the beginning of the game, for instance, you need to shoot them EIGHT times in order to fully defeat them. Then again, this is still not a challenge per se. Two shots to the leg permanently cripples them, and two shots to the head blinds them. You just then have to fill them with lead (or blood-related lead) until they fall down. Afterwards, just replenish your ammo, find a way to restore your health (it’s easier than it sounds), and proceed to the next area.

It might sound like Crisol: Theater of Idols is action-packed, but it really isn’t. Sure, you will always have to fight against these mannequins, but the movement and combat mechanics are slow-paced. To be fair, the game Crisol reminded me the most was Resident Evil VII, with the mannequins actually resembling the mold monsters in terms of numbers, and the fact they just weren’t scary, just annoying. In fact, the game as a whole isn’t scary at all, even though there’s the occasional jump scare. Your protagonist never shuts up, the dialogue sections sound a bit cartoonish, and the enemies are mute. Creepy and unsettling, sure. But scary? Not at all.

Every now and then, you have to face the wrath of a gigantic (and talkative) mannequin called Dolores, in small sections where you’re supposed to use stealth mechanics and avoid being killed by her, but it’s much easier than it sounds. Because she’s the size of a double-decker bus, you can just enter a door or hide underneath a scaffolding. Doing so will make her forget about you, even if you’re right in front of her. It’s really easy to cheese and exploit these sections.

So if the game is not a fully-fledged first-person shooter, nor a true survival horror, then what is it? It sits in a weird limbo, in between Resident Evil VII, Doom 3, Alien: Isolation and Bioshock, especially when it comes to its art style and pacing (it’s absolutely NOT an immersive sim in any way, mind you), but never fully grasping what made these games so iconic in the first place. And I think what hinders Crisol: Theater of Idols the most. That issue is a lack of focus, a consequence of what was probably a project too ambitious for the development team’s own good.

Blumhouse Games’ strategy is similar to their movie division: their games have a maximum budget of ten million dollars, which sounds like a lot, but can be tricky if you’re trying to do something in the vein of a AAA project, or even a AA effort. Crisol: Theater of Idols features a truly outstanding art style, which is a mixture of traditional Spanish architecture and mid-century technology, not to mention the creepy religious imagery in both the statues and the enemies you fight against. I doubt it was cheap or easy to come up with the dozens upon dozens of assets scattered throughout each of the levels, not to mention some impressive lighting effects and the fact there is voice acting, for instance.

What I’m trying to infer is that this was probably a case of a game that suffered from having too many ideas, but not enough manpower, development time and budget to have them all worked out into the gameplay in time. It happens a lot when a well-intended and ambitious team has the chance of developing its first game: every single idea is considered, and corners don’t want to be cut. As a result, while I can see the influences and gameplay elements featured in Crisol: Theater of Idols, I feel like the game is trying to do way too much at once. It should have been simpler.

I would have personally focused a bit more on puzzle-solving (the game has some truly nightmarish puzzles that require a lot of attention) and a bit more on opportunities to not engage in combat. As cool as the blood conjuring ability is, making me less powerful against enemies would have made the world of Hispania a lot scarier, a lot more brutal. I don’t even think that Dolores was necessary, as it’s so easy to avoid being caught, due to that monster’s size and idiotic AI. A few more enemies, a more punishing combat system, and more puzzles: that’s something I’d love to see on a sequel, as there’s a lot of potential in this title.

Crisol: Theater of Idols is an immense collection of great ideas, good intentions, tons of sources of inspiration, and an interesting setting, but hampered by trying to bite way more than it could chew. I loved its setting and atmosphere, but it’s not scary enough to be called a fully-fledged horror game, it’s not action-packed enough to be considered a first-person shooter, nor is it explorable or full of gameplay elements like an immersive sim. The game sits right in the middle of all these elements, clearly showcasing its sources of inspiration, and having enough ideas to make it stand out as something unique, but never being more than just that: a good, well-intentioned, creepy, but flawed game. Still, I think horror fans, as well as Blumhouse enthusiasts, will have a good time with it.

Graphics: 8.5 A mixture of architectural and historical styles, resulting in unique visuals, when you also take the good lighting and creepy imagery into account. I have no qualms about the environments at all, though I think that the human characters look even more cartoonish than the enemies you have to fight.	Gameplay: 7.0 Not exactly a first-person shooter in terms of how much action the game has to offer, but also not as demanding, resource-wise, as your average survival horror. It’s a mixture of both, with the occasional stealth section, puzzle, and moments you can breathe and improve your stats. I like the combat system, and how ammo is acquired, but disliked how spongy enemies are.
Sound: 8.0 The sound effects are great, as you never know if the creaking noises are enemies or the environment. The music is sparse, but fine enough. The voice acting is a mixed bag, not due to the quality of the acting, but due to how frequent and non-horror-y it sounds.	Fun Factor: 7.5 The lore, the environment, it’s all top-notch. There are tons of creative ideas thrown into the mix, but there are moments when you notice the game is trying to bite more than it can chew. It’s not scary enough to be a full horror game, nor action-packed enough to be a first-person shooter.
Final Verdict: 7.5

Crisol: Theater of Idols is available now on PS5, Xbox Series S/X and PC.

Reviewed on Intel i7-12700H, 16GB RAM, RTX 3060 6GB.

A copy of Crisol: Theater of Idols was provided by the publisher.