“A.I.L.A” Review by Nick Navarro
The uneasy tension that settles in the first few minutes of “A.I.L.A” told me I was about to test far more than a piece of software. From the Brazilian developers over at Pulsatrix Studios, having reviewed their previous project, “Fobia – St. Dinfna Hotel”, a game I enjoyed when it launched, this one dares to take things up another notch. That earlier experience made me especially interested in seeing how the studio would approach something more ambitious, and this new title immediately shows how far they’ve pushed their ideas about interactive horror and surreal world-building.
Set in 2035, the game casts me as Samuel, a beta tester hired to play through horror scenarios created by a fictional artificial intelligence known as A.I.L.A. The premise is straightforward but smartly structured: I’m not exploring a single story or location, but instead entering a rotating set of game experiences designed to probe Samuel’s fears, reactions, and decisions. Each session becomes a kind of psychological experiment, and that design choice lays the foundation for the game’s unpredictable rhythm. I always knew something was about to shift, but I never knew exactly when. As they like to advertise, Pulsatrix leans heavily on Unreal Engine 5 to deliver striking visuals, and their work shows; the environment detail makes an immediate impact. Whether I was walking through narrow hallways lit by flickering bulbs or standing inside a medieval courtyard covered in debris, the lighting and atmosphere carried a level of polish that constantly reinforced the near-future framing of the experience. The game’s commitment to photorealism helps its tense scenarios land more effectively, at least when the visuals aren’t undermined by stiff character animations. When characters moved awkwardly or reacted with delayed transitions, it breaks the tension a bit, but the general presentation consistently pulled me back in.
What kept me most invested is the variety of scenarios A.I.L.A generates. One moment I’m sneaking around a ritualistic cult eager to track me down; the next I’m solving gruesome puzzles in a dimly lit chamber; later I’m suddenly fighting through medieval undead using a mix of exploration and combat. This structure provides a wide sampling of horror styles, survival, psychological, action-oriented, and puzzle-focused, all tied together by the central conceit of Samuel testing A.I.L.A’s creations. I liked how the transitions between themes never followed a predictable pattern, which made each chapter carry its own tension even before anything happened. The game’s writing emphasizes that Samuel is constantly providing his feedback, reactions, and fears to the AI, and that helps shape the relationship between the protagonist and A.I.L.A. I appreciated how the game occasionally steps back and lets silence or subtle environmental details build pressure. In those quiet, eerie stretches, I felt the experience working exactly as intended. The sense that A.I.L.A was learning from Samuel, and by extension, learning from me, kept the core premise grounded.
Where the game struggles is in its consistency. The variety is a strength, but it also exposes some unevenness in execution. Certain puzzles feel out of place, as if they were pulled from older design philosophies and dropped into environments that don’t quite suit them. I ran into multiple moments where the solutions felt unintuitive or disconnected from the surrounding context, and that occasionally slowed the pace in ways that undercut the tension. Similarly, while the different horror sequences offer interesting ideas, the transitions between them sometimes feel abrupt, causing the overarching narrative to lose cohesion. The concept of an AI constructing individualized nightmares is compelling, but tying all those ideas together into a unified emotional arc proves difficult for the game to maintain consistently. Voice acting, however, is a standout. A.I.L.A.’s performance carries the exact tone needed to make the concept believable: equal parts curious, detached, and quietly manipulative. Samuel’s reactions and spoken responses help keep the pacing engaging, especially when the game leans into the uneasy back-and-forth dynamic between tester and machine. That relationship becomes the backbone of the experience, and it’s where the writing feels most confident.
While the game excels at creating disturbing scenarios and delivering a thick atmosphere, technical imperfections occasionally get in the way. As mentioned before, the animation stiffness, occasional rough transitions, and moments where tension deflates unexpectedly keep the game from reaching its full potential. Pulsatrix clearly understands how to create dread, how to use lighting effectively, and how to let stillness unsettle me, but the execution isn’t always polished enough to fully hold that power from start to finish. Despite the unevenness, I still found “A.I.L.A” to be an enjoyable horror experience. The strong visual presentation, impressive voice work, and creative genre-shifting structure kept me curious about what the AI would throw at me next. In this heavily AI driven new world we find ourselves in, this concept becomes exceptionally more interesting. Even when some puzzles frustrated me or certain sections lacked narrative cohesion, the core concept remained appealing. It’s a game that takes risks, explores several horror styles, and delivers plenty of unsettling moments without relying on a single note of fear.
7.5/10
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Related: Nick Navarro Reviews
Gaming since I was given an original Nintendo as a kid. I love great storytelling and unique ingenuity. When both collide in a single game, I'm a happy gamer. Twitter/IG @NickNavarro87
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