When I first learned of Pneumata, I was struck by the clear inspirations drawn from other horror classics such as Resident Evil 7, Condemned, and Outlast. These games are personal favorites of mine, so I was already onboard. I will never say no to more first-person survival horror.
Unfortunately, very early in my playthrough, it became clear that, while the inspiration was there, the execution fell short. Pneumata is an ambitious game, especially coming from a solo developer, but it’s held back by a lack of polish, technical issues, and design choices that make it hard to recommend, even for super fans of the genre like myself.
A Case Gone Cold
According to the Steam page, Pneumata involves examining crime scenes and piecing together clues to solve a series of gruesome murders. This description gave me high hopes for detective-style gameplay, similar to the Condemned series, where players would be asked to use their observational skills to solve mysteries in the game world while sinking further into its nightmarish world. And while the main character, David, is a private detective, any semblance of true investigative gameplay never materializes.
The closest the game comes to offering any semblance of detective work is when David finds the occasional VHS tape, where you view the past through another’s eyes to uncover story details (very similar to Resident Evil 7). While these segments add flavor to the narrative, they don’t involve any real puzzle-solving or clue-gathering. The idea of actively piecing together a mystery is sadly missing, beyond the occasional expositional IV drip—scattered notes and tapes.
The lack of the investigative elements is likely to be disappointing to anyone who was looking forward to those gameplay elements, myself included. The narrative instead feels more like a backdrop to the combat and exploration rather than the driving force it’s described as. When the game opens, your character is investigating the disappearance of your missing wife, Jamie. But strangely, this is the last time Jamie is mentioned until the very end of the game, leaving me confused regarding how all the other story beats and discoveries were meant to tie together. And if you are looking for a satisfying resolution to the story at the end of this bumpy road, look elsewhere. I won’t give any spoilers, but man-oh-man did the ending feel like a rushed job. I was seriously disappointed after putting in what felt like a grueling 7-8 hours.
Monotony Over Menace
Pneumata falls particularly flat in its enemy AI and combat mechanics. The game promises “unpredictable entities” and encourages players to hide and use distractions to evade or outsmart enemies. In practice, the AI is incredibly basic and fails to live up to this promise. Once an enemy spots you, there’s little to no chance of using the environment to create distractions or shake them off. They tend to stay locked onto you, and avoiding them often becomes a matter of simply outrunning them rather than engaging in any kind of strategic gameplay. The only environmental element that came into play was exploding barrels that are conveniently scattered across every map. Watch the hit radius, though, as I almost always ended up blowing myself up while trying to shake enemies.
The lack of variety in enemy types is also problematic. While the enemy designs are actually pretty scary and well done, you’ll encounter the same types of foes repeatedly, and they all behave in the same way. Gunplay feels fine and serves its purpose, and you’ll pick up a few different weapons during your adventure. The game does include some melee combat, but, unfortunately, it feels clunky and more risky than it’s worth. Melee encounters often felt more dependent on luck than skill or timing. The hit detection is inconsistent, and there’s little feedback to let you know when you’re being hit. I tried to avoid melee as much as possible due to its frustrating mechanics, which is a shame since ammo conservation was important at times. There is a blocking mechanic to aid with melee, but, in my experience, it wasn’t worth using. There was a significant delay between swinging your weapon and being able to block, making it feel mostly useless.
Enemy encounters are a key source of that sweaty-palmed tension I crave in a horror game, but in Pneumata, they quickly become more of a nuisance than a thrill. Without any significant variation in enemy mechanics, the game’s combat never evolves past a rudimentary level, making the gameplay feel repetitive and monotonous very quickly. There’s also a shortage of boss encounters, with the final boss fight being incredibly repetitive and drawn out.
Lost in Frustration
Exploration plays a huge role in Pneumata, but it’s also its biggest shortfall. The environments, particularly the dark, winding sewers, are too easy to get lost in. This might not be an issue if the game provided players with better tools to navigate, but without a map or any means of orienting yourself, you’re left wandering aimlessly, seeing the same landmarks over and over again. I genuinely felt like I was losing my mind in those damn sewers. The repetition of environments and the lack of direction make exploration more frustrating than fun. The bulk of my 7-8 hours of gameplay was spent wandering confused and growing more irritable by the moment. There were many times when I thought I was going to put the game down and not finish, and, when I reached the final boss, it felt like an Olympic triumph.
A map would go a long way toward improving the experience. If the dev sees this and plans future updates for Pneumata, I’d strongly recommend patching this in! Without it, exploration feels like an exercise in frustration as you backtrack repeatedly through dark, monotonous corridors, unsure of where to go next. I imagine this was, in part, the intention. In a horror game, some level of disorientation can enhance the terror, but in Pneumata, it feels more like a design flaw than something that adds to the tension or fun.
Dead Air
Sound design, in my mind, is one of the most important elements to a good horror game. It builds tension, creates atmosphere, and signals danger in ways that visuals alone cannot. Unfortunately, like many other aspects of Pneumata, the sound design is underwhelming. The audio levels are poorly mixed, with some sounds far too loud while others are barely audible. Sound effects loop repeatedly in the environment, which left me wondering whether it was a glitch or intentional. In one particularly egregious moment, I came across a carnival in the beginning where the music was a 5–10 second endless loop. The lack of well designed audio cues diminished any chance of impactful jump scares, which Pneumata leaves wanting.
Much of the game seems to be missing music where it’s needed. While silence can be an effective tool for building tension in other games, in Pneumata, it sadly falls flat. More varied music tracks to set the tone and make the endless hours of aimless wandering more palatable would have been much appreciated.
The True Horror…
To top it all off, Pneumata has plenty of technical issues. The game is riddled with bugs, from visual glitches to crashes that can wipe your progress. On multiple occasions, I found myself stuck in the environment or watching critical elements, like ladders, disappear from view. In one instance, a crucial ladder I needed to escape a group of enemies vanished, but when I approached where the ladder had been, I was still able to climb it. Moments like this make you lose trust in the game and constantly left me wondering whether my inability to progress was due to a glitch or whether I had truly missed something.
Most concerning are the reports of a game-breaking bug that can cause players to lose all their progress late in the game. Thankfully, I didn’t encounter this issue, but the fact that it’s affecting others is a serious problem. For a game priced at $34.99, bugs like this are unacceptable. Technical problems can be expected in an indie title, but at this price point, players should expect a certain level of polish and trust that hours of their time won’t be wasted.
Pneumata is a game that reaches for greatness but sadly falls short in too many areas for me to recommend. The Resident Evil, Condemned, and Outlast inspirations are clear, but the execution doesn’t live up to the high standards set by those great games. With a lack of variety in enemy AI, frustrating exploration, underwhelming sound design, and an abundance of bugs, Pneumata was a game I had a hard time enjoying.
For die-hard fans of first-person horror games who still plan to experience this title, I strongly recommend waiting for a deep discount. As for everyone else, I don’t recommend Pneumata. There are so many other fantastic titles at a cheaper price point, and the investment here just isn’t worth it. I see the foundation for potential in Pneumata, but it is just that—a foundation. As it stands, Pneumata feels like an ambitious idea that’s not quite ready for prime time.
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