Movement in Ecstatica can be a chore at times partly due to the control system but mostly due to the fluctuating camera angles that besiege you throughout the game.

The characters, items and landscapes are made up of connected ovals and create an unusual, at times surreal, environment. It's reminiscent of polygonal visuals but with all the sharp edges rounded off. Graphically, Ecstatica uses a technology, Ellipsoid, that was innovative at the time of the game's release. And these aren't you're normal, dime a dozen cute demons, either - they make rude noises, take delight in stabbing, whipping and bludgeoning you as you hang helplessly upside down and joke with each other all the while. In a horror game this is usually to be expected but in this case, you are attacked so often that simple survival becomes paramount at times to solving the mystery and watching the plot unfold. In fact, throughout Ecstatica you'll be constantly fighting for your gaming life, terrified by what lurks around the next corner. There is no shortage of demonic entities willing and waiting to welcome you to town in their own special way.

If you're not real quick on the uptake, chances are you'll be attacked, either whipped and tortured, or bludgeoned to death within the first few minutes of the game. From the moment your character sets foot in the village of Tirich, the mayhem and mystery begins. A spooky town, an unsuspecting victim, surreal characters, a twisted plot and blood and gore.

The storyline of Psygnosis's Ecstatica has all the elements of a classic horror film.

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