The 9th Charnel Review – Hard to Recommend

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I have mixed feelings about The 9th Charnel. While it’s a truly flawed game, and would be considered bad even for older gaming standards, I’m curious to see if its core ideas are unique enough to stand out in the horror genre. Now that the developers, Saikat Deb Creations, are working with PlayStation, it will be interesting to see how they build on what they’ve learned from this project.

Just a heads-up: I played this game on PlayStation 5, but I wasn’t able to finish it due to a bug that prevented me from continuing, even though it’s a relatively short game. I started playing expecting a scary, psychological thriller, but it didn’t immediately grab me. Unfortunately, my time playing as the main character, Michael, was cut short by this issue. Here’s a breakdown of what happened.

Could the game have gotten better with further development? I’d like to think so, but based on what I’ve seen, I’m not convinced.

About halfway through the game, a crucial computer suddenly stopped responding, blocking my progress. I tried everything to fix it – reinstalling the game and even restarting my PS5 – but nothing worked. Honestly, though, I wasn’t really invested in what happened to the character, Michael.

To be honest, I didn’t find it engaging at all. The story in The 9th Charnel feels shallow and fails to grab your interest. It tries to replicate elements from other, better horror games, but ends up being unintentionally funny rather than frightening. The cutscenes look outdated, and they alternate with scenes of the main character, Michael, who is lost in a secluded valley and discovers something strange.

Trapped with only a flashlight, Michael finds himself stuck doing repetitive tasks that reveal a troubling story about the Charnel family and their indifference. Along the way, he faces mutated creatures that feel familiar from other, more polished horror games.

I fought through some enemies, expecting to find a new weapon, but that didn’t happen during the part of the game I played. I eventually reached the house of the character from the cutscenes, and his computer caused my game to crash. While it’s possible the story or gameplay could have gotten better, everything I experienced makes me doubt it will.

Could the game have gotten better as it went on? I’d like to think so, but honestly, everything I’ve experienced so far makes me doubt it.

While a weak story can often be forgiven with good gameplay, The 9th Charnel is simply frustrating rather than exciting. The controls are a big problem – the character moves awkwardly, and the sprint button is uncomfortable to hold down for long, making it painful to guide Michael around.

Beyond the controls, interacting with objects in the game world feels unreliable and frustrating. Even simple actions, like climbing down a ladder, can be surprisingly difficult. The inventory system adds to the problem, forcing you to pause and select items before you can use them. These small details are important, especially in modern games, and are particularly noticeable with a big horror game on the horizon.

The slow pace of exploring this game could be forgivable if the rewards were better. Most areas follow a straightforward path with only small detours to find useful items – or things that aren’t useful at all. While the game’s performance isn’t perfect, I can look past the occasional choppy framerate. However, the biggest problem is that a crucial item is hidden so well in the very first chapter that it took me a long time to locate it.

Okay, so the next part of the game was… honestly, kind of a letdown. I walked through an area with all these spike traps, but they didn’t even hurt me! Then it was just a quick run down a hallway with a monster right behind me. I had to turn a crank to open a door, and when I went through, the monster could see me, but it was hilariously stuck! It just couldn’t figure out how to get around a simple obstacle and follow me. It was a bit frustrating, honestly.

Okay, so I have to say, the character models in the cutscenes were really off-putting. Their faces looked super stiff and their movements were so unnatural, honestly, they creeped me out more than the monsters Michael was fighting! It was a really strange experience.

I encountered a monster straight out of a Lovecraftian nightmare, and my immediate reaction was to hide under the bed – thankfully, it seemed to lose interest. But the moment I peeked out, it wanted to attack again! That pretty much sums up the enemy AI – they’re incredibly simple and easy to avoid. Honestly, you’ll probably have more fun finding clever ways to trick them than actually fighting them.

One of the biggest issues was the complete absence of weapons at the start. I didn’t find any during the section I played, which made the game feel very slow, especially since it’s advertised as a survival horror. I was roughly halfway through the story before finding anything to defend myself with, and that’s a long time to feel completely vulnerable, even when facing relatively harmless enemies.

The characters in cutscenes look stiff and move awkwardly, which was surprisingly more frightening than the game’s monsters. When you’re actually playing, the graphics are all over the place and look noticeably outdated – like a poorly made PlayStation 2 game.

I’m probably being too picky to expect support for the DualSense controller, and honestly, the game’s sound design and music aren’t particularly memorable. The main character, Michael, is completely silent – not even reacting to dramatic events like a large enemy breaking through a wall or seeing a dead body of someone he was just talking to. He’s definitely a master of the silent protagonist trope.

I really don’t like having to say negative things about a game, but this one just couldn’t hold my attention. It’s rare for me to be truly bored while playing, but this game managed it.

Honestly, the best thing about The 9th Charnel is that it’s brief. The initial idea wasn’t very engaging, and unfortunately, the game didn’t improve from there. It pains me to be so critical, but it’s rare for a game to truly bore me – I even finished Code Violet! This felt more like a rough draft of an idea than a completed game.

After playing it, I can’t really recommend The 9th Charnel as it stands. However, it’s worth watching, as it’s the first game from Saikat Deb Creations, a new PlayStation partner. Hopefully, this game is just a shaky start for a developer with a lot of potential, and they’ll create better games in the future. I really hope that turns out to be true.

While it might get a chuckle, this game doesn’t deliver enough for the price. It’s too riddled with bugs and feels unfinished, making it more unintentionally funny than scary. If you’re a horror fan, I recommend spending your money on a more polished and satisfying survival horror experience.

This game was reviewed on PlayStation 5.

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2026-02-10 20:51