0 
0 Bored of hunting ghosts like in Phasmaphobia? Well, k148 Game Studio, might be what you are looking for. In their new game UFOPHILIA, we hunt down extraterrestrial life, and document them for the Men in Black. Or horde the photos and go crazy, I don’t judge. The game is out now on Steam for £10.99. If you are looking for another ghost hunting game but maybe solo. Might I suggest checking out my review for Conrad Stevenson’s Paranormal P.I.
Seeing, is believing.
Gameplay
There is no story for UFOPHILIA, we just start off in a van, where we can select either the mission or a tutorial. I tried the tutorial, but it seemed that a tool wouldn’t spawn. So, I decided to learn as I played. Like most hunting games of this type, our objective is to use our tools to narrow down, a possible alien, as well as their spawn location. We have a nice selection of tools to help us find out which space visitor is currently among us. Like the motion detector, pulse meter, and magnetometer. Aliens react and affect both the devices and their surrounding differently, which help even more with narrowing things down. Like, flickering lights, slamming doors, messing with electronics, and wait a minute this just sounds like ghosts.
Either way, after you find out what alien exactly it is you are after, we begin phase 4. Or this is what UFOPHILIA calls it. Now, we grab our camera sneak over to the newly found location, snap four photos. If you succeed, head back to your van and bam you win. But with every photo taken there is a chance for the alien to detect the player and chase. It does get annoying when the alien kept locking the door so I could not leave. That then resulted in a game over. Every mission you do finish though will earn Roswell points, that are usable in the shop via your laptop. All of which improve equipment.
Graphics & Audio
Overall there’s nothing of note graphically. It doesn’t look bad, but it looks rather basic, and the alien designs are decent but nothing to ‘wow’ you as such. I noticed audio-wise it shares a lot of assets with Conrad Stephenson’s Paranormal P.I., from light switches to tool noises, particularly the switching of tools and the camera shutter noises. I do like the effect of when an alien is trying to abduct you, and the actual camera footage from the camera you place down.
Longevity
UFOPHILIA, offers us 7 missions in total, and 9 types of aliens. Replay-ability differs from player to player. However, the lack of multiplayer might not make it worth it to begin with. I spent 3 hours trying to snap photos but struggled due to how easy it is to get caught. So I never reached the other levels.
Final Thoughts
UFOPHILIA is just meh, all the work you do to uncover an alien’s spawn point just feels needless. And when it comes to snapping a photo, you need to get stupidly close. Which sucks since they are able to spot you easily and lock doors. I’m a little disappointed in the actual designs as well, due to me thinking there might be some cool looking aliens. That was not the case. The tutorials did not give me much hope to begin with, as some of the tools would not even spawn. It also comes across too much like a ghost hunting game rather than aliens.
I do like catching footage of the aliens on camera, but the fact that it does not count towards evidences is just plain silly. Since the feed goes to the laptop, the same way as audio. In the end, the game just comes across as cheap, from the tools to the actual aliens themselves. So, I am gonna give UFOPHILIA the Thumb Culture Bronze Award.
Disclaimer: A code was received in order to write this review.
YouTube |Facebook |Twitter |Instagram |Discord |Podcast
About Author
