REVEIL is a narrative-driven first-person psycho-thriller from Pixelsplit and Daedalic Entertainment. Read our review to see what it did well, what it didn't do well, and if it's worth buying.
REVEIL Review Overview
What is REVEIL?
REVEIL is a first-person psychological thriller set in the rundown ruins of a fractured mind. Join our protagonist as he delves deeper into the circus of his own regret, solving puzzles and experiencing psychedelic phenomena with every repeat. Learn the truth about your missing wife and child, and experience the horrors of a family circus.
REVEIL features:
⚫︎ Good puzzles and fun mini-games
⚫︎ A simple but trippy narrative
⚫︎ Amazing graphics and exquisite circus attractions
⚫︎ Horror-filled atmosphere steeped with intrigue
⚫︎ Great atmospheric audio design built to instill fear
For more gameplay details, read everything we know about REVEIL's gameplay and story.
 REVEIL |
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 PSN |
 Steam |
 Xbox |
REVEIL Pros & Cons
| Pros | Cons |
|---|---|
 Genuine Scary and Well-Paced Uniquely Mesmerizing Environments Just The Right Amount of Puzzles |
Definitely an Epilepsy Risk Slower Narrative Than Most |
REVEIL Overall - 88/100
REVEIL is a well-paced horror experience that can only be described as a rollercoaster of emotions—except every emotion is fear and this rollercoaster has no safety belts. I’m not happy to admit it, but this game got me quaking in my boots within half an hour of playing and it kept that momentum going until the end. If you’re looking for genuine scares, amazing set-dressing, and perhaps the trippiest circus experience since Cirque du Soleil, then get yourself a ticket and enter the Big Top in REVEIL.
REVEIL Story - 9/10
REVEIL’s story and premise are rather simple, but don’t let its simplicity fool you. It’s all about execution at the end of the day, and I’d say that REVEIL executed the story it wanted to tell extremely well. It conveyed its themes of grief, denial, and fear subtly through its unique setting, all while providing a story that’s easy to follow but not boring. Most of all, the horror contributes to the story by highlighting the protagonist's fears instead of banking on the player’s.
REVEIL Gameplay - 8/10
REVEIL’s gameplay is a mixture of exploration and puzzle-solving that’s made odd and somewhat creepy by the claustrophobic confines of its circus setting. It’s mostly a walking simulator, though it has just enough puzzles, sights, and scares to keep things interesting without bloating its runtime. Did I mention that it was scary without relying on jumpscares? Because it is, and I am mortified to admit that it got a scream out of me on more than one occasion. What more can you ask from a horror game promising psychological frights?
REVEIL Visuals - 9/10
The dark and scary carnival aesthetic is nothing new, having been around for more than a decade or so. REVEIL doesn’t reimagine the aesthetic, it doubles down and somehow turns the saturated look into a piece of pure horror. Every major area of the game from the protagonist’s house in the beginning to the funhouse of horror right after looks so real, yet so viscerally wrong, like a familiar sight turned on its head.
REVEIL Audio - 9/10
Great audio is as important to a horror game as its visuals. REVEIL’s devs clearly understood this basic principle of horror because, dear Pennywise, does this game sound authentic! All the jumpscares in the world won’t get a peep out of you if the immersion is trash, so REVEIL made sure to keep the world groaning and bumping just past your field of vision. The game’s voice acting is on point too.
REVEIL Value for Money - 9/10
I still can’t quite understand how such an amazing horror experience would cost only $18. I’m forced to believe that the devs are selling this game at a deficit because this game had some real elbow grease put into it in terms of narrative and aesthetics. Don’t get me wrong, it’s still a middling price that some might consider too much for a game that isn’t as high-octane as most horror games nowadays—I just think that the devs could get away with a $25 price and still sell out.
REVEIL Review: Cirque Du So-Freaked Me Out
REVEIL is a narrative-driven first-person psychological horror game where you play the role of Walter Thompson, a former circus stage builder going through the fragmented memories of his past. I’ll just say this now to manage your expectations: REVEIL is not a puzzle game. It has puzzles, yes, but they are not the driving force of the game’s narrative, nor are they the game’s main attraction. Don’t expect Resident Evil levels of puzzlery because that’s not what this game is about. All settled in? Good. Let’s start the show.
Ladies, gentlemen, everyone between and beyond, prepare yourself for the dreadful and the disquieting; the mysterious and the macabre; the psychedelic and the portentous; steel yourself from the unnerving, undulating horrors that stir the mind and mire the heart; prepare yourself for REVEIL! You’re in for amazing sights, fun puzzles, and a well-executed story that’ll get you invested in no time.
For our first act, put your hands together for REVEIL’s amazing art direction, set dressing, and creative use of 3D space! That entire Greatest Showman bit aside, REVEIL’s aesthetics and art direction are phenomenal, and I don’t just mean that in a graphical way. Everything about how this game presents its environment screams horror, and I think that plays really well into its relatively simple story—more on that later.
Capturing the aesthetic of a circus is a relatively easy task—just throw a couple of clowns here and there, maybe a few balloons, and you could even use a Big Top if you have the budget—but REVEIL does it in such a way that the horror and realism comes naturally. It captures the innate uncanniness of a circus so well that the psychological horror bits are enhanced to a truly hair-raising degree. Case in point: the funhouse.
That particular section of the game incorporated the true horror of a circus with REVEIL’s own psychological mix, with a standard, low-effort funhouse bit at the start, and a trippy tromp through Walter’s memories at the end. It effectively sells the unreliability of Walter’s own recollection of his time in the circus by creatively using both 3D space and the player’s limited FOV to, for the lack of a better term, mess with your mind.
Doors will come out of nowhere; pathways will change as you turn your camera to look at them; optical illusions will fool your mind on which path to take; curves and bends will turn into endless loops; heck, there’s even a quiz show segment at some point that’ll test your lore knowledge; all of these come together to make an unforgettable experience. Granted, the funhouse chapter is the one that uses this the most while the other chapters use these methods sparingly. Still, it’s this Chris Angel level of mind freak that sells the game’s horror best, so I ain’t complaining.
As for the game’s story, gather ‘round, folks, and hear the tale of one Walter Thompson. A stage builder by trade, he soon found himself in love with a performer at this very circus. They lived a life together, one filled with the joys of parenthood and the strife of life. Trouble in paradise, some might say, but there isn’t horror in life like Walter’s…at least not yet.
REVEIL’s story is rather simple. You’re basically going through a 5-hour psychosis as you recount Walter’s past through fragmented memories. He’s something of an unreliable narrator, although an unreliable POV is a better way to describe it. His own fractured mind plays tricks on you as you play through the game, going through nested dreams and non-euclidian hallways a la DiCaprio’s Inception. It makes for quite the spectacle, really, and I appreciate just how fun the whole experience is in addition to being scary as all heck.
As stated before, the presentation of the game makes its story far more engaging than it has any business being. The story is very simple and the allegories are a bit on the nose, but the sheer showmanship of the whole thing keeps it tight and well-paced. Some might call it cheesy, a bit overused, even, but I think it’s good as it is now.
As for REVEIL’s gameplay, step right up, folks, and test your skill against a plethora of mind-bending puzzles! Keep your reflexes in fettle with a multitude of mini-games, and maybe even win a prize! In all seriousness, REVEIL’s gameplay is pretty darn good. As I mentioned earlier, the puzzles lack frequency and complexity, but I think that is both appropriate and advantageous for what REVEIL is trying to accomplish. Simply put, this wasn’t meant to be Resident Evil, it was meant to be a spectacle of light, sound, and horror that’s supplemented by a few brain teasers.
You’re not going to want a city-builder level of complexity in a visual novel, so don’t go looking for The Talos Principle in what is essentially a 5-hour House of Horrors. You’re here to see, hear, and feel the experience that REVEIL wants to tell you and not much else. Does that make for great gameplay? I think so, especially since every puzzle is as natural to the environment as any clown in a circus. None of it feels forced and, quite honestly, it is a breath of fresh air in a genre filled with puzzles that are incongruous with their environment.
In addition to all that, REVEIL is an auditory feast, with great atmospheric sound design and pretty good voice acting. Audio is a big factor in horror, with plenty of the genre’s recent hits like Resident Evil, FNAF, and, heck, even Lethal Company, investing in the game’s audio to better sell its horror aspect. REVEIL keeps it atmospheric and suggestive, relying less on jumpscares and loud noises to keep your blood pressure high. Granted, the voice acting can be a bit annoying at times, but it’s not enough to knock this game down a peg.
And that’s the last act done, folks! REVEIL is a genuinely scary and well-presented game with great audio, better aesthetics, and just enough games and puzzles to keep your attention. It might not be everyone’s favorite because of its simpler story and slower pace, but if you’re up for some dark circus clownery, then this is just the game for you.
Pros of REVEIL
| Things REVEIL Got Right |
|---|
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Genuine Scary and Well-Paced Uniquely Mesmerizing Environments Just The Right Amount of Puzzles |
Genuine Scary and Well-Paced
True horror in horror games is exceedingly rare nowadays, with mascot horror fishing for jumpscares every 5 five minutes and Backrooms simulators running rampant on Steam. It’s not all bad, but the art of instilling fear through the environment and narrative isn’t well-practiced anymore, or at least I thought so until REVEIL proved me wrong.
I’m usually not a coward, but REVEIL called my bluff with this game and had me shuddering within half an hour of booting it up. It’s a slower narrative full of twists and turns, but I find myself dreading every junction like my life depended on it. It doesn’t sound like it, but that’s a good thing for a horror game.
This is why I appreciate REVEIL the way I do, it made the effort to be scary and it paid off. It paced its story well to enhance not the fear, not dilute it. It took the time to build a world full of horrific suggestions and deliver on them in the most spectacular way possible. It’s a slow build-up for the first half, subverted by a vicious twist midway through the game. I won’t spoil it now, but it’ll be worth the listless meandering you do at the start.
Uniquely Mesmerizing Environments
Personally, I’ve never been inside a rundown circus because I have common sense and an intense aversion to getting my head caved by a gaggle of demon clowns. That being said, REVEIL’s depiction of a messed-up psycho circus is about as close to the idea as it can get.
I was floored by how great everything looked and how homogeneous the aesthetic was. Despite the many areas in the game, nothing looked out of place unless it was specifically meant to. Every light, door, and spatially defiant daughter looks like it should be there, even if you feel like it shouldn’t. The lighting, in particular, is superb, giving you just enough shadows to be afraid without reaching Gotham levels of inky blackness. The strobing effects and neon lighting also give it that horrific pizzazz that’ll have you quaking in your clown shoes.
Just The Right Amount of Puzzles
REVEIL doesn’t try to be Resident Evil with its puzzles and I can respect that. That’s not to say that Resident Evil has too many puzzles, mind you, it’s just that a lot of first-person psychological thrillers think that you need to pack a funhouse’s worth of puzzles in their game for it to be fun. It works for Resident Evil, but if REVEIL tried the same thing, I don’t think it’d be anywhere near as fun.
It has enough puzzles to be interesting, but not so many that there’s less time for you to soak in the horror of the environment. The puzzles themselves don’t even look like puzzles half the time, which, in my opinion, enhances the story a lot. Nothing takes me out of my immersion faster than an ostensibly decorated box filled with tangentially related keyholes. REVEIL has none of those, instead, it has environmental puzzles that make sense for the setting.
If you’re looking for a puzzle bonanza, this isn’t the game for you. REVEIL keeps the puzzles spaced out and relevant to the narrative, so there won’t be one where there shouldn’t be. You’re here to stroll through your fractured mind, not play Fate’s Carnival.
Cons of REVEIL
| Things That REVEIL Can Improve |
|---|
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Definitely an Epilepsy Risk Slower Narrative Than Most |
Definitely an Epilepsy Risk
I don’t know what you were expecting from a game set in a man’s memories about his time in the circus, but if it wasn’t flashing lights and trippy sights, then I don’t know what to tell you. Jokes aside, this game is definitely a major risk for those susceptible to flashing lights, strobe effects, and intense colors. I wouldn’t recommend this game to people who suffer from those conditions, or people who regularly suffer from sensory overload.
This game is a lot and it doesn’t pull punches in its presentation. While that makes for great horror, it’s not good for the health of others.
Slower Narrative Than Most
This game is a psychological thriller. As such, it relies heavily on immersion, narrative suggestion, and deliberate slowdowns in pacing to convey its horror. While I can appreciate this style of horror, not everyone would and that’s okay. This isn’t Poppy’s Playtime, there isn’t a big mascot out for your blood at every turn, nor is there a jumpscare waiting in every shadow.
This isn’t a hard downside per se, but it may contribute to a person’s choice in purchasing the game in the first place. If you’d prefer a more direct way to get your blood pumping, this might not be the game you’re looking for because it takes its time.
Is REVEIL Worth It?
Definitely, Even If It Cost a Bit More
If someone told me that a game of this quality would only cost $18, I’d consider them a conman trying to win me over a game of Find the Lady. But it’s true, this game only costs that much despite its amazing horror, inspired atmosphere, and fun puzzles. That’s cheaper than an actual circus ticket nowadays! Granted, you don’t get the same feel as a real circus, but it’s pretty darn close. If you’re looking for that Dark Carnival fix, or if you’re obsessed with the creepy clown aesthetic, then step right up, folks!
| Digital Storefronts | |||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Steam |
Playstation |
Xbox |
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| $17.99 | $19.99 | ||||
REVEIL FAQ
How Do I Solve the Fusebox Puzzle in REVEIL?
The fusebox puzzle is one of the earliest puzzles in REVEIL and is how you get the Funhouse Token. Once you find the fusebox in the backstage area next to your worktable, you have to flip the fuse switches in the following order, as denoted by their numbered labels: 4-7-2-5-3.
How Long Does it Take to Finish REVEIL?
REVEIL has a 5-6 hour runtime split unevenly among 5 chapters.
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REVEIL Product Information
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| Title | REVEIL |
|---|---|
| Release Date | March 6, 2024 |
| Developer | Pixelsplit |
| Publisher | Daedalic Entertainment |
| Supported Platforms | PC(Steam), PlayStation 5, Xbox Series X|S |
| Genre | Adventure, Horror, Psychological |
| Number of Players | 1 |
| Rating | ESRB M 17+ |
| Official Website | REVEIL Official Website |
