Blumhouse Productions made a name for itself as one of the premiere horror film production companies, and in 2023 turned its attention to video games. A year after it was founded, Blumhouse Games published its first game in Fear the Spotlighta classic style horror game with a retro look inspired by the classics. Since then, Blumhouse Games has continued to release new titles, with the latest being Crisol: Theater of Idols. While Fear the Spotlight was inspired by the old school Resident Evil and Silent Hill games, Crisol: Theater of Idols has a lot more to do with games like Resident Evil 4 and BioShock.
Crisol: Theater of Idols puts the player in the role of Gabriel, who finds himself exploring a haunted, Spanish-inspired fictional island full of deadly monsters, not unlike Leon S. Kennedy's adventures in RE4. But instead of using a third-person over-the-shoulder view like v Resident Evil 4, Crisol it uses a first-person perspective and a general aesthetic that's like bloodier BioShockpresentation. It's a solid combination and works well Crisol's action.
Crisol's Combat has Serious Resident Evil 4 Vibes
The most common enemies in Crisol are cruel doll-like statues that try to kill Gabriel with knives, pitchforks, crossbows, and various other weapons. The first encounters with these creatures are unnerving, with these monsters capable of dealing significant damage to Gabriel if he gets close enough. Fortunately, Gabriel has a strong arsenal at his disposal to help him put up a serious fight.
CrisolThe combat is exciting and offers more strategy than just shooting living statues anywhere. If players have good enough aim, they can stun statues by blasting their heads off, or shoot off their limbs to disarm them. One of my favorite moments in the game happened during one of my first combat encounters. I destroyed the monster from the waist up and its legs fell to the ground. Thinking he was dead, I began to explore, only to realize that I would take damage. I turned to see legs came up and kicked me. These things don't let up, and the new enemy variants introduced later on ensure that the fights are never boring.
Ammo conservation is a big part of many survival-horror games, and the same is true in Crisolthough the game offers a unique twist on the concept. The only way to kill the monsters on the island is with magical weapons that are powered by Gabriel's blood. Overcharging means damage to Gabriel and a hit to health. This give and take adds another layer Crisol's fight and makes it much more interesting. Players can try to avoid enemies if they don't want to lose any health, or they can go with their weapons fully loaded, risking that one stray hit will put them down for the count.
When not killing enemies, Crisol players spend most of their time running around identical-looking environments looking for resources and key items to advance the plot. The problem is CrisolThe level design is bloated, many areas seem too large with an overabundance of uninteresting linear corridors and a few sections where it's easy to get lost even when using the map. Toning things down a bit would do wonders Crisoltraversing.
As players explore CrisolIn the twisted world, he occasionally stumbles upon a puzzle or two, in typical survival-horror fashion. I found CrisolPerfectly balanced puzzles that offer enough challenge to be fun to solve without becoming annoying like what sometimes happens in survival horror games.
Solving puzzles is usually required to progress through the story, but there are optional ones that lead to health upgrades and money that can be spent on the equivalent of the game Resident Evil 4's merchant. Money and other collectibles are used to upgrade Gabriel's weapons and unlock perks that allow you to pass Crisol's more challenging sections a little easier. It may not be a particularly original concept, but it adds a satisfying sense of progression to the experience.
Crisol has several issues that prevent it from becoming great
Crisol it really feels like a first-person view Resident Evil 4 Most of the time with a business and action-oriented take on survival horror, but don't expect nearly the same level of polish. Crisol it looks good for the most part, but there is a degree of chatter in the steering. I experienced occasional slowdowns when enemies die (this urine was a purposeful choice, but not a good one if it was), and a few times I got stuck walking slowly as if I was aiming my gun's sights when I wasn't. One of the most glaring glitches occurred while riding the elevator, and Gabriel kept cutting through the roof.
Speaking of slow walking, one of the most frustrating things Crisol are her radio segments. At various points in the game, Gabriel has conversations with people on the radio that slow his walking speed to a crawl, making it so that he can't even pick up anything in the environment. There is an option to skip these conversations, but then players will feel like they're missing out on story details, so it's not ideal.
Which is also not ideal Crisol's a half-hearted attempt to stalk the enemy. Survival horror games in the past have used recurring stalker enemies to great effect, with Nemesis from Resident Evil 3 and Resident Evil 2I immediately think of Mr. X, but CrisolThat's disappointing. The creature chasing Gabriel is huge and appearance intimidating, but getting away from it simply means running for cover, waiting for them to lose interest, and then going back to what you were doing. At the very worst CrisolThe Stalker's enemy is a slight nuisance and loses its scare factor after the first encounter.
Slaughter Crisol: Theater of Idols The initial playthrough took me about eight hours.
Crisol isn't a perfect survival-horror game, but that doesn't mean it's not a solid time overall. I really enjoyed it Crisoland while the levels are a bit bloated, the game still provides a fairly solid rendition of the classic survival-horror game cycle. Fans of the genre should definitely check it out.
- Released
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February 10, 2026
- ESRB
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For adults 17+ / Blood and gore, Obscene themes, Strong language, Intense violence
- Developers
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Vermila Studios
- Publishers
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Blumhouse Games
- Number of players
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For one player
- Solid survival-horror action
- Rewarding progress
- Puzzles that are just challenging
- Scary monster designs
- Lame stalker enemy
- Inflated levels
- Occasional chatterbox
Crisol: Theater of Idols is now available for PC, PS5, and Xbox Series X. Game Rant was provided with a PS5 code for this review.
