It looks like 2025 is going to be a pretty decent year for horror games, all things considered. Although major titles in the genre, like Silent Hill f, still don’t have set release dates yet, there’s a bunch of other, interesting-looking horror games that are scheduled to launch in the coming months. Dying Light: The Beast, Little Nightmares 3, Killing Floor 3, Directive 8020, Reanimal, and Cronos: The New Dawn, for example, are all slated to make their debuts this year. As great as it is that so many horror games are being released in 2025, there are some indie horror titles that may fly under the radar because of this, such as the upcoming A.I.L.A.
A.I.L.A is being made by a company called Pulsatrix Studios. Established in 2019 and located in São Paulo, Brazil, Pulsatrix is a relatively unknown developer. So far, the company has only released one game, a Resident Evil 7-inspired 2022 horror title named Fobia – St. Dinfna Hotel. Despite failing to get mainstream attention, Fobia received fairly positive ratings from fans. On Steam, in fact, the game has an 86% Very Positive score with more than 1,000 user reviews. Like Fobia, Pulsatrix’s new game, A.I.L.A, is also reminiscent of Resident Evil to some extent. However, instead of taking place in a rundown hotel like Fobia did, it is set in a virtual sci-fi hellscape.
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A.I.L.A is a Chilling First-Person Horror Game by the Creators of Fobia - St. Dinfna Hotel
A.I.L.A Takes Place Inside a Genre-Bending Virtual Simulation Controlled by a Fictional AI
The protagonist of A.I.L.A is somewhat unconventional compared to other horror games. In this title, players don’t play as a gruff federal agent or a helpless lone survivor. Instead, they step into the shoes of a virtual reality game tester. This unnamed character is tasked with testing out a fictional new AI named A.I.L.A, which forces them to go through dangerous horror experiences that resemble their worst nightmares. As the game progresses, the protagonist starts to have trouble determining what is real and what is not.
Perhaps the most interesting aspect about A.I.L.A is that it switches between several different horror themes. Since the majority of the game takes place inside a simulation, it has the capacity to feature a lot of distinct settings and environments, each of which is suitable for its own genre. In one section of A.I.L.A., players have to escape from the clutches of a deadly cult, while in another, they have to fend off hordes of medieval zombies. A.I.L.A swiftly alternates between survival horror, action horror, psychological horror, and other horror genres on a regular basis, ensuring that the game never sticks to one particular formula throughout its runtime.
A.I.L.A is Powered by Unreal Engine 5 and Will Come Out Later This Year on PC
Although it’s being developed by an independent company, A.I.L.A has fairly impressive graphics. The game is being developed on Unreal Engine 5, and it utilizes many of the graphical technologies that come with the engine, like Lumen and Metahuman. Its system requirements, however, seem relatively minimal considering the type of game it is. Graphics aside, though, it’s worth noting that A.I.L.A is being published by Fireshine Games, the England-based video game publisher best known for its involvement with No Straight Roads, MechWarrior 5: Mercenaries, and more recently, Core Keeper.
A.I.L.A is scheduled to come out later this year, but it will only be available on Windows PCs via Steam at launch. Pulsatrix Studios has unfortunately not commented on whether it has plans to bring the game to consoles in the future. However, considering that it released its previous title, Fobia – St. Dinfna Hotel, on PlayStation and Xbox on day one, a multiplatform release for A.I.L.A doesn’t seem that implausible. Hopefully, if Pulsatrix does decide to bring the game to other systems, it won’t forget to port it to the upcoming Nintendo Switch 2, in addition to the PS5 and Xbox Series X/S.
- Genre(s)
- Adventure
