"Holstin" is an indie horror adventure set in eastern Poland in the early 1990s. A small town is hit by a "disaster," involving people, property, and everything in between. It is up to you to find out what happened to your friend Bartek, who is missing for some reason, why he left for this strange place, and what wretched horrors have overtaken the town.

The setup seems fairly simple for a game of this type: scavenge supplies, solve puzzles, deal with the locals (at least some of whom are crazy), and resort to violence when necessary if things get out of hand. The almost third-person perspective (more on that later) and pixel-like visual style give Holstin a distinctly retro feel, but the dynamic lighting and fully 3D environments make the overall presentation more modern and immersive.

From the Steam page:

Something is very wrong in the town of Jeziorne-Kolonia. Explore this creepy and isolated 90's Polish town. The streets are full of filthy slime. The people, the buildings, the wildlife, everything seems to be slowly deteriorating from the inside out. You need to get out and find your lost friends before this town sinks its claws into you as well.

But what really caught my eye was the way Horstin shifted from God's eye to an over-the-shoulder perspective for the battle. It's odd, and it shouldn't work, but somehow it seems to work. If anything, it reminds me a bit of the famous "Max Payne" reload spin.

Check it out:

Developer Sonka shared a better look at the point-and-click to point-and-shoot transition on Twitter earlier this week. This is a very effective AK:

We don't know how much of a role combat will play in Holstin; a playtest build is available on Steam, but it focuses primarily on introducing environmental puzzles and "oozing atmosphere." The combat demos were supposed to be released in the second quarter of 2023, but apparently that never happened (now in the third quarter), and a more extensive, non-linear demo will be released later this year.

We contacted the developer to see if a new launch target has been set for these demos. Meanwhile, speaking of launches, "Holstin" does not have a release date yet, but it is currently available on Steam for wish-listing.