This is UFOPHILIA - a game where you sneak up behind aliens!

UFOPHILIA is a psychological horror game developed by k148 Game Studio and published by JanduSoft.

The internet is full of stories about aliens. Aliens (extraterrestrials, space beings) is a term used to refer to organisms whose home is not planet Earth, but some other part of the universe. Today, the study of this phenomenon is dealt with by astrobiology, which has yet to find a single authentic proof of the existence of life beyond Earth. This term in scientific circles implies any form of life ranging from the simplest bacteria to complex organisms similar to humans.

On the other hand, people like Krešimir Mišak and the show Na rubu znanosti raise questions about whether UFOs have been among us much longer than we think. Is there evidence that ancient peoples had contact with extraterrestrial beings? What are the true intentions of these entities, if they really exist? Mišak investigates how governments and powerful organizations around the world have hidden evidence of the existence of UFOs, in line with existing conspiracy theories about secret programs and information manipulation.

As debates are held in public and many people falsely or genuinely testify to contacts with aliens and UFOs, this game gives us the opportunity to embark on a hunt for aliens ourselves and, using special techniques and methods, undoubtedly capture their existence for the first time at locations that have been "reported" as suspicious. M,l

The game has no introduction or story but immediately "throws" us into the central action, which is the discovery of aliens. 

Our station is a camper where we have all the necessary equipment, from our computer with a database of alien types to cameras, detectors, microphones, bait, and night vision devices that help us detect unusual phenomena at a specific location, that is, to discover aliens. 

The game expects us to have patience, record data, analyze, and approach each type of alien carefully in order to successfully photograph it and consequently prove its existence.

One of the most impressive features of the game is the diversity of alien species. There are nine types of aliens you can encounter, each with different behaviors, reactions, and weaknesses. Some are aggressive hunters, others are curious observers, and a few are playful. Learning how each alien behaves becomes a crucial segment of the game. Some react to light, others to sound, and some can only be detected with specific combinations of tools. This creates a learning curve that rewards observation and experimentation.

The biggest drawback of the game is that information about aliens is on the laptop, so unless you (still) use paper and pencil, this means constantly returning to the camp cabin to note/process certain data. Also, the game limits you to carrying only two pieces of equipment, which further prolongs gameplay.

Unlike horror titles where fears lose their strength once you know what’s coming, UFOPHILIA keeps you constantly off balance. You might enter a familiar location, but encounter completely different alien activity than before. The game ensures that aliens are never present in the same place. This guarantees that tension remains high even after multiple sessions. Randomness is also tied to the Roswell scoring system, encouraging replayability as you try to earn higher ranks and unlock better tools and missions.

Visually and audibly, the game is excellent. The lighting is minimal, and the spaces are dark, requiring you to use a flashlight to see better. Along with the dark spaces, the atmosphere is enhanced by sounds that manifest through creaking, sighs, distant movement sounds, whispers behind your back, random turning on of, for example, a television, turning off the flashlight just before contact with an alien, and much more. 

The game offers a training session at the very beginning, where you can quickly grasp the concept of the game, which is to document things and take pictures of aliens at specific locations. 

During training, they will not attack you, while outside of training, certain ones will, but not all. 

The basic structure of the game in UFOPHILIA is always the same. You start from the base where the laptop contains information about the types of beings you may encounter. 

At the beginning, you use a camera and a detector to locate the presence of an alien. When the device signals proximity, you activate “Phase 4” - the moment when the entity physically manifests. You must then react quickly and photograph it. Every encounter in UFOPHILIA can end in two ways: success or abduction. If it ends in abduction, the next scene will be displayed.

And then you start over!

We played the game on XBOX, where it currently costs 10.50 EUR, while on Steam you can get the game for 12.50 EUR.

For this price, the game is definitely worth playing as it provides an interesting and different experience, encouraging education about types of aliens and requiring patience, careful use of available devices, and acquiring knowledge about which types of devices to use and which to combine together. The only drawback of the game is that you can only carry 2 types of devices with you and that you constantly have to return to the camp cabin on your computer, and it is in these shortcomings that we see the potential for the game to improve in the future (some new sequel and DLC). 

Final verdict:

★★★★ - “Very Good”

Very good game! It is very close to being declared an outstanding game. From a technical standpoint, we have no complaints. The best that can be bought for money in the genre at the time of the review's publication.

A copy of the Xbox version for review purposes was provided by the publisher JanduSoft