Horror Bundle : Paratopic + Fatum Betula

Genre: Compilation / First-Person Graphic Adventure

Players: 1

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Review:

Horror Bundle : Paratopic + Fatum Betula, released on Nintendo Switch in 2022, is a Compilation of the named titles, which were previously released on Nintendo Switch in 2020 and 2021 respectively. Both games in this Compilation are First-Person Graphic Adventure titles with an aesthetic that makes them look like a first-generation PlayStation game, and with an odd and abstract plot. Both games were also published by Baltoro Games.

I have previously reviewed both of these games. Here is what I thought of both of the games in this collection:

Game	Genre	# of Players	Score
Paratopic	First-Person Graphic Adventure	1	D
tl;dr Paratopic is a First-Person Graphic Adventure with PlayStation One-era aesthetics and an odd, incomprehensible plot involving VHS cassette tapes, a walk through the woods, and long drives on empty highways. This game is bizarre in the same way an experimental student film can be, but its unique nature doesn’t make it good. Unless you feel like adding experimental oddities to your game library, skip this one.
Fatum Betula	First-Person Graphic Adventure	1	C-
tl;dr Fatum Betula is a Graphic Adventure that imitates the look of a classic PlayStation game and feels like a film school art project. It feels more like a proof of concept than a finished game, and while it’s certainly interesting, it’s not very compelling.

In short… yeah, I really did not like either of these games. In both reviews, I compare these games to student films, in that there’s definitely a pretentious intent behind the bizarreness of of these games, but that intent isn’t really clear. I don’t know, perhaps you could say I just “don’t get it”, but I expect neither will most other players.

In terms of value, the $10 price tag of this bundle saves you $1 off the price of buying these games separately, but it may be better to look at it in terms of sale prices, where both the individual games and this bundle regularly go on sale for $2 each, meaning that if you have an interest in any of these games, you’re better off buying the bundle on a sale.

Does this bundle make these games worth getting, though? I don’t think so. The two games both just seem largely nonsensical to me, and while they’re both certainly interesting, I don’t think “interesting” translates to “good” here. As such, unless you really want to see something odd and experimental, skip Horror Bundle : Paratopic + Fatum Betula.

tl;dr – Horror Bundle : Paratopic + Fatum Betula is a Compilation of the two named games, both First-Person Graphic Adventure titles with an OG PlayStation aesthetic and an odd and abstract plot. I have compared both of these games to student films, in that they are bizarre and interesting, but not really compelling or coherent. At the very least, this bundle is a good way to get them, but I suspect most players won’t enjoy either of these games.

Grade: C-

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