Kouldelka blends horror adventure and RPG in a solid package.
From the very first moments, Koudelka will reveal its dual nature. Outside combat, the adventure portion of the game almost plays by itself. You get to explore a huge castle with plenty of sinister rooms, traps and puzzles, just as in any horror adventure game. If it were not for the random encounters, you'd easily mistaken Koudelka for a Resident Evil game.
Combat belongs to the RPG side. There are plenty of random encounters, that will take Koudelka and her party to a chess like battlefield. Characters can move, cast spells, use mana and health recovery items, just as in any traditional SRPG. Combat skills and magic are developed through use so skipping all combats is possible but not advisable. It's not a deep system but it'll require you to level up, distribute points amongst traits, equip your characters and even lay your adventure party strategically into the battlefield.
This dual nature is ever present but it certainly feels like Koudelka could've followed both ways without fear of failure as it's strongest points lie not in the mechanics but rather in its mood and storytelling.
Koudelka starts her journey all by herself but soon enough she gets to meet two companions: a thief, exploring the castle for fun and profit and a priest, whose intentions are, at first, far from clear. The interaction of the three character is one of the game's strongest points and that's when the game chooses to develop its plot and explain each of the characters reason to be in the castle, using the very game's engine or through several impressive in-game movies. Though one gets to choose the weapons or spells for each character and there's some real choice concerning melee and ranged weapons, successful groups will fall in the tank, damage and healer archetype. Despite this classic adventure party, the exploration and interaction part of the game are strong enough to prevent the been there, done that feeling from traditional RPG's.
The environment offers plenty of opportunities for exploration and it does reward those who take an extra time opening all the rooms and chests. Rather than equipment or potions, there are enemies that will be weakened, skipped entirely or even redeemed if the proper events or items are present at a situation.
Koudelka has a dark Gothic mood and it's story is all about restless ghosts and unfulfilled promises. The environment follows the same path and the castle's rooms are dark and there's an ominous and menacing feel in its corridors. You fight mostly undead or grotesque constructions of flesh and their variety and concept are surely worth pointing out. Rather that just bats and zombies, one face truly disturbing monsters, which look cool even in PSX graphics.
After watching the credits and reviewing the experience, I'd have chosen to fight maybe half of the random encounters and that somehow all those monster were integrated in the exploration portion of the game - boss fights included . Maybe a RPG fan would've chosen to have a deeper system so I think that even though this dual nature does not really hurt Koudelka, it woul've been a better experience if it had chosen a single path.
If you still have a soft spot in your heart for old PSX titles, Koudelka is definitely worth checking out.