Crisol: Theater of Idols

April 5, 2026

She can see it all

Vermila Studios has recently surprised us with Crisol: Theater of Idols, a first-person action adventure that blends a dark atmosphere with Spanish religious folklore.

The story takes place on Tormentosa Island, where our protagonist, Gabriel Escudero, must find his way into its depths to fulfill his mission.

It’s a short but highly enjoyable game that encourages replayability if you want to uncover all its secrets and unlockable content.

At times, its atmosphere is reminiscent of the Bioshock series, with its injections, mysterious characters, and radio communications, combined with animations and puzzles that evoke the style of Resident Evil.

One of its standout mechanics is that your bullets are your own blood. While this isn’t an entirely new idea (see, for example, Bloodborne and its “Blood Bullets”), it’s very well integrated into the gameplay here and creates some truly tense moments.

It’s also worth mentioning its launch price, under €18, which feels exceptional for a game of this quality.

Some NPC dialogues are absolutely worth your time, don’t miss them. Here’s an example related to the illustration above:

Come on, I’m your best friend. You can admit you love me.

What I liked the most

The story hooks you from the start, and it’s hard to put the controller down until you finish it.
The level design and environmental detail are stunning: the endless rain, the sinister procession idols…
Some enemy designs are especially unsettling. My favorites: Herminia’s sirens.
The sound design is excellent:
- The rattling of enemies, you know they’re there, lurking, but not where they’ll come from.
- Absorbing an animal produces an eerie, otherworldly sound specific to each one: pigs, chickens, horses, etc.
- The rain and how it interacts with the environment.
The quintessential “save room”: the fair, with its minigames and encounters with La Plañidera, where you can upgrade weapons and abilities in a simple way.
The game quickly creates a need to upgrade your weapons, as combat is demanding from the very beginning.
I can’t end this section without praising the outstanding soundtrack, featuring Spanish vocals that pay tribute to classic works such as “Romance del Enamorado y la Muerte” or iconic poetry like “Volverán las oscuras golondrinas” by Bécquer.

What didn’t win me over

In the PS5 version, I noticed FPS drops at the beginning of the game (shipwreck). It’s not constant, but it happened a few more times.
You can’t quickly climb down ladders.
At a certain point, loot becomes predictable: money in chests and syringes in yellow boxes, with little sense of discovery.
After viewing an echo, the UI prompts you to open the menu (“Press to read”), but it always shows the first entry, while the most recent one is at the end.
Boat controls feel a bit tedious.
I would have loved to revisit areas after defeating the boss to explore any secrets I might have missed.
I’m not fully convinced by the knife durability mechanic and the need to sharpen it. I ended up not using it at all, stockpiling an excessive number of fuel canisters.
Some lighting reflections look a bit off, for example in puddles, caves, or glass surfaces.
On normal difficulty, there are too many resources: I had more than enough syringes and canisters. It could probably be tuned to offer a greater challenge.
The menu UI can be confusing at times. For example: 2/1 Crow Relics, what does that even mean? It looks like a bug.
Bugs encountered:
- When entering the Siren District for the first time, the game froze and restarted.
- The second golem remained completely frozen during the fight, making it easy to defeat.
Selecting “continue” loads the last manual save instead of the autosave, which feels unintuitive.
I’d like the menu to remember the last opened tab. For example, if I was in the inventory, it shouldn’t default back to the map. Allowing separate button mappings for inventory and map could be a good solution.