It’s been a long time since I’ve developed a love/hate relationship with a game. Sure, there are games we instinctively love, and there are those we avoid or are disappointed with. But with A.A.U. Black Site, you can feel the passion and attempt they’re making here, harking back to the time when you would run up to your friend in the playground or a colleague at lunch and say, “You’ve got to play this”.

Sure, it’s rough around the edges, occasionally frustrating, and undeniably ambitious. But as a debut for new developers, Raspberry Studios, with the backing of IZilla Games, A.A.U. Black Site is set to release under Early Access. The game blends tactical shooting, psychological horror, supernatural mystery, and famed FPS traits into a whole that feels refreshingly different yet has enough changes to stand out.

Let’s set the scene here: In the abandoned Serbian territory of Uzovnica, you play an A.A.U operative whose mission goes catastrophically wrong. What seems like a routine mission suddenly leaves you stranded, hunted, and increasingly unsure of what’s real.

Whilst I developed a love/hate relationship with the game, I can’t be that cruel to it, as it is in the early access stages of development. However, for what’s on offer at the moment, the game aims to be more about precision than polished.

Let’s start with the strength: variety. The game likes to switch between all types of gameplay genres, where one moment, you’re carefully clearing a hostile compound through a reign of bullets and explosions, the next, you’re navigating an abandoned facility filled with chilling, creepy paranormal events. It’s the game’s constant switching between action, exploration, horror, puzzles, and occasional survival elements that keep the game from feeling repetitive.

Variety carries over into the game’s combat system, teetering between classic military-led shooters (think Call of Duty, Medal of Honour) and survival horror (think Outlast, F.E.A.R.). As of this writing, the weapons have satisfying animations, reloads feel authentic, and firefights can genuinely become increasingly tense as enemies advance and push aggressively.

The heads-up display is what you’ve come to know and love from First-Person Shooters: your health, bullets and ammo can all be shown on screen, but aren’t floating or hanging around during the majority of gameplay. If you need to check on your health or ammo, a simple button press will show you where you stand, but it disappears shortly thereafter, allowing the immersion to continue doing its job.

What’s interesting about the HUD is that a blinking red dot appears in the top left corner of the screen throughout the game, immediately planting the idea of ‘Am I actually playing? Or are we watching a tape of events that have already happened?’ This bodycam-inspired presentation adds immersion, making every encounter feel immediate and chaotic.

Unfortunately, we now have to go to the other side of the fence, the weaknesses.

The enemy AI can be inconsistent, as some encounters occasionally feel underdeveloped, and the gunplay doesn’t always deliver the impact you’d expect from its realistic presentation. Again, we can chalk this up to its place in development/Early Access, but it seems like the tone may still be set with this execution, which is a shame.

Still, A.A.U. Black Site delivers moments that genuinely stand out. Scripted storyline moments and cutscenes all feel fluid and organic, allowing the story to progress naturally at a good pace. Though their AI is a bit off at the moment, enemies are fast and precise, and they appear sporadically. They aren’t a bullet-cushion either, meaning a shot to the head will take them down in one hit, making for a more realistic encounter.

Overall, the movement and shooting feel responsive, though gameplay is stronger with a mouse and keyboard. Weapon handling is strong, though certain weapons will invoke different body reactions from the in-game player. For example, when using a sniper rifle, the player will consistently roll/check their shoulder, resulting in the perfectly lined-up shot now being lost to the wind and the bullet now firmly embedded in a nearby tree. Frustrating as it may be, it seems the AI suffers from the same muscle-aching reaction, making it a realistic, though questionable, creative choice.

But some rough edges remain. Interactive objects and interaction prompts feel jarring and delayed, only to be made worse by attempting to solve very unclear objectives. The lack of a GPS/location marker results in heavy backtracking and hopeless wandering, which removes immersion and overall enjoyment.

Visually, A.A.U. Black Site, for Early Access, shouldn’t look this good!

Environments are heavily detailed, particularly the abandoned industrial zones. Whereas the forests and decaying facilities that make up Uzovnica are also created with a sense of depth and history. Lighting complements the visual details incredibly well, creating a constant sense of unease without relying on cheap jump scares. Sure, it won’t compete with major AAA horror shooters, but it doesn’t need to, as its unique atmosphere easily carries the game’s weight.

Sound design is arguably the make-or-break for horror-heavy games, and thankfully, A.A.U. Black Site hits an audible home run!

Environmental audio keeps you on edge and constantly guessing who you are, or questioning whether someone or something is constantly following you. Distant noises, strange cries and echoes, mixed with unsettling ambient effects, create and carry tension long before anything actually happens. The game understands that anticipation is often scarier than the payoff, leaving you gripping your mouse/controller, white-knuckling it the entire time.