The player controls one of the four available characters – Anita, Sergio, Claudia and Paul – through a Sardinian village where an ancient ritual has been held and a mysterious creature is on the loose.

[5] The concept of setting the game in Sardinia was decided early in development as "...the Island rifes of folklore, different cultures stratifications, stories and masks.

Also, it was never used before in a videogame, and we thought that it could work as an element of identity for Saturnalia, something that would make it immediately recognizable"[6] The game visuals feature a 'sketched' character style and animations inspired by stop-motion and rotoscoping film techniques, with influences from the 1970's giallo Italian movies.

[15] IGN Italia felt that "Saturnalia works more as a conceptual idea and visual level than on a strictly playful one, but it is an imbalance that does not excessively affect the pleasure of the experience.

"[16] Rock Paper Shotgun appreciated "its character and location design in the style of a giallo movie but isn't trying to be either of them - which means Saturnalia ends up feeling more cinematic and theatrical than games that try much harder to do so.