In the turbid stream of indie horror movies that have flooded Steam recently, now and then you can see glimpses if not real diamonds, then certainly more or less precious stones. Remothered: Tormented Fathers- just from these. The game, which had long been in the "Early Access", immediately attracted a lot of attention. A third person view, an emphasis on the plot and a tense study of the richly furnished mansion, excellent direction, an abundance of commercials and atmospheric music - all this gave the authors the desire to make a game in the spirit of classics like Resident Evil and Silent Hill , not the next variation of the Slenderman. And as a whole they got it - even in the final version, everything is not perfect.
Young woman Rosemary Reed, the main character Remothered: Tormented Fathers , comes to the old mansion of the former notary, Dr. Felton, to investigate the case of the loss of his daughter, Celeste. It turns out that Felton himself suffers from a mysterious illness - his body and mind are devoured by parasites, strange moths. From conversations and newspaper clippings, Rosemary learns that everything is to blame for experiments with certain substances and medicines that were conducted on the family farm of the doctor and his wife. And the disappearance of the daughter directly with all this is connected.
In the mansion, the main heroine poses as a hospital employee, in which Felton was treated, but after the fraud is revealed and it turns out that she is mainly interested in the disappearance of the girl, and not the health of the former notary, Rosemary begins a real nightmare. She is trapped in a gloomy mansion alone with his crazy host, walking around without panties with a sickle in her hands, and an equally aggressive nurse. Then there will be a nightmare of a nun and a strange girl with hair covering her face - they all scream and scream and try to kill an uninvited guest.
On the one hand, much is typical here - forbidden experiments, strange medicines, terrible diseases that devour the body and mind. On the other hand, there are enough interesting moves and intrigues in the script. Who is this terrible nun? And this girl with unwashed hair is Celeste or someone else? What happened to Felton's wife and why does he sometimes call his daughter Jennifer? The answers are not that shocking, but a couple of times for the game will definitely make them raise their eyebrows in surprise.
In addition, the authors of Remothered: Tormented Fathers tried to keep their promises and really worked on the characters' images. The same Felton at some point you begin to even sympathize, when you realize that this is just a man who was ruined by the upbringing and uncontrolled intake of questionable medications.
However, the script writers still have questions. The image of the main character is written down frankly weakly - her motives are covered with fog. Some plot twists look tense. Like the scene where Rosemary beat half an hour lying on the grass with a dying nurse who just wanted to kill her, and now conducts soul-saving talks, makes some confessions and almost embraces the main character. It looks extremely strained - say, see what kind of deep psychology we have here, how the boundaries between good and evil are blurred, what villains are actually ordinary and human ...
With the gameplay is about the same situation. On the one hand, everything is familiar. In nervous tension, we explore a large ancient mansion, read the texts, look at the pictures and periodically hide in the closets and under the bed from those who try to make Rosemary hurt. And we solve simple problems - we mainly look for different items necessary for moving forward, keys from doors, batteries from the sliding ladder, batteries from the projector, we clean the plunger bath to get to the stuck object there, and everything in the same spirit.
But at the same time in Remothered: Tormented Fathersthere is also a twist. This is not a survival horror, but a sort of stealth horror film. All the way, we just do that we play hide and seek with Dr. Felton. At that fine hearing, therefore to run on the heels on a parquet is strictly not recommended. Another thing is if there is a carpet under your feet, completely drowning out the steps.
The sound can be used for its own purposes - throw objects or turn on some instruments and music boxes to lure and distract Felton. As it approaches, music becomes louder, and the doctor himself adores something to chant or hum. But even in this case it is often difficult to understand where he is. Therefore, you can hang on the door bells to know exactly when he will enter this door.
Rosemary does not know how to fight. She can pick up piercing-cutting objects like scissors or screwdrivers and even improve them, but uses it all for self-defense only, when Felton grabs her. At such moments, a mini-game in the QTE style is included, and if we do it right, the heroine will thrust the sharp one into the villain's shoulder and immobilize it for a while.
In general, QTE is used here often, even when we hide in closets or under the bed. Sometimes Felton approaches our hideout and tries to make out something. At this moment, under the wild knock of the heart of Rosemary (and ours too) we need to keep the cursor in the given area so that the heroine does not panic and betray herself.
At the same time, not all game mechanics in Remothered: Tormented Fatherswork as it should, and in places they are not trivial enough to maintain the necessary diversity. The whole game I went through, and not throwing any object to distract the villains. Why improve self-defense is also not entirely clear. Constant hide and seek gradually tire and stop so frightening and straining as at the very beginning. Well, in the last third, the authors clearly overstrained the stick - instead of a well-thought-out game design there are solid QTEs, tests for reaction, running and constant deaths of the main character.
However, if not all, many of the claims to Remothered: Tormented Fathers are leveled by one simple fact - the game is really capable of scare: a couple of times I naturally jumped in the chair for fear and surprise. In addition, an interesting story, competent direction, atmospheric music and high-quality clips (even despite the crooked animation) create the desired cinematic effect. Well, the fact that the game needs refinement is normal for an indie project designed for a trilogy. Yes, until we saw only the first part - we will believe that the authors will listen to criticism and will work on the mistakes.
Rate:5/10
And as a whole they got it - even in the final version, everything is not perf