Nowadays it is increasingly difficult to really scare gamers, who from year to year prove to be prepared to face any type of jump scare and not inclined to approach slower and more authorial titles, for fear of getting bored. This is obviously a general discourse and we are sure that many of you know how to appreciate the distressing atmospheres of titles such as Get Even, Amnesia o Layers of Fear. It is undeniable, however, that most of the recent horror productions seem to favor more simplistic narrative structures, inserting some action mechanics or some easy fright to win the approval of an audience more and more inclined to buy the same game that scares the streamer rather that what can really arouse disquiet.
There is still, however someone who fights and who tries to to elevate the videogame narrative of horror to a real artistic work, playing with refined atmospheres, plots with distorted charm and game mechanics that manage to convey to the player the fear that our digital alter egos feel. Among these strong defenders of the genre, we are proud to highlight how the boys of Stormind Games who, together with multifaceted game designer / director / screenwriter Chris Darrill, have been able to create that little pearl that responds to the name of Remothered: Tormented Fathers, released last year for PlayStation 4, Xbox One and PC. A few days after the announcement of Remothered: Broken Porcelain, a sequel to their previous work, the Catania team has well thought of bring the first chapter also on the Nintendo hybrid console, allowing anyone who hadn't had a chance to play with it to venture into the dismal Felton mansion. Read on to find out how much we enjoyed returning to visit good old Richard, in our review of Remothered: Tormented Fathers for Nintendo Switch.
Open that door now!
In Remothered: Tormented Fathers (hence also called only "Remothered") we will interpret Rosemary Reed, a girl looking for information on the disappearance of a girl named celeste. Rosemary's investigations lead the girl to visit the villa of Richard Felton, a retired notary suffering from one mysterious disease who relegates him to his home. Following a verbal confrontation with the elderly landlord, our protagonist will decide to sneak into the mansion, with the aim of obtaining some evidence on the tragic end of the child. Things, of course, will not go as planned and Felton, having found it, it will turn out to be completely insane, trying to kill her anyway. Here is that Rosemary, therefore, will be forced to find a way to escape from the house, without crossing the path of the disturbing man armed with sickle and, possibly, gathering some element that can advance his survey.
narratively, Remothered boasts not only masterfully written dialogues, but also a dirty, macabre, and in some ways disturbing story, managing at the same time to seduce the player with an atmosphere worthy of the never enough praised Clock Tower. Rosemary turns out to be an extremely complex and charismatic character, interacting throughout the adventure with others crazy characters, which culminate in the figure of the Red Nun, a disturbing opponent who hides more than a few secrets. Remothered: Tormented Fathers can be completed in about eight hours, but trust us if we tell you that the constant anguish and disturbing atmosphere that permeates the entire production will make you appreciate every single minute of the game. In short: the boys of Stormind Games they managed to put up one mature plot, with a couple of twists of great depth and with an enviable rhythm, going to rival the Triple A productions of the videogame market.
Are you ready to play hide and seek?
Remothered: Tormented Fathers it's a survival horror which immediately makes one thing clear: you are not stronger than your pursuers and you can't do anything to knock them out. Sure, you can distract them, hit them when they grab you and hide, but eventually they will find you and kill you if you don't behave properly. Villa Felton is large and labyrinthine, but we found the very precise level design to allow us to memorize the rooms and settings as we did in the nineties, playing the first Resident Evil. It is just that mixture of estrangement and familiarity which will accompany the player from area to area, forcing him to look around continuously for memorize the zones and possible hiding places, while trying to escape from the landlord, or from whoever will be there for him with breath on his neck. In Remothered there are not many keys to memorize and for this very reason the mechanical are extremely intuitive, allowing the player to get used to the controls within a few minutes of play. This is not to say that the Stormind Games title is an easy game, quite the contraryon the contrary, we have often found ourselves with our backs to the wall, forced to find a way to survive and, often, failing in the attempt. The skilful mix between the dark atmosphere, the disturbing storyline and the gameplay that makes you feel a constant feeling of danger are the characteristic elements of a production that, as we mentioned at the beginning of this article, manages to break away from horror titles that make only jump scare their strong point, managing to present to its audience a mature product narratively and, at the same time, adrenaline to play.
A fearful conversion
We do not hide it: the conversion of Remothered for Nintendo Switch, on a technical level, makes water on all sides. After a respectable introductory cinematic, once you take control of Rosemary things change drastically, staging a show closer to the titles of two generations ago than to its counterpart for the other platforms. Grainy patterns, washed-out textures, opaque backgrounds and a constant patina envelop every element of the game, making it not only annoying to see, but also uncomfortable to play. Planning a strategy tied to something more than two, three meters away means trying a shot in the dark, as sometimes it is even difficult to distinguish things on the opposite side of the room in which we find ourselves. Compared to the outsiders, once you enter the Felton estate the situation improves slightly, but the difference with the previous versions remains abysmal and pushes us to recommend this port only if you do not have any other console and want to get your hands on the title of the Catania boys at all costs. Fortunately, from the audio point of view, things went a little better and the splendid soundtrack remained intact, as well as theexcellent dubbing in English that accompanies us throughout the adventure. There are obviously the subtitles in Italian which, although at times they seemed a bit too small to us, they never really bother the player. Finally we point out some too many interpenetration and, above all, the presence of sporadic (and unmotivated) drop in frame rates.
Remothered: Tormented Fathers is a great title, strong in a grotesque narrative, a gameplay as simple as it is functional and an atmosphere that brings to mind the great survival horror of the past. But (and it's a big "but") it turns out visually impossible on the hybrid console of the Grande N, presenting so many technical problems to push us without hesitation to advise you to buy any of the other versions of the Stormind Games title on the market. The game is absolutely worth the candle, but if you want to better enjoy the adventures of Rosemary Reed this is not the port you are looking for, but you have to turn your gaze elsewhere to get your hands on one of the most fascinating horror titles of recent years.
USEFUL INFOWe played the Nintendo Switch version of Remothered: Tormented Fathers after completing it on PlayStation 4 and starting it on Xbox One X as well. technical defects seemed less obvious to us.
Duration- Remothered: Tormented Fathers can be completed in about eight hours, depending on how long you decide to explore Villa Felton.
- Remothered is a third-person survival horror, which puts us in the shoes of Rosemary Reed, looking for information on the disappearance of little Celeste.
- Like other productions of this type, we will have to learn to hide and avoid dangers, as our opponents can be extremely difficult and cannot be killed.
- During the game we will learn how to avoid most of the dangers, using disturbing elements that distract the attention of our pursuers.
- In Remothered there are obviously numerous files to find and read to better understand the lore of the game world.
Graphics
From a purely technical point of view, Remothered: Tormented Fathers for Nintendo Switch turns out to be the worst version on the market, with aspects such as washed-out textures, polygonal models of characters and objects battered by aliasing and a background patina that makes everything out of focus really hard to justify. To be taken into consideration only if you do not have other consoles or a PC.
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SOUNDTRACK AND DOUBLE ROOM
The Remothered: Tormented Fathers soundtrack is one of the elements that most distinguish the Stormind Games production, helping to recreate in the player the same anguish felt by our digital alter-ego Rosemary Reed. The dubbing in English was also excellent, which made us perceive all the actors always close to their part and which, thanks to the Italian subtitles, does not present a stumbling block for non-English speakers.
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GAMEPLAY
Without inventing or upsetting anything, Remothered: Tormented Fathers has also managed to conquer us from the point of view of gameplay, staging a survival horror that gives us a constant feeling of danger. Rosemary can also hide, use diversions or objects to counter the assaults of her pursuers, but the fear of ending up in a dead end will haunt you for the duration of the adventure.
