Remothered: Tormented Fathers
Reviewed on the PS4
Chris Darril and his team at Stormind Games make a bold statement for their indie game called “Remothered” by claiming this game “the REAL answer to the survival horror genre”. In many factors, yes, his claim is true.. at times, but missteps and sometimes very frustrating game controls made me less afraid and more… Tormented.
Plot
You play as Rosemary Reed, a mysterious woman that is on the search for a girl named Celeste Felton, who disappeared out of the blue in October of 1971. While on the search, Rosemary ends up where Celeste was last seen at Felton’s manor. She enters the property and reaches to the main door of the manor, where she is greeted by Gloria, a nurse who takes care of Dr. Felton. Rosemary introduces herself as a representative of Santa Margherita Institute. In spite of that, Rosemary unveils her intention to look into the man’s illness.
Gloria invites her in and apologizes for the poor lighting. Dr. Felton’s illness, as it turns out, caused him to be visually impaired and forced him to live in the darkness. During her meeting with Dr. Felton, he begins to show signs of hostility towards Rosemary after she questions him about his daughter’s disappearance. She is then forced to leave the manor and decides to patiently wait outside, watching for Gloria to leave for the night. Finally, Gloria is seen leaving the building. Rosemary takes the opportunity and sneaks in but soon finds out that there is a great horror awaiting for her.
Gameplay
As Rosemary, you must explore but be extremely wary to avoid Dr. Felton and anyone else who is stalking around the manor. If found, a chase ensues and it is up to you to decide how to handle it by loudly running, attempting to sneak around a corner and/or quickly diving into a hiding spot when far enough away. When being chased by these stalkers, it will send you into a panic to quickly figure out a way to escape this situation. Every part of your being wants to make sure they will lose your trail so you can progress and discover more about this twisted tale.
The sound is also one of the main factors in the game. Audio clues will help players notice the stalkers’ footsteps and will alert Rosemary when the enemies are getting closer. It is your greatest weapon against the stalkers, but also your greatest weakness. You can use dolls, clocks, bottles, etc.. to be used as distractions. Though the player must be aware that Dr. Felton can hear footsteps around the manor and will track you down. Luckily, multiple items can be found within the manor to distract or even temporarily incapacitate Dr. Felton in Q.D.I. (quick defense item) fashion, such as alarm clocks, vases, blunt objects and more. But as with any horror story, Dr. Felton never dies from this.
Pros:
This is where “Remothered” shines as this is a love song to great games like Clocktower, Rule of Rose and Hunting Grounds. The old-school feel of being helpless and being hunted drives you to survive to learn what is really going on in the Felton manor. This style of gameplay is what drove me to this indie title. This is what a true survival horror games are supposed to be, being able to stalk around in a spooky manor not knowing where the enemy is and really question my next steps to tread carefully.
The A.I. in this game is very unpredictable to make sure you are always on your toes. One minute you feel safe to venture into the next room or to grab a new item only to realize that the enemy was right around the corner and ready to kill you.
Audio is very strange yet very effective. But in this world, the silence of the game was more unnerving than when the audio was playing.
I enjoyed the ability to carry items to defend and distract, plus the fact that there was quite the variety to choose from around the manor. Again playing off good old survival horror, these items were only able to be used just once before having to scrounge around to restock, otherwise be left entirely defenseless and an easy kill.
It kept me guessing whom I could and could not trust, thusly catching me off guard. There is a very important lesson to be learned here.
Cons:
While I love the games A.I., depending on certain chapters the difficulty would spike tremendously. For example, chapter 1,3, and 5 were somehow easier to get through while other chapters were sometimes downright frustrating and would get me to rage.
Even though Dr. Felton is the main protagonist of the game, your true villain is the controls. Sometimes they would be unresponsive and would make you alert Dr. Felton or cause a chase because you accidentally turned on your flashlight when you’re supposed to crouch.
As for the story… well, let’s just say it’s more confusing than a Kojima game mixed with Tommy Wiseau’s scriptwriting. You were often left wondering “what just happened?”. Though despite the confusion, it intrigued me to discover more of the truth and hope the sequel will answer the questions that I had gathered through playing. It caused me to want to know more about these characters and what they have been through. And for that, the story works under both pro and con and also your own take on it.
The Biggest con to this game though is the price tag/game length. The game is only 6 hours which is really short for the price nowadays. While on the PC it’s worth the $20 price tag, however, on the PS4 and XBOX it’s $30 which would turn some gamers off to the game.
The Verdict
Even with the cons and how frustrating this game can be most of the time, it didn’t steer me away from loving this little horror gem. “Remothered: Tormented Fathers” does what it set out to do by keeping their promise and making it a true survival horror game. Even though it lacks in very important parts like gameplay, controls, level spiking and the hefty $30 price tag on a console, I still enjoyed the experience itself. The playthrough alone pushed me to really adore this indie game and created a dire desire to see what chapter 2 brings to the table. So if you have the money and want to play a great horror game in the dark, then I would say to pick this up and prepare your mind for undeniable terror!
Final score: 3.5 out of 5
