Game #870: Remothered - Tormented Fathers

  Clock Tower, made in Italy.

 It seems humble budgets is this Halloween season's theme, now with Remothered: Tormented Fathers. This one is a bit interesting, because it takes after the Clock Tower brand of horror, in which you assume control of a helpless women as she contends with Stalkers that want to murder her.

 The original game was Italian, which explains why sometimes the dialogue can feel weird. The story had a few bits that were hard to understand, but nothing in the game is as bad as the ending cutscene, in which our protagonist and the final Stalker decide to talk. It was so bad. It didn't make sense, and it was a very lame way to end an otherwise fine game.  Still, while the story is nothing to write home about, the game makes up for that with a fantastic horror atmosphere.

 The entire game takes place inside the Felton Mansion, it's creepy, it's dark and the sound design makes it even creepier. It really evoked the feelings of unease that Haunting Ground and Clock Tower 3(Sometimes...) pulled off so well. You get a flashlight, but you don't really need it, and if a Stalker is nearby he or she will instantly notice you, so I had it turned off throughout 95% of the game.

 Rosemary, our heroine, can carry up to three distraction items, which she can throw at an stalker to stun them or place them on the ground to distract them as well as carry a single Defense item, a one-time use item that can be used to prevent a killing blow from murdering you. However, that can only aid you in getting away from a Stalker, ideally, you'll be playing very stealthily in order to avoid detection as you gather key items in order to open up the secrets of the Mansion.

 The game is all about patience. While Rosemary can run, it will pretty much alert the current Stalker of your position, no matter where they are. This really threw me off at first, because it was beginning to annoy me just how frequently the first Stalker would be roaming close by. So... I willed myself to temper my impatience and spent the rest of the game walking or walking while crouching and then it became much more tolerable, only breaking into a run if I got spotted or if I wanted to make it to a save spot I knew was around the corner. 

 As a lower budget game, it does have a few technical issues. The game crashed one time, and I was victim to at least two black cutscenes. Apparently the latter one also happens on the PC version and can be avoided by not running out of breath before triggering the cutscene.

 Getting used to having to walk slowly throughout the game took a bit of getting used to, but it was not as annoying as I thought it'd be, and as soon as I did learned to love the game. Heck, I beat it in one seating, not only because it's a bit short, but because I was enjoying it so much. On the whole, this is the scariest game I've played so far this year, and I can't wait to play the sequel.

7.0