➤ Remothered: Tormented Fathers, uno stealth-horror nostrano!

Gloomy and anxious settings for poor Dr. Rosemary Reed (practically a full-fledged Jodie Foster) who will have to investigate the mysterious disappearance of the homeowner's daughter, Mr. Felton. The review of the Spanish Remothered: Tormented Fathers

I tried anxiety, fear and a sense of distress in playing Remothered: Tormented Fathers. Maybe I enjoyed it with headphones and lights off, but the suggestion was immense in moving the main character, the Rosemary Reed inside the house to discover its secrets and escape the watchful eye of the homeowner, who just doesn't want him to go and break the eggs in the basket.

And speaking of basket. What this title offers is, precisely, an artistic suggestion that goes far beyond the gameplay used (and abused) of the last periods it has seen, especially in the PC gaming market (read Steam) his most shining example.

Remothered: Tormented Fathers, uno stealth-horror nostrano! | Review

Doctor Rosemary Reed in all her glory. I told you she looks like Jodie Foster.

But let's go in order: Who, What and Why?

Excuse me, but the short introduction was a must. Especially for the writer, to immediately fix the feelings that Remothered: Tormented Fathers left me in my mouth. We will take on the role of the, already mentioned, Rosemary Reed. The latter wants to investigate the mysterious disappearance of a man's daughter Mr. Felton, who lives in a house as beautiful as it is disturbing. Then parked our van (perhaps a car would have given too much attention nds), we immediately begin to take control of our character, through the classic movement commands "WASD". Almost hastily we are shown all the keys that we have pressed, with the corresponding action (with "i" we open the inventory, with "shift" we accelerate the pace, etc ...), without finding ourselves in front of a real tutorial. Which, for someone like myself, moves with the WASD & mouse even in real life is as natural as possible. Indeed ours HUD (the information visible constantly superimposed) is reduced to a minimum and almost non-existent.

Speaking of the HUD: As you can see, there is no Rosemary's health bar. We have to understand how it is doing. In your opinion, looking at this image, how is it doing?

After walking up the driveway that leads us to the gate of Felton's house, we knock on the bell and he answers us Gloria, a sort of maid who takes care of the two elderly people who live in the mansion, precisely Mr. Felton and his wife. We pretend to be a doctor from the clinic where Mr. Felton was being treated, due to some ailments, saying that we are willing to reopen his practice and review the course of treatment he followed. With this excuse, we are escorted to the homeowner's study. The building is almost entirely in the dim light, since, among Felton's many misfortunes, there is also that of photosensitivity. Right in his studio we meet the owner of the house, in a dressing gown and with the movements of a good old man (pay attention to this detail), Felton, who initially welcomes us with kindness. After a short chat, the intent of our visit is very obvious: what happened to the daughter ???

A nice old lady introduces us to the opening story. I already have a bit of anxiety ...

The eggs in the basket: broken

The "maid" Gloria enters the studio, which unmasks our real identity: it would seem in fact that no one at the clinic knows us and that, therefore, we have entered the house, lying shamelessly. We are brutally caught, we get the lecture from the old man (yes, always watch out for this thing) and we are accompanied to the door. But we don't give up. Disdainful of years of study and legal disquisitions on private property, we postpone and wait for the best moment to take the keys Gloria left behind a statuette (which is equivalent to our "under the carpet" and we enter in the middle of the night. Also because, the house it is inhabited by two old men, what could possibly happen to us?

I would do certain things, such as going into obviously horror houses, only during the day. Without even a cloud in the sky.

Yet already from the second entry into the villa, something tells us that we are facing a bad situation.

It will be the anguish and anxiety that begins to rise after crossing the gate, but all that awaits us is a crescendo of unpleasant sensations, which can be summed up in one word: paranoia. Armed with a flashlight in the chest, we begin to browse the house and collect objects that initially may not do anything but fill the small inventory at our disposal. A pair of scissors, a sharp needle, a snowball, a vase, a tile (?), Will all be objects that will be useful to us during our investigation. Then a strange icon appears to us when we are near a wardrobe, placed there inside a room. We immediately understand that we are dealing with a possible hiding place that almost immediately portends what we are going to encounter.

With such a garden, the Feltons give the idea of cute little people. Those who donate € 20 for the village festival. 1/2

A strange and constant music draws us to the rooms on the upper floors. After talking to Felton, we're going to talk to his wife, who knows if she'll be friendlier than her gruff husband. Remembering what Gloria said, that the lady loves music and her gramophone, we decide to reach the point from which the music comes (giving constant vent to our paranoia, collecting all the collectibles). There, where the music gets louder, the disturbing Cut-scene begins which introduces us to the real challenge proposed by Remothered: Tormented Fathers. On the bed lies the corpse of a female individual, supine, literally sprinkled with moths that continue to move incessantly on the body. We hear humming: it's Mr. Felton in the bathroom. Panicked, we go into the closet and observe the owner, this time in less "non-primal" clothes, begins to talk to the body and then returns to the bathroom. We understand, clearly, that Felton hides unspeakable secrets and we therefore decide to investigate the house without getting caught by the aforementioned. From here on, we will make our way through puzzles (collecting objects and interactions with them) in the meanders of a dark mansion.

Too bad there is no party in the village. But Mr. Felton is still willing to "party". 2/2

Horror made in Italy

We were saying, a stealth-horror that proposed by the all-Spanish development team Stormind Games and edited by Darril Arts. Born in the indie field, even if by characteristics it should be assimilated to mainstream titles, Remothered: Tormented Fathers had a long gestation, already available in beta more than 7 months ago. Having accepted all the suggestions expressed by the testers, the team decided to improve the title as much as possible before launching it on the digital steam market. We had already seen excellent Spanish products, inherent in horror atmospheres, which had offered us highly respectable qualities (I'm thinking of Anna di Dreampainters) and the fact that there are forges, capable of churning out titles of this kind, can only please us.

Anna. How much I loved this game, especially for the atmosphere and the music.

As Rosemary Reed, we will have to collect objects and investigate, in a gameplay that draws heavily on well-established mechanics. One stalker (in this case Mr. Felton) will wander around the house disturbing us, attracted by our footsteps, by the stuff we accidentally drop or any other noise we make. We can distract him or stun him for a few seconds by throwing stuff at him (the tile we collected for example) and then continue to hide and investigate in the dim light. However, the owner will also produce sounds (and for this reason I recommend playing it with the audio at an acceptable volume) that will allow us to understand where it is and at what distance. Our ability will be to remember the hiding places and objects around that we can use against Felton and at the same time carry out our investigations. One of the major references of the title is clearly Clock Tower, horror del lontano ’95, but for inspiration and gameplay mechanics the references could be many (as the steam shop has taught us).

What you see are my stalker's boots. I'm under a sofa waiting for it to pass ...

A music will draw us towards the abyss

Speaking of sounds, we can only mention the excellent music, the sound arrangements and noises present in Remothered: Tormented Fathers. The sound quality is of a high standard, also thanks to the musical composers who worked on the project. In addition to the well known Nobuko Toda (soundtracks of films and other video games, such as Metal Gear) which has been able to combine music with the setting that pervades the entire title, with the precious collaboration of the very Spanish Luca Balboni.

In terms of music, Toda and Balboni did a masterful job.

Some notes, precisely ...

The final feeling of playing Remothered: Tormented Fathers is to want to go to the bottom of the story, to understand the secrets of the young woman's disappearance, swinging moments of escape and throwing objects at Felton, to the most distressing and anxious sessions (like when you are hiding in the closet waiting for the stalker to pass ). The modeling of the characters and interiors are worthy of triple A titles, thanks to the exceptional Unreal Engine graphics engine, capable of handling lights, shadows and surfaces with extraordinary realism. The only note a bit sore is the woodiness of some animations, not entirely fluid and credible.

Another note to make to the title is the AI. In fact, it will happen several times, no matter where you are, to attract Felton's attention simply by using the shift key, even if he is in another plane. I also found myself squatting ridiculously behind a table or a protruding surface several times, without being "pinched", although it would have been easy enough as much of my silhouette was uncovered. But the situation has clearly improved compared to the beta version and the improvement work done has made up for most of such episodes.

When we get pinched, an unpleasant cut-scene begins. Especially for Rosemary.

The work done for the graphics sector is another point in favor of the title. Everything is studied in detail, whether they are drapery or tiles.

Remothered: Tormented Fathers, the review verdict

Remothered: Tormented Fathers it will be the first title in an announced trilogy. At the moment it can be found on Steam for € 14,99 (but will also be available for Ps4 e Xbox One) a price that is really worth what the title is offering. My advice, for lovers of the stealth horror genre, is the purchase to vary from a genre that has seen the same settings repeated several times: in Remothered: Tormented Fathers it is not the gameplay that reigns supreme, but the artistic depth of the work and the plot, which will give us the idea of being at the center of a thriller several times, like those to which American cinema has accustomed us.

If, on the other hand, you are not a senior of the genre, but do not disdain to experiment something different: also in this case Remothered: Tormented Fathers is for you. You will be dealing with the simple and well-oiled mechanics of the Run & Hide, trying to shed light on the macabre story woven by the authors.

Some things die,
and stay dead forever.

Written listening to: John Murphy - In the House.

8.5 Pure horror!