Let's talk clearly: creating a horror video game today is not an easy thing at all, but in general it can be said that each of them is focused on a certain theme or characteristic. There are those who fill their jumpscare product as in Five Nights at Freddy's, or those who build titles that scare on a more psychological level, such as Layers of Fear and Observer.
This time we talk about Remothered: Broken Porcelain, tested by us in preview and belonging to the second category just mentioned. It is therefore a psychological horror with action mechanics, developed by Stormind Games and published by Modus Games. It is also the sequel to Remothered: Tormented Fathers.
The title is set in the winter of 1973 in Italy, more precisely inside a hotel called Ashmann Inn located near Etna. The player plays Jen, who finds herself working as a hotel maid after being expelled from a girls' boarding school. Jen is aesthetically represented as a weak and orderly girl, but already in one of the first dialogues with her friend Linn we notice that she is willing to do everything to pursue her goals and in particular to survive within that territory in to which every person is hostile.
The place - inspired by the Overlook Hotel present in The Shining - hides macabre secrets that will be revealed only with blood, fear and violence. One of these has to do with Phenoxyl 2.0, a medicine administered to people with post traumatic disorder. The drug isolates and removes the unpleasant event from the subject's memories, but without any separation between the before and after of the trauma, it creates a sort of fragile memory, defined as "porcelain" and from which the title of Remothered: Broken takes its cue. Porcelain. It could be said that it is a fairly similar theme to what is seen in The Shattering.
As well as the location, the gameplay of Remothered: Broken Porcelain is quite similar to Maid of Sker but with the difference of the brutal and violent combat that clearly alternates with moments of stealth. While on the one hand you can crouch so as not to make noise and hide in different pieces of furniture thus avoiding being noticed by the enemies, on the other you can fight fiercely with them. Once struck with insistence, they will fall to the ground for some time allowing you to explore the various rooms of the hotel in complete tranquility.
The exploration is essential, because in different positions will be placed various combat objects or that are useful to distract the enemies. The inventory will be very varied to the point of allowing you to carry a disproportionate amount of items, just like Travis did in Silent Hill: Origins but with the difference that small objects such as knives or bottles will be included, and not televisions or drips. In addition to this, it will also be possible to instantly combine objects with each other in the special section dedicated to crafting, to obtain stun devices and consequently make enemies even more vulnerable.
For the creation of the game we chose to use the Unreal Engine, wisely used in order to build an environment where darkness reigns supreme and where the few lights present delicately cut the surrounding darkness. We were particularly struck by how each texture in the game is really very detailed and cared for down to the smallest detail.
The graphics sector is accompanied by an excellent sound, about which absolutely nothing negative can be said. If you really need to find a not-so-perfect technical aspect that emerged from our preview test, we could point to the facial animations, well done but not so elaborate and expressive.
What will be the dark secret that is part of the hotel? And above all, will the protagonist be able to escape? To find the answers to these questions it will be necessary to wait until next month, because Remothered: Broken Porcelain will be released on October 20 on Steam, PlayStation 4, Xbox One, and Nintendo Switch. If the full version that will be released later will be at least half as good as the preview we tested, then the result will be - especially for lovers of this type of horror - certainly exceptional.
► Remothered: Broken Porcelain is an Adventure-type game developed by Stormind Games and published by Modus Games for PC, PlayStation 4, Xbox One and Nintendo Switch, the video game was released on 13/10/2020
