Remothered: Tormented Fathers
Stormind Games/Darril Arts
Many people assume that just because the original Resident Evil game was the first video game that was called a “survival horror” game that it was also the first horror experience as well. But looking back in time, one can see that there were other games in the genre that existed before it, such as Alone in the Dark, and Clock Tower.
Clock Tower, in particular, was a 1995 game that was a Japanese import and therefore didn’t make that big of an impact outside of Japan. One had to have purchased one of the pricey game converters that were available back then in order to play it in the United States, for instance.
I’ve actually had a chance to play Clock Tower more recently and found it pretty creepy considering its dated graphics and sound capabilities. Of course, the first Resident Evil game came out just a year later in 1996 and everybody’s attention fell on that masterpiece, from there on out.
Later, in 2007, game developer Mansyon Soft began working on a remake of the original Clock Tower, titled: “Remothered.” Unfortunately, it was canceled in 2012. Spiritual successors NightCry and Haunting Ground both made minor impacts but didn’t seem to have any serious staying power.
Part of the reason is probably because Clock Tower was one of the original games where you played a protagonist that was completely defenseless. In many other survival horror games, you either had access to plenty of weapons or a very limited amount of weapons and ammo, such as with Resident Evil. But having to play a horror game where you snuck around in the shadows with only your wits about you (or maybe a few places to hide) was another experience altogether.
These facets weren’t lost on game developers Stormind Games, who have recently released their ode to Clock Tower, titled: “Remothered: Tormented Fathers.” The principal protagonist in this new Remothered game is a 30-something woman named Rosemary, who happens to possess an uncanny resemblance to a young Jodie Foster (from Silence of the Lambs).
Rosemary has been trying to find out what happened to a young girl who mysteriously disappeared several years previously. In that regard, the game begins with our would-be detective approaching the father of the girl’s old, creaky mansion in order to look for any clues she can find. She is admitted into the mansion by the father’s nurse who seems to be rather evasive when it comes to Rosemary’s queries.
When Rosemary is introduced to the father she discovers that he is slowly dying from a mysterious, incurable disease. The nurse decides that Rosemary isn’t who she appears to be and is also a threat to the father, so in no time our protagonist finds herself trapped within the decrepit mansion and this place makes the big house in the film Psycho look like Disneyland.
Interestingly, the devs didn’t make Rosemary completely helpless; she does have access to defensive weapons such as knives that she can wield if need be. However, they are limited use items so once she uses them she’ll have to find additional ones if she wants to defend herself again.
The game’s various enemies can give little to no warning before appearing, so scouring the mansion for hiding places is of the utmost importance. If you don’t have any weapons to fend them off, you can usually run and hide from them if you’re fast enough. You can also barricade yourself behind doors and slow them down, or simply grab and hurl nearby items at them to make them temporarily incapacitated.
One of the things that really makes Remothered stand apart from similar games within the survival horror genre is that the AI enemies are very perceptive. For instance, if you run around too quickly and begin to breathe heavily, chances are that any entities in the vicinity will hear you—and then come for you. Therefore, you have to be very aware of your surroundings as well as how much of a disturbance you’re creating.
Overall, Remothered: Tormented Fathers is a solid, if rather difficult survival horror experience that harkens back to the old-school games of the genre. It doesn’t hold your hand, but will definitely make them shiver with its panoply of tension, frights, and chills.
SCORE: 85%
Remothered: Tormented Fathers features pretty great graphics that make its survival horror gameplay truly shine. However, you want to have a pretty beefy gaming PC or gaming laptop in order to play it at a decent framerate. So, you may just want to invest in a decent gaming rig:
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