Remothered: Tormented Fathers |OT| Haunting Ground inspired third-person horror with an odd name

[Dusk Golem]

Genre: Survival-Horror (third-person, inspired by Haunting Ground and Clock Tower specifically)
Platforms: PC. PS4 (though it'll be releasing on PC first)
Release Date: October 31st, 2017 (for the PC Early Access version, final PC release & PS4 version hit in 2018).
Price: $12.99 USD

Remothered: Tormented Fathers on Steam: http://store.steampowered.com/app/633360/Remothered_Tormented_Fathers/

Trailer:


Early Access 1-Day to Release Teaser:


Remothered: Tormented Fathers is the first game in a planned trilogy series that is deeply inspired by the Clock Tower series/Haunting Ground (also cited influence by Rule of Rose, Silent Hill, and Alien: Isolation), a third-person survival-horror game by an independent team releasing for PC & PS4 (though on PC first through an Early Access release). There was also a closed beta earlier this year I was a part of leading up to this release.

Before speaking in-depth about Remothered, I want to talk about its development, as I've been loosely following this game for almost 10 years now. This game originally started development in 2007 as an RPG Maker fan game for Clock Tower. It was scrapped and revamped in 2009 to be remade in a new engine as a point'n'click style. But in 2012, it got scrapped and started again as the game you see before you, there were publishers who were interested in publishing it but the creator, Chris Darril, refused to make this a sole creation for him and his team in Italy. There's a lot more to this story, and it's all pretty interesting in its own right.

To the left, the original RPG Maker version of the game. To the right, the point'n'click remake that got scrapped.

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Remothered's final form has ended up being a third-person horror game that takes some direct influence from Haunting Ground, mixing it some with the mansion/gothic stylings of the original Clock Tower. One of the big goals for the team was to make an indie horror game that is of higher production value and of different style than most see within the space, to create a higher caliber horror title and turn it into a franchise (or a trilogy, as it were). They have a particular focus on the story of the game, apparently with each entry of the trilogy both containing a self-contained story with a conclusion, but set in an interconnecting narrative between the three games. Each game is supposed to be 6-8 hours each.

In Tormented Fathers, we join Rosemary Reed, a mysterious 35 year old woman with a foggy agenda who goes to the house of retired ex notary, Dr. Richard Felton, searching for answers about a girl named Jennifer, who despite her young age had a negative impact on many of those around her. This is just a front however, hiding Rosemary's true intentions...

However, when Rosemary let's part of her true investigation become know, Dr. Felton begins to have a fit and suddenly begins a hunt for blood to eradicate Rosemary and all she knows from this house. Rosemary, meanwhile, must survive and find what it is she's looking for. Things of course will only get worse from here.

Like the Clock Tower games and Haunting Ground, in Remothered you are either in 'exploration' or 'chase' mode. In Exploration Mode you are free to investigate the house, solve puzzles, read documents, all while a stalker freely explores the areas you must evade and not be seen by. If seen however, you enter 'chase' mode, where you begin to move faster, and no longer can investigate freely but can use objects in the environment to try to faze and dupe your chasers, until you manage to escape their pursuit. It is also possible to temporarily incapacitate the stalkers, but they cannot die.

The game includes a soundtrack Nobuko Toda (best known for her work on the Metal Gear Solid series, The Evil Within, and Halo) and Luca Balboni (an uprising Italian musician who's won a few awards), quite an art team as well from independent Italian game talent, and apparently a story that Chris has really wanted to tell in the medium for almost a decade, through the revamps. To see if it all comes together or not.

Poster for the game.

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Some of the official characters bios:

Some official gameplay points:

It's definitely an interesting project, I'll be posting my own thoughts as I go through it.

Everyone get ready to enter the world of 'old man butt' modern survival-horror!

 

[medyej]

Wow this looks really good for 12.99. I wonder how much there is to it. Hopefully they didn't just rush what they had out there to hit Halloween for early access and there is only like one well done room or something. Seeing the production values on this and the callback to Clock Tower and remembering how Nightcry went....

 

[Dusk Golem]

Wow this looks really good for 12.99. I wonder how much there is to it. Hopefully they didn't just rush what they had out there to hit Halloween for early access and there is only like one well done room or something. Seeing the production values on this and the callback to Clock Tower and remembering how Nightcry went....

Click to shrink...

I played a 2-4 hour beta of the game earlier this year, so I can vouch it's not just one room. XD They claimed that was the first third of the game, and I liked what I played, so I'm looking forward to this. I can tell you also from my 2-4 hours playing the beta earlier this will be quite different from NightCry, there's a number of reasons for that but the four biggest is the game plays more like Haunting Ground that Clock Tower specifically, the art direction is a lot better, and the style harkens back a lot more to old horror game designs. For the record, counting in my head I think there was 20 rooms in the build I played, and some of those were pretty large (I got stuck at this one puzzle, but I figured it out eventually). There was some jank, but also not tremendously so... It's a bit hard to describe. If they polish it off for this Early Access release and the final, I think it'll turn out being pretty good.

They claim the Early Access has much more content than the beta did and is more polished, I will see tomorrow. I will say the two enemies in the "Early Access 1 Day Away!" video I put in the OP were not in the build I played, only the old man was.

 

[slasherjpc]

Looks freaking sweet. Been getting the emails from devs as the days get closer. Good stuff.

 

[Blizniak]

Wow, this looks really interesting. Not sure playing an early access version of a horror game is for me but I'll definitely keep an eye on it now.

 

[gforguava]

I had no idea this was still alive and kicking, and boy has it come a long way. Definitely going to pick this up.

 

[Dr Doom]

Graphics look good

 

[Iride]

I remember hearing about Remothered back when it was a Clock Tower remake. I don't know if I'll pick up its early access, but I'm pretty excited to see the full version. It's also interesting to see that Rosemary is middle-aged instead of in her teens or early twenties at most. It's a refreshing change of pace.

 

[Wark]

Whoa. Never knew about this games existence! I'm down to pick up the early access tomorrow, but wanna play the full game now (with it being October and everything)!! Thanks for putting this game on my radar!

I remember hearing about Remothered back when it was a Clock Tower remake. I don't know if I'll pick up its early access, but I'm pretty excited to see the full version. It's also interesting to see that Rosemary is middle-aged instead of in her teens or early twenties at most. It's a refreshing change of pace.

Click to shrink...

Oh, it was a Clock Tower remake? It all makes sense now! I agree with it being a bit of fresh air with her being an older woman.

 

[Myradeer]

Thank you for info! Will be watching initial reception with interest.

 

[Brhoom]

Thanks for making the OP, I've never seen those bios before!

I can't wait to play it tonight, and will post impressions as soon as I finish.

 

[rancey]

I remember hearing about Remothered back when it was a Clock Tower remake. I don't know if I'll pick up its early access, but I'm pretty excited to see the full version. It's also interesting to see that Rosemary is middle-aged instead of in her teens or early twenties at most. It's a refreshing change of pace.

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I don't think 35 really qualifies as middle aged. But yeah I do like that she's an actual adult and not like 21.

 

[Fady]

Dusk Golem - hey bud! Been following this game for many years when Chris Darill first announced he wanted to make a Clock Tower remake/spiritual successor. Then for years it died down completely and I felt it was hopeless. For him to have gotten this far is remarkable, and it was wonderful that he got to work alongside the father of Clock Tower in Nightcry.

 

[Golnei]

This does look pretty interesting - I'd heard of the game in passing, but this is the first I've heard of its origins as a RPG Maker fangame.

I'll probably wait on seeing some impressions - though those character descriptions don't speak very well for the quality of the writing. Maybe that could be due to the team primarily having it as a second language?

 

[Brhoom]

Just got an email that it will released in a couple of hours, will download it once I get back home.

 

[Ryuichi Naruhodo]

Looks interesting , Does the only enemy in the game is the stalker old guy or there are more enemy variety confirmed ?

 

[Last Jon Standing]

Anybody else thinks Rosemary looks a lot like Jodie Foster in some angles?

 

[Nemesis_]

Cautiously optimistic, I've been following the project since it began as a Clock Tower: The First Fear remake, but since kind of lost interest as it took a very, very long time to produce anything. Excited to see it's coming out but also very surprised at how different a direciton it's gone in. Keeping an eye out.

 

[-shadow-]

Seems interesting, terrible name though but that can't spoil the fun. I'll check it out, I've been in need of more horror!

 

[kc44135]

Hmmm, could be interesting, and the graphics are impressive. Awful name tho, lol.

 

[Menchi]

I remember the point'n'click version. That looked interesting at the time, but this has me intrigued too. I love that the protagonist is a middle aged woman!

 

[Dusk Golem]

This does look pretty interesting - I'd heard of the game in passing, but this is the first I've heard of its origins as a RPG Maker fangame.

I'll probably wait on seeing some impressions - though those character descriptions don't speak very well for the quality of the writing. Maybe that could be due to the team primarily having it as a second language?

Click to shrink...

Definitely could in part, my impressions of the story from the 2-4 hour beta was the cinematography in them was great and the gorgeous art direction extends to some very stylistic cutscenes, and the animation quality for an indie game is almost unheard of. The actual story throws a lot at you really quickly at the beginning of the game, when you meet the old man for the first time there's like a 3-5 minute cutscenes that's definitely interesting but so much happens in those 3-5 minutes it's hard to digest everything at first. There's definitely some pretty good scenes sprinkled throughout the game, and the story extends beyond the cutscenes (and though the cutscenes are on the longer side they also are far apart, from what I played). The actual writing wasn't bad in the game and the actors did a good job from what I heard at least, but to be honest I'm not really sure what I think of the actual story yet, given there's a lot of ambiguity early in so I'm not even sure if you're supposed to have deep thoughts on them yet outside of them being very pretty and fairly entertaining.

I will say there was a lot of topics covered in that beta which you don't often see covered in games, so at the very least it seems it'll be a pretty unique story in the medium.

Looks interesting , Does the only enemy in the game is the stalker old guy or there are more enemy variety confirmed ?

Click to shrink...

To my knowledge there's at least three stalkers in this release, but the other two they've mostly been secretive on and focused on the old man because he's the first. If you don't mind some spoilers, in the second video of the OP it shows the other two. There may be more beyond them, but to be seen.

 

[Brhoom]

Anybody else thinks Rosemary looks a lot like Jodie Foster in some angles?

Click to shrink...

I'm not so sure...

 

[Hampig]

Awesome. Maybe this will be my spook game tonight.

 

[RookieDood]

Looks pretty interesting. Hope that there are multiple endings like in Clock Tower and Haunting Ground. Will wait for the launch on PS4, since my PC is a toaster.

 

[Plumpbiscuit]

This is one of those games that claims to be of old horror game style but really fails in almost every way, just as bad as NightCry attempted. There is no fixed camera angles and tank controls which is already a no-go for Clock Tower. The main character has too much personality and "reason" to be in the house that she is for the story to setup that she won't escape from the place, which is the total opposite of all CT games where the protagonist is either placed in the location against their will or they are looking to get the hell out, not in. This game also utilises too many modern horror game tropes to associate itself with CT, being that the CT series never used any itself. For example, there are button prompts showing on the screen which is very immersive breaking in a horror game, there is forced walking (yep, this dev thinks forced walking is a good gameplay and exploration mechanic), and most disturbingly what I call "idiot boxes" where it shows huge symbols on the screen that articulate "GO HERE IDIOT" because apparently developers think we're all idiots who can't solve puzzles ourselves.

There's also unskippable cutscenes, most of which are quite long in length and no cutscene in CT was ever super long, and the voice acting is awful for a 2017 game. The hiding mechanic is based off more of something like Outlast whereby you hide in a wardrobe, for example, in first person view rather than third person like every other CT game. The camera angle is also over the dudebro's shoulder, and as I said the game doesn't use fixed cameras, so some credibility is lost here.

The game is really badly optimised too.

This isn't the CT revival I've been waiting 12 years for, it's just another typical modern horror game cloaked in claims that it's going back to times better yet I have seen nothing, no evidence of this. I love CT, Haunting Ground is one of my favourite games ever, but even I can admit this crappy game doesn't resemble either of those. If you've played Dead Space, Resident Evil 5 onwards and/our Outlast, then you already know what to expect. Sure there's a stalker and sure there's a panic system, but it isn't like the panic system from previous games, it's more of a warning than a gameplay mechanic. This is supported by the fact that there is a modern horror trope design of a crouch button that puts you in stealth mode, as opposed to avoiding detection through clever camera angles and sound design itself.

Finally, the "stalker" uses the modern horror game trope of rubber banding AI, Alien Isolation, Among the Sleep, Amnesia and Outlast (and many other games) do this. It's where if you hide or stay in an area for sometime, the stalker will change its path inadvertently to walk "near" you as a scripted attempt to artificially scare the player. You'll never be caught as long as you don't betray the gameplay mechanics, but if you stay hidden the AI will just roam around you for a bit with creepy music. In CT games, stalkers appeared in scripted areas and it was a meta case of either escaping or hiding; no in between.

So yeah, this is a horrible game in terms of being CT and it's nothing we haven't seen before.

 

[Dusk Golem]

This is one of those games that claims to be of old horror game style but really fails in almost every way, just as bad as NightCry attempted. There is no fixed camera angles and tank controls which is already a no-go for Clock Tower. The main character has too much personality and "reason" to be in the house that she is for the story to setup that she won't escape from the place, which is the total opposite of all CT games where the protagonist is either placed in the location against their will or they are looking to get the hell out, not in. This game also utilises too many modern horror game tropes to associate itself with CT, being that the CT series never used any itself. For example, there are button prompts showing on the screen which is very immersive breaking in a horror game, there is forced walking (yep, this dev thinks forced walking is a good gameplay and exploration mechanic), and most disturbingly what I call "idiot boxes" where it shows huge symbols on the screen that articulate "GO HERE IDIOT" because apparently developers think we're all idiots who can't solve puzzles ourselves.

There's also unskippable cutscenes, most of which are quite long in length and no cutscene in CT was ever super long, and the voice acting is awful for a 2017 game. The hiding mechanic is based off more of something like Outlast whereby you hide in a wardrobe, for example, in first person view rather than third person like every other CT game. The camera angle is also over the dudebro's shoulder, and as I said the game doesn't use fixed cameras, so some credibility is lost here.

The game is really badly optimised too.

This isn't the CT revival I've been waiting 12 years for, it's just another typical modern horror game cloaked in claims that it's going back to times better yet I have seen nothing, no evidence of this. I love CT, Haunting Ground is one of my favourite games ever, but even I can admit this crappy game doesn't resemble either of those. If you've played Dead Space, Resident Evil 5 onwards and/our Outlast, then you already know what to expect. Sure there's a stalker and sure there's a panic system, but it isn't like the panic system from previous games, it's more of a warning than a gameplay mechanic. This is supported by the fact that there is a modern horror trope design of a crouch button that puts you in stealth mode, as opposed to avoiding detection through clever camera angles and sound design itself.

Finally, the "stalker" uses the modern horror game trope of rubber banding AI, Alien Isolation, Among the Sleep, Amnesia and Outlast (and many other games) do this. It's where if you hide or stay in an area for sometime, the stalker will change its path inadvertently to walk "near" you as a scripted attempt to artificially scare the player. You'll never be caught as long as you don't betray the gameplay mechanics, but if you stay hidden the AI will just roam around you for a bit with creepy music. In CT games, stalkers appeared in scripted areas and it was a meta case of either escaping or hiding; no in between.

So yeah, this is a horrible game in terms of being CT and it's nothing we haven't seen before.

Click to shrink...

Since we're friends I was expecting a post about this from you since you're a very strong purist on some elements, but I'll disagree with a few things. I don't know what's been improved since the beta until I play it later, but here's some things I can say from playing the Beta for a few hours.

For the record, Haunting Ground and Clock Tower 3 did not have tank controls, they're more analog controls closer to what Devil May Cry had or the recent HD REmasters (IE, if you hold a direction when you shift angles you'll continue running that direction, but the controls work based on the camera angle. If you press up you'll move upwards compared to whatever camera angle you're on rather than in the direction of the character and they can turn on a dime). The Clock Tower franchise actually never had tank controls, they were point'n'click, which then gave away to analog controls. I do know you have a big hatred for behind-the-shoulder esque cameras and consider that 'dudebro' for some reason, but I think it works in this games favor.

I actually find the character's motive interesting, though I do understand this point is subjective. Clock Tower series does feature heroines who don't fully know what they're getting into, in the original Clock Tower it's a group of adopted girls just arriving at a new home, Clock Tower 2 it's a return to the nightmare deal, GhostHead has the split personality main character who one is oblivious and one knows a lot more, Clock Tower 3 it's someone concerned who arrives at a destiny, and Haunting Ground it's someone thrown into a nightmare for an unknown (at first) reason. The narrative isn't following these games, but I actually think it benefits from shaking things up. Rosemary I do think has more personality than her counterparts, and she is an unusual heroine for a horror game in the first place being a 35-year old woman with an agenda, but I found that personally refreshing. Despite being in a position she wasn't quite prepared for she's not a scared defenseless schoolgirl either, and as the game does allow you to fight back in a few ways the game supplements her more rowdiness a bit more realistically. She can take out her foes for a time and and I felt her level of fear in the situation was decently realistic, while she cannot kill her foes there's more than a completely defenseless heroine going on there. I do understand that's highly subjective though.

Also are youi sure you're thinking of the right game? There are literally zero objective markers in the game from what I played, to the point I sometimes got lost and wandered for a while finding out what to do next. What gave you the idea the game had them? There is an interact icon when you're standing next to an object you can interact with (like open a drawer), but there is literally no objective markers like you're claiming. There's also only one section where you're walking which is when you're walking and talking with the house keeper, there wasn't a single instance of it outside of that scene and that was not a very long scene at all (it was also radius based interestingly, so if you went to explore you were able to run again).

Did you really play this? There are skipable cutscenes in the build I played, all but the final cutscene which was probably more for beta purposes than gameplay purposes. Also when you hide in Haunting Ground and Clock Tower 3 it's literally in first-person in those games as well.

Optimization is something I can agree with, BUT it's one of the things they've been actively addressing since the beta they've talked more openly about if you've followed it at all. They claim this release will be a LOT better optimized than the beta was.

And if you played Dead space, Resident Evil 5, Outlast, or Amnesia in more in-depth you'll understand why those four games are stupid to compare to each other. I know what you're trying to say, you have a purist bias and those are go-to popular examples of 'modern horror games', but for one this game doesn't even remotely resemble any of those, and they don't even really resemble each other if you want to do a big break-down of those entries.

The AI also doesn't rubberband, it's audio and visual based so he can hear your footsteps, see doors that have been opened, and wanders dynamically outside of that. If you stay completely still in one location for an extended time you can either wait a while for him to show up or he may have been headed there, I did play the beta for a while and got lost a bit so I can vouch that claim is false.

There's a few issues I had with the beta I hope are ironed out for the EA release, but I can tell you right now how you're painting the game is a false representation. It may not be quite as purist as you want it to be but there's some false generalizations in your claims.

While I'm calling you out for some of this, from knowing you a bit better I'm not sure if all the design decisions will appeal to you personally. I haven't played the full game yet, but I can say from what I played it's kind of a mixture of some old, some modern, some new, I think the ambition was to take elements from yesteryear and the last decade while trying to also blend it in a way not quite seen before, with a bigger indie quality thersehold than others and featuring a style of play that isn't seen too commonly within the scene. To see how it does, but I'm curious to see how it plays out and if they do take the time to polish some stuff out I think it could be quite a gem in the scene. But I do understand especially knowing your taste why you're lashing out of it, but you're letting your outlash blind you to what this game actually is and it's literally making you see things that aren't there by your weird association that all modern horror games are the same.

 

[Dusk Golem]

Also, for the record the game's early access is now available: http://store.steampowered.com/app/633360/Remothered_Tormented_Fathers/

I won't be able to play it immediately as I have some plans today, but I'll definitely type up some impressions of the Early Access, pros and cons and overall thoughts of mine, when I get a chance to play it in the next few days.

 

[dragonlife]

I hate Early Access, but for $13, this seems like something I'd love to help out with. Guess we'll see.

 

[Golnei]

Also, for the record the game's early access is now available: http://store.steampowered.com/app/633360/Remothered_Tormented_Fathers/

Click to shrink...

Not to harp on that point too much...

"Remothered is the cinematic and pure survival horror trilogy with extreme and realistic gameplay."

...but it sounds Google Translated. An editor would have gone a long way. From your previous impressions it sounds like the ingame text and dialogue is handled much better, but it is a shame that the other material is affected by this problem, since it'll definitely colour impressions.

 

[Plumpbiscuit]

Since we're friends I was expecting a post about this from you since you're a very strong purist on some elements, but I'll disagree with a few things. I don't know what's been improved since the beta until I play it later, but here's some things I can say from playing the Beta for a few hours.

For the record, Haunting Ground and Clock Tower 3 did not have tank controls, they're more analog controls closer to what Devil May Cry had or the recent HD REmasters (IE, if you hold a direction when you shift angles you'll continue running that direction, but the controls work based on the camera angle. If you press up you'll move upwards compared to whatever camera angle you're on rather than in the direction of the character and they can turn on a dime). The Clock Tower franchise actually never had tank controls, they were point'n'click, which then gave away to analog controls. I do know you have a big hatred for behind-the-shoulder esque cameras and consider that 'dudebro' for some reason, but I think it works in this games favor.

I actually find the character's motive interesting, though I do understand this point is subjective. Clock Tower series does feature heroines who don't fully know what they're getting into, in the original Clock Tower it's a group of adopted girls just arriving at a new home, Clock Tower 2 it's a return to the nightmare deal, GhostHead has the split personality main character who one is oblivious and one knows a lot more, Clock Tower 3 it's someone concerned who arrives at a destiny, and Haunting Ground it's someone thrown into a nightmare for an unknown (at first) reason. The narrative isn't following these games, but I actually think it benefits from shaking things up. Rosemary I do think has more personality than her counterparts, and she is an unusual heroine for a horror game in the first place being a 35-year old woman with an agenda, but I found that personally refreshing. Despite being in a position she wasn't quite prepared for she's not a scared defenseless schoolgirl either, and as the game does allow you to fight back in a few ways the game supplements her more rowdiness a bit more realistically. She can take out her foes for a time and and I felt her level of fear in the situation was decently realistic, while she cannot kill her foes there's more than a completely defenseless heroine going on there. I do understand that's highly subjective though.

Also are youi sure you're thinking of the right game? There are literally zero objective markers in the game from what I played, to the point I sometimes got lost and wandered for a while finding out what to do next. What gave you the idea the game had them? There is an interact icon when you're standing next to an object you can interact with (like open a drawer), but there is literally no objective markers like you're claiming. There's also only one section where you're walking which is when you're walking and talking with the house keeper, there wasn't a single instance of it outside of that scene and that was not a very long scene at all (it was also radius based interestingly, so if you went to explore you were able to run again).

Did you really play this? There are skipable cutscenes in the build I played, all but the final cutscene which was probably more for beta purposes than gameplay purposes. Also when you hide in Haunting Ground and Clock Tower 3 it's literally in first-person in those games as well.

Optimization is something I can agree with, BUT it's one of the things they've been actively addressing since the beta they've talked more openly about if you've followed it at all. They claim this release will be a LOT better optimized than the beta was.

And if you played Dead space, Resident Evil 5, Outlast, or Amnesia in more in-depth you'll understand why those four games are stupid to compare to each other. I know what you're trying to say, you have a purist bias and those are go-to popular examples of 'modern horror games', but for one this game doesn't even remotely resemble any of those, and they don't even really resemble each other if you want to do a big break-down of those entries.

The AI also doesn't rubberband, it's audio and visual based so he can hear your footsteps, see doors that have been opened, and wanders dynamically outside of that. If you stay completely still in one location for an extended time you can either wait a while for him to show up or he may have been headed there, I did play the beta for a while and got lost a bit so I can vouch that claim is false.

There's a few issues I had with the beta I hope are ironed out for the EA release, but I can tell you right now how you're painting the game is a false representation. It may not be quite as purist as you want it to be but there's some false generalizations in your claims.

While I'm calling you out for some of this, from knowing you a bit better I'm not sure if all the design decisions will appeal to you personally. I haven't played the full game yet, but I can say from what I played it's kind of a mixture of some old, some modern, some new, I think the ambition was to take elements from yesteryear and the last decade while trying to also blend it in a way not quite seen before, with a bigger indie quality thersehold than others and featuring a style of play that isn't seen too commonly within the scene. To see how it does, but I'm curious to see how it plays out and if they do take the time to polish some stuff out I think it could be quite a gem in the scene. But I do understand especially knowing your taste why you're lashing out of it, but you're letting your outlash blind you to what this game actually is and it's literally making you see things that aren't there by your weird association that all modern horror games are the same.

Click to shrink...

For the objective markers, here's a screen grab:

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Those white dots blow up into big "CLICK ME IDIOT" symbols the closer you get to them and these white dots represent stuff like hiding spots, doors to go through, wardrobes to open etc (as you even pointed out). Not to mention the stark contrasting objective box in the corner right there reminding you that you're on a RPG quest and not playing classic survival horror.

As for tank controls, even the original sidescroller had tank controls in that the movement was precise and not fluid, if you wanted to turn around or move upstairs it was slow and cautious movement, and if you wanted to run there was the stamina system and you had to sit down to rest. But that isn't as important as the general feel to the controls in the 3D games which weren't RE style movement, but it had the clunk of old horror games.

As for the hiding, only hiding under the bed goes into first person:

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Having said that, every other hiding spot is third person, even the simple act of squatting in the corner of a room counts as a hiding spot in Haunting Ground. Why isn't this a thing in this game? See example below, hiding behind a door brings the camera out like this:

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It was indeed Clock Tower 3 that had first person hiding and was the only CT game to do so, which is why I look at it less favourably. Every other game did third person.

The AI does rubberband, try it out yourself if you don't believe me. The house you're in has multiple floors right? Go to the basement and hide, literally don't even move, and the stalker will "change" its patrol path to be near you. Now go up to the first floor and hide, the stalker will be there shortly. Now go up to the second floor and rinse and repeat. If this was truly unscripted AI, the stalker would be looking for you on different levels. Also there was no skippable cutscenes in the build I saw so I dunno what to say about this, I'm just going by my experience.

As for the protagonist and her personality, it actually works against the game in that she has ties to this place and is more fleshed out than previous protagonists. Alyssa from CT: SW I guess has the most personality in the classic CT games but that was half-served by her personality disorder and the fact that she had to talk to others in order to solve the mystery of the mansion. It was more of a plot device to keep things going rather than make the player feel relateable and find things in common with, much like Rosemary in this game. She is an unlikeable bitch like Lightning from FFXIII for no reason at all and the dev tried to flesh her out to make her "lol believable", when really it takes away from the game since the mystery of her lessens the more you know about her. What made games like Silent Hill so powerful were that the protagonists were blank slates on purpose so that the player themself could "inject" themself as the protagonist themself. Heather Mason had the most personality and was also the most unlikeable protagonist out of the classic SH games because they tried to make her too human and realistic to the situation going on around her.

I feel like the comparison between Amnesia, Outlast, Among the Sleep and RE5 are fair given the context they're used for. I ain't comparing them as whole standalone games, or their differences in sub genre, but the style of player progression in comparison to classic horror. In each of those games the game is strictly linear and aside from RE5, you run and hide with rubberbanding AI. It's boring, it's tiresome, it's overdone and it just isn't scary. RE5 uses over the dudebro's shoulder camera as well as telling the player what to do and giving them little thoughts of freedom.

Finally, the problems using over the dudebro's shoulder camera angle is that it's actually more restrictive than using either fixed camera or centre-view camera. Why? Cause the camera is offset when it's over the shoulder meaning it's inherently bias towards one angle, and even if you can change sides ala RE6, that insinuates the game is action-orientated and for sure CT is NOT action orientated. It's survival horror with point 'n' click elements. Not to mention if you approach a corner with a blind spot turning right and hug the wall's corner in an attempt to look around the corner, because the camera is offset, you can't see around the corner. So that's how it's restrictive. By having fixed cameras/centre-view, this inherent bias is eliminated and the player is in more control of how they wish to view the game. Developers only started using over the dudebro's shoulder commonplace after RE4 released, even though it wasn't the first game to use it. It goes to show the lazy effort devs put into their games nowadays when they don't want to make cinematic gameplay organically with cinematic camera angles, but to just simply dump a camera node next to the actor and call it finished. It works with RE4 because of its innovation it brought with it, but now that it's everywhere, it's tiring and unnecessary to use; especially in a CT game.

I'm still waiting for a true CT retention and the closest game to that is the recently released House of Velez, which ironically, is a sidescrolling survival horror with point 'n' click elements and tank controls and it definitely does have HG influence embedded in its design. It follows the "mysterious protagonist" trope from old CT games whereby not much is known about the protagonist or she isn't fleshed out so much, and there's even FMV cutscenes. There's actual puzzles to solve, documents to collect pertaining to the mansion itself and no idiot boxes telling the player what to do and where to go. There's EVEN a similar system to the panic mode in the game. I highly suggest trying this game, Ryan!

 

[Dusk Golem]

For the objective markers, here's a screen grab:

Those white dots blow up into big "CLICK ME IDIOT" symbols the closer you get to them and these white dots represent stuff like hiding spots, doors to go through, wardrobes to open etc (as you even pointed out). Not to mention the stark contrasting objective box in the corner right there reminding you that you're on a RPG quest and not playing classic survival horror.

As for tank controls, even the original sidescroller had tank controls in that the movement was precise and not fluid, if you wanted to turn around or move upstairs it was slow and cautious movement, and if you wanted to run there was the stamina system and you had to sit down to rest. But that isn't as important as the general feel to the controls in the 3D games which weren't RE style movement, but it had the clunk of old horror games.

As for the hiding, only hiding under the bed goes into first person:

Having said that, every other hiding spot is third person, even the simple act of squatting in the corner of a room counts as a hiding spot in Haunting Ground. Why isn't this a thing in this game? See example below, hiding behind a door brings the camera out like this:

It was indeed Clock Tower 3 that had first person hiding and was the only CT game to do so, which is why I look at it less favourably. Every other game did third person.

The AI does rubberband, try it out yourself if you don't believe me. The house you're in has multiple floors right? Go to the basement and hide, literally don't even move, and the stalker will "change" its patrol path to be near you. Now go up to the first floor and hide, the stalker will be there shortly. Now go up to the second floor and rinse and repeat. If this was truly unscripted AI, the stalker would be looking for you on different levels. Also there was no skippable cutscenes in the build I saw so I dunno what to say about this, I'm just going by my experience.

As for the protagonist and her personality, it actually works against the game in that she has ties to this place and is more fleshed out than previous protagonists. Alyssa from CT: SW I guess has the most personality in the classic CT games but that was half-served by her personality disorder and the fact that she had to talk to others in order to solve the mystery of the mansion. It was more of a plot device to keep things going rather than make the player feel relateable and find things in common with, much like Rosemary in this game. She is an unlikeable bitch like Lightning from FFXIII for no reason at all and the dev tried to flesh her out to make her "lol believable", when really it takes away from the game since the mystery of her lessens the more you know about her. What made games like Silent Hill so powerful were that the protagonists were blank slates on purpose so that the player themself could "inject" themself as the protagonist themself. Heather Mason had the most personality and was also the most unlikeable protagonist out of the classic SH games because they tried to make her too human and realistic to the situation going on around her.

I feel like the comparison between Amnesia, Outlast, Among the Sleep and RE5 are fair given the context they're used for. I ain't comparing them as whole standalone games, or their differences in sub genre, but the style of player progression in comparison to classic horror. In each of those games the game is strictly linear and aside from RE5, you run and hide with rubberbanding AI. It's boring, it's tiresome, it's overdone and it just isn't scary. RE5 uses over the dudebro's shoulder camera as well as telling the player what to do and giving them little thoughts of freedom.

Finally, the problems using over the dudebro's shoulder camera angle is that it's actually more restrictive than using either fixed camera or centre-view camera. Why? Cause the camera is offset when it's over the shoulder meaning it's inherently bias towards one angle, and even if you can change sides ala RE6, that insinuates the game is action-orientated and for sure CT is NOT action orientated. It's survival horror with point 'n' click elements. Not to mention if you approach a corner with a blind spot turning right and hug the wall's corner in an attempt to look around the corner, because the camera is offset, you can't see around the corner. So that's how it's restrictive. By having fixed cameras/centre-view, this inherent bias is eliminated and the player is in more control of how they wish to view the game. Developers only started using over the dudebro's shoulder commonplace after RE4 released, even though it wasn't the first game to use it. It goes to show the lazy effort devs put into their games nowadays when they don't want to make cinematic gameplay organically with cinematic camera angles, but to just simply dump a camera node next to the actor and call it finished. It works with RE4 because of its innovation it brought with it, but now that it's everywhere, it's tiring and unnecessary to use; especially in a CT game.

I'm still waiting for a true CT retention and the closest game to that is the recently released House of Velez, which ironically, is a sidescrolling survival horror with point 'n' click elements and tank controls and it definitely does have HG influence embedded in its design. It follows the "mysterious protagonist" trope from old CT games whereby not much is known about the protagonist or she isn't fleshed out so much, and there's even FMV cutscenes. There's actual puzzles to solve, documents to collect pertaining to the mansion itself and no idiot boxes telling the player what to do and where to go. There's EVEN a similar system to the panic mode in the game. I highly suggest trying this game, Ryan!

Click to shrink...

OH right for the that scene. That's still disingenuous argument though, the objective markers only appear in that one scene and the reason why is because you're literally in a pitch black environment since the power went off and rather than having players wander the whole place looking for a power switch in the dark while avoiding the stalker they show you where the power switch is. But that's literally the only scene they ever pop up in, and I'd argue that's a smart move since I can tell you I had forgotten entirely where the power breaker was and wandering through the dark lost while avoiding a stalker looking for something you have no idea where it is would've not been the most fun experience. I think making your way towards something while avoiding something hiding the dark is much more tense than being lost and wandering everywhere in the dark anyways.

Hiding under the bed is what I was thinking of and Clock Tower 3 which goes first-person as you said, but there are a few other spots in Haunting Ground where it goes first-person, though it is mostly when you're hiding under things. The ones I recall using where in the first stalkers personal room under the low table, under a crib, and the like. This is more subjective and if you don't like it then that's fine, but I just personally don't view the game going into first-person when hiding as a negative. This game I'd argue even does it well, you can view and change around your viewpoint and the alternative would be an angle pointed at where you're hiding. I think peeking out of where you're hiding works better than peeping from the outside where you are.

For the record, when you're switching floors if the stalker is anywhere near the stairs he will hear you, the stairs make a louder sound than most of the other 'stepping sounds' in the game. However, if he's not nearby he won't switch floors. I do know what you're referring to as it is common for him to switch floors when you do, but it's also not a sure-fire thing, what's happening is the stairs are intentionally very squeaky, which is to have the effect for him to switch floors when you do but it's also possible to avoid him doing this, and he will switch floors if he doesn't find you as well. Of course, there sometimes is trouble going back downstairs as I've had situations he heard me going up/down to the floor he was on and coming to meet me as well, so using the stairs in general is often a risk. He won't however circle a room you're in like a shark if you're being soundless, and he will eventually leave a floor even if you gave him the scoop later. THIS SAID, I did have a few minor issues with the AI you didn't mention, and do agree there's a few spots I'm hoping are more balanced/altered for this release compared to the Beta.

I don't get the Lightning comparison since most people's arguments behind Lightning from Final Fantasy XIII is that she was personality-less and was made just to be pretty for waifu bait. Rosemary isn't especially attractive or pandering, and while she has a roughness to her personality I found it endearing, GIVEN I don't have a full-fledged opinion since the beta doesn't completely shroud light on her narrative. Though again, this I think is going to be a matter of taste than any legitimate criticism since I thought she fit the tone of the story at least from what I've seen and contrasted the old man at least interestingly, there was a play that she was in some ways picking on the old man for answers but the old man is obviously hiding something and somewhat crazy, but more on that later. I do feel there's context that will retroactively make some earlier scenes make more sense since there is a mystery at play here which is leading to Rosemary to hide a lot about herself.

And I disagree for even the progression argument though. In Remothered from what I played you're in a space you explore as you solve puzzles for a while, apparently you open up more of the house after where the beta ended as well. That sort of progression is not seen in Dead space, Resident Evil 5, Outlast, or Amnesia, which are all mostly linear affairs save a few moments, so the design philosophies and progression end up being quite different. Amnesia on occasion puts you in a hub with 2-3 different 'branches' you can tackle in any order, but even that is quite different from this here.

I don't have any dislike for the behind-the-shoulder camera but I do know it's something you feel strongly about so I don't think arguing it will be any good. I personally think it has a lot of untapped potential, especially in the horror space away from action-horror games.

 

[Fatal_Futanari]

Kinda wish they didnt charge Euro on their site. I want to get the digi artbook and soundtrack.

 

[Brhoom]

OK, got stuck with a game-breaking glitch after playing for 4 hours, so I'll just say what I think so far:

Borning.

 

[bic]

Anybody else thinks Rosemary looks a lot like Jodie Foster in some angles?

Click to shrink...

The resemblance is apparently intentional. I definitely see it, too.

Well, I'll have fun watching a commentary-free playthrough of this. I just can't handle games where you're being chased, even if the exploration sections provide some relief.

 

[omark]

Remothered: Tormented Fathers to be fully released on Steam on January 30th

 

[slasherjpc]

I just started this game this afternoon and sans a few frustrating parts I couldn't put it down and finished it tonight. Intense, decent item puzzles, jump scares, crazy shit, and atmosphere everywhere. Super, super impressed.

 

[Wollan]

Toyama approved:

Game is releasing this week on PS4 & XB1.

 

[Tonypark]

I am thinking of buying this for PS4. Any more impressions on the final game?