When I first played through Remothered: Tormented Fathers, I didn’t know what to expect from the game at all. The initial experience provided by Darril Arts and Stormind Games was intense, scary, and entertaining when it came to this new series. Now we are about to have the second game, Remothered: Broken Porcelain, released and I was given the chance to get a first look into the game with an exclusive demo. After playing through the experience from this series next chapter, I have to say that I am simply excited for the full game to release this month!
Gameplay
Similar to how the original title played, you are introduced to the surroundings and characters with a calm yet eerie introduction cutscene and led through the building by one of the characters. This is a great trope for this series and is easily a staple in how this series will be starting their games because it shows off the characters, atmosphere, and level layout all at once while briefing you into the story.
If you played the first game, then the mechanics are pretty much the same as that. You can open drawers and see what’s inside, hide in lockers and other specific areas, run, crouch, jump over or crawl under obstacles, and interact with the environment. One thing they did add was the ability to craft together materials to make useful tools to use. None of these are weapons though, as those have to be found and will have the same one-time use in defense of being grabbed just like last time. Instead, the tools are used for things like distractions.
They use a lot of auditorial clues to remind or guide the player where they need to go, so be sure to have the sound on when playing. You will want to do this anywhere because sneaking will be part of the game once again! Even if you get caught initially, you can find a hiding spot and wait out the enemy to fail to find you by keeping your calm meter within the circle. Quickly learning your surroundings and listening for your enemy’s movement patterns will be key once again.
One main thing I wasn’t ready for when I played the demo was the fact that they put you in some close-quarter areas with enemies this time. In the previous game, the smallest room I can think of was the kitchen, but even then you could easily hide from the enemies, but this time you will be experiencing the pressure you once felt in the attic of the first game. Close by, hard to hide from, any sound can give you away, and unsure what you need to do to get out of this predicament is a handful of reasons you will find this game to be more intense than the last! I just hope they maintain that same energy level throughout the full experience since just a small sample of the game was able to provide it.
Expectations
Some environment items seem like they would have been a good idea but end up being questionable when someone lingers on it for longer than a few seconds. A good example of this is my personal screenshot I put above the start of this section. Looking through that window I can see the supposed-to-be-hidden path that the enemy uses to look at me through the two-way mirror, which I can also see through by looking through the window at the right angle. Things like this window need to be completely removed in order to amp up the environment just a bit more and keep the eeriness over the scenario.
I would suggest making the grab/interact button different from each other. This demo alone I kept struggling to grab something from inside a drawer I opened and my character just kept opening and closing it because it was the same button, but I wasn’t looking right at the item. Sure, this is a bit of a user error thing, but there is a whole gamepad or keyboard to work with and it would just make it more efficient for the player to work with.
Conclusion
Remothered: Broken Porcelain’s demo has me looking forward to the game’s release this month and has proven that they are keeping the game series to be twisted and intense! The developers are doing a great job with this series consistency and are without a doubt about to release a top indie game for 2020, just as they did back in 2018. If you haven’t played the first game yet, I recommend giving it a playthrough before starting this one because it’s only going to get more difficult as the series progresses.
