Those Who Remain is the result of that in some cases, but the story deserved to be structured around fewer speaking roles.
I appreciate when an indie game can rise above a shallow budget and make do with what it's got. The voice acting in Those Who Remain ranges from hardly passable, like that of the protagonist, to wildly ineffective, like that of a criminal you meet about a third of the way through the three- to four-hour story. Human character models are few and far between, which is a good sign that Camel 101 can work within its limitations, but when other people do appear, they look pretty bad. The lighting is much too dark, causing me to turn my gamma settings up more than recommended, which lent a smokiness to the game I never wanted.
Though puzzles are good and scares are inconsistent, other aspects of Those Who Remain are regularly bad. Yeah, it's like Silent Hill in that way too, but where its inspiration used a rusted-out hell, Those Who Remain traps players in a watery, drowning haze. Still, the puzzles are intuitive and use the otherworldly universe to essentially turn every locale into two different places. They're of a familiar sort, where players backtrack through a small area while opening doors, finding items to create new paths to then find a key to open another door. Having said that, there's still one recurring chasing enemy that reliably filled me with dread whenever I heard her coming.Īs for those puzzles, they're often a highlight of every level. Players need the possibility of escape to feel the threat. It may have some spooky sound design to go along with it, but the auto-fail state of being spotted even briefly washes away a lot of the horror. This unfortunate wrinkle turns the hide-and-seek element into nothing but a puzzle sequence of its own. If you're caught, you'll notice that once you're spotted, there's seemingly no way to escape, and thus no reason to run away. The chases can be nerve-wracking, but usually only once. Those Who Remain is a defenseless adventure-horror where puzzles and hide-and-seek rule the gameplay suite. The more imposing threats are the several different monsters that give chase. Thus, your job is usually to find a light source to make them flee. If you can see them, you know your path is not safe. They're unnerving at first, but soon become little more than a puzzle mechanic. In the darkest corners sit shadowy figures, always watching, never moving unless you step out of the light. Only the fog of Silent Hill is replaced by everlasting darkness in Dormont.
As a passerby in the eerie town of Dormont, players in Those Who Remain are put into a situation not unlike that of the lost souls of Silent Hill.Īs I entered the desolate town, I immediately likened the game's story to Konami's classic franchise. Camel 101 employs it well too, so I don't mind the similarities. It's a camera trick that Bloober Team perfected, but I've not bored of it yet. Sequences regularly lead players down a winding corridor, hit them with a dead end, and then morph the world behind them so they turn to witness a new and unsettling landscape. As a first-person, defenseless horror game with plenty of scripted scares, it's evident the team at Camel 101 played Layers of Fearsomewhere along the way. Those Who Remain wears its influences on its sleeve - early and often. Still, thanks to some decent scares and a narrative that defies expectations, it serves well as a middling horror story wedged between some better and worse counterparts. Its indie budget is apparent at every turn, and it makes some poor design decisions along the way. Those Who Remain is like the latter kind of horror movie. There are others still that, while they don't stay with us for long, do a good job filling in the schedule for any particular evening. There are some films we remember forever and watch again the next year, while there are others we forget as soon as the credits roll. Naturally, the quality is all over the place with such a dedicated approach.
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