We analyze Remothered: Broken Porcelain, the sequel to survival horror coming to PS4, Xbox One, Nintendo Switch, and PC.
We’ve all heard that “second parts were never good.” A generalized statement that we clearly deny, although its message has permeated society for many years. We cannot deny that when we are faced with a good delivery it is difficult to overcome it. It is hard but not impossible. With the second parts the expectations change, the illusions also and as a result of this, the disappointments do not take long to appear. Today in Meristation we analyze Remothered: Broken Porcelain, the sequel to the survival horror Remothered that comes to PlayStation 4, Xbox One, Nintendo Switch, and PC. Will it be up to par with its predecessor? We will discover all this and much more below.
In 2018 we saw the arrival of Remothered: Tormented Fathers, a game that managed to stand up to the survival genre, and that came to us with a pleasant surprise. An indie title that not only left a good taste in our mouths, but in addition to being nominated in numerous categories, it was a winner at the Oniros Awards and the IVGA Awards as the best Italian game of 2018. So when the studio announced its sequel, unsurprisingly, expectations weren’t low. After two years of waiting we have been able to analyze its second installment, a title that drinks from the classic influences of Clock Tower and RE Nemesis, and that this time has advanced to its official release date to be able to fit in with the dates of Halloween and pre-Christmas with their own COVID problem involved. First of all, if you were wondering if it is necessary to have played the first installment, we anticipate that it is NOT necessary, we will have a brief summary sequence of the last installment, although as everything it never hurts to recommend it.
Welcome to the Ashmann mansion
Set around the 70s, we put ourselves in the shoes of Jennifer, a young woman who remembers very little about her past and who is in the Ashmann mansion, a reconditioned boarding school for girls. Our objective in the game will be to decipher all the unknowns about the past of our protagonist in a complex, dark and ambitious survival horror. Once located in Ashmann’s mansion, we will quickly discover the mechanics of the game, since our most powerful weapon in it will be stealth. We will soon realize that those who run the place will act somewhat strange and violent towards us, so our task will be to advance through the mansion and avoid being seen. We will have to hide from our attackers who will tirelessly search for us throughout our journey, while collecting objects and deciphering the causes that have led the members of the boarding school to act in this way.
Jennifer will be able to jump under tables, hide in trunks and cupboards, as well as (partially) defend herself from our enemies with sharp objects. We will take key and defense objects such as knives or scissors, or others to generate distractions such as bottles. The residents of the mansion will not be hostile to us, they will persecute us with the intention of kindly stabbing us at the slightest of changes. From the beginning we will start in the gloomy mansion and without any explanation, we will have to flee and avoid being attacked or crossed with scissors like a Moorish skewer. Yes, it is still curious how some characters will try to kill us.
Playing cat and mouse
In addition to stealth, we will also have a good dose of backtracking in it, although we already warn that it will not be the same as we saw in its previous version. In Remothered: Broken Porcelain, the use of the map is more segmented and simple than its predecessor, relativizing backtracking and with it, managing our inventory. One of the elements that are raised in the title are the skill trees, since we will have to spend them with objects that we get (moth-shaped pins) that we will obtain throughout the stage. In that sense, a game in which its main mechanics is stealth and little else, we feel that skill trees have little place in a title with these characteristics (where we can also make use of them on rare occasions). It is clear that the study has wanted to go further and be ambitious enough with things that from our point of view perhaps were not so necessary, and with this it has neglected others that were (and that we will comment later).
As for its visual aspect, it will be compliant, and although in its use of sound it will limp a lot, we will find ourselves in action sequences that will not make use of sound, we will run into numerous voice imbalances in the dialogue, and moments in which we will have sounds late on a regular basis. In short, a poorly implemented use of sound. Even so, its general background music works quite well, it gets us into its dramatic history and we have to say that the main theme (as a whistle) is the most original, in addition to being tremendously catchy.
We go directly to what we liked the most, its history. We cannot deny that we are facing an interesting and complex plot. If its first installment was already twisted enough (in some moments it managed to leave us completely beside itself) this second part continues to maintain its main attraction in the narrative. In this we will learn about the past of our characters, and more about the use of the drug Phenoxyl (seen in the first installment), a drug that was created from parasitic moths to repress and erase the traumatic memories that caused terrible side effects. . This time Umbrella is not behind it, we confirm it.
Phenoxyl drug motto: “Have your heart been broken? Have you suffered abuse? Are you a war veteran? In that case you will surely suffer from post-traumatic stress. We have the solution to your problems, Phenoxyl! Say goodbye to sleepless nights and nonstop spinning. Forget it all forever, thanks to Phenoxyl! “
Broken porcelain
Now, what we have to highlight negatively (and with great pity) is the technical section. As the name suggests: Broken Porcelain, broken porcelain. The game is full of AI, inventory and even advancement bugs, which have prevented us from progressing, and with it we have had to restart the game a couple of times. They have not been punctual, we have found quite a few bugs and they have considerably hindered its playability. After numerous patches, its technical section has prevented us from fully delving into its promising story, easily taking us off the screen every two by three. Even with the simplest things like opening a drawer we have had difficulties. The fact that the studio advanced its launch date has been one of its clear errors, since it is not a bad proposal, we can say that its history is above average, and that what it has failed is that technically not it has been polished as it should.
We had waited a long time to play it, and there were expectations. We cannot deny that its story lives up to the first installment, but we feel that we have not been able to enjoy it in the same way. The controls themselves, outside of inventory management, have sometimes simply not responded, which makes it exasperating at times if we are in a scenario where not being seen is vital. Broken Porcelain had a lot of potential to be a good delivery, but it has suffered from a wide lack; from its poor controls, an excessively twisted plot and a variety of technical errors, which has broken our immersion in the game at times.
With Remothered: Broken Porcelain we have had satisfaction and despair alike. With a much more complex and well-constructed history, we can say that the definition of how they have carried it out has not been the best. Remothered or Rebugthered for friends, has spoiled the franchise with a gameplay that is today in better condition. Thanks to the constant release of improvement patches, we hope that these bugs will be mitigated, and that we will be able to play it again in all its glory.
In contrast, in this version we will find characters more organic, alive, complex and with more concerns than in Remothered: Tormented Fathers. An interesting story that has remained on deaf ears and in which it has undoubtedly been one of the strongest bets of the study. It is not a bad game, it is a title that is poorly polished, and has been in a rush to be published. Despite everything, we emphasize that it is a good proposal, with an interesting story worthy of a Netflix movie script or miniseries, and that it has some more than charismatic characters. A title in which its narrative has a lot of crumb and if we start by commenting on it we are never sure. A title that has obvious technical shortcomings, but manages to build a good story that is worth discovering alone and exclusively on our own. Still, we look forward to the arrival of new patches that improve our gaming experience on Remothered. A bet for the top in every way, for both good and bad.
Note: 5
THE BEST
- The development of the story and characters
- The solidity of his soundtrack and particularly of his main theme
- Its plot told from different timelines
WORST
- Numerous technical and control errors
- The translation of the subtitles
- Its use in inventory “shoehorn”
- More ingenuity is needed in the puzzles and new mechanics
- Errors in the use of sound
CONCLUSION
Remothered: Broken Porcelain is not a bad proposal, it has an interesting and complex narrative that has been affected by its numerous technical problems, directly affecting its playability and the experience of the game.
Improvable
It may have acceptable elements and be entertaining, but overall it’s an experience that won’t leave a mark.
