This summer THQ Nordic he announced in surprise B, reboot of a point-and-click saga of the early 2000s (which unfortunately I did not know), publishing a very suggestive trailer and bearer of high hopes.
It pains me to say that all the sincere curiosity instilled in me by that well-curated ad video was shattered in the first few minutes of the game. Not being able to accept the reality of what was presented to me on the screen, I tried to read up on several occasions to understand if maybe the title was a remastered of the old chapters, but although you still find it inconceivable, it is just a game new one.
One step forward, one hundred back
In case you haven't guessed yet, the title has nothing to do with Netflix's most popular sci-fi series of the same name, on the contrary horror / gothic atmospheres reminiscent (very vaguely) of the works of Poe and Lovecraft. The protagonist David gordonFollowing the mysterious death of a relative, he visits the old family manor in Scotland for the first time. Here he uncovers dark secrets that have been affecting the Gordons for generations, and which now also threaten his mental health.
From the point of view of narrative the result is all in all acceptable, despite the characters written in a rather sloppy way and numerous clichés, and the atmospheres are at times effective, thanks above all to alighting pleasant enough.
The problem is that the game is always self-sabotaging what could be its slightly more interesting aspect, with a technical sector scarier than the story being told would be.
Take painkillers before playing
Play B it is torture, first of all for the eyes, forced to observe a roundup of texture with indecent quality, shadows made of large pixels and simply ugly models. Then for the brain, which is continually stabbed by a nauseating camera, a frame rate constantly unstable, stuck animations, input lag, nerve-wracking collisions and most of all very long uploads for every little action, even the simple passage from one room to another. A special mention goes to dubbing, often out of sync, ei subtitles in español that sometimes get stuck, become in English or have a bad adaptation of the dialogues.
I don't understand how this could be a title released in November 2017, and moreover under the wing of a major publisher. I didn't see a game like that backward technically for a very long time, and it's a real shame that his potential is mercilessly murdered by problems that make him essentially unplayable.
Also contributes to general boredom gameplay, which as usual in the genus consists mainly of scouting and resolution of puzzles. The first is of a disarming banality and due to the uploads at each transition it soon becomes unsustainable, while the second ones lack originality and are not at all fun to solve, also because the tools made available to do it are quite botched most of the time.
B it is a very big disappointment, an inexplicably born old and dying title, whose very few qualities are suffocated by an insurmountable amount of defects. If you are not a fan of the old chapters you can do very well without this reboot.
Special thanks to THQ Nordic
