It’s the season for scary and thrilling games now that Halloween is just around the corner. Horror games have become more and more popular again and it’s clear to see that independent developers really helped to bring back the genre. Remothered: Broken Porcelain is a new entry in the critically-acclaimed Remothered franchise and tries to bring the best possible horror experience to its players. The stage is set, time to discover the mysterious Ashman Inn.
Welcome to the Ashman Inn
Broken Porcelain is the second game in the Remothered franchise after the original Remothered: Tormented Fathers took the world by storm back in 2018. Broken Porcelain stands completely on its own and can be enjoyed as a new game for those who never played Tormented Fathers before, although you’ll need to witness the events of both games to truly understand the overall story. That being said, Broken Porcelain starts off fresh and tells the story of Jennifer, who got hired as a maid in the Ashman Inn. During the first minutes in the game, Broken Porcelain tries hard to sell its story and make you feel connected to its world and characters. Sadly, it doesn’t really succeed in its goal.
For some reason, things are terribly wrong in the Ashman Inn as all other maids turned into zombie-like creatures, set to hunt down Jenifer. It’s unclear why this happens or why you should care but after the brief introduction to the story, you’re pretty much left out on your own to discover the rest. Nothing wrong with that except the fact how the rest of the story unfolds. Often jumping in time and locations, the story quickly becomes a mess and I gave up trying to figure it out after my first initial hours in the game. It’s a shame the team didn’t manage to create a better or more logical story as I truly adored the location and atmosphere set in the Ashman Inn. It’s filled with horror references and secrets, which makes it a delight to explore, sadly the story doesn’t offer the same quality as the setting.
Time to explore
Since the setting of Ashman Inn is the true star of the game, you’ll want to spend a lot of your time exploring the sinister hotel, which vaguely reminded us of a certain iconic hotel sprouted from the mind of Stephen King. Exploring the hotel and all of its secrets will certainly be entertaining for a couple of hours as the environment is filled with fun little secrets and there’s plenty of room to pull open drawers and find hidden objects. What I did miss during the exploration however were the environmental puzzles. For some reason there are fewer of those in Broken Porcelain, putting the emphasis of the actual gameplay on the deadly creatures lurking around in the hotel.
Sneaking around those creatures is still the best way to survive since you can only harm them if you manage to attack them in the back. A task that wouldn’t be such a problem if your actual walking speed could match those of the monsters. On top of that comes the fact that you’ll need to run away and hide if a monster spotted you. Again, great on paper but not so great in the game. Running around in the hotel and pushing buttons to open certain cabinets or other potential hiding spots doesn’t always work that well, often ending in an unwanted death due to unprecise controls or bugs in the game. When it all works as it should, it’s an enjoyable and even thrilling game. Running away from those monsters, finding the perfect hiding spot, and remaining calm until the monsters go away will certainly get your adrenaline levels going. It’s just a shame that the bugs still present in the game often take you out of the experience.
The foundation is certainly there
It’s a shame the game never reaches its full potential as the foundation of a good horror game is certainly there. A lot of work went into the creation of the world and the engine used is certainly capable of demonstrating some stellar graphics. It’s a shame the actual gameplay and the vague morphing elements of the main character all stand in the way of greatness. On paper, Broken Porcelain should have been another hit, and one of the games you should definitely play this Halloween season. In reality, it feels like a rushed job to get the game in stores on time while it’s painfully clear the game still wasn’t ready to hit the market. I do hope the team gets another shot at redemption and maybe this game is salvageable with patches smoothing out the bugs still present today, but as it stands right now, it’s hard to recommend this one as the true horror is the number of bugs still present today.
