Dementium Remastered is the latest game by the great indie team Renegade Kid. If the title Dementium rings any bells it’s because the game originally released on Nintendo DS back in 2007. At that time it was received rather favorably so you may be wondering if the remake will stand the test of time.
You start out by waking up in the middle of an abandoned hospital. It’s dark, eerie, and gray. Well, except for the plentiful red blood trails and decorative splatter art on the walls. The lighting throughout the hospital is nearly non existent as you can\’t see more than a few feet in front of you. Instead Dementium relies on audible cues to inform you of enemy whereabouts long before you actually see them. Every enemy makes a distinct sound whether it be a deep groaning or shuffling on the floor, requiring you to stay alert.
The control scheme is largely the same from it’s DS predecessor: move around with the circlepad and look with the stylus or move around with the circlepad and look with the face buttons. Thankfully if you own the circlepad pro (why?) or a new 3DS with a c-stick the game recognizes and maps the camera control to the secondary joystick. It’s a game changing addition and shows that first person games can work well on Nintendo’s handheld, although I\’d argue PlayStation Vita does it better. Another really nice touch is the use of the bottom screen and stylus to write or sketch notes in your notebook which came in handy when I needed to jot down a code to unlock a door. Having to write down codes and hints made me flash back to when I would write down cheat codes for games when I was a kid before we had the internet. The game also keeps the mood and atmosphere consistent with a few creepy moments and jump scares.
That’s a good thing because there aren\’t many different enemy types. You\’ll encounter a ghost girl, weird worm like creature, headless corpse, along with other tired monster variations. More repetitive than the enemies is the environment—all of the hallways and rooms look nearly identical from one another and I found it very easy to get lost. Fortunately if you do enemies don\’t respawn at previously discovered locations. The game’s battle system is where the things start to fall apart for me and overall I found enemy encounters boring with the exception of the handful of boss battles sprinkled throughout. When you switch to a weapon your flashlight becomes holstered while you attack or shoot frantically in the dark until the enemy pops into view. It’s supposed to add to the suspense but it comes off as odd considering that the melee weapons are held in one hand. Also adding to my frustration is a brief pause that happens when an enemy jumps you which, according to Jools Watsham himself, is a design choice. To his credit he’s open to refining or changing gameplay mechanics if there is enough interest. He seems like a good guy. 🙂
Overall I feel lukewarm on this one. I didn’t have a bad time playing_Dementium Remastered_ , but it doesn\’t really offer anything new and if I had the choice between this or Resident Evil Revelations , I\’d go with the latter. I think the biggest issue I have is that everything feels mediocre at best and I feel like there are better ways you can spend $15 on the eShop. On a somewhat unrelated note if you\’re looking for a fantastic game by sir Jools I really enjoyed Xeodrifter. A lot.
