Curiosity is a feeling and theme that is consistently present throughout In Sound Mind. Despite being branded as a psychological horror, there is very little to fear or by tormented by, instead the emphasis certainly leans towards the psychological aspect, offering up a surprisingly imaginative and interesting concept in this first-person experience.

The manipulation and interpretation of sanity, for both the amnesiac protagonist, psychiatrist Desmond Wales, and the characters that find themselves trapped in the madness, is wonderfully realised however, and is accompanied by atmospheric tension that keeps things unpredictable. While the gameplay feels bogged by the same formula that plagues most entries in the genre, its quirkiness and world of oddities that inhabit it help the light shine brighter on In Sound Mind than it otherwise would.

Desmond’s professional life has been devoted to helping those struggling with various mental health issues. Four of his patients succumb to their demons when a mysterious chemical infiltrates the town of Milton Haven and only by delving into their memories via tape recordings of their sessions can they finally find peace and move on. The spiritual aspect of the premise is certainly interesting and the supernatural, psychological or twisted reality that follows suit does an excellent job of keeping the narrative mysterious and engaging.

Each of these cleverly written subplots weave with the overall story in a manner that is more satisfying than it may seem from the early going. Themes of loneliness, depression and other mental health issues are explored and their implications and tolls they took on the four troubled patients make for a compelling adventure that admittedly keeps the tone sombre for the most part. While the traumas of mental health remain consistent throughout the near 10-hour adventure, the horror elements are barely present to begin with and almost disappear entirely in the second half of the game.

It’s a shame considering how well In Sound Mind manages to capture your attention in all aspects excluding its primary genre. There’s a handful of instances that could be confused as ‘jump scares’ to players less experienced in the sea of copy and paste horror titles from the last decade at least but fans of the genre will be left unscared and emotionally unscathed. This title would greatly benefit by excluding the word ‘horror’ from its description to prevent players going in and hoping for an experience full of frights and suspense and thus avoiding the inevitable disappointment their omission provides.

Exploration takes place in small, semi-open environments that are full of things to collect, ammo and puzzles to solve. The puzzles are well implemented and some of them are really fun to solve. There is a sequence early in the game that revolves around the player using the reflection from a broken mirror shard to identify objects of interest and to repel are supernatural foe. It was unique, cool and worked very well in establishing a unique series of events for the player to solve in order to save the day.

This mirror shard, like all other objects and mechanics, stay with the player when they return to the hub world between the tape sequences and can be used to open up new explorable areas full of new puzzles and things to find. The only meaningful collectibles are coloured pills that upgrade the players core stats relative to the colour of the pill such as health or stamina.

Visually interesting at every turn, from its playfully helpful and comedic mannequin encounters to the shootouts with the crazed, patrolling enemies in the clunky and unenjoyable gunplay sequences all the way to the wonderfully contrasting dark and gritty areas and bright flashes of colour, In Sound Mind has an aesthetic that manages to cleverly blend multiple styles and contrasts in a way that just works. The character models and assets within the environments are easily the weakest link of the visual chain but the environments themselves and some of the supernatural, psychedelic weirdness that takes place within them are undeniably impressive, and borderline abstract at times.

The atmospheric music works most of the time though its interruption with battle music in combat encounters does not work at all. This constant rise and fall of atmosphere and combat balancing act results in both coming across relatively weak and failing to meaningfully enhance the experience in favour of either. The voice acting is decent, despite some campy dialogue, and the sound design overall is pretty solid. Even though the overall tone of the audio-visual presentation is inconsistent to say the least, the end result is a presentation that feels like a jack of all trades but master of none type deal.

Weak gunplay, lack of horror elements and a general inconsistency with its score hinder the potential of In Sound Mind’s ability to feel more immersive and atmospheric. The dreamlike nature of the tape sequences, the comedic elements of the mannequins in particular and the genuinely interesting puzzles keep the experience far from flat. Fun visual moments, an interesting story and unexpected lean in to adventuring rather than scares, In Sound Mind is an enjoyable way to spend 10 hours that offers a little food for thought in regards to the mental health issues at the heart of it all. Oh, and you CAN pet the cat.

+ Fun puzzles

+ The mannequins

+ Interesting substories and overarching narrative

+ Cool visual style

– Poor gunplay

– Inconsistent score

– No replay value

– Lacks the horror element of its ‘psychological horror’ listing

The post In Sound Mind Review first appeared on Games of DAYNE.

Unfortunately porcelain is the least broken part of this sequel

Remothered: Broken Porcelain is the sequel to 2018’s Remothered: Tormented Fathers. Due to its primary timeline taking place in 1973, this instalment is essentially a prequel that answers a lot of the questions from the first game while continuing the overall narrative of the series in the present day sequences.

Regrettably, this third person survival horror is broken to the point of unplayability in cases such as my own experience and has more bugs than just the moth-centric supernatural abilities explored in this title.

The legacy of a tormented father

As with Tormented Fathers, the story alternates between the present day and a previous time period. In Broken Porcelain, the narrative of the old woman introduced in Tormented Fathers, Madam Svenska, continues to unfold as she recounts a story to the unseen Mr. Manni character.

Broken Porcelain has a handful of playable characters including Rosemary Reed from Tormented Fathers while also introducing 3 others. The player primarily plays as Jennifer, daughter of Richard Felton who acted as the primary antagonist of Tormented Fathers. Jennifer’s story is played from her present in 1973 and also has playable flashbacks from when she first arrived at the Ashman Inn, the predominant setting of Broken Porcelain.

Jennifer’s interaction with fellow maid Lindsay “Linn” guide the story for the most part, allowing the player to experience the origin of their friendship and the struggles they endure due to the twisted manipulation at the hands of Stefano Ashmann, owner of the Ashmann Inn. Continuing the story first revealed in Tormented Fathers, Ashmann’s experimentation with the Phenoxyl drug and it’s mind control properties is further explored and Jennifer’s unique immunity to its power is unraveled.

The deepest and darkest parts of Jennifer’s past and family are laid bare in a tale that is unnecessarily over complicated. The explanation of telepathic and hypnotic control of the subjects infected with Phenoxyl and the collective consciousness created as a result will likely confuse players that don’t pay absolute attention to these scenes.

Playing out alongside Jennifer’s story is Rosemary’s continued search for Celeste from Tormented Fathers who players will recall is actually Jennifer. Interwoven with Jennifer’s arc, Reed’s largely plays out in conversation with a bed-ridden Ashmann in present day, his face disfigured to the point of being unrecognisable.

Reed’s motives are not made clear until the closing moments of the game in very predictable fashion. Her interest in finding Celeste/Jennifer is obvious to eagle eyed players within minutes of the opening of Broken Porcelain and unfortunately this predictability undermines the “big twist” at the climax.

Majority of the cutscenes end abruptly, jolting the transition between cinematic and gameplay to the point where the two segments feel disconnected. This lack of cohesion significantly kills any momentum the story may have been building up to and during the cinematic.

Hide and seek

The gameplay remains similar to Tormented Fathers in almost every aspect. Played in the third person perspective, the player must navigate the environment using stealth so as not to alert the stalking enemy characters to their presence. Large boxes, closets and lockers can be hidden inside while they pass or used to break the line of sight of any enemies in pursuit.

If an enemy sees the player enter one of these hiding spots they will immediately rip them out from it. If a hiding spot is used while being chased but not seen doing so, a brief mini-game ensues where the right thumb stick must be kept inside a circular area to remain calm and avoid detection.

3 distraction items can be held which include the likes of bottles or teacups which can be thrown to lure enemies. A singular defensive item can also be held which can be used to break an enemies grip if caught following successful execution of on-screen prompts.

Components can also be looted and used to craft enhanced distraction and defensive items. These, as with the distraction and defensive items themselves, can be found in the likes of drawers and boxes or out in the open.

Sprinting and crouching are intended to allow the player the opportunity to approach any encounter with stealth or to make a run for it with the risk of drawing attention.

Simply broken

Since launch, October 13, only one update has made its way to Xbox and this unfortunately has not remedied majority of the lengthy technical issues that have haunted my experience more than any jump scare.

Sprinting vs crouching made no difference in my enemies detection of me. The ability upgrade system I can not even discuss as it has never worked despite finding dozens of the moth keys required to upgrade them at upgrade boxes. What upgrades are available and how do they enhance the experience? I don’t know as they don’t work.

Countless interaction prompt issues prevent items from being picked up, things from being opened and enemies from being attacked. Volume drops in and out across the board whether it’s dialogue, sound effects or music with no rhyme nor reason. Audio constantly falls out of sync with the characters facial animations and sound effects can dip out mid-effect and not return.

Doors not opening and enemies hearing me from a different room, despite my crouching and know EXACTLY where I am hiding are not near as frustrating as my save file that on every occasion reverted to my very first save.

I tried 4 playthroughs across two different Xbox One’s, an X and an S, each with the same disastrous results. Reverting to that one save point, losing any and all items in my inventory, inability to upgrade and regular crashes to the dashboard made progression a nightmare.

A technical mess

The overall presentation is difficult to describe, compliment or put down as it is simply not consistent enough to get a feel for how much of a difference it could have made.

Visually, the lighting is very impressive but the character models and animations leave much to be desired. The environmental design of competent but regular texture pops either add or remove any detail with alarming regularity.

Aside from the audio issues outlined earlier, the voice acting is extremely hit and miss and the dialogue feels very forced. Constant use of profanity, especially towards teenage Jennifer that suggest regular promiscuity is overly used and feels out of place and inappropriate. I personally take no issue with offensive language in video games but when it’s used without context or so freely it loses its effect.

Broken (and unplayable) Porcelain

The story and premise is intriguing and the characters are realised through deep exploration of their backgrounds. Character depth and motivation is largely successful in Broken Porcelain, as is the gameplay concept and cool enemy design.

Coming into Remothered: Broken Porcelain with anticipation after enjoying Tormented Fathers, it really is a shame how broken this game is. In all my years of video games I have never experienced something so unplayably broken.

I have no doubt a number of these issues can be fixed through frequent and regular updates but until then I am unable to recommend this title. There’s a decent game in here somewhere but whether that can be rebuilt from the broken state it is in now, it’s uncertain whether it will see the light of day.

+ Interesting but slightly complicated story

+ Character development

– Countless game-breaking technical issues

– Upgrade system inaccessible

– Audio situation

Games of DAYNE Rating

NO SCORE AT TIME OF PUBLICATION

I will return to this review if/when the game is fully playable and a verdict can fairly be assigned.

Developed by: Stormind Games

Published by: Modus Games

Release Date: October 13 2020

Platforms: Xbox One, PlayStation 4, Nintendo Switch and PC

– Additional links –

For more of my reviews, click HERE.

To see this review and other content from my associates at BG4G, click HERE.

The post Remothered: Broken Porcelain Review first appeared on Games of DAYNE.

Charming, challenging and full of heart. And a rolling skull full of magical clay…

Skully very simply describes the playable character in this enchanting platforming adventure. Brought to life via special mud by an elemental deity named Terry, Skully is as described, a skull that rolls across a dangerous and obstacle filled island that Terry is trying to save by uniting his three estranged siblings. Light puzzle solving and platforming accompanied by charming environmental and character designs result an overall cute presentation. The gameplay becomes more layered as Skully gradually discovers the ability to summon a small variety of creatures to control, each with their own unique abilities that will be required to solve the myriad of environmental puzzles. These new abilities and associated puzzles incite more challenging stages which can easily frustrate until solved. 

The narrative is driven by Terry’s ongoing family feud with his siblings, all of which are elemental deities, masters of elements such as water and fire. An initially simple premise, it soon becomes more layered and compelling, surprisingly heartfelt and at times tense and unpredictable. The emotional strings that developer Finish Line Games pulls are deep and successful, presenting a more meaningful message than would be expected from a puzzle platformer with some genuinely unexpected twists and turns so thoughtfully layered into the experience. Witty writing and humorous dialogue from Terry and his family of oddities entertains throughout over the course of at least 5-6 hours for players experienced in the genre, though that can easily be inflated for more casual players. 

The gameplay evolves throughout the course of the game, initially Skully is able to roll across the landscape and jump as means of platforming. As Skully discovers special mud pools that allow the clay that has brought him to life to materialise into creatures, referred to as Summons, the gameplay gets more intricate with each of these new Summons having an ability or two exclusive to their form. The ability to knock over large rock formations to create bridges, maneuver platforms to cross otherwise un-crossable sections and double jump are just a few examples of the new mechanics that both ease some of the platforming challenges while also introducing even more. With one stick to control Skully and the other to control the camera, it is much easier than similar titles to ensure the environment is appropriately visible and centered before attempting to navigate it. 

Checkpoints are triggered manually at mud pools, scattered very generously at regular intervals, which Skully can submerge in to restore health lost from enemies or the environmental hazards such as water. Skully is unable to attack in his base form but is able to use the mud pools to summon additional forms that may be able to do so. Up to 3 Summons can be active at any one time and Skully is able to eject from a Summon at will and enter another that is active. Any active Summons can also be dismissed at the mud pools. Becoming familiar with the environmental puzzling that is associated with the abilities of a specific Summon is critical to ease the frustration the trial and error gameplay presents and later in the game combinations of different abilities will need to simultaneously be in effect in order to progress. While the game is not overly difficult, there are moments that may temporarily frustrate, specifically those that require precision and delicate timing.  

The enemy variety is fairly limited but their designs are fun and the nature of their attacks and patterns are simple enough to adapt and overcome. The most difficult enemy is the players own ability to carefully traverse water, which damages and quickly kills Skully, and narrow paths that hang high above land and certain death. There are a number of sections that throw further chaos into these situations by adding wind or fire for example as an obstacle to also be mindful of.

Each of the 18 stages have a number of flower heads to collect that serve no in-game purpose outside of Achievements but also at regular intervals unlocked some very cool art that can be checked out in the main menu. These flowers can be in hard to reach places that may require backtracking or very careful platforming to obtain. 

The cute and playful visual design is appropriately accompanied by joyful sound design in both music and effects. The presentation is charming start to finish and is sure to enchant players from all generations. 

Skully is fun but frustrating and funny but heartfelt. It manages to balance players expectations with surprise just as easily and often as the player must literally balance Skully across its environmental platforming. Trial and error will likely become all too familiar but the joy overcoming these obstacles and unraveling even more of this world is well worth the effort. 

Final Verdict: 

+ Surprisingly heartfelt and well written story 

+ Fun platforming with the different Summons 

+ Entertaining banter between Terry and his siblings

– Some frustrating sections 

– Little replayability after story is complete  

Games of DAYNE Rating

Developed by: Finish Line Games

Published by: Modus Games

Release Date: August 4 2020

Platforms: Xbox One, PlayStation 4, Nintendo Switch and PC

The post Skully Review first appeared on Games of DAYNE.