Those Who Remain in Preview - Spiritual Successor to Alan Wake?

Those Who Remain follows in the footsteps of favorite critic Alan Wake as a mystery thriller. Our preview shows whether the title is convincing despite the indie budget.

• Those Who Remain: The story of protagonist Edward - from great happiness to ruin
• Indie title negotiates mystery horror between two worlds
• Those Who Remain will be released in the first quarter of 2020 for PC, PS4, Xbox One and Nintendo Switch

Hamburg - After the mystery gem Alan Wake has been around for ten years now, horror fans are longing for the next shot of dark thriller fare. Those Who Remain from developer Camel 101 could be this next shot and wants to follow in the genre king's footsteps with a dense atmosphere, puzzles and a supernatural story. We were able to play the game before the release and reveal in our preview whether Those Who Remain should write the title " scary scary " or rather " scary boring ".

Those Who Remain: From a happy family man to a mental wreck

Protagonist and family man Edward , had everything the heart could desire. He lived a peaceful life and shared his everyday life with his beautiful wife and little daughter. But something had gone wrong and ruined his life from one moment to the next. Depressed and completely frustrated , he finds himself at his desk, a weapon at hand next to him and the happiness that once accompanied him was inexplicably gone.

Edward didn't stay away from alcohol either, as can easily be seen from the whiskey bottles on his desk . We don't know exactly what happened. The tragic events initially remain a mystery . Edward, plagued by himself, now only wants to end everything and decides to leave his wife . When he finally takes the car to her motel and arrives at the reception, no human soul is in sight. No employees or passersby, absolutely nobody seems to be there yet.

Only an old radio, curiously still running, indicates potential life in the motel. Out of curiosity, Edward ultimately decides to take a close look at the area. The first clues can be found within a few seconds. Armed with a key, Edward finally heads to his wife's supposed room. But there is no human soul behind the closed door either. What Game Are Those Who Remain Playing With Us?

Those Who Remain: Protagonist completely lonely - What just happened here?

© Wired Productions

Those Who Remain - that's how horror fun is played

From this point at the latest, the basic mechanics of Those Who Remain become clear. The game wants to give the player a feeling of curiosity , but this also always comes with a slight discomfort . Edward is able to pick up items, move them, and open drawers, doors, cars, or other items unless you need a key. Those Who Remain completely dispenses with weapons , so the threat that is always on the neck of the player appears all the more dangerous. The horror is less about elements like jump scares , but manages to convince through the appropriate use of different sounds and the associated setting.

The key element of Those Who Remain is the change between the normal and a kind of parallel world . In that, the twisted and unrealistic physics play an important role. The puzzles in the game are largely based on the two worlds principle. To get into the parallel version of the respective area, you have to go through a portal in the form of a dimensional door. In principle, this means: If I can't get any further in the real world, I have to change something in the other.

Another basic game element is the alternation between light and dark . The darkness always poses an enormous danger for Edward, which can easily be recognized by the threatening creatures with bright white eyes . If he approaches this, it was for him. However, if the monsters come into contact with a light source, they disappear inexplicably. Conversely, this means that light is the only way for Edward to move forward. In the sections seen so far, it has always been the case that the creatures have surrounded the surroundings until all the puzzles there have been solved. Where Alan Wake occasionally used shallow shooter parts, Those Wo Remain completely avoided violence in our session with the game.

The abandoned gas station: location of the demo of Those Who Remain.

© Wired Productions

To get a more precise picture of the type of puzzles, here is a short example: In front of Edward there is a way inside a gas station, but the monsters block the only way. To be able to walk on this, a car is right in front of them. So first we tried to open the car and turn on the headlights , but an invisible wall prevents us from doing so. So, in the skin of depressed Edward, we decide to dive into the parallel world to get to the bottom of it. Once there, Edward discovers the real cause behind the blockade: the car is surrounded by plants , which we first have to get out of the way. To get rid of the tendrils, we have to explore the area and finally find an item that is the answer to the puzzle. After we finally cleared the car of the weeds , it goes back to the normal world , whereupon we can activate the headlights - a literal ray of hope for Edward.

Nobody eats here anymore - Those Who Remain relies on loneliness and a dense atmosphere.

© Wired Productions

How much the difficulty of the puzzles varies in the later game remains to be seen. Nevertheless, the approach is very coherent and the atmosphere that the game wants to convey was also staged appropriately . Not only does Edward have no guns, Those Who Remain deliberately does without a life indicator and continuations . Should the opponent catch us, it will go straight on after a short loading sequence. At the end of the 45-minute demo, an unknown girl appears who appears to know Edward. At this point we do not find out what the girl's intentions are. Shortly afterwards, however, another human-like girl with supernatural powers appears . Panicked, Edward runs away from the aggressive girl as she lifts the whole street into the air with telekinetic forces and catapults us. Shortly afterwards the demo ends.

Those Who Remain: Even supernatural is not neglected.

© Wired Productions

Those Who Remain in Preview: Conclusion on the Mystery Indie Title

Those Who Remain is not a classic horror game , but rather feels like a mystery thriller like Alan Wake . It basically does without jump scares and wants to give the player a constantly accompanying feeling of malaise in combination with a lasting feeling of curiosity. The game does this all the time. In the time we played, Those Who Remain convinced with its dense atmosphere and aroused the desire for more. Overall, the indie title will span between five and six hours of play and will also appear on all major platforms . Genre fans can look forward to those who remain in the first quarter of 2020 .

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