Review

Written by Jade Swann | Edited by John Gerritzen

Though the narrative and moral questions presented are interesting, this horror game is marred by frustratingly tedious gameplay and lacking mechanics. 

Those Who Remain is a psychological horror game developed by Camel 101. You play as Edward, a man who travels to the sleepy town of Dormont to meet with his lover and end their affair. Before he can begin to fix his mistakes, however, darkness settles upon the town and you find yourself thrust into a night filled with monsters and madness.

JUDGEMENT

As you explore the town of Dormont and try to stay in the light, you’ll find that there is something much more sinister at play than the monsters waiting in the dark. You’ll come across the cruel fate of an innocent girl and uncover all of the corruption that allowed the people responsible to go unpunished. With this information, you’re forced to make a series of choices by the demon who has thrust the town into such a nightmarish state: forgive or condemn the sinners. 

This mechanic poses an interesting moral dilemma, as the people portrayed — much like real people — are not completely good or completely evil. There are plenty of grey areas as to why they made the decisions they did, and it is up to you whether to take the high road and forgive, or let them burn for their choices. Moreover, it is clear that Edward himself has made immoral choices, which begs the overarching question present throughout the game: who are you to judge?

Speaking of choices, Edward is haunted by his own demons as well. While these tidbits of the past make for an interesting backstory, it almost feels like there are too many plot elements going on at times. There are the literal monsters scattered throughout the town, the immoral but very much human monsters that you must judge, and the monsters of Edward’s own past choices. There are a few points that tie these things together, but the threads are very minor and will probably leave you wondering why some were necessary to include at all. 

There are three different endings you can get based on the choices you make, which does offer some replayability. However, regardless of which ending you get, it feels abrupt and somewhat thrown together. After all of your exploring and running from monsters, several of the big questions are left unanswered, yet the explanation for how the demon came to be in Dormont is so neatly explained that it does not feel satisfying, let alone mentioning the three potential, but very brief ending scenes for Edward and the town’s fate. 

MAZE OF HORRORS

The mix of poor stealth mechanics and autosaving made several sections of the game almost unbearable to get through. There is one sequence where you must find six statues placed throughout a maze, pick them up individually, and carry them to three tables outside of the maze, all while trying to avoid a giant monster. If that weren’t already difficult enough, you can’t sprint while holding the statues, nor can you easily keep an eye on where the monster is, as the statue blocks most of the screen. This portion also autosaves at the very beginning, so if you are killed bringing the sixth statue back, you start back at zero and have to do it all over again. In this instance, and several others, it almost feels like every aspect was designed to frustrate the player, rather than provide an entertaining horror experience. Though there are some interesting puzzles thrown in throughout the gameplay, these are greatly overshadowed by the tedious sections. 

It is worth mentioning that the developers do seem to be listening to feedback and have added some small quality of life patches in the weeks following the game’s release. These patches came after I had already played and wrote this review, so a few of the minor aspects described above might have been changed. In any case, any patch that lessens the tedium is very much welcome.