Bringing cult classics to a extra fashionable, up to date platform is usually a dangerous proposition. What, if something, do you alter, and what do you retain the identical? When the sport you occur to be porting originated on the DS, a sure diploma of change is inevitable given the shift from a two-screen to a single-screen format, so naturally, a cautious steadiness needs to be struck with a purpose to rope in new gamers whereas retaining unique followers completely happy. With Dementium: The Ward, developer Atooi has opted for the most secure route doable, porting its 2015 3DS remaster of the 2007 unique over to the Swap with as few pointless adjustments as doable. Whereas this makes for an genuine recreation that helps protect the sport in gentle of the 3DS eShop closure, it additionally highlights a few of its unlucky drawbacks.
Going down inside a creepy medical ward, your protagonist awakens with no reminiscence, and it’s as much as you to flee from the complicated alive, combating off grotesque enemies and fixing puzzles alongside the best way. It’s your typical survival horror however with first-person mechanics; in a manner, it appears like a precursor to what Resident Evil would ultimately morph into with its seventh mainline entry.
Transferring over to the Swap, the controls have been up to date accordingly and really feel very a lot according to fashionable first-person shooters: motion is mapped to the left analogue stick whereas look/goal is on the appropriate. You’ll be able to select between three totally different management choices that swap stick and set off capabilities, and you too can invert the Y-axis if you want. All pretty customary.
There are not any touchscreen controls, which is unquestionably a blessing given how awkward the unique’s stylus aiming could be on a single display screen the place it isn’t wanted, however disappointingly, there’s additionally no choice for gyro aiming. For a lot of, together with this author, it appears an apparent selection to incorporate this wherever doable, and first-person video games like Metroid Prime Remastered have greater than confirmed its price. Hopefully, it will get patched in at a later date, however for now, it’s a obvious omission for an FPS on Swap.
Regardless, Dementium: The Ward controls fairly properly for essentially the most half. You’ll be able to regulate the aiming delicate to your liking and the rock-solid 60fps efficiency delivers a easy, steady gameplay expertise. Loading can also be virtually non-existent: you’ll be able to load up your saved recreation and be again within the motion in lower than a second. The identical goes for navigating by way of rooms, too. Whereas this isn’t utterly seamless, the brief transition from one space to the subsequent is fast and painless.
Relating to the sport’s fight, nonetheless, that is the place its age (and limitations of the DS/3DS) begins to turn out to be obvious. The enemies, whereas actually well-designed from a visible standpoint, do little greater than rush to the protagonist, flailing their arms about in reckless abandon. The boss characters don’t fare too properly, both, with an early encounter with ‘The Cleaver’ proving to be a reasonably monotonous affair through which you merely stroll backward whereas firing off a number of shotgun rounds. You’ll be able to crank up the problem if you need a bit extra of a problem, however basically, the best way the enemy AI behaves feels fairly fundamental for essentially the most half, they usually turn out to be mere annoyances fairly than one thing resembling a real menace.
What we do admire in regards to the recreation, nonetheless, is the way it strikes a tremendous steadiness between lighting up your atmosphere together with your torch and utilising your weapons. You’ll be able to’t do each on the identical time which, logically, could seem a bit odd, but it surely does make for some severely tense moments. You by no means know fairly what’s behind every nook, and figuring out you’ll probably need to sacrifice your visible support for a defensive merchandise within the occasion a grotesque monster launches towards you might be nerve-wracking.
When it comes to its general lo-fi presentation, Dementium: The Ward appears to successfully replicate the 2015 remaster as a lot as doable, and it most actually succeeds. Whereas this makes for a satisfying callback for followers of the unique, there’s additionally undoubtedly room for some enchancment to appease newcomers. The environments, for essentially the most half, look fairly equivalent all through, which led to a sense of repetition throughout the latter parts of the sport whereas making the in-game map close to sufficient necessary in case you’re to keep away from getting misplaced (fortunately, nonetheless, the map has been up to date for this launch to spotlight save rooms, which is actually a godsend). There have been hints of selection at factors, similar to a very creepy youngsters’s ward, however extra of this was sorely wanted.
That stated, the ambiance is great from begin to end, with strong lighting results, efficient use of blood and gore, and a constant piano tune that one way or the other manages to sound each unnerving and weirdly comforting on the identical time. It’s additionally a reasonably brisk recreation, clocking in at simply three or 4 hours; much less in case you’re a Dementium veteran and actually know what you’re doing. Whereas this would possibly properly sound a bit too brief for some, it felt like the appropriate size for us given the environmental limitations. And that ending, all these years later, nonetheless offers us the willies.
Conclusion
Dementium: The Ward is a secure Swap port that efficiently replicates as a lot of the 2015 3DS remaster as doable whereas updating the controls for a extra fashionable expertise. It is a brief recreation that does undergo from repetitive environments and uninteresting enemy encounters, however the overarching ambiance makes up for this in spades. In case you’re a fan of survival horror, there’s positively sufficient right here to scratch an itch, and the strong efficiency and tight controls make this a port price testing.
