There is talk of previews again, again from Gamescom 2019, but this time in a horror key, thanks to a hands-on by Madness - Dear Father, creature of the Neapolitan studio Real game machine.
It is in the booth of Destructive Creations that the Colonial fair shows itself in one of its “less” mainstream aspects, the one which by its very nature relies on the most primordial of emotions known to human beings: fear. According to a rather summary, but not incorrect, subdivision of the genre, horror titles tend to be divided between those who rely on the so-called jumpscares (those that give a jolt of fear) and those who instead aim to torment the psyche of the player, with mechanisms far more complex than an easy fright. If we were to attribute Madness - Dear Father to one of these two categories, it would definitely be the first, despite the university setting which had the potential to be something "more". In the demo we tested, the protagonist, Marcus Pitt, finds himself having to run to his campus for a strange call received from his parents, professors at the facility.
Once he arrives, the horror is not long in showing up, plunging him and us into one suffocating estrangement that traces indelible gashes on the thin veil of security that until recently the corridors of the school were able to offer. What happened is not clear, nor how to get out: the demo does not show us the moments between the initial phone call and our arrival on campus, only the terror and the bloody bodies that are there to welcome us.
Dark is not our only enemy, but it is certainly the one that slows us down the most in exploring and searching for an escape route, so much so that we will have not one but two objects to illuminate our path: the classic lighter, which lights up little and briefly but without needing to be filled or other, and the torch, with more powerful lighting but also more hostile in the request for batteries to recharge it.
The developer who supported me during the hands-on wanted to clarify one aspect right away: Madness - Dear Father puts us at the center of one labyrinth after another, respecting the classic stylistic features of the genre (the door is closed and we must find the key, the switch doesn't work and we have to turn the power back on, etc.) without twisting them or letting out something more than ordinary. More noteworthy is the AI of the enemies: if in most cases those with the creatures are scripted encounters, there are several situations in which instead our tormentors wander aimlessly through the corridors, looking for us and following us.
If it is the fear of being caught that most motivates the search for a hiding place or a way to avoid the gaze of this or that creature, in the unfortunate event that we were found and attacked it would drop the curtain on the perhaps least justifiable feature in a genre and context like this: the need for a health bar. Let's be clear, it is not an element on the screen, indeed, the UI is so clean that it makes us shout a huge and heartfelt thank you, but it is difficult to find a reason why not to leave that insta-kill that has defined the genre so much .
There is clearly the fact that we played on normal difficulty and that it could be one reasoned move to bring the title closer to those who are perhaps more doubtful, but it remains a forcing that clashes not only in relation to other titles but also with some internal characteristics of Follia - Dear Father which instead more respect the criteria to be Survival Horror to which it would seem to aspire. The graphics do their job well, and both the environments and the monsters are fairly well-finished, without shining in the character design.
So let's sum up this title, which if on the one hand aspires to the greats of the genre, on the other hand it slips into a couple of user-friendly ideas that make you turn up your nose a little, especially in comparison to the complexity of the level design or the discrete sense of constant terror that it manages to inspire.
We will certainly keep an eye on him, because he has a hand that can still win if played well.
► Madness - Dear Father is an Adventure-Horror game developed by Real Game Machine and published by Destructive Creations for PC and Steam, Expected to be released in 2020
