Those Who Remain Critic Reviews

Those Who Remain is a good horror experience in a genre filled by many similar games. It offers good story and interesting puzzles, and throws some decision making your way, but also suffers from many technical and design issues that prevent it from being good enough for all tastes.

Those Who Remain leaves much to be desired and never pays off, no matter how many notes you read. Sure, there’s a decent narrative to discover within the game’s dark themes, but that is overshadowed by the sloppy structure and poor control scheme. It’s a shame because I really felt like there would be some kind of pay off at the end of this supernatural mystery, but I was left in the dark.

It’s easy to see what Camel 101 was going for as it constructed Those Who Remain’s dark and foreboding world, but while the intent was noble, the execution leaves much to be desired. The game’s low price point might appeal to someone who’s desperate for a new game to play, but any wayward souls who come across the exit for Dormont while cruising the horror game highway should just keep on driving.

Those Who Remain features an eerie atmosphere, inventive puzzles, and some moments of genuine tension via its shape-shifting world, but fussy controls, one-dimensional stealth, and a narrative that lacks cohesion prevent it from stepping completely out of the darkness and into the spotlight.

There is an awful lot to like about Those Who Remain, but unfortunately, there is also a lot which will leave players deeply frustrated. Its most fundamental problem is that it tries to do too much. The atmosphere and storytelling, particularly at the start of the game is a great start, but the developers felt the need to add elements of survival horror, which ultimately exacerbate rather than scare.

Apart from its frightful visuals and clanky controls, Those Who Remain is a somewhat interesting experience. The protagonist is literally asked to shed the light on its past as he plods through the ominous city of Dormont. Quite short though, the journey of Edward might give some cold sweats to the most fearless players.

Those who remain to the end of this game might find some tidbits of enjoyment in the puzzles, or weighing up some pretty heavy narrative decisions. But Those Who Remain too often forgoes its better ideas, for ones derived from better, more well-executed horror games and doesn't execute those very well.

Those Who Remain is a puzzle game disguised as a survival horror. It fails to deliver a memorable and thrilling game experience and is based on an old game structure with very few interesting moments.

There’s an intriguing and intelligent story to Those Who Remain, but poor checkpointing and awkward chase scenes often spoil the experience.

With two different endings, Those Who Remain is worth playing through all the way at least once to find out how the story ends. But with so many issues, it’s hard to find the motivation to jump back in to reveal that second ending. There’s a small bit of horror and well-crafted atmosphere on offer, but it’s short lived – and there’s definitely better games to play in the genre. Maybe give it a miss, at least until the technical issues have been (hopefully) fixed.

If you're simply looking for some quick jump-scares, then Those Who Remain is an adequate choice, but there are likely dozens of games on Steam or Itch.io that are better and less expensive than this.

Those Who Remain doesn't add anything relevant to the horror genre.

Although it had some good ideas at the start, Those Who Remain feels like the most cookie cutter horror game possible that barely manages to present anything fresh enough to keep you interested across the six hour playtime.

Those Who Remain is difficult to recommend, but there is an interesting meditation on guilt, redemption, and judgement hidden amongst an unfortunate mass of clunky design and gameplay. It might even be that watching someone else play the game is the best way to enjoy it, so you won't have to fight the controls and frustrating checkpoints. Ultimately, the game itself fails to live up to the potential of its ideas. This is one that should remain on the shelf.

Those Who Remain is a trivial story about corruption and injustice. Trying to seem like a horror game, it is not able to scare even a schoolboy. Pixel hunting and a weak story cause only disappointment. However, from a small company that has not released a single notable project before, it was hardly worth waiting for pleasant surprises.

Those Who Remain is way to shaky to bring the players in a world of horror, or even have the slightest feel of fear. If you seek thrills, you can find much better elsewhere, and probably for cheaper.

A mediocre experience that’s less psychological horror than it is torture. There are better horror experiences out there.

Those Who Remain can work if you are looking for simple scares.The atmosphere works well and puzzles are based on some very good concepts. But the rest of the elements simple ruin the experience, even when the game tries it hard to include story choices to be more complex. With so many other similar and better games out there, there is no reason to recommend it.

Through the eyes of an exasperated protagonist, Those Who Remain borrows from better games to tell a by-the-numbers horror story with the illusion of morality. Rife with puzzles so simplistic they become tedious, its delivery may leave players in the dark.

It’s really all kind of shame that Those Who Remain is so flawed, because it’s got such a good idea at its core. In better hands, this probably could’ve been a much better game, but as it stands you’re safe avoiding it entirely.