Remothered: Red Nun’s Legacy Preview
Like most people, I enjoy learning new things, especially nerdy, niche bits of popular culture. Case in point: “neo-giallo” cinema. In case you’re unaware — I sure was — neo-giallo refers to entertainment that imitates a popular 1970s form of Italian horror and thriller film. Characterized by super-saturated colors and surreal imagery, neo-giallo cinema is also the inspiration behind a trilogy of video games. Starting with Remothered: Tormented Feathers (2018) and Remothered: Broken Porcelain (2020), the trilogy is about to conclude with Remothered: Red Nun’s Legacy.
What the Heck?
Not having played either of the first two games, my time with Remothered: Red Nun’s Legacy was a bit lacking in context. However, the developer has stated that the upcoming game can stand alone. I guess that’s true. After all, most horror and mystery stories and games start with confusion, misdirection or a mystery.
Remothered: Red Nun’s Legacy starts with a mother named Susan, whose daughter Agata was mysteriously kidnapped. After receiving a cryptic audio recording suggesting her daughter is still alive, Susan travels to a decaying, isolated noble residence on the slopes of Mount Etna in Sicily—an estate once owned by the infamous Ashmann family.
The game begins with Susan tentatively exploring the creepy residence, which is absolutely dripping with foreboding. In typical puzzle adventure game fashion, Susan needs to search the cupboards and drawers for keys, collectables, and makeshift weapons. She helpfully narrates her thought process and feelings. As we all do, right?
The Chase Begins
Depending on how long she takes to examine the surroundings, Susan eventually stumbles upon a horrific scene of violence and torture: four masked women beating a suspended figure. Unfortunately, seen by one of the attackers, Susan is pursued through the shadowy estate, just barely outsmarting her attacker (or not, depending on how you play). I won’t spoil any more.
If this sounds a little like a sequence from a Supermassive horror game, you’re not entirely wrong. The 30 minutes or so that I played certainly aimed for a similar level of tension, jump scares, and growing unease. Especially once the chase kicked in, Remothered: Red Nun’s Legacy started feeling like classic horror.
Unfortunately, developer Stormind Games doesn’t have a Supermassive-sized budget. With some pretty janky animations and clunky character designs, Remothered: Red Nun’s Legacy felt decidedly AA. Using the Unreal Engine 5 has certainly allowed for some impressive lighting effects and supernatural distortions, however. While I’m not a fan of the character-narrating-the-action mechanic, veteran actor Cissy Jones did an effective reading as Susan. The chase sequence suffered a bit from controls that weren’t quite dialed in.
Deep Diving into Cinema Style
I think that fans of the first two games will appreciate Remothered: Red Nun’s Legacy’s step forward in presentation and enjoy having closure to the story (I assume, not knowing how it ends). Unwitting gamers dropped into Remothered: Red Nun’s Legacy might understand the basics, but miss a lot of references and important backstory connections. I’d say that at least watching a playthrough of the earlier games — each one is around three hours long — is almost required.
I enjoyed spending a few moments in the terrifying world of Remothered: Red Nun’s Legacy and learning something new. The neo-giallo cinema rabbit hole has been a fun one to drop into.
