Past Cure

Phantom 8 studio has done some awesome marketing for the supernatural thriller Past Cure, getting quite a few people excited for it. Nothing wrong with that, but it brings a danger too. You want people who anticipate your game but having hundreds of disappointed gamers is something you definitely don’t want. Sadly, and I say this with respect for all the developers, Past Cure is one of the most disappointing games I played in many years. 

THE GOOD

• The pace and storytelling are pretty unique and reminds me a little about Alan Wake, the mysterious main character Ian and multiple horror scenes in the game are by far the best that Past Cure has to offer. So yeah, the first small hour from the game is a little bit misleading, after that it is a serious downhill experience.
• Past Cure has many cinematic moments and the directing is nothing less than brilliant. Cutscenes are beautifully made with some great camera angles and pretty good visuals.
• While not perfect and sometimes a little blurry the visuals from Past Cure aren’t bad, I would even say that it is pretty impressive for a small team like Phantom 8.

Mixed Feelings

• I’m placing this at mixed feelings because it is actually good that the game doesn’t take long, I would have hated to play this longer than five hours. I understand that the developer has done effort in making a (questionable) good-looking game but price and content just doesn’t feel right. €30 is pushing it, even if the game was more enjoyable and polished.
• Most of the times the gameplay is basic and somewhere between fun and tiresome but one particular part in the game is simply devastatingly bad. The parking lot level is the most boring thing I played in ten years. Everything looks the same and it takes ages before you reach the final part. It just doesn’t make any sense either, cars are placed in the most unrealistic way, at least the game made me happy when this bullshit was finally over. Luckily the game kinda saves itself with some fun to play nightmare levels and some simple but amusing stealth sections.

THE BAD

• Lots and lots of game bugs, forcing me to restart. The game regularly fails to continue some kind of progression that happens after you complete something. For example, right in the beginning the fight tutorial was stuck on a specific move that I did a million times before restarting, another example. Taking an object but after taking it the game didn’t unlock the door. It isn’t isolated with these two examples, it happened way to often for not mentioning it. And who likes to force a checkpoint because the game refuses to continue? Right, nobody.
• It doesn’t end with that though, other issues like bugged Achievements, graphical errors, game freezes, sound glitches and more happen frequently. Giving players a frustrating overall experience, the game just misses some extra polish and the evidence can be found everywhere.
• I hate to personally attack someone but the voice actor from the main character Ian has done a terrible job (sorry), I just can’t sugarcoat it. No emotion whatsoever, the same can be said about the other voice actors. To be brutally honest this is the worst voiced game I heard in a long time, it is laughable how enemies say “I lost the target” or ” where is he” terrible, just terrible.
• I get it, the visuals are decent and I admire the effort but that doesn’t mean that it is fine too have frame rate issues and tearing all over the place. Even on Xbox One X the game fails with a decent enough performance.
• Missed opportunity, that’s how Past Cure feels after playing it. You could say that the marketing was the best that the game had to offer. The unique mix of different genres and the great start are ruined by some questionable design choices. One could hope that the developer learned from this game and that the next one will be (a lot) better.  Too many game concepts are underdeveloped, like the fighting mechanics or the special powers to leave a lasting positive impression.

Past Cure [Score: 3,5/10] I was really looking forward to play Past Cure but it has been one big disappointing failure right after the promising start. Gameplay can become “wave after wave” boring and nothing reaches an acceptable quality. Well, besides the visuals.. but that’s not why we play games right? Phantom 8 is definitely a developer with potential but they failed to really show it with Past Cure.