When Capcom and Konami released their respective remakes of their classic survival horror games Resident Evil 2 and Silent Hill 2, they not only updated the graphics, but the movement and camera controls as well, replacing the fixed position cameras and tank controls for a third-person, player-controlled approach. Which seemed to work out, given how some people — myself included — really appreciated these updated versions.
So it was rather surprising when, last week, I got the opportunity to play the upcoming survival horror game Post Trauma, and was told by producer Paul Wilson that it has controls and cameras similar to the original Resident Evil and Silent Hill games, not the remakes. And that it was done intentionally.
What follows are my impressions of my time with this game… and its controls.
In Post Trauma,
which will be out this year for PlayStation 5, Xbox Series X|S, and PC, you play as a middle aged subway conductor named Roman. “He’s not in a great place in his life,” Wilson explained, “and while the player is not told why at first, it becomes apparent as they play through the story.”
Though before he deals with his personal issues, Roman has to figure out why he woke up on the floor of a subway car, with no one else around.
After looking around a bit, I moved Roman toward the door between subway cars, noting how, while the camera shifted from one fixed cinematic position to another, it only moved a little in any given direction when I tried to move it myself. It was kind of like sleeping on the floor of a subway car had left Roman with a stiff neck he could only move slightly.
Now in the second car,
I kept walking, only to find the door to the third car was barred with a cylindrical combination lock that was missing a piece. This prompted me to look around this car for it, and the previous car, only to discover that there was yet another subway car at the opposite end of the first, and it was here that I found the missing piece.
It was also where I found a bloody floor and a creepy mannequin. But let’s not worry about that now.
In order to move things along, Wilson nicely told me how to solve the puzzle that would give me the lock combo…and then gave me the solution. This was good because if I had to figure it out myself, that would’ve taken up all of my limited time with the game.
It’s also why, Wilson said, people will want to keep a pen and pad handy when they play the game. Which says something about the complexity of the other puzzles.
Opening the lock…
allowed me to enter the subway car’s control room, and stop the train. I was then able to get out and walk along the tracks to the next station. Again, exploration and observation were key, as I eventually came across some gates I couldn’t open until I went back, found a storage room, and located a handy crowbar.
It was in this room that I also found a cassette player and a large wooden box. And yes, Resident Evil fans, this is where I was able to save my game as well as store items I might need later.
As for the crowbar, it also came in handy again when I ran into a two-headed, naked…person? Mannequin? Don’t know; I was too busy pulling the right trigger rapidly so Roman would smack it upside the head like Gordon going off on a head crab in Half-Life 2.
This, Wilson explained,
was not the best course of action. In a nod to games neither old nor survival horror, melee combat in Post Trauma is somewhat similar to that of the Dead Souls series, in that enemies are really tough, and trying to button mash them to death leaves you open to attack, so surviving is more about picking the right moment to move in and strike.
As Wilson noted, “We definitely took some inspiration from those games. We wanted you to feel always vulnerable to dying. Every enemy, even ones that have low health, are still high threat.”
Though as Wilson quickly added, these combative moments are not common, which makes this less Souls-like and more Souls-lite. “In fact, we didn’t start with having the amount of action we do have in the game,” he admitted. “The action is something we expanded on slowly over the years.”
Which also explains…
what happens when Roman finds a gun. “While you do have a shotgun and a handgun,” Wilson said, “ammo is super scarce for both of them. The shotgun also has a lot of kick to it, and it takes Roman a moment before he can shoot again.”
Moving on from the fight — and thankful that, next to the crowbar in the aforementioned storage room, there was also a health pack — I explored more of the subway station, eventually making my way back onto the tracks…only to find the way blocked by more mannequins. So many mannequins. And sturdy ones, too. Hitting them with my crowbar did nothing. They didn’t break, they didn’t fall over, they didn’t wobble, even a little.
Thankfully, I was eventually able to make my way to another subway station, and to another break room. Where I found the creepiest thing of all: Fresh coffee. Clearly I was not alone.
While this marked the end of my time playing Post Trauma, I did have a moment to ask Wilson about some of the mechanics I noticed while playing.
For starters,
while combat may be unforgiving, other aspects of Post Trauma are not. The crowbar, for instance, does not suffer from wear or tear, and thus won’t break after a while. And the same is true for other melee weapons.
Similarly, while Roman has a wearable flashlight that helps him see better in the game’s many dark places, its batteries — unlike flashlights in way too many games — aren’t the cheap kind that die out after five minutes. They work like real batteries. Hence why Roman doesn’t have to go looking for new ones every time he explores a storeroom.
Though as Wilson noted, there may be times when your flashlight flickers for some reason.
Something similar can also be said about Roman’s stamina. While he can run, and running drains his stamina meter, he’s clearly in better shape than he looks because the stamina meter doesn’t drain quickly, nor does it take long to replenish when he stops to catch his breath.
But the most important thing I noticed while playing Post Trauma were the controls themselves. While yes, they do owe more to the original versions of Resident Evil 2 and Silent Hill 2 than their respective remakes, the controls work better. Granted, you still might get tripped up when the perspective shifts — especially when it goes from behind Roman to in front of him, or vice versa — but they still felt relatively intuitive, and not at all clunky.
In the end,
Post Trauma certainly seems like it’s going to be a genuinely scary and challenging game that will absolutely appeal to fans of the games that pioneered this genre. Whether they’ll enjoy it as much as the remakes, though, is something we won’t know until Post Trauma comes out later this year.
For more video game reviews, interviews, and previews, please check out the video game section of paulsemel.com, or Paul’s page on Open Critic.
