Time to travel back to 2012. Youtube gaming is slowly building up and the most popular genre at the time was indie horror games. With stuff like Misao and The Witches House coming out (fun fact - T.W.H came out on my 11th birthday), people were constantly bombarded with thrill seeking content to enjoy.
The games were genius in their own right; bringing the player to make decisions to see different endings; Lore that gets built up as you progress, allowing you to replay multiple times to get to grips with everything going on. Even to this day, they're considered the pillar stones for any indie horrors that are released.
Although I was only 11, I ended up watching people like Pewdiepie and Luigikid before their channels blew up tremendously play them types of games, Pewdiepie especially for these particular games. While they've played many more games after these, the good old nostalgic days will always come to mind when I view them again.
The indie game in particular I wish to talk about today, however, is one that's had a new updated release as of recent. Yup, as the title says, it's Mad Father.
There will be spoilers for the game and any extras, so you have been warned...
While I haven't played the game myself at the moment (poor uni student and all that), I was first made aware of this update thanks to a video from ManlyBadassHero (he plays a lot of indie horror games, a great channel to check out). Recently, he released a 4 episode playthrough of the newest update out, including Blood mode and If. Being able to look at it again from a nostalgia point of view makes me understand more about the plot too.
For a little context (either as a recap, or for those who don't mind spoilers), Mad Father follows a 10 year old girl called Aya, who has to escape her home thanks to the revival of her father's past test subjects. She uncovers many secrets, including what really goes on in the basement and the truth behind her family. Created by the same company who made Misao in 2011, you know this was gonna be good.
Comparing the newest version to the original, you can tell they thought a lot more about modernising the aspects, making sure that their game can stand the test of time. The artwork has improved drastically. I mean...
Just look at her in the bad end! Yes, she might be a soulless doll now, but she looks majorly updated! The highlighting, the clothes, everything is just ship shape and shiny. While I'm still a tad upset there was no cg for Snowball (I'm not counting the Snowball clones), every single model has had a major revamp.
While I wasn't hearing much for the music change, the sounds were, again, so nostalgic (I'm gonna be saying this a lot, aren't I?). A soundtrack is what brings a world to life, hence why you can feel yourself being in the exact same house Aya is in. From being in the dungeons, to going through a flashback, the tones of music fit together really well. Innocence and ignorance are portrayed as major feel factors, so the soundtrack helps to distinguish between them.
The overall gameplay is revamped too, adding more actions to complete and different gimmicks to go through. Quick time events aren't as much of a struggle as they were in the past, but there's more jumpscares to worry about (especially in Blood mode, where the puzzles are changed slightly too). While this is all cool, I'd love to see a little more interaction with the world. As I have no experience with game development or animation, I don't know how hard it is to animate certain reactions or interactions, but it would be interesting to see Aya look at more objects and interact with them as an idle animation.
Alas, while I have spoiled the game many a time for myself, I can't help but feel like I've played it at some point. Nowadays, there's a lot more available when it comes to indie horrors, but the classics are always the nicest to come back to when you need a nostalgia kick. If you haven't been able to either watch or play them, I highly recommend you take at least a look at the big 3, Mad Father included.
Might scroll through itch.io to find any new ones and review. Who knows what might be found?
-R (15/11/2020)