Posted on: July 6, 2023
groze
Verified ownerGames: 1456 Reviews: 39
Good game, not their best
Burnhouse Lane started out as The Cat Lady 2, and it shows. They tell us this in a letter included in the Extras section. They also tell us it's their most ambitious project yet, something that's also obvious, considering how graphically more polished Burnhouse Lane is, compared to Rem's previous work. That being said, it feels like the lesser game. Unlike the first Cat Lady (one of my favourite games ever), we get an info dump right at the start, something that we would have discovered alongside Susan, in the first title, by playing the game with her and keeping her company. We don't know (or, to be honest, even care about) this new protagonist, and they just tell us a bunch of stuff right from the start that could have happened to Susan Ashworth but it's less impactful. Then we go on our mission, we are obviously a nurse, since Rem apparently can't make a single game that's not about nurses or includes a nurse at some point (I loved it in The Cat Lady, but you have to stop at some point, right?), we make a deal with some otherworldly figure that isn't as interesting as the Queen of Maggots from the previous games, just a version of the Cheshire Cat from American McGee's Alice and, just like in the first game, we are charged with punishing some rotten souls in order to save ourselves from lung cancer, because this game is basically an enormous anti-smoking ad. As for the gameplay, it's OK, plays like the other games, they included some platforming that's not perfect but at least it's... serviceable? I'm all for devs trying out new things in their games, but maybe try stuff you're actually good at developing, next time? micAmic's music is good, but the choices of background music in some parts are really bad and do not set the right tone for the moment. That's it. If you're a fan of Rem's games, get it; otherwise, just stick to The Cat Lady and Downfall Redux (maybe Lorelai, even though... meh). Not much in this, that you wouldn't get from the previous titles.
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