Them and Us – Spotlight
Resident Evil and Alone in the Dark-style survival horror games like TendoGames’ Them and Us pay homage to the genre’s golden age. If you’re a single hero, you might find yourself trapped in a haunted house full of dead-end hallways and horrifying creatures just waiting to pounce on you.
The game opens with a comic book-style cutscene that grabs your attention right away. You meet Alicia, a disturbed former paramedic who has been sentenced to death for reasons that remain a mystery, but she is driven by a desire to find her daughter, who has gone missing. She wakes up in a locked room in an old mansion on a mysterious island after a disastrous prison bus uprising and sets out on a mission to find out where she came from and how she got there.
To begin, you’re given the option to play with either a tank control system with fixed camera angles, or a Resident Evil 4 over-the-shoulder perspective. It’s possible to play the game from a first-person perspective as DLC, if desired.) First, Alicia creates an easily accessible inventory that includes special folders for documents she finds as well as personal notes she has taken along the way. Constant preparation is required to keep track of what you’re taking with you and what you’re leaving behind.
It’s not difficult at all to get around here. The mansion and its grounds, as is customary in this genre, are guarded by a slew of doors and simple tasks that necessitate exploration and close scrutiny. In order to progress, one must acquire levers, crests, books, tools, and other items. Everything you need to know is there if you just take the time to look for it and have the patience to wait for the right moment.
Combat is what it is: the shambling dead are the primary antagonists, and they act exactly as you would expect them to. When you’re dealing with just one, it’s easy, but when you’re dealing with two or three, you’re forced to consider your options. You’ll have to be on your toes if you don’t engage them in close-range combat with your trusty knife, because they’re capable of sporadic behaviour aside from blindly charging toward you with arms outstretched.
Guns and ammo are scattered throughout the game’s various zones in such a way that you’ll never feel completely safe, even after multiple playthroughs. As the game progresses, you’ll encounter more and more unusual enemies, which will require you to adapt your strategy on the fly. In spite of the fact that there is a lack of healing items, some can be combined to create more powerful agents. Despite the fact that health item crafting is only a surface-level endeavour, it is still a worthwhile endeavour.
In the survival horror genre, sound design is crucial, and Them and Us gets the oppressive atmosphere just right. When paired with the excellent atmosphere, the music is particularly brooding and well-thought-out.
Minor aesthetic flourishes were also appreciated by me. For example, in outdoor areas there is lingering fog, and fireflies swarm around lamp posts, as well as how blood pools outward from a fallen zombie. Jaw and mouth movements mimic the sound of their groans, making them feel like an integral part of the atmosphere of dread. I was also impressed by the wide range of sizes, shapes, and wardrobes they had to choose from.
Technically, Them and Us is a disappointment. My frame rate was rarely above 20-30 fps, even when I reduced the graphics settings to “Very Low.” Many people, including one developer, told me that this problem often occurs when an application uses the PC’s integrated graphics instead of the system’s more powerful GPU (in my case an RTX 3060 Ti). However, even after using the Nvidia control panel to set the game to favour my card, the issue remained. Others, such as deleting and reacquiring config files or even renaming the executable, were of no use in solving the problem
I’m not a programmer by any means, but it’s possible that the ageing Unreal Engine 3 is to blame for some of this. The final product was a sluggish and unattractive gameplay experience that required long loading times. I trembled in fear, not because of the hungry critters, but because my framerate dwindled to zero whenever I came within range of an open flame.
Them and Us has a number of flaws, including a lacklustre level of graphical fidelity. While playing, a type of enemy can only be defeated by sprinkling it with holy water before attacking. In order to do so, however, you must perform a one-second animation before regaining control of your weapons, which leaves you unable to act for what seems like eternity. It’s still possible for the enemy to strike while you’re sleeping. Is it possible that zombies like to “play dead” and give you a limited window of opportunity before they become “aware?”
While you can hack and slash your way to victory, there are some points where you’ll have to wait for a “trigger,” such as the player picking up a specific item, before you can progress. In many of the game’s storey items, the text is sloppy and riddled with errors, which may be due to translation issues. Some of these qualms may not be very bothersome at first, but they become more apparent as one progresses through the game..”
It’s still true that Them and Us has its heart in the correct place. Ammo is running low, enemy types are multiplying, and the dreadful atmosphere will keep you alert and on your toes at all times. Amnesia: The Dark Descent’s storey and tone clearly influence this game, which is a good thing. However, my enjoyment of the experience was scuppered by technical issues on a system that was more than capable. The scare you’re about to get isn’t the one you expected, so buyer beware.
