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Remedy: An Adventure Game
Review by Toger
March 2005
I love going on vacation. I can get away from the everyday grind
and relax, visit friends or shop and eat 'til I drop. It's fun
until you get bad news. What if a good friend—who happens
to be a detective—suddenly dies? What if you thought your
friend's most recent case was the reason for his untimely demise?
Would you consider investigating the case on your own?
Such is the premise of Remedy, a new independent game
from Swedish husband/wife team Mikael and Eleen Nyqvist.
Remedy's story begins when Carol Reed, a young English
girl who's vacationing in Sweden, receives a letter telling her
that her friend, Conrad Vogel, a local detective, has suddenly
died. Included in the letter from Conrad's sister is a letter
from Conrad telling Carol about a strange case he's been working
on where he could use Carol's help.
Gameplay is standard point-and-click through node-based environments,
with the viewpoint always through Carol's eyes. Players who may
suffer from motion sickness should have no problem, as Remedy's
camera does not pan. The interactive cursor changes from directional
arrows for movement to gears for using an inventory items or a
hand to open/close doors or pick up items. Accessing your inventory
is simply a matter of moving the cursor to the top of the screen
to open the inventory bar. A right-click or press of the Esc button
will bring up the save/load/exit options.
As with other games using the Adventure Maker engine, movement
is limited to the four basic cardinal directions—meaning
entry to some locations is only accessible from a precise spot,
which you may only see from one specific direction. In one particular
location, I found myself doing the "one forward step, look
right, look left, repeat" shuffle, which caused me to lose
track of where I was in relation to the rest of the room.
Remedy's puzzles mainly consist of the inventory-based
variety—picking up whatever isn't nailed to the floor and
using it in the appropriate place. There's even an instance where
you'll combine inventory items to make something new. You won't
come across any situation too mind-crushing to figure out. There
are no timed sequences, labyrinths or dying, although there is
a small musical puzzle and one involving colors.
If you've ever wanted to live inside your favorite watercolor,
then you'll love the look of Remedy. Backgrounds were photographed
in Norrköping, Sweden with a digital camera and then processed
in Photoshop to give the appearance of a watercolor painting—everything
has soft, blurry edges. In some instances, zooming in for a closer
look will give you more detail.
As with other Myst-style games, Remedy is a somewhat
solitary quest. You will meet and interact with a handful of characters
whose still images are superimposed on the lush backgrounds—their
photographs will change as you proceed through the subtitled dialogue
tree.
As you chat up the locals or discover clues, new locations will
open up for you to investigate. A handy map is available to access
the various locations. Remedy is very linear—not that
there's anything wrong with that—but you will find that not
all can be solved when you first encounter a problem. There is
a small amount of traveling back and forth.
Remedy's original music score was charming and very soothing,
although I will admit that while stuck in the first location,
the snippet of music that looped got a tad annoying. Once I was
free of that location, the rest of the music faded into the background.
Voice work was pretty good, especially since the actors were
all friends and/or family. A couple of the characters sounded
a little flat, but it wasn't too bad. Several times, I had trouble
hearing what was being said, as the sound would suddenly drop
in volume.
Strangely enough, there isn't a lot of ambient sound during the
game—even while wandering through the city. It would have
been a nice touch to hear the sounds of a bustling city, even
if the still photographs didn't show it.
As I read over this review, it occurs to me that I've given the
impression that I didn't really enjoy Remedy—in truth,
Remedy is a soothing, albeit extremely short, diversion.
I was somewhat surprised when it abruptly ended after only three
or four hours of play. I especially enjoyed looking at
the game; unfortunately, while my inner graphic junkie loved it,
the gamer in me was left wanting more. 
—Please visit our
forum to discuss this game—
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