The Mountains of Madness, Part Two
Conarium is inspired by the novel The Mountains of Foolia , but is set just after its conclusion. It follows the affair of four scientists and their attempt to go beyond those that are the limits of nature, immersing the player in an environment capable of ranging from the isolation of Antarctic frost to mysterious subterranean places, to arrive at the representation of fantastic situations -oniriche. All this, keeping what is the classic style of lovecraft stories, with a great atmosphere and with a particular preference for the preternatural and pseudo-divine suggestions. There is also a lack of citations to other works and to the cosmogony thought by the author, through game elements that are amalgamate to the plot.at best, we could call it the perfect introduction to that literary world.
Beyond that, the game gradually opens up through the details you will discover through the notes and the frequent visions that the protagonist will have. Frank Gilman, in fact, will “awaken” in a base in the middle of the ice, finding himself in the middle of the room wrapped with noises pushing a weird object from unknown nature.
Certainly there are no clichés on the insect, especially related to his amnesia and some situations that you have seen dozens of times; yet that of Conarium is an intriguing, mysterious and solid story, which does not give real points of reference even on what should be a certainty: we are really experiencing the adventure at the moment or suddenly something is assured of the role of a psychopop and is ferrying our memo of memories elsewhere, where a has drama consumed and we, in reflection, are somehow getting some of its ludicrous testimony?
In all probability, these and other questions will go through your head during the adventure, which unfortunately is rather short and will hardly keep you busy for more than 3 or 4 hours. If nothing else, the presence of multiple finals gives you a chance to face the adventure again, and a further stimulus comes from those optional areas that you could jump at the first run. These, moreover,
Walk of life
Conarium gives the best of itself in the presentation of history, the good texture, the great atmosphere and the enveloping soundtrack. The latter manages to emphasize the crucial moments and the joints, as well as those where the unusual looks and the danger threatens with its innumerable forms.
However, these “enemies” (and we tend to put the quotes) can only escape during the second half of the adventure, more moving than the physiological waiting phases of the start.
Although you will also find an ax at a certain point, there is no way to use it, because Conarium does not deviate from those that are now identified as a walking simulator.Indeed, the game allows a greater degree of interaction with the scenarios than other titles of the genre, and it would not even be wrong to frame it as an adventure that can not do without the puzzles to make you advance.
However, the puzzles are quite simple and intuitive, and the opening of some doors by means of the special keys is a spontaneous and double-stranded act to an unprecedented and linear addition, beyond some junction and a couple of backtracking moments. It is understood that if you are not exactly lovers of this kind of adventures, you may find yourself sorry; if, conversely, the story and the atmosphere are more relevant to the scale of your personal tastes, then the discourse changes completely.
Technically, Conarium makes a somewhat lazy use of the Unreal Engine 4: in spite of the performance that such a graphics engine might offer, the overall appearance remains good but not magnificent, and tearing phenomena are common when moving the camera horizontally . Beyond that, and especially considering that you are talking about a small development team, there are no other obvious problems. Very good is the art segment, which highlights the respect for some of Lovecraft’s visions and, at the same time, the dedication of the developers in paying him homage beyond the obvious commercial motives.
