Dementium: The Ward

Dementium: The Ward is a first-person horror game originally released on the DS, featuring slow-paced and suspenseful combat and puzzles. Playing as a man with amnesia who wakes up in a monster-infested hospital, you must fight off nightmarish creatures as you attempt to survive. During your trip through the hospital, you'll uncover the truth behind your identity as well as the reason for the terrifying monsters. The game is very similar in tone to the Silent Hill games, as it was originally planned as an entry in that franchise. There aren't many creepy games on the Nintendo DS, so Dementium: The Ward is worth checking out if you're looking for a handheld horror title.

Main Game Features

• Intense first-person horror gameplay
• Over 15 campaign chapters
• 8 unique weapons to use

Story

In Dementium: The Ward, you play as William, a man who wakes up alone in a creepy hospital. Unable to recall who he is or why he is in the hospital, he stumbles around, looking for help.

After stumbling upon a blood-soaked room and witnessing a giant monster kidnapping a woman, he starts to realize the gravity of his situation. Stuck on the seventh floor of the hospital in the middle of a thunderstorm, William must fight for his life and find a way to escape the building. The story is a straightforward mystery that prioritizes atmosphere over exposition, encouraging players to explore and discover secrets for themselves. While it's never truly scary, due to the limited visuals and storytelling, Dementium has a good amount of blood and some creepy monster designs. These things are hard to come by in a DS game, so it's cool to see a title with a bit of gore.

Gameplay

Dementium offers a mixture of first-person combat and simplistic puzzles, littered throughout a linear progression of story chapters. At the start of the game, you are equipped with a notepad to keep track of clues and a flashlight to navigate in the dark. Before long, you'll discover some weapons to defend yourself, including a baton and a pistol. As you progress through each chapter, you'll discover other weapons to wield, including a shotgun, a revolver, and even a sniper rifle.

Despite the abundance of weapons, Dementium is a slower-paced game with occasionally aiming, so you'll have to make your shots count. Monsters are fast and can surround you from every angle, making the tough to pinpoint. The bigger monsters are easier to target, but can quickly kill you if you're not cautious. When you're not shooting at bloody creatures, you'll explore the dark and messy halls of the hospital, locating important items and solving various puzzles.

Conclusion

If you enjoy first-person games and appreciate the horror genre, Dementium: The Ward is worth a try. It's a fun but flawed game, that is ultimately limited by the capabilities of the hardware it was released on. There's a lot of ambition in Dementium: The Ward, including its mysterious plot, the exploration-based puzzles, and bloody gunplay. It definitely borrows a lot of inspiration from the Silent Hill franchise, so fans of that series will enjoy spotting the references as they play.

Pros

• Creepy atmosphere
• Bloody combat
• Interesting plot mysteries

Cons

• Useless second screen
• Rough visuals
• Annoying controls