Granny Remake

Granny Remake is a first-person horror game that throws players into an intense cat-and-mouse experience inside a haunting house. You wake up trapped in a barricaded room by a murderous lady known only as Granny and must explore the house trying to find a way to escape before Granny catches and kills you.

I enjoyed the intense suspense created by having an implacable enemy hunting me at all times, as I'm sure fans of Resident Evil 2 will relate to. The game ramps up feelings of paranoia as any little sound made could alert Granny to my presence.

It created a thrilling tension trying to stealthily explore without triggering her. Fans of immersive, terrifying gameplay along the lines of Outlast or Amnesia will find a lot to enjoy in Granny Remake’s no-combat take on the horror genre, especially if they're already familiar with the mobile original.

An Atmosphere of Dread

Granny Remake does an excellent job using visual and audio cues to make the house feel foreboding and frightening. Shadowy rooms barely lit by cracking sunlight or a blinking lightbulb make it hard to see what dangers might be lurking.

Sinister scrawlings on the walls and disturbing children’s drawings set up an unsettling backstory. Creaking floorboards and bodiless wails piercing the air ensures you never feel safe. The visual design is extremely effective at maintaining tension. Much like exploring the dark asylum in Outlast, traversing the house kept me anxious wondering when the next scare would hit.

Smart Use of Space

The layout of the house features a clever design that keeps players on their toes. Many areas initially seem like dead ends before solving puzzles reveals hidden passages to explore new sections and find useful items. However, taking the time to thoroughly investigate leaves players vulnerable to Granny sneaking up on them.

The balance between wanting to uncover secrets while knowing Granny could attack from anywhere kept me moving cautiously while poking into every little corner. Using locks, barricades, hidden doors and more to gate progress pushes players into dangerous situations if they want to escape.

Challenging Stealth-Based Gameplay

Actually evading Granny herself forms the core challenge. With no weapons to defend yourself, staying out of sight is critical to survival. Given Granny’s surprising speed even at her age, fleeing by running away rarely works. Players need to sneak carefully while watching out for triggering noises that could reveal their position.

Distractions like lobbing items to make noise elsewhere or hiding in cabinets or under beds become lifesavers if she gets near. This creates nerve-racking moments frozen in place praying she doesn’t check your hiding spot before limping away. Granny Remake pulls no punches in difficulty, making small victories hard-fought through skill and evasion tactics.

That said, I understand the lack of combat could be frustrating for some players. Games like Dead Space have made a name for themselves for effectively balancing the cat-and-mouse feeling of survival horror with satisfying combat mechanics. On the other hand, the Amnesia series proved you don't need combat to be a survival horror game – even if Amnesia: The Bunker kind of breaks that rule.

Pros

• Extremely tense atmosphere and gameplay
• Clever map design with plenty of secrets
• Challenging cat-and-mouse stealth mechanics

Cons

• Frustrating difficulty could put off some players
• Storytelling could be expanded more
• Occasional bugs or glitches, most notably in Granny's pathfinding

Granny Remake is a horror adventure that won't let you forget about the scariest surrealistic hospitality of the scariest granny. Enter the house of the monster that calls itself Granny again, but in an updated modern version. Enjoy the feeling of sticky fear that visited you during the first playthrough.Get nostalgic, smashing all conspiracy theories about this game, because now there is a story here.

Pros of the game:

• Old locations in a new quality and additional areas where you have never been before
• Now the creepy grandmother has more distinct facial features
• Learn the history of the house from the many notes