Past Cure Reviews
Past Cure isn't going to be for everyone. It's a budget title from a group of first-time game developers and that's prevalent throughout the game. From odd mechanic changes and tone shifts between Ian's nightmares and reality, to the often confusing story, it feels like Phantom-8 had a lot of different ideas for how they wanted the game to shake out. It just didn't quite weave them together as seamlessly as they had hoped. On the flip side, they definitely have the potential to crank out an amazing horror game as their blend of puzzle-based gameplay and environmental work made for some both satisfying and eerie moments. Navigating through Ian’s nightmares were some of the most enjoyable experiences I’ve had with a horror game since Resident Evil 5. There’s a delicate balance of tension that many horror games can't seem to find, but Past Cure felt just right in this regard to me. I just wish there were more of this aspect throughout the game. If you don't come in expecting The Evil Within or Resident Evil and keep your expectations in check, you’ll likely find something about this budget psychological action flick that you'll like.
Past Cure is fun with its mix of stealth and action. After the moderate entry, the mysterious story picks up speed.
Review in German | Read full review
_______________________ “From guns to cool abilities, to quick and bone-crushing combat you'll find out just how awesome Ian is.
Past Cure is too busy trying to figure out what genre it is, failing to execute the simplest mechanics that would've made the game far more enjoyable.
As you progress through the game, there are so many twists and turns in Past Cure that you never really know what’s going to happen next. It’s also fair to say some of these twists and the settings they are based within, are a lot better than others. Past Cure has some fantastic ideas, although it’s almost as if developer Phantom 8 Studio is trying to settle on a genre it feels most comfortable with so has used Past Cure as a way to throw a whole load of them into one game and see which it likes best.
It's not the worst game of the year because it's not broken, it all works fine and there is an interesting concept of a show here, even though we may have trodden these boards before. I found the combat sluggish and uninspiring, and some of the nightmare levels can be very generic compared to other games in these genres. But I think Past Cure is probably worth a punt as long as you can grab it in a sale and fancy trying something a bit unusual.
Past Cure never does anything special. Every time it tries to do something interesting, it immediately forgets about it and does something else. Don't get me wrong: it's not a bad thing to include a number of genres within one game. In fact, it can help keep it fresh if they serve as a breather from a strong central idea. The problem is that Past Cure has no strong central idea to take a break from or return to. Whether it's the initially compelling yet convoluted supernatural story or the interesting gimmicks that never leave the tech demo phase, it's a disorganized bundle of ideas that are never given a chance to develop into something out of the ordinary.
Past Cure had some great ideas, they just weren't executed in the best of ways.
Past Cure is an odd mash of Max Payne, The Evil Within, Heavy Rain, and a bit of Inception, without ever fully realizing any of those influences—compartmentalizing each section instead of creating a unique blend. Ideas teased early on never come into play, with nightmares and the real world staying largely separate from one another until the script calls on them not to be. An intriguing narrative is interrupted by long bouts of boring wave-based shooting against generic enemies in dull locations. I can't help but think of the early moments in Ian's house, seeing ceramic horrors in reflections and being excited for a cinematic psychological-horror action game that would never come to be.
Broken plot and bad controls combined with long and boring stages spoil the overall impression of the project, which could've been the next good adventure in style of Dontnod Entertainment and Quantic Dream games.
Review in Russian | Read full review
Past Cure is a title with tons of ambition that’s hobbled by sloppy execution. The game’s varied cocktail or horror, gunplay, stealth, and a strong, story-driven narrative could have made it something truly special. However, the lack of polish, repetitive design decisions, and some serious technical issues that extend right down to subtitles that don’t even match the onscreen dialog, make for a game that’s hard to recommend to all but the most starved shooter fans.
Past Cure is a mixture of good intentions: unfortunately, it ends up putting too much flesh on the fire, and attempting to keep together various playful and narrative elements, it fails to deepen anyone. The result is a dull, tedious experience, with unjustified difficulty peaks and terribly long, boring sections.
Review in Italian | Read full review
Past Cure is a bizarre experience. It feels like a half-dozen different games crudely stapled together, most of which are bad. Yes, the game is ambitious, it reaches for the triple-A brass ring, but the end product is unfocused, unpolished, and, for long stretches, exceptionally boring. Past Cure? More like Past Bedtime.
Without a central idea to fall back on, Past Cure is just an unorganized mess.
Past Cure is a game that tries to do too much at once to the extent that it ends up doing none of it well.
Past Cure starts off as a promising and ambitious shooter/thriller combo whose ideas are brought undone by inexperience
A flawed production that, despite a few interesting ideas, fails to engage the player with a boring campaign and one of the worst uses of the Unreal Engine that we've seen in this generation.
Review in Italian | Read full review
At best, Past Cure plays like a prototype for a better and more focused game.
Past Cure really wanted to present itself in the best possible light, but the opposite happened. An interesting idea, but many technical imperfections pull the game down.
Review in Slovak | Read full review
Past Cure is a game that seems to be excellent, but ends up being bellow average. If you start playing it, you will want to play it until the end as fast as possible in order to give your suffering a quick end.
Review in Portuguese | Read full review