Cursed Mountain is a game that intends to scare you from the pit of your stomach to the tips of your toes. But it’s a different kind of horror survival game – there aren’t any aliens dropping from the ceiling and you don’t go around blasting zombies with five different types of bazooka. As Martin Fillip, Developer and PR Manager at Deep Silver says at our E3 preview, the idea is to immerse you completely in the experience without the need for claustrophobic rooms and over-the-top violence seen in more traditional survival horror games. This game prefers to scare you slowly, invoking gnawing unease which progresses to abject fear.
That’s not to say you won’t be meeting members of the cold corpse collective though. Playing as mountaineer Eric Simmons, you’re on the trail of your brother Frank who’s gone mysteriously missing in the Himalayas. Unbeknownst to Eric, the area has fallen victim to an evil curse, trapping souls in an undead limbo known as the Shadow World. Guess who you’re going to be meeting a lot of?
There’s an evocative prologue sequence showing Frank’s disappearance on a blizzard-ridden climb that immediately sets the tone as bitterly cold and threatening. Then it’s into the game proper as you arrive at Lhando, the eerily abandoned base camp town. Thanks to the moody graphics and chilling soundtrack, the atmosphere is laden with suspense and you’re rapidly sent off on your first task – to locate the house of a certain Dr. Bennett.
The controls are easy to get to grips with - use the Nunchuk’s Control Stick to move Eric, the A Button to perform context-sensitive actions such as climbing and jumping, and the Z Button to sprint. Exploration and puzzle-solving are fundamental parts of the game and considerable effort has been made to take different players’ preferences into account. Climbing up a stepladder using the A Button is a good example. You can scale the ladder more quickly if you desire, but to do so you need to swing the Wii Remote and Nunchuk in both hands to simulate the action – the choice of button press or motion control is entirely yours.
The hunt takes you through the winding streets of Lhando and your first find is an ice axe left by your brother, which you can use to break barrels and smash through barriers with a flick of the Wii Remote. Fleeting glimpses of ghostly figures catch your attention and it’s not long before you meet your first trapped soul. The scariest thing about these creatures is that they’re recognisably human, so it’s a comforting thought that apart from dispatching of your enemies by physical means you can also choose to heal them with Buddhist prayers. These work like special moves and become increasingly important as the game progresses. Enacting the prayer available during the preview session involved some very precise Wii Remote drawing, Okami-style. In addition, using the C Button will also allow you to use special prayers as effective finishing moves during an attack sequence.
Cursed Mountain builds up the tension in subtle ways – a step into the Shadow World effects a more monochromatic visual palate and black whirling particles alert you to the otherworldly. If you’re the sort of person who loves watching a good psychological horror movie with the lights out, keep an eye on this one – it’s got all the signs of a real hair-raiser.
