Past Cure

 PC
Past Cure Image
Metascore
48

Generally unfavorable reviews - based on 8 Critic Reviews What's this?

User Score
6.6

Mixed or average reviews- based on 25 Ratings

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  • Summary: Past Cure is a dark psychological thriller that blurs the lines between dreams and reality. An intense, cinematic, story driven experience, blending stealth and combat gameplay. Players are challenged to use an array of skills varying from powerful time bending mental abilities to brutalPast Cure is a dark psychological thriller that blurs the lines between dreams and reality. An intense, cinematic, story driven experience, blending stealth and combat gameplay. Players are challenged to use an array of skills varying from powerful time bending mental abilities to brutal melee combat and stealth kills.

    After his years of torture, ex elite soldier Ian lives in the safehouse of his brother, struggling with the consequences of the military experiments he was put through. They twisted his mind, imbued him with preternatural mental abilities such as time control and telekinesis. Driven by hallucinations and his thirst for revenge, Ian enlists his brother's help as he sets out on a thrilling hunt for the perpetrators of the conspiracy against him, and for the truth underlying his torment. On his missions Ian experiments with his new powers, quickly coming to realize their inherent danger: with each use, his sanity frays a little more, inviting the nightmarish attention of something beyond reality.    … Expand

Critic Reviews

Score distribution:
  1. Positive: 0 out of 8
  2. Mixed: 4 out of 8
  3. Negative: 4 out of 8
  1. GameStar
    Apr 3, 2018
    69
    Past Cure with its mix of stealth and action is entertaining. After the moderate entry, the mysterious story picks up speed.
  2. CD-Action
    May 16, 2018
    60
    Past Cure suffers from meager budget, but it’s a passable game and a decent debut. It seems Phantom 8 are a skilled bunch that can surprise us with their future projects after they gather more experience and secure more significant resources. [04/2018, p.59]
    All this publication's reviews
  3. IGN
    Mar 1, 2018
    58
    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.
  4. PC Games
    Feb 26, 2018
    44
    This game shouldn’t have been released in this state. The story is outlandish, there’s no action, the stealth-parts are boring and the ominous nightmare porcelain men are just plainly not frightening. The premise was good, the execution simply ragged.
  5. Hardcore Gamer
    Feb 27, 2018
    30
    Phantom 8 Studio shouldn’t be discouraged from future attempts at delivering a cinematic experience of a game on par with triple-A output, because they still have some neat ideas and directions to take. But there’s no getting around the fact that Past Cure is a massive flop right out of the gate. Bland combat, bland environments, bland performances, a plot that doesn’t go anywhere and an attempt to master multiple genres ends up creating a juggling act that drops all of the balls. Sadly, it appears the only medicine appropriate for this game is a full dose of strychnine.
  6. We Got This Covered
    Feb 22, 2018
    20
    Past Cure is an aggressively meaningless story broken up by astonishingly pedestrian gameplay.
  7. Cubed3
    Feb 27, 2018
    10
    There are many games that Past Cure draws from and it's a pale imitation of them all. Less Heavy Rain and more Light Drizzle. Less Evil Within and more Crap Within. The developers were ambitious, but overambitious, and they have delivered an absolute turkey. Completely unenjoyable and comes with very few redeeming features. It's an awful, awful game.

See all 8 Critic Reviews

User Reviews

Write a Review
Score distribution:
  1. Positive: 1 out of 4
  2. Mixed: 2 out of 4
  3. Negative: 1 out of 4
  1. Marioluigi
    Jul 30, 2018
    10
    Past Cure is a game, that was created from a really small team and not long ago they uploaded a new Patch (Version 2). I read the Patch NotePast Cure is a game, that was created from a really small team and not long ago they uploaded a new Patch (Version 2). I read the Patch Note on Steam, which pushes the game in a good way. I decided to give the game another try and I didn't regret it =) There are new areas, some puzzles and new abilities. The sanity bar was also balanced and I like the fact, that they push the horror atmosphere.
    Maybe the people should play the game again, because the guys really try to continue to push the game.    … Expand
  2. SuperkenGaming
    Mar 3, 2018
    7
    Past Cure
    All over the place
    Pasture Cure is a 6 hour long game about a former soldier named Ian.. youre dealing with memory loss due to an    Past Cure
    All over the place
    Pasture Cure is a 6 hour long game about a former soldier named Ian.. youre dealing with memory loss due to an experiment that was done to you…
    The game starts in a dream, where youre introduced to woman.. and the game is set around trying to understand this dream and the different figures in this dream, and government projects, and pills, and mind powers.. but assigning a single genre to this game just isn’t possible.
    Past cure is all over the place with what it is.. and some of these things are good.. some not so good..
    And depending on the type of player you are you may actually end up really hating certain parts of this game and loving others…
    Theres a great focus on narrative which is perfect for a game delivered in the way that it is..
    Theres an interesting story full of intrigue to pull you through the section of the game you may not like.. as really there are no repeating sections here..
    The game at first is a resident evil styled horror game as youre learning the shooting mechanics…
    It feels like a quantic dream styled game while youre running around your home, and then all of a sudden it’s back to dream land where youre doing puzzles with your telekensis and time manipulation powers.. but this is really just the game using a clever tutorial to teach you how to manipulate later sections of the game…
    As youre then in a 3rd person shooter, health pickups and blue pills are important here as youll be using your powers and taking damage as youre taking out enemies from behind, grabbing their guns and getting into gun fights.. using your telekinesis to take out cameras to not alert more..
    But now all of a sudden it’s a hitman feeling stealth game which was my personal least favorite chapter of the game where time manipulation is now important are being detected fails the mission sending you back to the last autosave
    and then bits feel like dishonored while youre trying to crack safes, then youre in a horror outlast feeling chapter with puzzles and stealthy sections with monsters you cant attack
    The game is non stop changing things up which is really great if youre into variety..
    Its also great because it stop the game from feeling boring or like a drag to get through
    Its bad however because none of these chapters feel like quality chapters indevidually, it’s a bunch of mediocre versions of really great games and genres stapled together, though the sum ends up being greater than its parts…
    As an experience its an overall enjoyable one
    The 3rd person shooting is probably what will stand out as the worst aspect of this game..
    The hit detection is just awful.. you feel like youre getting lucky everytime you finally take out an enemy… but these moments are spaced out and checkpoints are frequent enough for them to not feel like too much of a hastle
    Past Cure is a hard game to describe, but if its anything its like nothing you’ve experienced before and everything you’ve experienced before all at the same time.
    Sometimes this is a 3rd person shooter, sometimes this is a horror games, and sometimes this is a stealth game.
    Its unique and worth checking out.
    I give Past Cure
    a 6.5/10    … Expand
  4. Portal244
    Oct 9, 2020
    5
    Past Cure

    Graphics - 7/10
    Gameplay - 4/10
    Audio - 5/10
    Story - 6/10
    Optimization - 2/10

    Game Time - 7.5h
  5. MaxF
    Mar 4, 2018
    2
    I really tried to like this game. I really did. The devs are from Berlin and so more or less my neighbor (well, 300km difference but well).I really tried to like this game. I really did. The devs are from Berlin and so more or less my neighbor (well, 300km difference but well).

    I knew that Past Cure will have a lot of problems because Phantom 8's first game should include: AAA-Graphics, a "thrilling"-story with "survival-horror", stealth + action and powers. Many of Game- and narrative genres mixed together.

    Wouldn't be a thing, if they had experience and a bigger team probably. But with (while in development) 8 people in the team, they couldn't focus on getting at least something on top notch. And so the inevitable happened.

    They fail with the story, which is starting boring paired with a boring level which is just a 1,5h tutorial. The gun-gameplay is a pure mess - not to mention that there're only 3 guns (Pistol / Uzi / Pistol with a scope). The AI is a pure mess. They either run straight into you and are unable to shoot, are trying to shoot thru a wall or a - probably - concrete plant.

    The story neither is getting more interesting while game progresses. Also because of the very primitive dialogues and even worse monologues. As a writer - not an English writer to mention - I have to give a straight grade 6 / F for this.

    Graphics are actually quite good, indoor. However, often it ends in a "wishy-washy" look or textures are constantly reloading. Don't get me starting on these damn lens effect. I have eyes, not lens on my head. Might be good for some cinematics - sometimes - for a good effect. But not the whole game.

    Action isn't involved either. Close-ranged battles end in a QT-Event instead of cool combos doing... Okay, Ian (the game's protagonist) is moving sometimes pretty cool in his finishers. Nevertheless, just then and never else.

    Shooting with weapon never felt so weird and unrealistic. Could also be because of the whole sound of the game reminds me of toaster-quality. Especially sometimes some guards are - and I am not exaggerating here - really have the sound quality of my microphone I had 10 years ago, in my notebook, with this really annoying fan sound in the background.

    Which leads me straight to the gun- and special effect sounds. Shooting with any gun sounds like punching a ruler on the table. Some "wooosh" sounds are just annoying and probably directly taken from Freesounds.org or even worse. When Ian is running, we also have the woosh sound for his arms - like which arms in any situation - besides very strange animated series - would make this sound? Even worse, you have to run so often in the game because you don't feel like wasting the time to finally get to the next C&P Level section.

    Oh and get a better voice actor for Ians Brother Marcus and please try to put some more emotion in Ians Voice when he is just about to DIE! (Oh, that wasn't a spoiler, just a dream ian dreamed don't worry) Even I can do it better - just my voice shouldn't be heard by anyone.

    But not everything is bad about Past Cure. Else, a 2 point rating would be too much I guess. Because besides horrible AI, gameplay and c&p levels, horrible sound and voice acting and many bugs, unfair enemies while sneaking and a horrible end-fight, there's something or a time where I felt like "wow, this game does make fun". Somehow.

    It was chapter 5, the 2nd last chapter of the game and - what a wonder - also the demo which you are able to play if you don't own the game.

    The atmosphere was great. Finally, the sound setting felt like well placed and the dark rooms and halls looked the best in this game. We - even if they were not that hard to solve - had to solve some (not innovative but good implemented) puzzles. The stealth gameplay was the far by best in this chapter of the whole game and all over this is what Past Cure should have been. A shocking nightmare, which Ian is encountering, solving his past by finding clues in his dark mind. This game could have been so much better when sticking to this style. And would have sold many copies.

    ---

    I see a lot of potentials and as I wrote in my German review for our magazine, Phantom 8 should stick to the stuff they did great and then I am awaiting a new game.

    But to stick the Past Cure, you could have just played Metal Gear, Beyond: Two Souls and Max Payne on three different devices at the same time (enjoy the multitasking) - no difference.

    ---

    I got the game as a press kit-version and so 4 free. This - obviously - didn't affected my personal view and neither I got asked to post a review with a specific score.    … Expand

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