One Avocadoan’s journey delving into the realm of survival horror.

For the past few years, we seem to have been in the midst of a boom in survival horror games made by small teams of indie developers. Spurred on by the success of games like Signalis and Crow Country, as well as the general popularity of retro graphics, it seems like more and more are released every day. It can be difficult to keep up with it all; I find myself regularly checking the Survival Horror subreddit just to keep an eye on what’s coming up. As can probably be expected, for every Signalis or Crow Country there are dozens of these types of games that languish in obscurity (for better or for worse). If I’m being honest, most of the ones that I stumble across fail to pique my interest much. Every once in a while, though, there is one that really manages to catch my eye – like Subversive Memories, initially released just a few weeks ago.

(I know I said last time that I would cover the Fatal Frame II remake next, but I decided to go with Subversive Memories first due to that game’s recency and because I am currently playing 1000XResist, an excellent game that I don’t feel I can binge and thus needed something short to alternate with it.)

The protagonist of Subversive Memories is Renata, a woman who wakes up in the courtyard of a Brazilian military base, having apparently crashed her car through the front gates. Despite having seemingly been lying there unconscious for some time, she has not been approached or apprehended and it quickly becomes clear why. Every soldier Renata encounters on her way inside the facility is dead of unknown cause, and the interior of the complex is seemingly devoid of life outside of the bloodstains on the walls and floors – empty except for, of course, the shadowy spirits roaming the hallways. Renata is searching for something, for a family connection to the base and what has occurred there over the years, but she doesn’t seem to know what that is just yet. She must search this horrible, haunted place if she is to uncover any such clues.

Subversive Memories draws on a lot of elements from other survival horror games, most notably Resident Evil and Signalis. The graphical style in particular is quite similar to Signalis, with its jagged PS1-esque visuals and top-down pseudo-isometric perspective, to the point where I’ve seen the game (fairly accurately) described as a ‘Signalis-like’. As with Signalis, Subversive Memories also features surreal flashback sequences that differ visually in certain respects from the rest of the game and a complex, surprisingly emotional story involving uncertain memories that unfolds the deeper the player gets (although it is nowhere near as confusing as Signalis’ story). Meanwhile, the base that serves as the game’s primary setting is pure Resident Evil. It is a labyrinth of corridors and rooms full of strange puzzles involving statues, a variety of keys, fuses, wire cutters, safes, and the like, requiring exploration, backtracking, and reading various documents in order to progress. The place feels very much like the Spencer Mansion or RPD in that regard. Even the save rooms are similar, complete with typewriters for saving and a great theme (that might even be one of my favorite save room themes) that is, unfortunately, nowhere to be found on the internet currently.

While the game does wear its inspirations on its sleeve, it manages to capture the feel of playing those games well enough that I enjoyed these similarities rather than finding them derivative. It helps that Subversive Memories contains enough unique elements to ensure it still feels fresh. One such element is the broader context of the game’s setting. I already mentioned that it takes place in Brazil, but it does so at a very particular point of time in the country’s history – the 1970s, at the height of an infamously brutal (U.S.-supported) military dictatorship. It’s an era that I wasn’t very familiar with before, outside of the Brazilian Metroidvania game Dandara (which utilizes elements of it in a more abstract, fantastical manner). This is the first time I’ve encountered a piece of media that really grounds itself in that period of Brazilian history, and it both serves as an educational opportunity and a way to amplify the game’s horror. We see ominous anti-communist propaganda hanging from the walls and blasting over a radio; we read about horrific torture and killings carried out by the military; we see the way that the government views everything in terms of what it’s worth to the cause and what resources can be extracted. Sure, the murderous spirits are creepy, but they pale in comparison to the realization of how many people suffered under the regime in real life.

The combat system is also relatively unique, at least compared to the survival horror games I’ve played so far. The enemies are all invisible, with only their shadows able to be seen. Not only is this interesting from an aesthetic standpoint – leaving it up to the player’s imagination as to what they actually look like – but it also adds an element of challenge. Since the shadows themselves aren’t the enemies, you have to be careful when aiming to figure out where the shadows are being cast from. You also need to strategize a bit to keep the creatures in the light, as they can be easily lost track of in darkness. The enemies are generally kept spread out and sparse, and can often be avoided if necessary (although that becomes more difficult in areas where you have to backtrack), but if needed Renata can fight back using a flashlight that is able to unleash powerful blasts of light at the cost of battery power. This use of a flashlight for combat reminds me of the Choshiro sections from Fatal Frame: Mask of the Lunar Eclipse, although I’ve heard the concept is also utilized in Alan Wake. The combat system isn’t particularly complex, but it serves its purpose well and contributes to the game’s unique feel.

Subversive Memories isn’t without issues, especially as the debut release of a one-person studio. There is definitely some jank here and there, like walking animations briefly continuing despite a cutscene having initiated or minor but noticeable grammar mistakes (which don’t affect one’s understanding of the plot and likely come down to translation errors). The minimalist art style, while nice to look at, can occasionally make elements of the backgrounds hard to parse. And some puzzles are highly dependent on collecting scattered lore documents or seemingly optional collectibles, which can sometimes result in the player missing vital information and getting stuck. This is compounded by the fact that previously found documents do not go into Renata’s inventory. If you want to double check something from one of those documents, you have to go all the way back to one of the save rooms. While this isn’t game-breaking by any means, having to keep going back and forth between a puzzle and a save room because you’re not sure if you have the correct solution can be annoying. 

Overall, though, I was very impressed by what the developer was able to accomplish with Subversive Memories. It’s not a lengthy game (clocking in between two and three hours), but it successfully captures some of that magic of playing old-school survival horror like Resident Evil and combines it with powerful real-world context  to produce a unique and engaging experience. Even if it doesn’t quite stand up with the best of the genre, Subversive Memories will stick with me for a while yet.

Survival horror and adjacent games I hope to cover (in no particular order) – Resident Evil 0, Resident Evil (OG), Resident Evil 2 (OG), Resident Evil 3 Remake, Resident Evil 4 Remake, Resident Evil Revelations, Resident Evil Revelations 2, Resident Evil 7: Biohazard, Resident Evil: Village, Amnesia: A Machine for Pigs, Amnesia: Rebirth, Amnesia: The Bunker, Tormented Souls, Alien Isolation, Yomawari: Midnight Shadows, The Evil Within, The Evil Within 2, Alisa, Dead Space 2, Alone in the Dark 2, Alone in the Dark 3, Alone in the Dark: The New Nightmare, Alone in the Dark (2024), Curse: Eye of Isis, Dino Crisis, Dino Crisis 2, Darkwood, ObsCure, Cold Fear, Lempo, Stasis, Stasis Bone Totem, System Shock 1 and 2, Metro 2033, Look Outside, Fear the Spotlight, Heartworm, Little Goody Two-Shoes, SOMA, Empty Shell, Bendy and the Ink Machine, Clock Tower: Rewind, White Day: A Labyrinth Called School, Condemned: Criminal Origins, Sorry We’re Closed, Fragile Reflection, Bioshock 1, Bioshock 2, You Will Die Here Tonight, My Friendly Neighborhood, Conscript, The Callisto Protocol, Fatal Frame II Remake, Penumbra: Overture, Penumbra: Black Plague, Penumbra: Requiem, Lamentum, Outlast, Outlast 2, Carnival Massacre, Late Homework, Routine, Alan Wake 2, White Night

My Current Survival Horror Ranking:

1. Resident Evil Remake (9.5/10)
2. Silent Hill 2 Remake (9.5/10)
3. Signalis (9/10)
4. Dead Space (2008) (9/10)
5. Resident Evil Requiem (9/10)
6. Cronos: The New Dawn (9/10)
7. Resident Evil 2 Remake (9/10)
8. Resident Evil 3: Nemesis (8.5/10)
9. Crow Country (8.5/10)
10. Subversive Memories (8/10)
11. Fatal Frame: Mask of the Lunar Eclipse (8/10)
12. Silent Hill 4: The Room (8/10)
13. Silent Hill f (8/10)
14. Resident Evil 4 (7/10)
15. Amnesia: The Dark Descent (7/10)
16. Alone in the Dark (1992) (7/10)

Up Next: Fatal Frame II: Crimson Butterfly Remake

Header image courtesy of Steam.

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