A cunning and ruthless killer is taunting authorities with a series of grisly murders. FBI agent Ethan Thomas' investigation will pit him against the most violent side of humanity as he unravels clues left by the killer.
monolith’s forgotten and neglected horror series, and arguably one intended only for 360, as the first game’s PC release never saw a patch (nor was it released on ps3), the 2nd game saw a PS3 release but no PC release, and the 3rd game doesn’t fucking exist.
it’s a real shame, as the two games that did see release are actually quite interesting in their own right. seeing release alongside the far more successful F.E.A.R., it takes a rather different tack on gameplay, being first person survival horror games with a strong melee focus.
there was a period of time in the mid-00s where there seemed to be a trend of horror games focusing on human violence and cruelty, which in my opinion has the potential to be far more disturbing than mere body horror. condemned is a prime example of this; you must punch, bludgeon, and occasionally shoot your way through an army of violently insane people. the city seems to be filled with them, living in the cracks and forgotten spaces of a decaying conurbation -- and there’s plenty of dead birds about, too. this sets the unsettling backdrop for your primary task, which is to track down a serial killer (which involves using forensic equipment at times!)
the story is very screwy, getting even more so in the sequel, which updated the melee system by quite a bit as well as filling in quite a few details, story-wise. ethan’s background, the source of the insanity, the reason for the dead birds, it all starts getting tied together... and then it fucking ends on a cliffhanger.
god damn it.
at least there’s a few really notable scenes... you’ll never look at mannequins and bears the same way again.