The fictional world of Past Cure is set in two different dimensions, the gritty real world and the abstract dream world – a concept that will remind fans of the Hollywood blockbuster Inception. Throughout the development process of Past Cure CURE Phantom 8 focused on realistic combat animations, challenging puzzle mechanics and a detailed storyline, which completes the overall gaming experience.

Past Cure tells the story of Ian, a tormented man desperate to rediscover his lost identity. A highly cinematic experience, Past Cure offers an enigmatic plot as the story twists between dreams and reality leaving you guessing throughout. Dark dream sequences intertwine with a gritty but realistic world, and gameplay threads between stealth, action, survival and puzzle. The characters that Ian encounters will have a notable impact on both gameplay and your surroundings.

Ian’s main drive in the story is to find the people who experimented on him to try and unlock the mind’s true potential and inadvertently cursed him with supernatural abilities. But to survive long enough to get to the truth, he needs to use those powers.

Phantom 8 announced a raft of additions and enhancements to Past Cure that presents the studio’s title in a whole new light.

Changes include new story elements, cinematics, redesigned levels, reworked sanity meter, and the addition of new abilities; allowing you to interact more with the environment and experience Ian’s story in a more compelling and engaging way.

The updated and enhanced Past Cure is available to download now for PC, and will release in the coming weeks for PlayStation and Xbox One.

“We were astounded by the level of feedback the community offered. The response to Past Cure has been incredible, and for a small studio, we’ve been really humbled by the positive contribution fans have made,” said Simon Gerdesmann, Phantom 8’s Managing Director. “We also listened to the things that didn’t resonate as we would have hoped, and have made a swathe of changes, additions, enhancements, redesigns to really bring out the best in Past Cure, a true labour of love for us.”

Other enhancements include improved auto-aim, new and improved voice overs, improved texturing and graphical upgrades and more.

Updated Features:

• New areas and redesigned levels: Entirely new areas have been created to enable more immersive gameplay in levels that have been redesigned to offer a more challenging, and ultimately more enjoyable experience for the player.
• More mind-bending abilities: In Past Cure, players have many different abilities, but to create more ways to play, and feel even more powerful, two new abilities have been added.
  • Mind bash allows you to stun or kill enemies and destroy objects within the environment.
  • Mind Fly creates a shield around Ian, which utilises sanity as the hits reign in, giving you a useful addition to your journey, but one that comes at a cost.
• A story that continues to unfold: Throughout Past Cure, cinematics have been reworked to tell more of the story loved by its fans, and splintered across its levels are more elements of the backstory to discover.
• Reworked Sanity Meter: The new sanity meter doesn’t recover from under 35%, and as it depletes toward zero, the nightmares from Ian’s dream world begin to surface in the real world, creating a new threat. Ian will have to decide upon fight or flight against these new foes until his sanity recovers.

So aside from using his military experience for weapon handling and close quarters combat, Ian also has an unnatural edge over his enemies. He can speed up his perceptions so events play out in slow motion, letting him shoot multiple targets before they can react, with partial auto aim and lock support giving him a supernatural precision. This power is also vital to stealth and evasion, letting him sneak through patrolling enemies.

His Astral projection power on the other hand is a mix of outer body experience and telekinesis.

Ian can project his mind beyond his body to explore and interact with the environment. This is great for spotting enemies and switching off cameras, allowing you to plan your strategy before either engagement or evasion.

However, using these abilities comes with a price. An on-screen Sanity meter tracks your use; hit zero and not only will you not be able to tap into the supernatural, you’ll be hit with visual and auditory hallucinations. Terrifying nightmares that’ll slow abate with time as your meter partially recharges, but which can only be escaped fully through black market meds sourced by Ian’s brother.

With all the skills combined players can approach the game however they choose. Charge head on with all guns blazing or stick to the shadows and whittle enemies down in silence.

Key Features:

• A Story-Driven Supernatural Thriller: Follow the struggle of a broken man searching for the missing pieces of his mind. With intense cutscenes and intriguing story items throughout the levels, players can unravel a story that will keep them guessing until the end. 
• Action vs. Stealth: Be bold and engage your enemies with time-bending gun battles and brutal jaw-crunching combos. Or pick the stealthy approach where evasion tactics and slick takedowns allow you to outsmart your enemies in silence. Choose the right approach to each situation as there are pros and cons to each play style. 
• Mind-Bending Abilities: Unleash the power of Ian’s mind against those who unlocked it. Players must utilize time manipulation and astral projection to gain an edge on opponents and overcome obstacles.  
• Dreams vs. Reality: Ian’s mind is torn between the gritty real world and a nightmarish dreamscape. PAST CURE switches between cold, brutal combat-orientated levels of the real world, to puzzle and survival-based gameplay in the abstract dream world.

Past Cure will be released on February 23, 2018 (£29.99/$29.99/€29.99), with spoken English and localized French, Italian, German, Spanish, Portuguese, Russian subtitles.