Over fifteen years after its initial release, forgotten Nintendo DS classic Dementium: The Ward is making a triumphant return on the Nintendo Switch. First released in 2007, this award-winning horror game from developer Renegade Kid traps players inside an abandoned hospital with no way out and only one goal: survive. Next month, both new players and old fans will get the chance to re-experience an all-new, enhanced version of the game as it comes to the Nintendo Switch for the first time.
Dementium: The Ward: Nintendo DS Classic Gets Remastered For a New Generation
Dementium: The Ward was first released in 2007, the same year as Assassin’s Creed, The Witcher, BioShock, Mass Effect, and Portal, among many, many others. Unfortunately, unlike its contemporaries, the Nintendo DS game didn’t have the good fortune to eventually become a multibillion-dollar franchise or a cultural landmark, receiving mixed reviews upon its release and having only one sequel, released in 2013.
Best described as a survival-horror game in the style of a first-person shooter, Dementium: The Ward puts players in control of William Redmoor, an amnesiac man who wakes up in an abandoned hospital with no idea who he is or how he got there. Players are tasked with escaping the derelict ward and, along the way, must defeat a veritable horde of nightmarish enemies using the supplies and weapons they stumble across in the hallways.
Technically, next month’s Nintendo Switch release marks the second time the game has been remastered. The first remake, simply titled Dementium Remastered, was released for the Nintendo 3DS in 2015 after Renegade Kid regained the licensing rights for the game. Unfortunately, the remaster didn’t do any better than the original game, and Renegade Kid was dissolved a year later. However, lead developer Jools Watsham retained the rights to Dementium: The Ward through his new company, Atooi, who has stepped up as the publisher for the Nintendo Switch remaster.
Not much is currently known about the Nintendo Switch remaster itself, though it’s been reported to feature an upgraded UI and graphics for the Switch’s single-screen experience rather than the DS’s double screen.
Dementium: The Ward will be available on the Nintendo Switch starting October 12th.
