Theresia

by Aksys

Product Features

• Dear Emile - A tale of twisted love between a mother and her daughter. Snatched from the jaws of death by a woman who reeked of blood, Leanne has grow up in a world of torture, war, and death. Now a young woman, she finds herself in a deadly labyrinth with no memories of her past. Can she uncover the truth behind her imprisonment and escape with her life, or will Leanne be doomed to wander the halls of her prison, haunted by the mystery of theresia?
• Dear Martel - When a fever ravaged his orphanage, a brilliant doctor developed a treatment for the disease, hoping to save the children in his care. Though the fever was defeated, from its corpse rose something far more deadly something far more evil. Will he be able to atone for his mistake, or will his creation spell certain doom for mankind?

Product Details

• Shipping: This item is also available for shipping to select countries outside the U.S.
• ASIN: B001CU2SE8
• Media: Video Game
• Release Date: October 30, 2008
• Average Customer Review: 4.3 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (15 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #17,551 in Video Games (See Top 100 in Video Games)
• Discontinued by manufacturer: Yes

Product Description

Theresia is an adventure horror title exclusively for Nintendo DS. In this game developed by WorkJam, players will take on the roles of two different characters trying to understand out their past, present, and intertwined destiny. Will you be able to discover the true meaning of theresia? Players will lose themselves in theresias haunting music and twisted atmosphere. Hone your survival skills by carefully exploring the corridors of your captors while uncovering clues that bring you closer to a shocking revelation. Collect countless items and combine them in order to survive and uncover the depths of the maze.

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

36 of 36 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Spooky, Fun and Addicting, January 1, 2009

By 

D. Abel (Louisiana) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

= Fun:4.0 out of 5 stars 

This review is from: Theresia (Video Game)

I'm a little late to the table on this one, as Theresia was released last October and I only just got it for Christmas. I'd originally heard about this game back in June, when I was bored and Googling "Shadowgate" - an old favorite NES game of mine. When I read that Aksys was localizing a game that was "a horror-adventure game like Shadowgate," my inner fangirl (and a lot of my outer fangirl) began squeeing with delight.

Now that I own the thing and have beaten both halves in 2.5 days of frantic gameplay, I have to answer the question: Is Theresia a worthy successor to the Kemco-Seika point-and-click trilogy of yore? That would be an emphatic yes. A red-blooded (and occasionally purple-skinned) point-and-clicker with a seriously creepy and nightmarish atmosphere, Theresia delivers in spades.

There are two halves to the story; Dear Emile and Dear Martel, the latter of which can only be accessed after completing Dear Emile. Each story revolves around a protagonist who awakens with no memory of who they are, where they are or how they got there (echoes of the first Deja Vu game). You're surrounded by booby traps that will drain your health - yes, there is a health bar AND ways to replenish it. This allows for a little more exploration of your surroundings than in Shadowgate, where nearly everything would kill you instantly.

And you're going to need to explore. A LOT. Nearly the whole game is spent wandering around hallways in a first-person 3D perspective. The graphics here are not really DS-worthy. In fact, they look kind of Super Nintendo-y, very pixelated and grainy. Normally, mazes of this kind would make me weep with despair (see also: the maze in Uninvited), but Theresia loves you so much it provides you with two things that will make you want to kiss it: a map of the entire area, AND a way to look at said map to see every room you've explored and what you did in that room. In addition to these fantastic tools, you also have at your disposal an item (it's different for each character) that, when used on yourself, provides you with a hint as to what you should do next. I got quite a ways through Dear Emile on my own with these advantages, and I am no puzzle-solver.

The gameplay mechanics are incredibly user-friendly, with the game itself leading you gently and telling you how to use objects, what everything does and sometimes even where to go. It's very easy for someone to pick up and play without looking at the instruction booklet.

The puzzles can be savagely difficult if you don't have much of an analytical mind, and there is a severe lack of completed walkthroughs on the internet to help you through. Fortunately, it's really hard to die, and you can explore your surroundings in-depth, despite the fact that nearly everything is booby-trapped. Thankfully, there is an examine feature - the Eye - that will almost always indicate where the traps are, by indicating hidden needles or pieces of metal, or just giving you a George Lucas bad-feeling-about-this.

Your main goal in each story is to recover your memory and figure out why you are where you are, and what's with the purple corpses everywhere? You do this bit by bit as you explore, collecting journal entries and triggering memories as you struggle to make it out. I can't emphasize enough how creepy this game is - it's officially the first game I've played to give me a genuine wiggins. It's not a shock-jump kind of game such as, say, Resident Evil, where you never know what zombified creature is going to leap on you next. It's originally Japanese, and as in their horror movies, more emphasis is placed on creating a growing feeling of dread than BOO! scares, although there are one or two of those.

The graphics in the rooms are much more lovingly detailed than the wandering-in-the-hallways sections, looking for all the world like oil paintings. The corpses you run into all over the place are invariably disgusting and gross, which is fantastic, especially on a small-screen system. The memory flashbacks are beautiful, using specific colors - mostly red - over gray and sepia tones to effect a sense of nostalgia. If you've seen the movie "Suspiria" by Dario Argento, the importance of color in this game is a bit like that. You're surrounded by a lot of grays and browns, so when red and purple come up, you know it's important.

So what's the real selling point of Theresia? The intertwined stories. I really, really, really can't give even the slightest hint away as to the plot because it is so worth discovering for yourself. I will say that both Dear Emile and Dear Martel are incredibly twisted: Dear Emile because of psychological reasons, and Dear Martel for biological ones. I'd say Dear Emile's was the more warped of the two and Dear Martel had more of a sense of regret to it. The endings are still making me go "wait...what the HELL was that?"

Dear Emile's story is almost an aftereffect of what goes on in Dear Martel, and it's very exciting to play for the first time just to see how they intertwine. Replayability may suffer a bit just because you know what happens and why, but it's like re-reading a good book to catch things you may have missed the first time around in order to gain a deeper understanding.

Bottom line, this is a wonderful horror-adventure game for people who enjoy subtle terror, point-and-click adventures, and yes...DEFINITELY fans of Shadowgate.

5 of 5 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars For the Gothic Heart, January 30, 2010

By 

Mallamun "Mallamun" (Chicago, IL USA) - See all my reviews

= Fun:5.0 out of 5 stars 

Amazon Verified Purchase

This review is from: Theresia (Video Game)

This is not just a game; it is a story. A work of art.

This game is for all the souls out there who long to interactively satisfy a DARK aesthetic. The artwork is beautiful, and the music is haunting. The atmosphere of Theresia overall is one of dim nostalgia and painful, inexplicable longing. By the time you finish the game, the character has infected you with a strangely blissful resignation. Even though the goal of the game is to escape the shelter, the manipulative power of its narration is so subtle, so insidious, that by the time you leave... you realize that you will never truly feel free. I still hear the bittersweet tune of the music box in the back of my mind.

Beauty, darkness, psychological twists, and a meaningful story. If you're part of the cult obsession with Eternal Darkness: Sanity's Requiem (GC), then you'll love Theresia.

"What is Theresia?" This is what the game asks you outright, and what it wants you to understand. At first, this seems a purely practical puzzle. But as the game goes on, and you wind deeper and deeper into the character's mind, the question starts to become more abstract. Less than halfway through the game, you know WHAT Theresia is... and yet you find yourself unable to stop contemplating it; unable to truly satisfy the underlying question.

The thing that I love about Japanese games--and storytelling in general--is that when done right, it can make you feel emotions that you did not even know you had. Theresia may not evoke familiar feelings, but it WILL make you FEEL. It will make you feel things you have no words for. Like seeing a color outside the visible spectrum.

If you want to be gently lulled into a stranger's insanity--if that is your form of escapism--then buy Theresia. It will leave you with the ghost of hidden meaning, rather than an unsatisfying: Congratulations, you beat the game.

14 of 18 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Thersia may not B 4 everybody, but if U like survival/horror try it., November 18, 2008

By 

Paul James Chatman "smile...anyway!" (Los Angeles, CA) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

= Fun:3.0 out of 5 stars 

This review is from: Theresia (Video Game)

Theresia is a strange game, or life-simulation, as I would refer it to be. The most compelling (or disturbing) is you start out the first Chapter (or Book) as 10 year old Emilie who, for reasons unknown, wakes up in a dark, smelly, room in a darker blood stained facility, ladened with horrific booby traps (sharp needles & skin shearing knives). But, that's not most horrific part: Emilie discovers through strange & gruesome flash backs that she has a unsettling allure towards the blood all around her. She "wants" it.

And that is just the first Chapter. I've just only begun the Second. Do not buy this game if what you just read has disturbed you. While survival horror is not for everyone it is engaging, as I didn't think I would even keep it, but I did.
Graphics:
This is a pretty bad area, & I'm NOT the one who judges on this. Most 3rd thru 5th Gen. gamers see graphics as "everything". While the 2D interface is tight, the 3D portion is ugly, and amateurish. It looks like 1st Gen 3D games like Wolfenstien and Doom. On the DS this is bad news, as current Gen. gamers will be put off by this. The 2D artwork is excellent, though.
Mechanics:
The worst part of the game is the interface. It's just NOT intuitive. The first Chapter is "Training" that explains everything. With a touch screen/buttons/arrow keys you would expect more. For ex. Navigation in the 2D areas uses touch screen to move/examine, arrows/buttons to select; but the 3D areas only use the arrow keys/touch to move ONLY. You can't use items when moving in 3D (only in 2D) & you can ONLY interact with highlighted areas.
Game play:
The best part that will, hopefully, allow you to overlook the mechanics is the story and game atmosphere. It's clear to me the developers concentrated more on plot/character then anything else. While that is fine by me (40 yr. who played the 1st video/PC games), it may not sit well todays fast paced modern gamers. The story so far is rather engaging, this game plays a bit like Dementium: The Ward, but Dementium had better 3D game play.

Sorry I can't add more as I just started, but I wanted to at least let you know what to expect. If Theresia is a [DS Download Station] game, then get it before you buy it. I gave it 3 stars because of the interface & graphics. As for the interface is concerned the bad part is when leaving areas it presents you with a text menu that can only be utilized by touch. Pressing the B or A button won't work, you have explicitly use the touch screen to select "Back" or "Quit" - which is just frustrating because it's an extra step that is not needed. The on screen prompts are all like that. You can't advance any prompt (NOT dialog, that you can advance with the Buttons or touch) unless you touch the appropriate action. Maybe it adds to the suspense like Resident Evils' ever-opening door-area-transitions, but to me: it's annoying and sloppy.