For those unfamiliar with it, Daymare: 1998 is an indie title conceived and developed by Invader Studios, a team of only 12 people. The title was born as an amateur remake of the much acclaimed Resident Evil 2. Capcom was already working on its remake, so the guys at Invader Studios had to completely change direction, focusing on a standalone and original title.
Daymare: 1998, the year of which is a clear reference to the Resident Evil 2 release date, is a third-person survival horror, full of suspense and with a unique atmosphere. The title will be released on September 17th on Steam, therefore PC, but later this year it will also be made available on PlayStation 4 and Xbox One.
In the demo we tried during Gamescom 2019 we dressed as Sam, one of the three characters we're going to play. Of the three, Sam is perhaps the most normal, the one we will empathize with best. This is an ordinary person, without great aspirations and very loyal to duty. However, the protagonist has several health problems and is forced to take drugs in order to remain lucid.
We can choose between two difficulty levels: Daymare, the most difficult and difficult one, where the zombies will attack us without any regard and to take them down we will have to fire several shots, and a simpler one, designed for those people who want to enjoy the title and the plot without too much difficulty. During the demo we obviously selected the highest difficulty level in order to have an adequate level of challenge.
The Daymare: 1998 demo opens with Sam walking home to his beloved wife, but something horrible awaits him. No current, total blackout; once the generator is reactivated, we immediately realize that something is wrong: our beloved wife is not responding, we are going to look for her, but unfortunately we find her dead at the hands of a neighbor who is now consumed by the virus. Sam with incredulous eyes tries to hit him, but ends up unconscious on the ground. As already mentioned, Sam suffers from health problems and must take medications to stay alert. Once the senses have been reacquired we will have a crisis that will cause us a hallucination, but it will help us to reconstruct all the events that have taken place all too clearly. Once the drugs are taken, our Sam, unaware of what happened to his neighbor, will seek revenge. We head towards the town, and here our protagonist will discover a truth far worse than the one he experienced a little while ago: every person in the country is completely consumed by the Pollux virus and therefore transformed into a Zombie.
Along the way we find a shotgun that will help us make our way and face enemies. The latter at Daymare level are quite difficult: it will be necessary to fire a couple of shots to send them to the ground, unless we can aim with extreme precision on the critical points, but when we are surrounded this will not be exactly easy.
The artificial intelligence of the enemies is discreet: as soon as they hear the sound of our steps, they will start coming towards us trying to bite us. If we don't eliminate them right away, the zombies will start following us, slowly due to the limited motor functions of the undead. In the demo of Daymare: 1998 there is a good number of ammunition, sufficient in easy mode, but to be used sparingly if we chose the higher difficulty level.
If we run out of ammunition, we will be able to resort to melee attacks, even if they will be very slow and ineffective. To deliver a blow we will have to calculate the time well and try to hit the zombie before it attacks us, otherwise we will find it attached to our neck. Each attack consumes Stamina which will recharge by itself over time, while life, expressed in%, will not regenerate unless we use the medkits that we will find scattered throughout the various levels. The Daymare level manages to offer a good challenge, very balanced so as not to make the game frustrating.
The engine that the guys at Invader Studios used to bring Daymare: 1998 to life is Unreal Engine 4, a graphics engine capable of offering good visual rendering without impacting too much on performance. Although the development team is made up of 12 people, Daymare: 1998 has an excellent technical sector, with a gloomy and disturbing atmosphere, which will transmit anguish for all the 8 hours of the campaign. The polygonal models of the characters are well done, as well as the setting. The textures are well done and have a good degree of resolution.
Daymare: 1998, on a technical level, however, has some defects, such as the animations that are not completely fluid, the lip is not perfectly synchronized with the dubbing and the latter, at least that of Sam, is not very convincing. All these, however, can be considered marginal defects given and considering the small size of the development team.
Daymare: 1998 is a really interesting title. The horror atmosphere is well recreated and it is really convincing, managing to make us jump from the chair several times during the course of the demo. The game at maximum difficulty is well balanced, but with a good level of challenge. Daymare: 1998 will be available starting September 17 on Steam, but by the end of the year it will also see the light on consoles. If you are a fan of the survival horror genre, you certainly cannot miss this title.
Keep following us to read our review coming out on day one.
► Daymare: 1998 is an Adventure-indie game developed by Invader Studios and published by All in! Games Destructive Creations for PC and PlayStation 4, the video game was released on 30/09/2019 The version for PlayStation 4 came out on 28/04/2020
Daymare: 1998 is a beautiful game that cannot be missing from your collection: we have decided to evaluate it with a 76%, if you are interested in learning more you can read the Daymare Review: 1998
