Third-person survival horror game Daymare: 1998 from Destructive Creations and Invader Studios is an homage to the old-school games in the genre. Does it stick the landing? Learn more in our Daymare: 1998 review!

 

Daymare: 1998 from Destructive Creations and Invader Studios is a third-person survival horror game that pays homage to the old-school classics in the genre, particularly the beloved Resident Evil series. In fact, the development for Daymare: 1998 sorta started many years ago when members of Invader Studios set out to Resident Evil 2 Reborn, a fan remake for the second game in the series. After Capcom kindly asked them to cease work on the remake – which makes a lot of sense since Capcom would later release a Resident Evil 2 remake on PlayStation 4 – the team set out to rework the whole thing to turn it into an original IP.

To be able to work on developing the game, Invader Studios then took the project to Kickstarter, with a campaign that asked for the support of potential backers, with a €180,000 goal. The campaign did not reach its goal, but it did secure the support of 1,187 people that pledged a little over €40,000, which prompted the team to cancel the Kickstarter so that they could search for other ways to fund the development costs. It’s now 2020, and the game has made its way to the PlayStation 4.

 

The final version of the game certainly wears its inspirations on its sleeve. You are part of a special elite team named H.A.D.E.S. – Hexacore Advanced Division for Extraction and Search -, which is a nod to the S.T.A.R.S. – Special Tactics and Rescue Service –, a secret research facility, a chemical experiment gone terribly wrong, and there are also zombie-like enemies to take care of… by any means necessary. It goes with a third-person perspective for the action, which is how the Resident Evil series handled things starting with Resident Evil 4 – and how the Resident Evil 2 and 3 remakes are presented – and up until Resident Evil 7 changed things to a first-person view for that extra horror push. You’ll be seeing the game’s story from different perspectives as you control more than one character.

At the start of your journey, you’ll get to select between three difficulty settings: Easy, Normal, and Daymare. For Easy, you will get to enjoy the game’s story without having to worry too much about the enemies, the ammo and other item pickups, since enemies are not as aggressive, and you can even turn on an Aim Assist Mode. For Normal, the Aim Assist Mode can still be used, but the challenge is ramped up a bit with enemies that can deal more damage and will chase you around. For Daymare, you’re not getting the Aim Assist Mode, there will be limited ammo, enemies will deal more damage, as well as take more damage before they’re defeated. What will you choose?

 

You’ll move your character with the left analog stick, looking around with the right one. If you press in on the L3 button while pressing the L1 button to job, you can make your character sprint. Doing the same with the R3 button will have it do a quick 180° turn. The L2 button will be for aiming with your weapon, as you attack with the R2 button. The R2 button will also be used for melee attacks. You can fast reload by pressing the Square button, but you should always try to slow reload by holding down the Square button when possible so that you don’t waste any ammo. You can check your inventory with the Touchpad on the DualShock 4. Items can be used with the Circle button, and you can interact with things with the X button.

Daymare: 1998 has a full trophy list with a Platinum trophy for you to add to your collection. You’re probably going to have to play this one more than once, since there are trophies for completing the game in the Daymare difficulty setting, for finding all of the game’s collectibles, for completing this one without dying, and for finishing the game in less than four hours. Without studying a guide, you won’t be able to do all of the above in a single run, since finding the collectibles does require you to fully search every area you visit, and that will get in the way of completing the game in less than four hours.

 

Daymare: 1998 is a fun take on the survival horror genre made by an indie team that managed to bring us a game that pays homage to the classics – hence the 1998 part of the game’s title. It’s not perfect, since there are some bugs here and there that might force you to restart from the last checkpoint, and the framerate does take a hit every now and then when things get a bit too crowded, but it’s still an entertaining experience to check out. Daymare: 1998 is out now on PlayStation 4 with a $39.99 asking price, which makes it an easy game to recommend.

Disclaimer
This Daymare: 1998 review is based on a PlayStation 4 copy provided by Destructive Creations.