2023-09-17 21:02:43
Four years following a first episode that was uneven but interesting in many ways, Invader Studios is back with Daymare: 1994 Sandcastle. The Resident Evil style is still as striking, even if the title manages to stand out.
Its release four years ago left us somewhat unsatisfied. Daymare: 1998 seemed, at first glance, to be a banal amateur copy of the Resident Evil franchise. Very 90s, Daymare was played in the third person, with menus copied from those of the Capcom franchise, and an atmosphere almost modeled on the adventures of Leon S. Kennedy and Claire Redfield. However, with its rigid and little varied gameplay, Daymare will not have managed to reach the level of Resident Evil.
Never mind, the developers have chosen to set the table once more, going back four years in the adventure in order to immerse us in 1994. Unsurprisingly, the mark left by Resident Evil remains very present, and this, in all the domains. Gameplay, narration, atmosphere, almost everything is done to make us feel in friendly territory and to understand the Invader Studios title as belonging to the Capcom franchise.
Unlike Daymare 1998, this new opus forces us to face hordes of corpses animated by a kind of electromagnetic charge. We play Delila Reyes, a member of the HADES special forces, dispatched with her team to a secret laboratory in Area 51. The scenario starts off with a bang, in a very exciting way, but gradually runs out of steam. A criticism that had already been made for the first opus, and which is repeated here. We never really manage to get attached to our main character, and the ones that seem the most interesting are not playable and only appear on rare occasions, whereas we had the possibility of playing three different characters in the original opus. Coming back to the scenario, it is spread too thin and really resembles a turnip from the 80s/90s.
The zombies here give way to corpses animated by an electromagnetic field.
We criticized the first opus for a certain rigidity in its gameplay. If it remains quite unwieldy, we feel that the developers have made a lot of effort in this regard. The camera is no longer as unpleasant as in the past. Despite the glaring lack of diversity in the arsenal and enemies, the maneuverability of the weapons is there. Unlike Resident Evil, however, we regret that Daymare 1994 is much more interventionist. Don’t expect to explore the levels in search of one or another collectible, since here you will have no other choice than to follow the corridors built so that you go as quickly as possible to your aim. A regrettable choice, since it considerably harms the lifespan of the game, which can be finished in just over 5 hours.
But where Daymare 1994 stands out the most compared to the Capcom franchise is in the few originalities brought to its gameplay. The Frost Spray is therefore a pure success. If the enemies are not very varied, you can confront them in different ways, including this famous Frost Spray. It is basically a liquid nitrogen projector allowing you to slow down enemies, but not only that. Those who are surrounded by a red aura, for example, can only be neutralized using this spray.
Progression will also involve intelligent use and management of the Frost Spray, since certain passages will only be accessible using your tool which must be used sparingly. In fact, you will have a limited quantity of nitrogen, to recharge at various stations distributed throughout the environments, but also thanks to boosts that you will find here and there.
The Frost Grip is one of the great ideas of this sequel.
Another element makes Daymare stand out: its puzzles. Already in the first episode, we noticed real work on the part of the developers to offer sophisticated and advanced puzzles. If they are a little less worked here, they nevertheless remain striking and pleasant to solve. However, they remain more advanced than in the entire Resident Evil franchise, which has never been known for its puzzles.
If narration is not Daymare: 1994’s strong point, its visual atmosphere is quite the opposite. Enhanced by excellent lighting effects, this atmosphere literally plunges us into a gripping adventure, dark and disturbing in many ways, although the too many cutscenes disrupt the immersion. We would also have liked the few very pleasant environments we encountered to be used more. We pass too briefly by an abandoned boat under construction. This passage lasts almost 5 minutes, although there was clearly plenty to do. Like RE, the staging is particularly careful.
This is also possible thanks to an excellent musical composition that is… almost empty. The music is very rare, in order to allow the player to find himself. We hear our character’s footsteps in the corridors, and the emergence of enemies sometimes making our hairs stand on end. The French dubbing is still absent, but we won’t hold this too harsh on the developers as the original version is qualitative.
The atmosphere is successful in many ways, with ideally distributed jumpscares.
A successful visual and sound atmosphere does not mean that the graphics are of quality. They are passable, of course, thanks in particular to excellent light management, but they are far from fully exploiting the potential of the Unreal Engine. Textures regularly take time to load, hair is subject to clipping on certain characters, and facial animations are very stiff. Daymare: 1994 is not bad, it is also pleasant for the retina for a small independent title, but this is where we see the difference in means between Invader Studios and Capcom and its RE Engine.
Finishing is not Daymare 1994’s strong point either, since the refresh rate is far from constant. Framerate drops are regular, making the experience far from pleasant at this level.
Never mind, we repeat, this is an independent title. The studio’s resources are not enormous, and given its low price (barely less than €30), we are not going to chastise the studio for its few wanderings.
Conclusion
It’s a great pleasure when a studio takes players’ comments into account to improve a sequel. This is the case with the Daymare franchise. A tribute to Capcom’s Resident Evil, the first opus was more like a pale remake of RE2. With Daymare 1994, the sequel, Invader Studios finally demonstrates what it is capable of, despite the limited means at its disposal. If it is inconsistent in its graphics, the title takes us on a rhythmic third-person adventure, with very good ideas in its gameplay like the famous Frost Spray. The puzzles also have nothing to be ashamed of compared to those of Resident Evil, despite a drop in speed compared to the first title. Despite a scenario that is still disappointing, Daymare 1994 enjoys an atmosphere, both sonic and visual, that is simply exquisite. The comparison with Resident Evil seems inevitable as the gameplay is so close, but Daymare 1994 is a pleasant alternative to the Capcom franchise.
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Daymare: 1994 Sandcastle
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On aime :
Very good gameplay ideas
The soundtrack, just impeccable
Much more successful puzzles than in RE
A gloomy atmosphere and very successful staging
A good price-performance ratio
We like less:
Dated facial animations
No VF
Very uneven graphically
Underexploited environments
An inconsistent framerate
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#Test #Daymare #Sandcastle #successful #sequel
