Daymare: 1994 Sandcastle is a third-person survival horror game with a strong narrative component, set before the critically acclaimed Daymare: 1998. The game takes a strong inspiration from Resident Evil, basically being one with a much more limited budget, but it is a game that has its originality.
In the game, we control special agent Dalila Reyes, a former government spy who is a member of the H.A.D.E.S (Hexacore Advanced Extraction and Search Division) organization. In theory, she was just a scientist, but she sets off on a field mission to one of the most mysterious places in our world: Area 51.
And from there, the story evolves into a science fiction plot full of twists and turns involving themes such as political intrigue, mutations, teleportation, religion and monstrosities. I have to say I was surprised by the story, as it manages to bring together various elements in a cohesive way.
However, there are a few things wrong with it - after all, no game is perfect, is it? But these problems are basically technical issues, and at the start of the game, this gave a not very good first impression, but as the game went on, it changed a lot. I'll go into these technical issues in more detail later, but for now, let's get down to business...
How does the game work?
As I said at the beginning of this review, Daymare: 1994 Sandcastle is a third-person survival horror, with lots of action and elements that make the experience unique, but again, it has some flaws. The behind-the-shoulder camera is very similar to the one we see in Resident Evil.
The Capcom franchise is a huge inspiration here, and if you're used to playing the franchise, then you'll easily adapt to Daymare. But before we get into the gameplay, it's worth mentioning that the game has a few difficulty levels, but be aware that even on the lowest difficulty, the game is very challenging, so don't expect an easy task.
As for the length of the game, it's not that long, even in that it's strongly inspired by Resident Evil. It's possible to finish the game in just over 6 hours, but I confess that I did a lot more than that on my run. The length is very good for me, I tend to value these shorter experiences, something that goes against what part of the community thinks, doesn't it?
Very Resident Evil
Moving on to the gameplay, we have many elements of RE, but in a more limited way. For example, as far as the arsenal of weapons is concerned, we only have two here, which is quite a few, but enough. We can use a rapid-fire weapon, which does little damage but is enough to kill most enemies. The second weapon, on the other hand, is one of those we call the "12", which has a smaller number of shots in the magazine, but does more damage and has a shorter range. You can defeat enemies with just one shot.
But in addition to these weapons, we have a third element that we can use to defeat enemies, a kind of freezing gauntlet. You can use it to freeze enemies and defeat them easily, but it takes time and leaves you exposed to attacks. In addition to this ability, many others are unlocked as you progress through the game, but combat isn't the only use for this tool.
The game has a large number of puzzles, just like that game I've already mentioned several times in this review, and the variety of them is enough for the experience of solving them not to become tiresome. And one of the types of puzzles has to do with the overheating of certain objects, which can be cooled down using the handle I mentioned.
And finally, we have two other elements, one which is a flashlight, which obviously serves to illuminate the path, although it does so with some difficulty. And the last element is a scanner, which basically serves to give us more information about some of the objects we encounter during the game.
And how does the fight work?
As I said, for combat, you can basically use the two weapons, which can be upgraded over time, and the freezing gauntlet. In this respect, I believe that due to its simplicity, the game becomes very repetitive. This is due to the small number of weapons and the repetition of enemies.
Well, as far as the enemies are concerned, we have little variety, and this ends up weighing down the gameplay to the point of becoming boring after several encounters. The most common enemy is a type of zombie, which is not a zombie, but which functions in the same way both in terms of the way it acts and its appearance.
This type of enemy is very fast and always comes running at you like there's no tomorrow. But they are easily defeated, at least in their most common form. However, a simple fight with them can become time-consuming and resource-intensive, because when you defeat them, a form of electric sphere comes out of the enemies.
A kind of insistent enemy...
This electric sphere is very problematic, because when it leaves an enemy, it will look for another host, which can be any body on the ground, causing a new enemy to appear. With many dead on the scene, the fight can get very long if the sphere isn't destroyed, and this is possible with a "shot" using the freezing gauntlet.
But the sphere isn't just used to give life to other enemies, when you put two of them into a particular enemy, they basically become immortal and deal much more damage. The only way to defeat enemies in this form is to freeze them and then kill them. But the orb, now red, continues to act in the same way, looking for a new host, so you have to eliminate them again.
In addition to these more common enemies, there are a few others with different characteristics, with the exception of the electric sphere, which is the same in every enemy we encounter. The other enemies, as well as having a different look, attack differently too, either with long-distance attacks or hit-kill attacks, but even so, I believe that a greater variety would make the experience more interesting.
Now, on to the technical issues...
Well, graphically speaking, the game is pretty good considering its limitations, but despite this, there are some problems here, which I briefly mentioned earlier in the review. I said I'd explain these problems further and so I will! And in the first few minutes of the game, they are more present than ever...
At first glance, I was very impressed by the sound, but I think that's due to the sound system I have in my setup. The game uses and abuses bass effects, so at many points in the game there are sounds that make the house shake, thanks mainly to the subwoofer. However, these sounds are repeated from the beginning to the end of the game, I believe due to financial limitations, as this effect doesn't generate the same expense as an original soundtrack, for example.
But the game does have some music on the soundtrack, and because it is absent a lot of the time, when it does play, its impact on the scenes is even more noticeable, bringing more emotion to the scenes. Whether due to limitations or not, the use of the soundtrack is very well utilized here.
Many technical problems...
However, as I said, first impressions aren't the best, for several reasons. The first is that the protagonist seems strange in the first few minutes, in her civilian clothes. The character's head seems disproportionately large in relation to her body, but this sensation passes as the game progresses, either out of habit or because of the clothes that soften this sensation.
The animations are very simple too, to the point of being a bit annoying, but just like the character, over time the strange feeling passes, perhaps out of habit. This is also true of the voice actors' acting and the characters' facial expressions, which are very poor.
And all these problems are combined with an almost non-existent polish at the start, which, in theory, needs to make a good impression. In the opening scene alone, every possible bug occurred, with characters blinking all the time, sometimes their entire bodies and sometimes individual limbs. Incredibly, as the game progresses, this no longer happens, but in the opening scene, which is perhaps the most important to hold the player, it happens all the time.
But during the course of the game, there are a few other problems that are noticeable, but that don't bother you so much, such as textures that never load, some frame drops, etc. The game can be played both in a mode that prioritizes quality and one that prioritizes frame rate.
The models are a bit precarious
Returning to the models, the main ones are okay, although they aren't well animated and don't have good expressions. But in the case of the enemies, the story is completely the opposite, with them being extremely generic and with very simple modeling. All the enemies have electrical effects that are just as simple.
But although the models are a weak point, the settings are very good, and even though they have a very limited color palette, they are very varied. You go through industrial settings, offices, residential environments, caves, indoors, outdoors, and so on. The game does very well in this area of scenery variation. The atmosphere of tension that the game creates is very good.
Was it worth it?
Well, I have to say that I was positively impressed with the game, as I expected much less than I got. However, that doesn't erase all the negative points I encountered during this journey, of which there were many.
I recommend playing the game if you're not too fussy about the points I've mentioned in the review, because even though they're bad, over time you get used to them. Also, Resident Evil fans, you'll find a very familiar experience in Daymare 1994: Sandcastle.
See also:
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