After the PC launch last year, the work of the guys at Invader Studio also arrives on digital console from 28 April, also accompanied by a physical version exclusive for the European market and called Daymare 1998: Black Edition. So let's welcome this new edition of survival horror to find out how it behaves on our home consoles, omitting all that was the adventure of the Invader Studio guys and their past with Capcom, a story well praised and already celebrated by many, which is why the title had been on the radar of many users for a very long time.
Once upon a time there was a virus and a city
As we all know, Daymare 1998 was born as a huge project to celebrate what was Resident Evil 2 and the genre of survival horror that became popular during the PlayStation era in the late 90s. The intention of the work is therefore that of kidnap and repeat the classic stylistic features, what today may seem a false memory from the memory of many non-young people: Resident Evil spoke after all of secret laboratories, viruses that turned men into zombies and haunted cities ready to welcome the unfortunate outsiders with various blood and nightmares.
Daymare 1998 on this aspect does not betray expectations, slipping into a narrative vein not unlike the classic b-movie plots, also presenting here, from the beginning of the game, a research structure full of various monstrosities, a military team in charge of recovering the virus that caused all this and its relative spread in the nearby town. The game will unfold following various points of view and, consequently, letting us play by impersonating different characters who, through fairly evident plot forcing, will see their paths cross, even following fairly meaningless narrative crossroads, but on the other hand to think about it colder, it is these infamous choices that manage to restore some identity to the work.
Solid structures
Our adventure with Daymare 1998 on PlayStation 4 got off to a rough start: after grinding a good amount of hours, the release of a full-bodied patch canceled our saves, in fact forcing us to have to start the title again, not without some despair. The next run was the victim of the classic hiccups effect: between bugs and unexpected crashes we cannot hide the fact that we ended the adventure at the end of our strength. We are probably talking about defects that for the launch will be well optimized and resolved, but in the moment of trial they put a strain on our patience.
Bugs excluded, the component worth praising is the atmosphere. The developers fully demonstrate their love for the genre, so much so that we could define Daymare 1998 as one of the most faithful survival horror on the market, combining a clean and decisive eye in settings, with effective and suggestive areas of darkness, with a truly prudent management of resources. So do not think of shooting in bursts at everything and everyone, since as a practice, the ammunition will really be donated with the dropper.
The weapon reload mechanics is also very intriguing, tending more to a realistic factor: firing two bullets with a full magazine, in fact, you will change the magazine by putting the one previously used in the backpack (or rather, on the ground, so remember to pick it up, otherwise you will be in serious difficulty). It will therefore be our pleasure to go to the inventory to reload the two shots fired previously in the magazine using the ammunition in your possession. It should also be said, however, that the same charging methods unnecessarily occupy several dedicated slots, a choice probably made to occupy all the keys of the game pad, but going on with the adventure you will find yourself managing the fire economy with a single method, the one that will be more congenial to you in the middle of the action, then the faster one, leaving the slow general weapon reloading system to more calm moments.
Hallucinations and monsters
The graphic sector unfortunately lives the same reality with which every indie production must clash, which highlights all its limits. Polygonal models lend themselves badly both in terms of animations and in terms of the amount of detail. Of course, we are aware of the nature of the game and we emphasize this aspect precisely by virtue of the fact that Daymare 1998 alternates moments of brilliant lucidity with others of complete bewilderment. The story - which, however absurd, has been able to amuse itself -, the dubbing, some light games and related innovations mentioned above as well as the good shooting system show great patience and quality in terms of general optimization, but on the other hand it is undeniable that a lack is a single direction in managing all these resources.
Paradoxically, the incipit, what is needed to immediately attract attention, just misses the target, with more open areas, full of intriguing puzzles, but easily forgotten, while from chapter 2 onwards, thanks also to moments structured in corridors, the game becomes much more enjoyable and functional to its nature. In short, it almost seems that two distinct souls live within the title, where one works better than the other, thus highlighting the great qualitative gap or more simply, the difficulty in amalgamating all the possibilities that the game offers to the best. user on duty.
