Posted on: September 19, 2025
pekoeblaze
Verified ownerGames: 383 Reviews: 12
More Than Just Off-Brand Resident Evil
Yes, you will get the most out of this game if you are familiar with the original "Resident Evil" (1996), and it wears its influences on its sleeve... but it is more than just a simple clone. Yes, it has some mildly-moderately frustrating flaws, but it is more innovative than you might think and it grew on me a lot over time :) Whilst I won't spoil the "better than I expected" story, not only do you get to play as each member of the team - who have a lot more personality and characterisation than the original RE's characters do - but the limited "lives" system, the "You have five minutes to find the antidote!" if you get bitten, and the weak early-game weapons make the zombies in the early-middle parts of the game feel genuinely terrifying in a way which could put classic RE to shame! The first-person combat makes everything a bit more frantic and intense too, and it's a neat "Resident Evil Gaiden" and/or "House Of The Dead" reference as well. There are even hints of stealth-horror, with the game allowing you to peek through keyholes as well. The game-world is also a "small, but very well-designed" one, with the game opening up shortcuts that let you dodge zombies as you progress. The game is also very generous with ammo, but this is balanced by the tougher difficulty of other aspects of the game. Is this game perfect? No. It could just have been my PC but, occasionally, the weapons were unresponsive in the early-mid parts of the game. And, whilst the limited "lives" make the game scarier, they also push you to play a bit... too... cautiously and conservatively. Some of the puzzles are also a bit too cruel (seriously, if you get just one tiny thing wrong with the shotgun puzzle... And, if you don't do one very specific thing during the intro, then no antidote for you unless you cheat and look up the code online) and I ended up relying heavily on a walkthrough. You also have to re-play a large part of the game at one point as well (albeit with much better weapons). There are no rebindable keys and - seemingly - only one resolution, plus the UI can take a bit of getting used to if you're playing with mouse/keyboard (eg: to select healing items or door options, just move the mouse in the relevant direction). It isn't perfect. Still, despite these flaws, this is a - surprisingly clever - riff on the original "Resident Evil", which does a lot of new and unexpected stuff whilst still FEELING like classic survival horror :) It also has a very unique atmosphere and personality which grew on me over time. The story is more creative than classic "Resident Evil", the characters are more well-written, it's scarier than the original RE and - as a bonus - it will even run at a playable speed on Intel HD 2500 integrated graphics too. Yes, it's a bit of an acquired taste, but it grew on me a lot when I gave it a chance :)
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