Daymare: 1998

The game is fun, but the second "mission" is bugged by broken terrain and you cannot get off the dock, Breaking progression and preventing completion of the game. Apparently the Steam version works, but I am not purchasing a second copy of the game.

read a lot of negative feedback on Daymare before purchasing it, but I played the demo and really enjoyed that. I could tell this was going to be a "LOVE or HATE" game for me, so I purchased it on my own head; and I don't regret it. Daymare is a homage to oldschool survival horror, and aside from the 3rd person camera it fits well into the old tropes like limited recourses, methodical exploration and files/audio logs. And it's not easy, atleast on DAYMARE difficulty which is described as how the developer intended the game to be played for an authentic experience. I want to cover quickly some mechanics and aspects of the game that people have a problem with. Combat and inventory is clunky, voice acting is cheesy, and the enemies are a bit limited. But for me, these weren't problems. I understand that the developers were on a budget and limited team so considering what they managed to make, it's impressive for me. Clunky gunplay adds to more tense encounters, I really enjoyed the story and characters, the inventory system is very cool and again doesn't pause the game so you have to use it wisely. Though enemies are limited it variety the existing ones do well to give you a bad day; be it the slower shambling zombies or larger and faster ones with stronger attacks! The environments are varied; labs, woods, town streets and locales, a hospital etc, and are all dark and rich with tense atmosphere. I was constantly having my gun ready while slowly approaching corners in apprehension. While it is mainly influenced by Resident Evil 2, I think the soundtrack is very diverse and rich. The cutscenes are longer and more fleshed with character too; the story isn't glossed over. And the references to RE vary from blatant (like typewriters laying around) or enemies and characters that have remind me a bit of say, William Birkin or HUNK, but are enough of their own person. Overall, I just can't fault this game. It isn't perfect but it is playable and full of passion.

The game actually becomes enjoyable half way in. It's a shame because most will lose interest before the best parts. Too much cinematics, that drags on for too long. Characters that would make the burned dolls faces NPCs of Oblivion looks goods in comparison. The progression is a bit too linear and I wish we would just be dropped in a big manor/city/lab to explore freely instead of the progression that is a bit too much on rail. When the game actually let you explore freely it's fantastic. The level design is inegal where so part are a bit empty and other like the town will make you drop your jaw. I give it 5 stars to encourage the devs on their first game but you should probably get in on discount.

You're probably gonna like this one too. It's basically a low budget Resident Evil, the city level with the unmasked HEXACORE Operative (whatever his name was) felt terribly unbalanced and made me think they weren't properly playtested at all. Wait for a sale maybe.

the menus are too rough, how difficult was it to make a simple menu and inventory. the mechanics are boring. The first chapter is so slow and boring and the worst thing is that there isn't even a save system. Not until after chapter 2. I was encouraged to play because they gave it away. but I had planned to buy it on steam, it's good that I dodged this bullet.