I 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.
From flying a snowspeeder in the Battle of Hoth, jumping and shooting your way through an active train system on a junkyard planet, to swoop biking through on Tatooinee, SOTE has variety, and it helps keep up the pace. Granted the controls, especially for the on foot sections, are clunky for today's standard. It's oldschool in the sense that you strafe using separate buttons and move and turn with the same input. A bit of tweaking may steer you in the right direction. I played using an XBOX ONE controller, with strafe mapped to LB and RB, jump A, fire B... It's that era of game. You also have the classic title scroll, and then in every cut down chapter of the game; there's 4 chapters spanning 10 levels. The cutscenes are CGI with voice over and while I'm nostalgic for the still JPEG and text slides in the N64, I loved revisiting SOTE with uncompressed John Williams music and full voices to add to the story. All the stock Foley is there too, TIE screams, blaster fire, Storm Trooper death cries and creepy probe droids! Short and sweet was also this era of games. It doesn't drag on too long but feels full and epic thanks to the varied sections through the game. Flying in a snowspeeder and then having an on foot section exploring echo base, peeping around corners methodically for Imperials. And then on the gun turrets in a freighter blasting away TIE bucket heads! Doesn't rely on too much fanfare from main line characters yet integrates some cool set pieces from EMPIRE STRIKES BACK. Dash Rendar is doing his own thing for the A team but they're not choking up his screen time. And he isn't on some personal quest of revenge or justice, he just wants some credits. JETPACK!!! What else to say!? In all seriousness the jetpack just feels really good to use in later parts of the game, like when you're platforming over the canyons of Gall, and going underwater through the sewers of Imperial City. Wouldn't recommend to everyone, more like a gamble on marmite ;)
