izigame.me

A lot of players will probably compare this game to RE2 and RE3 Remakes. And it's kinda right. From the moment when you start the game you can see how heavily it was inspired by those. However to compare these games won't be fair, because Daymare 1994 isn't an AAA game. Hell, it's not even AA game! This is literally an indie title! And honestly it's pretty darn good for the price devs' are asking.
Personally, I'd give it a solid 7/10. Some things the game does better than Daymare 1998 and some things actually worse...
Alright, let's start with some positives:
1) Gameplay and combat feels much better. It is sighnificantly less "clunky" compared to Daymare 1994.
2) The story is also more simple and easier to understand (as long as you read the files and watch cutscenes). D1994 is a prequel and there are numerous throwbacks to D1998 along with some characters from the first game. Overall the "Daymare" universe has been expanded, which is great!
3) Many cool pop culture references as in the previous game;
4) The price is more than adequate even without a discount.
5) Finally some bonus content similar to RE games (weapon skins, unlockable artworks, infinite ammo, "extreme" difficulty mode);
6) The game has way more manual save points compared to previous game and it doesn't require "ink ribbon" or anything else, save as many times as you want. Very convinient!
7) Easier and totally not clunky inventory system and good controls in general.
8) Another story point. I'd say that the lore is where this game beats RE games. It is definitely written in a much more believable way compared to RE2 and RE3 remakes. Especially RE3R with all of the BS feats that the "Cringe Jill" has performed there.
9) New cool ice weapon mechanics that makes the game different from D1998 and RE games.
10) You can get all of the game's achievements in one go. Though I need to WARN you! There's one particular achievement where you have to finish the game without dying. Sounds easy, BUT there's one particular enemy with a frustrating one-hit-kill attack (can be a problem if the area is infested with other enemies as well) and if you die it's not enough to just go the menu and and hit "continue". If you do that your death will be added to the count! The game corrupts your last save file. So you should use 2 save slots instead. Meaning if you die and your latest save file becomes corrupted you can still use the first one.
Neutral points:
1) Reworked hacking mechanic. Not gonna elaborate, but it's probably gonna frustrate some players A LOT. Others however may even enjoy it. Personally I think it's cool.
2) VERY fast paced combat. Prepare yourselves, because enemies are very fast! Don't even bother trying to outrun them. There's no stealth in the game. If the combat has started you gotta fight your enemies, there's no way to somehow speedrun past them.
3) The puzzles were simplified and their number has been decreased.
4) Playing the original Daymare 1998 is very recommended for the better understanding of the story.
5) Unique reload mechanic from the first game is gone. Which actually might be a good thing, considering how fast paced the combat is.
6) The game is set in 1994, and well, I don't think that the game has captured atmosphere of that time really well. I mean, it kind of feels like 90s, there are some very cool references. Maybe it's just the fact that the game's taking place in the Area 51 I dunno. Well, I think there should've been more references then. I mean, it's all advanced military laboratories stuff and such, sometimes it's hard to say that it's 90s... You're probably thinking that I am making a huge deal out of it, lol. But I am big 90s sucka. 90s were THE BEST! But hey, the references which they made are really cool! Devs also tried really hard to make tech stuff look apropriate for that era. At least I didn't see any inconsistencies (like CD-RW disk in Robocop: Rogue city, which was not possible at that time).
Negatives:
1) No mini map! I kinda get it that the game is somewhat linear and there's not a lot of backtracking. But honestly the game is so dark and the flashlight works like an ass that a couple of times I even got lost, lmao.
2) I think the bonus content for the game could've been better, honestly. I mean if the main character received at least 2 bonus costumes that would increase the replayability of the game. The reward for shooting all of the alien figures is underwhelming to say the least.
3) Only 2 weapons, though it's good that now they at least have a couple of upgrades.
3) The weapons don't feel impactful when hitting the enemies.
4) Very few types of enemies. There's one particular artwork in the game of a certain enemy that was scrapped which is a total bummer because of how cool it looked!
5) Somehow the world feels less alive compared to previous game. There's less interaction with it along with many areas full of nothing. Not many locations where you want to stop and look around (Though some are very beautiful and breathtaking).
6) Cheap enemy encounters strike again! Remember how in the first game during the exploration sequences there were single enemies hiding behind the corner of some corridors? Yup, they are back in this game as well. Good grief. I hope those aren't gonna become one of the "main features" of the Daymare games.
7) I wish there was a way to read all of the collected files in the game menu.
Conclusion:
For what it's worth I really enjoyed Daymare 1994. Gonna replay the game on the new diffuculty that was added after the release and get the last 2 achievements. Considering the size of the team and budget the developers did put much more effort into the game than Capcom did with the Resident Evil 3 "Demake". Not to mention that I find lore of the Daymare games to be superior to Resident Evil franchise. It honestly is ming boggling when some people say that the story in Daymare is bad. You know, I also happen to be a dedicated Resident Evil series fan. And let me tell this when it comes to "realism" and immersion RE has nothing on Daymare. If you wanna I can give a 36+ hours long lecture on what's wrong with every RE game. While Daymare isn't perfect either, it features a very realistic story with ZERO BS, Mary Sues, or total nonsence. I am gonna die on the hill that Daymare series has better lore and characters compared to Resident Evil. Even though the game was greatly inspired by Resident Evil, Daymare 1994 has its' own atmosphere, even different compared to D1998. I would say that the game feels more like "Call of Cthulhu" type of game atmosphere wise rather than Resident Evil. But I do understand that not everyone will be touched by the story. To me though it felt very personal, like a letter from the beyond the grave. Like a main character I also happen to have a very complicated relationship with one of my relatives who has "jumped into the abyss". Yeah... The story has resonated with me very much and moved my heart in ways unimaginable... Anyway, as I said, I recommend to buy it even without a discount, it is really worth it, when you put all of the things into consideration.