Nearly four years following the launch of Daymare: 1998, the developers return with a new installment in the series. This time, Daymare: 1994 Sandcastle serves as a prequel to the 2019 game, transporting us four years back in time before the events of Daymare: 1998. As this is my first time delving into the series, rather than drawing comparisons to its predecessor, I will share my impressions of this game that offers its unique take on the survival horror genre.

Taking place in the depths of the Area 51 desert, Daymare: 1994 Sandcastle centers around Dalila Reyes, a member of the private military squad H.A.D.E.S., who also possesses exceptional hacking skills. Her mission is to uncover the mysteries surrounding an underground research facility incident. The narrative predominantly unfolds through cutscenes and scattered environmental items. Occasionally, players will be prompted to investigate hackable plot items, ensuring that the story remains accessible as long as you devote even a small amount of attention to your surroundings. With a typical horror game length, spanning approximately 10 to 13 hours for a single playthrough, the plot maintains a decent pace and avoids the sensation of overwhelming the player with an excessive amount of information all at once.

One aspect that truly left a strong impression on me is the game's voice acting. Whether they're portraying enemies or allies, each voice actor's performance effectively brings their character to life within the game. In fact, certain cutscenes are so impactful that, in my opinion, they could compete with other well-known franchises in terms of immersion. However, it's worth noting that in a few instances, the lip-syncing didn't align perfectly with the voice, which slightly detracted from the experience. Nonetheless, in my overall opinion, the presentation and voice acting in the cutscenes are well-executed.

Environmental design undeniably plays a pivotal role in delivering the "horror" elements of a horror game. Considering that Daymare: 1994 Sandcastle is crafted by a relatively small indie team, the game's visual presentation is quite commendable. It offers a diverse range of settings for players to explore, even within its typically short playtime for a horror game. You'll get to explore deserted office, factory-like areas teeming with corpses, eerie and claustrophobic dark hallways, and more, ensuring that the exploration gameplay remains engaging and filled with anticipation. The game also checks all the right boxes, from the unsettlingly silent surroundings to occasional minor jump scares, such as exploding lightbulbs. It's safe to say that Daymare: 1994 Sandcastle has effectively crafted a suffocating horror atmosphere in this regard.

In my opinion, Daymare: 1994 Sandcastle leans more towards the "action horror" genre rather than "survival horror". In this game, you're equipped with three weapons: an MP5 sub-machine gun, a shotgun, and later on, the Frost Grip, a liquid nitrogen dispenser that allows you to freeze zombies, slowing them down, and then delivering a finishing blow when they're frozen solid. The combat mechanics are well-designed with a touch of realism, as reloading and switching weapons take relatively significant time, which can put you in a tight spot if you run out of ammo during a fight. Weapon recoil also adds a moderate level of difficulty, demanding careful aiming from players. Fortunately, for those who struggle with aiming (like yours truly), there's an Aim Assist function available to help you out.

However, there are moments when even the Aim Assist can't rescue you …

What's scarier than zombies? Teleporting zombies. Yes, in Daymare: 1994 Sandcastle, the zombies could blink like The Flash, likely due to their electrified nature. Imagine facing zombies that effortlessly evade all the precious ammo that you've gathered. The zombies in this game are also unbelievably fast, causing me to question my previous stereotypes of zombies who could barely move before being taken down. This also makes the game's combat remain demanding even on the Normal difficulty setting, which is excellent news for players seeking a horror game with challenging combat.

While battling lightning-fast zombies is undeniably a fresh experience, I can't help but feel that the combat could be more enjoyable with a greater variety of enemies to fiight with. From what I've observed, the game introduces only four types of enemies, with the majority being the blue minions (the "standard" type) and the red minions (the ones that need to be frozen before killing). Moreover, most, if not all, of them look virtually identical. Aside from demanding quick reactions during battles due to their lightning speed, as well as the QTE-like gameplay that involves shooting down electric orbs before they revive another zombie, I find the encounters in Daymare: 1994 Sandcastle to be somewhat repetitive. This could be especially true for seasoned survival horror players who could easily breeze through these encounters.

Daymare: 1994 Sandcastle’s impressive atmosphere is also somewhat diminished by the game’s encounters, which often feel quite predictable. I'm not referring to the large empty rooms designed for boss battles or the eerily long hallways where you're almost guaranteed to be ambushed; rather, it's the fact that the enemies in this game absolutely love lurking behind corners. Furthermore, the game appears to relish throwing you into fights whenever you're about to backtrack. It also doesn't help when the enemies are just the same faces you've encountered repeatedly throughout the game.

On the flip side, the puzzle-solving gameplay is decent. Most of the puzzles in the game involve Reyes hacking devices and doors, although occasionally they require some traversal or the use of tools like the Frost Grip to cool down machine components. These puzzles aren't overly simplistic, requiring more than just a bit of logical thinking to solve. At the same time, they're not so challenging that they leave you feeling dumb. They mostly fall in line with the standard puzzle gameplay you'd expect from a survival horror game.

In summary, Daymare: 1994 Sandcastle feels like a horror movie that grants its audience control over the protagonist. While the combat and encounters fall into the realm of mediocrity, the game's plot and environmental design manages to shine reasonably well. Despite the combat offering a fresh perspective compared to other survival/action horror games, it doesn't take long before the repetitiveness sets in, leaving me wishing for more variety in zombie types and usable weapons. Although the game's replayability is hampered by this repetitiveness, it remains a fairly decent recommendation for both newcomers and seasoned horror game players due to its engaging story and atmospheric qualities.

And that concludes Lluvia’s review of Daymare: 1994 Sandcastle on PS5.