A few years back, indie developers Invader Studios delivered an entertaining horror game experience in Daymare: 1998. Now they partnered with publishers Leonardo Interactive and 4Divinity to bring its prequel to players in their new game Daymare: 1994 Sandcastle. It seems they took some risks with this title though as they changed quite a bit in the game while leaving the players controls, systems, and general gameplay style to be pretty much the same. The question is, did this pay off?

Story

Taking on the role as special agent Reyes, a former government spy that now works in a service unit known as H.A.D.E.S., we head into an experimental science facility. Being the most experimental and advanced research facility in the USA, there is no telling what we will find here, but that’s what we are here to find out. After some sort of failure has triggered the facilities alarms and a lack of communication being able to be established, it is clear that something went wrong there, so be cautious when you enter the facility.

Once you are inside, you soon find yourself in a double-edged sword situation; while the creepy enemies seem to have some sort of power and modifications strengthening them, you also find some of the most state-of-the-art equipment to fight back against them with. While survival will be a main focus, don’t forget to execute your mission and bring back intel on the research they have been conducting behind closed doors.

Gameplay

Much like the first game, when you are using a regular gun - such as pistol, shotgun, or MP5 - you will need to manage your ammo appropriately. Reloading because you have only two bullets left might be smart, but now you have a magazine with only two bullets in it. You’ll need to reload that magazine before you need to reload the gun itself again. I did really enjoy this feature in the first game, so I am glad to see they kept it in. However, there is a new toy to use and that is your freeze gun. When you find yourself facing some of these new enemies, they will be fast and move around at incredible speeds. You’ll find yourself using the freeze gun quite often, so keep it ready. It’s just a shame how much of the game you have to get through before you can power it up.

Along with the combat, you’ll have to solve a number of different puzzles. These could be turning valves to manage a pressure level or using the right code or password on a keypad. Solving puzzles is something that keeps me engaged, personally, so I like how they spaced them out between the combats to keep a diverse. Some puzzles were a bit strange or very blatantly set up to put you in a corner for a “surprise” attack, but they weren’t very subtle about it this time.

Enemies can range from humanoid to creature, but for the most part you will be facing powered-up humanoids. Steering away from a zombie-focused enemy was definitely a strange choice for this series, but possibly something they could have gotten away with more cleanly if they put more time into grounding the games concept. I do like that the changed things up a bit, but I can’t help but to feel that it could have been better in a future game.

Audio and Graphics

There is definitely no complaint here in this department because they, once again, deliver a very aesthetically pleasing title that mixes appropriate atmosphere and environment with fitting music and sound effects for each moment of the game. This is definitely the most solid aspect of the game and I hope they keep this art and music style in future titles for the series!

What It Could Have Done Better

Instead of the powered-up enemies, I think it would have been better to give a diverse style of zombies instead. You can still bring in the research facility aspect to it by having a variety of zombies with animal-like qualities, or heightened sense, or ridiculous strength. They even could have pulled a full Frankenstein’s Monster style zombie in an environment like the one we were in.

I’m not sure if I got bored with the freeze gun or if I was unhappy with how late in the game it was before I could power it up, but something about this new weapon just came off as a gimmick. I’m leaning more towards the idea that the upgrades came too late though since I wouldn’t have been bored with the weapon if there were regular upgrades to the new weapon gradually throughout the game.

Verdict

Daymare: 1994 Sandcastle is a decent horror game and would probably be most enjoyed by those who liked their first title. I’m not sure if a player who didn’t play their first game would enjoy the experience of this one on its own due to the gimmicky freeze gun paired with the reload style of the game. The reload style took time to get used to on its own in the first game, so pairing that with the new gun is something I can see being frustrating. So, if you haven’t played the first game, I recommend you do so before you play this one. That said, I would recommend this game, but it is worth waiting for it to go on sale before you pick it up.