2019 was a landmark year for survival horror as it saw the long-awaited release of Capcom’s stellar Resident Evil 2 Remake. When this title was met with glowing critical and player acclaim there were many think-pieces heralding it as the return of horror gaming. In truth, horror games have never gone away and gamers would do well to dig a little deeper than the AAA market for their scary fix. Later in 2019, Invader Studios released Daymare: 1998 – an indie survival horror that mostly drew attention due to its origins as a fan made remake of the aforementioned Resident Evil 2. While this version was shut down by Capcom as they worked on their own, Invader repurposed their work to create a game that was as close to the adventures of S.T.A.R.S as they could manage without litigation. When I reviewed it back at release it was difficult to get past its dated aspects, especially in light of the RE2 remake. It was clearly a labour of love, however, and there was plenty of potential to see.
Fast forward to 2022 and a demo for Daymare 1994: Sandcastle appeared which showed off a new prequel storyline and brand new player character, seemingly relocating the action to an iconic B movie location – Area 51. Since then, things have gone quiet at Invader aside from a couple of release date changes (a very familiar occurrence post-Covid). Until now; a new release date of August 30th has been set and a brand new demo build is available to play. I’ve delved back in and can report that the result feels a lot more polished than 1998 and looks set to be a worthy entry in the survival horror B team.
The new demo starts off in media res as you control Dalila Reyes, a new recruit to the H.A.D.E.S unit, who is about to have a very bad day… Okay, this sounds like Resident Evil 2 again but to be fair the backstory here is still very vague so there is plenty of opportunity for Sandcastle to forge its own identity. While there is a section of narrative cutscene partway through the demo, it is difficult to follow without further context and mostly points towards a storyline of corruption and betrayal within the elite H.A.D.E.S unit. The demo here is more concerned with introducing the main mechanics and giving you a chance to play with the Frost Grip device. This is used in both environmental puzzles and combat with it hopefully giving the game something unique. It is unfortunate, however, that the main puzzle in this demo is a complete reskin of one from Resident Evil 3 (Jill raising platforms in the warehouse).
Combat is standard third-person shooting, but the zombie-like enemies are far quicker and more deadly than in most of Capcom’s entries. While not as durable as the infamous Crimson Heads, they share their deadly speed. When grabbed, you must spam the space button (or pad equivalent) to break free with your health decreasing all the time. Even the basic foes can mess you up, and the relatively clunky reloading animations can put you in trouble fast. Fortunately, the Frost Grip does offer some respite as you can slow and even freeze enemies in place – although it has limited capacity and refills very slowly. In many ways, the Frost Grip reminded me of the Stasis powers in Dead Space which is at least a new influence for Invader to build on.
Graphically, Sandcastle is pretty polished. Areas are detailed and lighting effects look good. Character design is solid, although facial expression and lip-synching are significantly more primitive than the RE Engine. Voice acting is suitably cheesy and B Movie inspired with dialogue that promises to delight genre fans. The sound design is fine but nothing stood out in this demo, with music also offering nothing immediately memorable.
I’m tentatively looking forward to playing the full version of Daymare 1994: Sandcastle later this year and this demo does offer up hope for a more polished title that has more of its own identity. It clearly still takes more than a little inspiration from Capcom’s series but the setting, characters, and the Frost Grip mechanic will hopefully combine to make this a worthy addition to the survival horror genre. It is unfortunate that it follows relatively swiftly after Resident Evil 4 Remake, and potentially close to the launch of Bloober Team’s Silent Hill 2, but Daymare 1994: Sandcastle looks to have enough survival horror thrills of its own to span the gap.
