Daymare: 1994 Sandcastle Preview

Horror games and films have an invisible string tying them together, as the latter frequently influences how your favourite spooky games craft their atmosphere, obstacles, and mechanics to create a truly terrifying experience. Invader Studios’ upcoming third-person survival horror adventure title, Daymare: 1994 Sandcastle, is a prime example of this; for inspiration, its developer turned to the nostalgic frights of ‘90s games and movies, drumming up ways to inject that retro flavour into modern gameplay. My time with its brief demo showcased those old-school scares on full display, from disappearing bodies to enemies that come back to life, and I’m excited to uncover its narrative’s many mysteries when it launches later this summer.

Daymare: 1994 Sandcastle is a prequel to Invader Studios’ debut Daymare: 1998, a title that was originally planned as an ambitious fan-made remake of Resident Evil 2, which ultimately transformed into an original IP when Capcom stepped in with its own remake on the horizon. Despite Invader’s best efforts to find Daymare’s identity, it’s not surprising that a common critique that first game received was its inability to separate itself from Capcom’s widely successful franchise, and when compared to each other, Daymare simply fell short. With that said, the upcoming release of Daymare: 1994 Sandcastle is another chance to set the series apart within the survival horror genre. Though we’ll have to wait until its full release to see if it succeeds, I can say the demo is off to a good start, as it showed off some fun frost-based mechanics, environmental puzzles, and new electric monsters — so let’s get right into it!

As special agent Dalila Reyes, a former government spy now serving an organisation called H.A.D.E.S. (Hexacore Advanced Division for Extraction and Search), you’ll navigate an experimental research facility hijacked by dangerous creatures. The demo wastes no time dropping you right into the action, opening with an alarm system cutting off the path to your team; now, you need to find an alternative way to them while also searching for members of the missing Section 8 squad. It’s a linear journey without much to explore within its desolate environment, but there are scarce resources to pick up, as well as tidbits of lore to discover in the form of documents and audio logs. Some interactable objects are hidden but can be revealed by equipping Reyes’ scanner, which will let you extract information from terminals or even corpses after scanning them. I’ll admit, it took me a good moment until I noticed the small icon that pops up in the lower right corner of your screen, indicating that there may be something nearby worth finding. So, no need to aim the scanner at every nook and cranny since you’re probably better off having a weapon at the ready.

If there’s anything you need to know about combat, it’s that you’ll assume your shotgun or machine gun did the job, but that monstrous foe probably isn’t dead yet. Daymare: 1994 Sandcastle introduces new enemies into the mix — fast and aggressive monsters known as Decoys — that are hard to kill, especially if you’re going up against a group of them. These zombie-like creatures are powered by mysterious blue electromagnetic orbs, and once you “kill” them, that colourful orb will leave the body, hovering over to a nearby corpse to reanimate it into the next enemy you’ll have to fight. Thankfully, you can destroy the blue orbs, but you’ll need the help of a special tool called the Frost Grip, which was one of my favourite mechanics that the demo showcased.

Equipping the Frost Grip gives Reyes some helpful new abilities, allowing you to freeze enemies, perform a fatal finisher on frozen foes, and safely navigate fiery environmental hazards, such as over-heated pipes or flames blocking your path. You’ll discover that some enemies are powered by red electric orbs, and you’ll have to freeze those creatures before shooting them; otherwise, they’ll just keep absorbing your bullets and attacking you. However, against the blue-orb enemies, you can shoot the ball of energy once it leaves an enemy’s body to preemptively stop it from sparking anything back to life — the fewer monsters to fight, the better!

Towards the end of the demo, I did find a machine that allowed me to choose among various upgrades for the Frost Grip, including selections that would make the icy spray more efficient or improve its recharge rate; it seems like there will be a progression system tied to this mechanic. It’s hard to tell what this will fully entail for the rest of the game, but I appreciate that it adds extra player agency in terms of crafting your playstyle and determining how you want to handle combat.

When you’re not fighting for your life, you’ll be solving various environmental puzzles that block your way forward, such as locked doors or misaligned platforms. While some solutions may require you to investigate your inventory and examine the items stored there, a majority of the obstacles I encountered sent me to various terminals in the facility, each sporting a retro ‘90s interface along with a unique puzzle to solve. None were too challenging in the demo, but they were still fun and engaging, even if for a brief moment. It’ll be interesting to see how this puzzle portion of Daymare: 1994 Sandcastle takes shape in the full version, hopefully offering some well-designed headscratchers and complicated dilemmas to overcome.

An eerie atmosphere, scarce resources, and interesting puzzles — these hallmarks of the survival horror genre are alive and well in Daymare: 1994 Sandcastle. With its new mechanics and enemies, this instalment feels like a step in the right direction for the series, and I’m interested to see what else it has to offer in its full release. If horror is your thing, be sure to check out Daymare: 1994 Sandcastle when it launches on the 29th of August 2023 for PlayStation 5, PlayStation 4, Xbox Series X|S, Xbox One, Nintendo Switch, and PC via Steam.