Console fans got excellent news earlier today as it was announced that Daymare: 1998 would be coming to PlayStation 4 and Xbox One in the first quarter of 2020. We know the release date for Japan to be February 20th. In the rest of the world, no official release date has been set as of this moment, but given that we’re already about to close out 2019, “early 2020” isn’t too far away.
For those unfamiliar with the title, Daymare: 1998 is a third-person survival horror game with heavy influences from 90’s horror titles. Players work to discover the truth behind a viral outbreak that begins mutating the civilians of a small town. The enemies of the game are more or less zombies and invoke the same fear and dread as such titles as the early Resident Evil franchise, with Resident Evil 2 being the most commonly cited inspiration.
Players pick between three characters: Liev, Raven, and Samuel. In classic horror game fashion, these characters are surrounded by mystery and have little in the way of explanation by the start of the game, serving as the typical government agents being sent in to contain a viral breach. This style is more than a bit reminiscent of the Umbrella agents we all know from the Resident Evil franchise.
Daymare: 1998 was released for PC in mid-September not too long ago, coming out for Steam as well as on a handful of other platforms. Generally, the game was well-received and sits with very positive reviews on Steam.
Despite this, many critics weren’t fans of the game, feeling that it borrowed heavily from others in the genre without ever expanding on the themes and accomplishments of predecessors. A common complaint is clunky controls, stiff animations, and poor level design. All in all, many feel that the game feels like a rip-off of its inspirations.
Either way, the game is excellent and is more than worthy of attention from even the most experienced horror fans. Invader Studios has also just recently updated the game with a massive patch called the “H.A.D.E.S. Dead End” update. This free update provided multiple quality of life updates, as well as bringing in a new game mode mostly based on the H.A.D.E.S. operative Kiev.
While no release date is set in stone for the world outside of Japan, there’s a good chance we won’t have to wait too long into Q1 to see the release. If you’ve been craving a zombie horror game reminiscent of the classics, keep your eye out for Daymare:1998
