Daymare: 1994 Sandcastle Critic Reviews

Invader Studios has packaged a survival horror experience with a good atmosphere and decent pace, adding small but interesting new features and significantly improving the technical compartment. A sequel that represents a good step forward but still has a long way to go to walk side by side with the best exponents of the genre.

Daymare: 1994 Sandcastle is a survival horror game with numerous references to classics. Despite its excellent sound design, some technical flaws and a generic gameplay nearly overshadow the brilliance of an intriguing story.

Daymare 1994: Sandcastle is a fun title that improves on almost all the issues from the original. It provides an excellent atmosphere and fun combat situations where you can use cryo abilities. It's not a perfect game, though, with some bad voice acting, really dark lighting, and being unable to dodge attacks leaves you open to strikes. Invader Studios will hopefully build on these qualities for the promised third instalment in the series.

Overall, Daymare: 1994 Sandcastle improves on almost everything from the original game. The story may be lacking with uninteresting characters but the gameplay manages to help push through that fault. The Frost Grip is the golden goose of the game, having the most fun freezing enemies whilst collecting fun bits of lore and alien toys. Add in the fantastic atmosphere that fits with the type of horror, Invader Studios wants to portray.

Invader Studios has done a remarkable job over the previous edition. While Daymare: 1998 was a good game, this prequel beats it on pretty much everything. Daymare: 1994 Sandcastle manages to hook and catch us to pass it to us in one sitting but suffers from many seams in the strongest points of what is expected of a survival horror.

A vast improvement over the original, Daymare: 2994 Sandcastle still doesn’t reach those lofty, highly recommended titles. That being said, if you’re looking for some B movie cheese in an over-the-shoulder shooter, this should tide you over.

Daymare: 1994 Sandcastle obviously can’t compete with the likes of the Resident Evil series; it simply doesn’t have the same polish or scope of any of the modern remakes. Considering it’s made by a small studio and is delivered at a budget price, however, there’s a lot to be applauded here. This is a massive step up from Daymare: 1998 in many ways, resulting in a survival horror experience that genre fans are likely to lap up despite its numerous faults. And if Invader Studios gets to make another game and can improve on the formula yet again, you can be sure we’ll be paying attention.

Daymare 1994: Sandcastle is far from the perfect game. Plagued with technical problems as well as issues with fundamental design, it manages to be an average game thanks to its somewhat competent combat system.

Daymare: 1994 Sandcastle is a compelling game but the sum of the small elements feel limited. The little variety of enemies and weapons makes the game lose surprise quickly as well as an almost null exploration and puzzles that don't feel organic with the gameplay. However, the story is interesting and the game is fun, managing to keep us entertained throughout its seven hour length.

I would really like to enjoy Daymare 1994, and I do somewhat. The game has collectibles to find, challenges to try for and multiple difficulties so there is some good replay value here. Just like the first game, you can tell that the developers had fun while making it with all the references and good atmosphere that the game carries. It’s just such a shame that this game frustrates me so much with its overall mechanics and poor enemies. I feel like this is a game that some people will enjoy (like I did somewhat), but it’s hard to deny the problems we have here.

Despite its solid upgrade system and the introduction of a few interesting ideas, like the Frost Grip and enemies that can be resurrected or supercharged by the anomaly, Daymare 1994: Sandcastle’s severe lack of polish and unbelievably frustrating combat execution hold it back from ever realizing its full potential. And, more often than not, make for a game that feels like it’s constantly working against the players’ enjoyment...With a few patches to iron out some of its more glaring kinks, Daymare 1994: Sandcastle could have been a solid survival horror title to snag at a discount. However, at least in its current state, this one’s impossible to recommend to all but the most desperate fans of the genre.