Before Capcom made the announcement that it would be remaking PlayStation One classic Resident Evil 2, an indie developer in Italy had taken it upon itself to begin work on a remake of the 1998 survival horror classic, bringing the game forward for a new generation. In July 2015, indie developer Invader Studios released the first trailer for Resident Evil 2 Reborn, a fan-made HD remake of the original game that would be coming to PC for free that summer. After all, at that point in time, it had been well over a decade since the release of the original Resident Evil Remake.
Unfortunately for Invader Studios, less than a month later Capcom announced that Resident Evil 2 Remake was in development led by longtime series producer, Yoshiaki Hirabayashi, and the project was forced to be shut down. Luckily, Invader Games was also working on an entirely new IP that would pay homage classic survival-horror games like Resident Evil, and thus the road to Daymare: 1998’s launch in April 2020 began.
What is Daymare: 1998?
Inspired by classic survival horror games from the 1990s PlayStation One era, Daymare: 1998 is a modern survival horror game that may as well be described as a Resident Evil 2 Remake clone. Set in the fictional town of Keen Sight, Idaho, the town’s Mayor has partnered with biotechnology company Hexacore Biogenetics to help build facilities and make for a safer place to live for its 27,000 residents. That is until a mysterious outbreak turns the population of Keen Sight into zombies, with players taking on the roles of H.A.D.E.S. (Hexacore Advanced Division for Extraction and Search) Special Agent Liev, Senior Pilot Raven, and Ranger Samuel to uncover the truth of what’s really going on.
Who’s Developing Daymare: 1998?
Daymare: 1998 was developed by Invader Studios, formerly known as Invader Games, an indie developer based in Italy’s Roman countryside. While development on Resident Evil 2 Reborn, the studios HD fan remake of RE2 began in 2015, the studio wasn’t officially founded until the following year. After its remake was shut down, the team were invited out to visit Capcom’s offices in Osaka, Japan and were ultimately encouraged to continue work on Daymare: 1998, still in its infancy at the time. As of now, the team is made up on more than ten full-time employees and have shipped its first game Daymare: 1998 on PC in September last year and consoles just last month.
Daymare: 1998’s Inspiration
It’s difficult to look at the original Resident Evil 2: Reborn footage and not think that Capcom didn’t take some sort of inspiration from the fan remake. A complete transition to 3D rendered models and environments, the third-person over-the-shoulder camera perspective taken from Resident Evil 4, and the removal of the originals ’tank’ controls; in fact, Invader Studios is even featured in the RE2 Remake credits.
On the hand, Invader Studios took what it loved about survival horror games like Resident Evil 2, as well as what it learnt from developing its own remake to develop a modern interpretation. Like RE2 Remake, Daymare: 1998 features a third-person perspective, an over-the-shoulder camera, zombies that take more than a simple headshot to kill, environmental puzzle mechanics, multiple playable characters, a limited inventory system, and even a secret biotech company that’s behind it all.
Now that Resident Evil 2 Remake and Resident Evil 3 Remake have both been released worldwide, there’s a lot of speculation on where the beloved survival horror franchise will go next. Capcom’s recent financial presentation indicates it wants to achieve new sales records this fiscal year and will be doing so by releasing “multiple major new titles,” potentially hinting at the long-rumored Resident Evil 8: Village. In the meantime, Daymare: 1998 should be able to fill the void for anyone with a classic survival-horror itch they just can seem to scratch.
Daymare 1998 is available now on PC, PS4, and Xbox One.
