Dawn of Fear review

A detailed analysis of Dawn of Fear - a horror game that painfully resembles the cult games of the genre of the late 90s.

A third-person horror game clearly inspired by the Resident Evil video game series was created by Brok3nsite. The game is exclusive to PlayStation 4, and this is due to the fact that its development and release was made possible thanks to the PlayStation Talents program, which supports Spanish developers who simply do not have enough resources to bring their project to completion on their own. However, the creators of the game, who live in Valencia, make no secret of their love for games such as Resident Evil, Alone in the Dark and Silent Hill, which laid the foundation for one of the most popular console genres, Survival-horror.

It should be noted that Dawn of Fear has absorbed all the popular and beloved components of the games of the 90s of the last century. We are talking about fixed cameras that switch only at the moment when the character turns a corner, a shortage of ammunition when you have to save every cartridge, and there are a lot more monsters in the game, and, of course, a gorgeous mixture of exploration, puzzles and action. Ifif you don’t have enough references to popular survival horror movies, then catch it: there are puzzles with chess and piano keys.

The protagonist of the game is Alex, a young man who returned to his old family mansion after unexpected news of the death of a relative. Arriving at the place, he soon finds himself in a series of nightmares that lead to the death of his companion. Alex is trapped inside the mansion. And in order to leave it, instead of looking for a way out, he needs to get into the depths of the estate, find out what is hidden under the family estate and uncover the secret of the appearance of all the terrifying monsters.

Admittedly, Dawn of Fear manages to create an atmosphere of survival horror, as you will always feel vulnerable to zombies. This is due to the lack of ammo, a complex melee combat system that will not allow you to shred hordes of ordinary monsters left and right using only one knife, and also because many zombies appear unexpectedly (which is affected by a well-chosen, but sometimes annoying camera angle). Each cartridge has a huge value??nie, and in the arsenal you will have a pistol, a shotgun and a knife. But you will find all this not immediately, but as you move along the plot of the game. Musical accompaniment only enhances this atmosphere.

Unfortunately, we are now forced to move on to disadvantages. But let's emphasize right away: we are talking about a low-budget project, which affected many aspects. For example, the lack of voicing characters. You will not hear the slightest sound from the main character. Moreover, during the so-called dialogues, his lips do not even move. And all the sounds from living (or almost living) creatures that we hear are occasionally repeated moans of zombies trying to attack Alex. But a poorly adjusted balance between sound effects and musical accompaniment is easily eliminated through simple in-game settings.

The gloomy scenario is enhanced by well-chosen graphic design. But there are obvious disadvantages here with poor animation and character modeling, a small set of movements and the like. But there is something worse: the chosen angle for the view cameras sometimes hides very important plot passages. I c?For an hour he ran around the mansion, not understanding where to use the recently found explosives. It turned out that the passage was hidden behind the pantry in front of the greenhouse. And to notice it is absolutely unrealistic! Even if you look. I got there just "by touch".

And you will go crazy with, in principle, the classic elements of movement. Eg. You are moving up a ladder that points down the screen. You tilted the stick down. The camera has switched so that your character is now moving up the screen. So, it is absolutely not necessary to change the angle of inclination for the stick, since the hero will continue to move in the given direction. Sometimes it will be annoying, but towards the end of the game you will get used to it, even if you have not encountered something like this before.

Another drawback is the feeling of poor optimization, which is confirmed in several cases when you go to a new location and see only a black screen. Yes, after waiting 5-10 seconds, you will see a normal room. But unlike the previous case, it is unrealistic to get used to this.

The interface in the game is worked out interestingly. As you travel through the mansion, your screen is uncluttered. Click on the "triangle" to go to the magazine, where there is an inventory. As for the health bar, it simply does not exist here. And if your pen?If he has little HP, he, firstly, begins to limp, and secondly, blood stains appear on the notebook (magazine). Unfortunately, such a minimalistic interface needs at least some kind of mini-map or general map of the mansion.

For preservation, candles are used, which we find in different parts of the estate (similar to typewriters from RE). You can save if the candle is not yet lit. If you have lit all the candles, then, please, do without saves. This adds some difficulty, since the game completely lacks autosave. Not in any of the story locations! That is, if you have advanced far along the plot, forgot to save (or simply did not find free candles) and died, you will have to start all over again, loading any manually made save. The bosses are not too difficult, but can kill you in 1-2 hits.

Let's summarize. Dawn of Fear is, on the whole, a worthy attempt at a classic survival horror game. But such an attempt was still unsuccessful. Perhaps (and even certainly) the reason for this is simple - lack of budget. However, this could not prevent the developers from optimizing the project, which comes out on consoles with known hardware. However, Brok3nsite should not give up. We hope that the Spaniards will still be able to find the best sources for financing for the next project.</strong>