A couple of years in the past, Resident Evil 7 efficiently took the traditional horror franchise in a brand new path with its leap to a first-person perspective. RE7 was excellent and really scary, and made me take into consideration what a traditional Resident Evil recreation can be like in first-person. Fortunately, Nightmare of Decay is right here to offer simply that: a retro shooter closely impressed by Capcom’s unique PlayStation smash.
Nightmare of Decay got here out on Steam final week, developed by indie studio Checkmaty. And let’s not beat across the bush: This recreation is channeling the primary Resident Evil as carefully because it legally can. It primarily solutions the query “What if Resident Evil was a scary and survival-focused FPS made within the ‘90s?” Each Resident Evil and Nightmare of Decay characteristic an enormous mansion, obtuse puzzles, an unlikely quantity of keys, zombies and different creepy enemies, near-identical well being meters, and equally an identical save programs. The truth is, the primary zombie you encounter in Nightmare does the identical, iconic head flip seen in RE1 and its remake.
The factor is, if you happen to’re going to take inspiration from a survival horror recreation, pulling from one of the beloved classics of all time is a great transfer. And to Nightmare of Decay’s credit score its first-person shooter tackle the fabric, plus its personal bizarre quirks, do assist make it greater than only a Resident Evil fan tribute.
For one factor: Nightmare of Decay is genuinely scary. A few of that is down to leap scares and good sound design, like moaning zombies banging away at doorways earlier than they ultimately discover and assault you. But it surely additionally helps that Nightmare of Decay’s visuals are an ideal mix of high-resolution menus and low-fi retro textures. There’s simply one thing actually creepy to me about low-res textures, chunky fashions, and pixelated shadows, and Nightmare of Decay is crammed with that stuff. Strolling round its sprawling, maze-like mansion, with restricted capacity to dash, actually is nerve-wracking.
Additionally working in Nightmare of Decay’s favor is the way it makes use of its first-person perspective. Whereas some screenshots would possibly make it appear to be that is an FPS, don’t mistake it for a high-action fight fest. As an alternative, like in a great Resident Evil recreation, you spend plenty of time avoiding fight, saving your ammo, and utilizing positioning and motion to stab enemies with a knife. Fortunately, utilizing a first-person shooter format additionally helps clean over a big barrier many gamers balk at when attempting to revisit traditional RE video games: their mounted cameras and clumsy “tank” controls.
Whereas some followers love these old-school conventions, I perceive the aversion to these many years outdated, clunky-ass controls. Decay avoids that downside utterly with its extra trendy first-person setup. But it surely doesn’t allow you to crouch-jump round like a monkey and 360 no-scope zombies. You continue to need to watch out of the place you stand and struggle. You’ll have to handle not solely ammo, but additionally be aware of sustaining distance from monsters that may kill you in seconds. And never with the ability to simply see behind you provides a brand new stage of pressure to getting into a room that is likely to be crammed with flesh-eating ghouls.
Nightmare of Decay is a bit tough across the edges, with some wonky AI and occasional bugs. However I discovered these points elevated the sense of dread I bought whereas taking part in this unpolished however spooky FPS. It’s additionally just a few hours lengthy, just like the Resident Evil video games that impressed it.
However for under 5 bucks, it is a rattling good horror recreation that completely captures plenty of what made the unique Resident Evil so scary and good again in 1996. And by some means, it’s additionally an ideal recreation for people preferring extra modern-feeling video video games in 2022.