I really don't want to mark this as "not recommended", but honestly I can't see any other way. This prequel to Daymare 1998 is losely tied to the main game, and when I say loosely it has almost nothing to do with said game besides a throwaway line in the after credits scene.

So was gameplay improved? It's more a one step forward, two steps back. You're more well armed this time, however the enemies are so frustrating to fight it borderlines insanity. One of your main mechanics is a frost weapon to slow and freeze enemies. You're going to need this because they're fast. They're so fast it's insane. If any enemies are close to you, get ready to be chain grabbed continuously while you mash A to escape.

There's new enemies that can teleport behind you and instant kill you, which in my mind is absolute bullcrap when any game does it. Every time this game catches you trying to have fun it just repeatedly beats your ass with frustration until you hate it.

This game LOVES hiding enemies behind corners that sprint full speed at you and grab you just to get a cheap hit in. They did this in the first game but it's turned up to 11 in this one.

The sad part is I want to like this game, I really do. The first game wasn't perfect, but the interesting reload mechanic plus the cool puzzles were a good throwback to old resident evil games. The reload mechanic is gone in this one (To be honest it's gone because with it and how fast enemies are the game would basically be impossible to beat). Puzzles are severely dumbed down in this one. None of them feel cool or rewarding to complete.

Without the things that set the first game apart, this one really doesn't feel unique at all. As far as the enemies and mechanics go, I can't imagine the dev didn't look at how frustrating the encounters were, ignore player feedback and decide to implement them anyway. Play at your own risk, but I legitimately don't know how much fun you're going to have.

[Edit 12-19-23] After taking the time to replay this game, the aspects of the gaming making it very frustrating to play have been tweaked and it is much more enjoyable of an experience now. Devs did a great job at listening to player feedback. Will change to a "recommend" now.

Daymare: 1994 Sandcastle is a good example of an iterative sequel (or a prequel in this case) that takes one step forward and two steps back while delivering a mediocre experience that in some ways improves on its predecessor but also introduces a host of new problems.

I finished the game in roughly 7 to 7.5 hours on hardcore difficulty while getting all of the collectibles and had a fairly decent time with it but there is no denying that it was an experience with hefty amount of jank, incredibly dull and repetitive combat and there were more than a few moments where it just sort of dragged on.

This time around combat is a much bigger focus, so much so that I would call this an action horror title rather than a survival horror one - however combat also proves to be its biggest weakness due to a myriad issues such as:

- Combat does not feel very satisfying as it lacks impact, has rather poor hit reactions and in overall it simply lacks polish.
- Encounter design is very formulaic and if you'd take a shot every time there is a single enemy hiding at a dead angle in a corridor you would probably die from alcohol poisoning over the course of your playthrough.
- Poor weapon variety (only two weapons in addition to the freeze abilities)
- Incredibly poor enemy variety

That being said it wasn't all bad as the game did manage to nail some aspects such as sound design, visual design of environments and even the overall story was surprisingly entertaining, although I won't lie that one of the things I was sort of looking forward to was seeing if we'd reach the same level of hamfisted cheese or the hilariously bad voice lines like "he's going there... and then he'll be there" from the first game - didn't quite reach that tier but there were certainly a lot of moments that made me laugh for all the wrong reasons.

If steam reviews could have a neutral rating this would be a perfect game for it as it can be recommended to genre enthusiasts who will likely find their fun with it perhaps for the wrong reasons similar to myself while those new to the genre will likely find the game to be a frustrating or lackluster experience and there certainly are much better titles to consider for those new to action or survival horror games.

A lot of players will probably compare this game to RE2 and RE3 Remakes. And it's kinda right. From the moment when you start the game you can see how heavily it was inspired by those. However to compare these games won't be fair, because Daymare 1994 isn't an AAA game. Hell, it's not even AA game! This is literally an indie title! And honestly it's pretty darn good for the price devs' are asking.
Personally, I'd give it a solid 7/10. Some things the game does better than Daymare 1998 and some things actually worse...

Alright, let's start with some positives:
1) Gameplay and combat feels much better. It is sighnificantly less "clunky" compared to Daymare 1994.
2) The story is also more simple and easier to understand (as long as you read the files and watch cutscenes). D1994 is a prequel and there are numerous throwbacks to D1998 along with some characters from the first game. Overall the "Daymare" universe has been expanded, which is great!
3) Many cool pop culture references as in the previous game;
4) The price is more than adequate even without a discount.
5) Finally some bonus content similar to RE games (weapon skins, unlockable artworks, infinite ammo, "extreme" difficulty mode);
6) The game has way more manual save points compared to previous game and it doesn't require "ink ribbon" or anything else, save as many times as you want. Very convinient!
7) Easier and totally not clunky inventory system and good controls in general.
8) Another story point. I'd say that the lore is where this game beats RE games. It is definitely written in a much more believable way compared to RE2 and RE3 remakes. Especially RE3R with all of the BS feats that the "Cringe Jill" has performed there.
9) New cool ice weapon mechanics that makes the game different from D1998 and RE games.
10) You can get all of the game's achievements in one go. Though I need to WARN you! There's one particular achievement where you have to finish the game without dying. Sounds easy, BUT there's one particular enemy with a frustrating one-hit-kill attack (can be a problem if the area is infested with other enemies as well) and if you die it's not enough to just go the menu and and hit "continue". If you do that your death will be added to the count! The game corrupts your last save file. So you should use 2 save slots instead. Meaning if you die and your latest save file becomes corrupted you can still use the first one.

Neutral points:
1) Reworked hacking mechanic. Not gonna elaborate, but it's probably gonna frustrate some players A LOT. Others however may even enjoy it. Personally I think it's cool.
2) VERY fast paced combat. Prepare yourselves, because enemies are very fast! Don't even bother trying to outrun them. There's no stealth in the game. If the combat has started you gotta fight your enemies, there's no way to somehow speedrun past them.
3) The puzzles were simplified and their number has been decreased.
4) Playing the original Daymare 1998 is very recommended for the better understanding of the story.
5) Unique reload mechanic from the first game is gone. Which actually might be a good thing, considering how fast paced the combat is.
6) The game is set in 1994, and well, I don't think that the game has captured atmosphere of that time really well. I mean, it kind of feels like 90s, there are some very cool references. Maybe it's just the fact that the game's taking place in the Area 51 I dunno. Well, I think there should've been more references then. I mean, it's all advanced military laboratories stuff and such, sometimes it's hard to say that it's 90s... You're probably thinking that I am making a huge deal out of it, lol. But I am big 90s sucka. 90s were THE BEST! But hey, the references which they made are really cool! Devs also tried really hard to make tech stuff look apropriate for that era. At least I didn't see any inconsistencies (like CD-RW disk in Robocop: Rogue city, which was not possible at that time).

Negatives:
1) No mini map! I kinda get it that the game is somewhat linear and there's not a lot of backtracking. But honestly the game is so dark and the flashlight works like an ass that a couple of times I even got lost, lmao.
2) I think the bonus content for the game could've been better, honestly. I mean if the main character received at least 2 bonus costumes that would increase the replayability of the game. The reward for shooting all of the alien figures is underwhelming to say the least.
3) Only 2 weapons, though it's good that now they at least have a couple of upgrades.
3) The weapons don't feel impactful when hitting the enemies.
4) Very few types of enemies. There's one particular artwork in the game of a certain enemy that was scrapped which is a total bummer because of how cool it looked!
5) Somehow the world feels less alive compared to previous game. There's less interaction with it along with many areas full of nothing. Not many locations where you want to stop and look around (Though some are very beautiful and breathtaking).
6) Cheap enemy encounters strike again! Remember how in the first game during the exploration sequences there were single enemies hiding behind the corner of some corridors? Yup, they are back in this game as well. Good grief. I hope those aren't gonna become one of the "main features" of the Daymare games.
7) I wish there was a way to read all of the collected files in the game menu.

Conclusion:
For what it's worth I really enjoyed Daymare 1994. Gonna replay the game on the new diffuculty that was added after the release and get the last 2 achievements. Considering the size of the team and budget the developers did put much more effort into the game than Capcom did with the Resident Evil 3 "Demake". Not to mention that I find lore of the Daymare games to be superior to Resident Evil franchise. It honestly is ming boggling when some people say that the story in Daymare is bad. You know, I also happen to be a dedicated Resident Evil series fan. And let me tell this when it comes to "realism" and immersion RE has nothing on Daymare. If you wanna I can give a 36+ hours long lecture on what's wrong with every RE game. While Daymare isn't perfect either, it features a very realistic story with ZERO BS, Mary Sues, or total nonsence. I am gonna die on the hill that Daymare series has better lore and characters compared to Resident Evil. Even though the game was greatly inspired by Resident Evil, Daymare 1994 has its' own atmosphere, even different compared to D1998. I would say that the game feels more like "Call of Cthulhu" type of game atmosphere wise rather than Resident Evil. But I do understand that not everyone will be touched by the story. To me though it felt very personal, like a letter from the beyond the grave. Like a main character I also happen to have a very complicated relationship with one of my relatives who has "jumped into the abyss". Yeah... The story has resonated with me very much and moved my heart in ways unimaginable... Anyway, as I said, I recommend to buy it even without a discount, it is really worth it, when you put all of the things into consideration.

I like these kind of RE retro sylish games and finished it today. Played the whole game with Praydogs UEVR mod and i love it. Great creepy atmosphere especially trough the use of VR. Now i have to play the first part too.

Really liked the game. Reminds me of my teenage years when games were simpler. Linear experience with simple mechanics, dark and creepy facilities, nice cutscenes and shooting the s*te out of scary monsters. No branching as a willow skill trees; no adding +.5 critical chance to magic epaulettes you collected after beating Death Lord in one of the dungeons, which you unlock by unlocking the unlock for a hidden talent section; no perks over skills and skills over perks, etc. Just joyful straightforward experience.

Liked the main charakter: she's kind and a bit introverted. Liked the story, simple as it is. Liked the gameplay loop: fresh air in a world of endless, huge games with millions of mechanics.

Devs put heart and soul into this game. Definitely keeping an eye on what's next to this team.

EDIT: Adding some negatives.

Really disliked monster graby grabs. Can't move a meter in a heat of a battle without unnecessary long animation of being grabbed. Also running on 2560x1080 resolution, graphics has weird effect around the edges: blurriness with sharpening at the same tame. Setting on no scale mode and playing on standard 1080p looks better.

With 14 hours in the game and all achievements unlocked, I think it's time I gave it a review.

Short version; is it worth the money and should you get it? I would say Yes to the latter, but I would honestly price this game a little lower, or just pick it up on a sale.

Longer version;
The game play of this is an improvement from the first game, I quite enjoyed it.
Puzzles aren't difficult they're very straight forward if you're stuck it usually involves examining an item or just reading the last document you picked up.

The story isn't the best and there are still things I'm confused about but I can't explain it without spoiling it.
The voice acting is pretty decent however at times their tones don't even match what's happening, and it feels like the characters at certain points have short term memory loss, as they hate people then like them, then hate them again, it's a bit of a messy roller coaster.

The animations on things like characters talking need some tweaking too, it weird not seeing the lips move properly when talking.
Whilst on the subject of talking, PLEASE stop with the *When she talks-she walks*, you'll be running through and you'll have some pretty good momentum, and then out of no where there is some unnecessary communication that will force her to walk and also prevent you from interacting with objectives. I would say that for every 10 to 15 minutes of game play there is a cutscene or one of those boring talks.
There was one instance where you literally enter a cutscene, end up walking and talking, to then get locked into 2 more cutscenes and then another talk, all of this is Back-to-Back.
There's also a part where she's shocked to find out she works for Hexacore, which is weird considering the H in H.A.D.E.S (the team she's a part of) is for Hexacore.
There are moments and areas that look like they were made for boss battles, but it just turns into killing regular things, When you finally do meet the thing that you'd assume to be the boss, you don't get to fight it either.
There is only 1 boss in this game and that is at the end, the design of it is cool, but the boss battle itself is so annoying, you don't kill it, you just shoot it until it leaves you alone to them walk a bit more before it appears again. If it get to close to you, it will teleport you somewhere else leaving you to travel to the final location once more, and if you keep getting teleported, the locked doors that you unlocked become locked again.

There are a total of 4 different enemy models and 2 different variants for 2 of those enemies, so you have Basically a zombie that's blue or red, a monster with a belly again either blue or red. Some flying thing called the sparker and then the end boss. The Red and Blue are the variant I just mentioned... So nothing special.

Ammo consumption is something I had to keep track of, but at the end, they just give you a load for the "Boss battle" and then once you complete the game, you just get infinite ammo, if you want to play it again, if you complete the game without dying you get infinite liquid nitrogen too.

The game setting is kind of bland, it's just all underground, the only areas that I thought looks cool was the Residential Area and the Apartment building which has a cool RE inspired puzzle with the diamond/heart/space and club key.

I want this game to have an area, I know it is it's own game, but build on a place and make it iconic for the series, RE1 has the Mansion, RE2 the Police Station, familiarity with an area is always nice.

All that being said I did enjoy the game, I personally would recommend it especially if you enjoyed the first game.
But please read both positive and negative reviews and decide if you want to buy this or not.

Fun game. Environments and level progression was on point, kind of had a dead space vibe to it. Story is wacky, Enemy and weapon variety could have been better, but combat is fun with what is there. Afew cool boss fights would've been nice. too.

I'd give the original (at time of release) a 6.9/10 and this a 7.8/10

Disclaimer: I love this genre. I’ve played my first run in Hardcore, so my opinion will be based on such difficulty settings.

The tutorial is smooth, divided into short prompts of low cadence that allow you to be absorbed in the game’s introduction sequence without breaking immersion. You can also re-read the completed tutorials in the pause menu.

Simple and minimalistic, the UI works well and doesn’t distract the player from in-game events. Similarly to the first game, the pause menu and inventory are strongly based on Resident Evil 7 and its sequels.

The control scheme is your typical WASD with some additions for the frost-grip that feel great and are easy to learn. You can equip and unequip items with the same number (1-4) or d-pad arrow, which means you may accidentally unequip.

Graphics are gorgeous; the play with light and shadow is superb, but I got some artifacts every now and then, just enough to notice, caused by Delilah’s hair on my 1070 on ultra.

Animations overall are decent, but [n]the bad ones, are CRUCIAL[/n] and in your face.
Delilah runs like she has spring-charged boots.
When characters use a keyboard, their hands literally go through the device in random, incoherent moves.
One specific death animation is straight up stolen from Dead Space (you’ll notice, don't worry).

The eyes and eyebrows are dead. They take away all attention during cutscenes. Such dead eyes in a heated exchange between characters completely break the scene's dynamic. It seems to be the work of an amateur animator; such a shame this is the final result.
Death animations are violent but not unnecessarily gorey.

The music's good, a serious improvement from the last game. The game is mainly silent, making the player listen to the environment for hints of danger, but when the music kicks in, it is gorgeous.
Voice acting needs some work. I blame the sound director or whomever was supervising the dialogue. Some characters are flawlessly voiced, while others seem to be on a budget. The lines go from irate to worried to soft-spoken in a single output from the same character. Having good and bad performances together only accentuates the contrast even further.
Excellent sound design. Keeps you on high alert and doesn’t let you disconnect from the potential danger you may find behind the corner. Feels like they truly tried to polish and work hard on environmental sound design.

The level design is dense, and no room feels empty or maze-like. It is easy to locate yourself and find your way around the place without a map, which is important. This is important because you explore many locations more than once, in different conditions. Finding your way in a place that is no longer lit is easier when it is well designed and coherent.

Generally speaking, they are well written and have an elaborate backstory. The interactions between characters need a bit of work; they are mainly comprehensible and get the job done conveying their ideas and feelings, but certain key moments seem to lose coherence and get confusing. I believe this may be caused by the voice acting being badly paired with the situation.
For example: During Chapter 1, many interactions occur between Delilah and Ivan. The relationship between them seems quite inconsistent. Are they friends? Just comrades? Ex lovers? Professional beekeper federation associates?
They are best friends at times, then they hate each other's guts in the first chapter, or was it badly performed sarcasm?

The game’s exposure comes in the form of text walls, recordings, and cutscenes, which are typical for this type of game. Sadly, there is no environmental story telling at all.
The story structure itself is decent but a bit cliché by now. You go on a mission, things get messed up, and now you fight for your life, with a bit of a plot twist at the end. The fact that the game uses a tested formula and simply shapes it in a certain direction makes it harder for the studio to mess it up. This results in a simple story that is well executed and adds value to the previous installment. I strongly suggest playing this game after Daymare 1998, since it puts things in a different perspective and greatly shifts how you perceive the characters and story.

Either if you are a survival horror veteran or a newcomer, you’ll enjoy the game if you like a challenge, a bit of thinking, and adrenaline. The game rides on the back of giants, taking what worked for most and mixing it all together with its own twist and unique mechanics without resulting in an alienating experience for non-fans of the genre.
The game is full, and I mean FULL, of references, tributes, and easter eggs to the Resident Evil saga and other big genre titles, not only games but movies and books too. I ended up hunting for Easter eggs; I've taken about 30 screenshots so far.

Other than being a solid action-horror experience with a unique twist, there is not much else to say. The game knows what it is and does it right.
Manage your resources and inventory. Solve puzzles and open doors. Fight dangerous creatures.
Explore unknown locations (without a map). There is very limited backtracking (no useless gameplay padding here). The game isn’t short of savepoints and has 30 save slots, so it’s easy on mistakes.
 
The frost-grip (nitro-gun) is what differentiates this game. It is a tool you will have to learn to use for fights, puzzles, and environment unlocks. You can upgrade it and unlock new functions as you go, and the finisher move is quite satisfying and makes the game feel more dynamic.

Tragically limited choice in weapons. Machinge gun, Shotgun and Frost-grip. That's it.

Weak point of the game.
Only 4 enemy types are in the game, but 2 of them have 3 forms that make them change and gradually become stronger.

I’d say 8-9 hours if you’re thoroughly observant. It took me 12h in hardcore mode and I searched every nook and cranny.
Sadly low replayability: There is a serious jump in difficulty and changes between normal and hardcore, but no extra difficulty is added after completing hardcore. No extra outfits or weapons are unlocked upon completing the game, and no incentive to further runs except for the "challenges" and the missed collectibles. You can unlock concept art and some other tiny extras, but it’s not something that pushes you towards another run, imo.

Hardcore difficulty can be absolute 𝐛𝐮𝐥𝐥𝐬𝐡𝐢𝐭 in 2 specific bossfights. "Faster reaction time" for the enemies means that if you mess up (during the boss), you are as good as dead. And if you don’t pick the right upgrades for the nitro-gun, you may soft-lock yourself into an impossible bossfight because of this.
Only 2 weapons + Frost-grip are available to the player. No knife either.
Low replayability incentive.
Bad animations and half-baked voice acting.
Somewhat confusing dialogues at times.
CAN’T PET THE DOG.

100% recommended. Decent price and worth the experience.
I would suggest first playing in normal mode, then in hardcore, unlike what I did.
Nice game for achievement hunters and a solid action-horror experience. The studio is improving and learning, and it shows.
They got rid of the realistic reloading mechanic of the previous game, which was a big loss, but it would’ve been hard to pair with the new included frost mechanics.
Good tutorial, nice UI, fluid and comfy controls, some nice graphics, and level design with a good story.
Character interactions need some work, and animations and voice direction need a ton of work.

lets get the obvious out the way with... this isnt a AAA budget so the cut scene acting is a B movie Horror film. The main 2 guys in the Story both look like the went to a blind plastic surgeon but after that... no complaints.
Unlike Daymare 1996 THIS game plays as smooth as RE2, 3, 4 and 8 remake. it looks great and has boat loads of superb little details and Easter eggs in it from 1994. Youd actually be forgive if you thought it was running on the RE engine.
The aiming system has had a VAST upgrade since 1996 and works like a dream on controller. Enemies appear from nowhere which always keeps you on your toes and the different sections of the game so far have been visually superb.
Clearly a lot of work has went into this, ive seen games from EA and Square Enix in recent years where you can tell the DEV team did'nt care about the game and it was a money spinner but not here, i feel care and attention was taken to make the game play nice and smooth. Story is ok, its a survival horror but overall id say solid 7.8-8 / 10

I was a huge fan of Daymare 1998 and greatly anticipated the release of this title. It embraced incredibly cheesy dialog and janky mechanics, but was true to form, very entertaining, immersive, and atmospheric.

Which is what we are here for right? You really weren't expecting a AAA title experience were you?

Daymare: 1994 Sandcastle improves immensely compared to the quality of the first game. The story is well-written with relatively impressive scientific explanations for what's unfolding. The characters are largely well developed with decent facial animations and the voice acting vastly improves from the first game. The combat underwent a massive overhaul, with a lovely mix of action and resource management. It is difficult, the enemies are extremely fast and demand quick reflexes and spacial awareness. It's disappointing you only have two guns at your disposal, but this is made up for with the awesome Frost Grip mechanic which I find to be fun and original in this context. The sound designer knocked the ball out of the park and the musical score is absolutely phenomenal.