Dawn of Fear by Brok3nsite claims to pay tribute to the classic survival horror games, like Resident Evil or Silent Hill, but more or less try to become them, and it executes that very poorly. The things that are done right (for the most part) like the ammo management, or restricted saves, and classic tank controls are heavily outweighed by the game-breaking bugs and sometimes minor inconveniences that stack up to drastically hinder the experience. I see what Brok3nsite wanted to do with Dawn of Fear, but didn’t quite make the finish line.
Story
Dawn of Fear puts players in control of Alex, who returns to his childhood home after receiving a letter saying that his step-mother has died. He returns home to gather papers and finds much more sinister things waiting for his arrival. It is up to Alex to figure what has happened to his old home and put an end to the madness.
Review code provided by Brok3nsite.
Gameplay
Dawn of Fear plays just like any classic survival horror game before it, or more specifically, any classic Resident Evil game before it. The tank controls, fixed camera angles, cryptic puzzles, limited ammo, and restricted amount of saves provides a very nostalgic experience. The game isn’t afraid to disclose its inspiration and it shows.
The game doesn’t reach the same level as its predecessors, however. The first item that comes to mind is the dialogue. We all remember how horrendous the dialogue in the original Resident Evil was right? Well, Dawn of Fear goes above and beyond that. Though there was no voice acting, the subtitles were very hard to follow and I couldn’t understand what was being said half the time. I had to read lines of dialogue multiple times over in order to understand the situation, and that would hinder my experience. I know Brok3nsite is a foreign studio, so I don’t expect the English to be 100% by any means, but It’s almost as if they threw what they wanted to say into google translate and ported it straight into the game.
Combat was hindered by unregistered hits to enemies. There were multiple occasions where I would be aiming straight at an enemy with my weapon, and the shot would miss. Other times I would slice through an enemy with my knife, just for it to go right through them and cause me to take damage.
Visuals
The graphics of the game were not impressive by any means, but that isn’t necessarily a problem, as I think it adds to the feeling of playing a classic survival horror game. You would think that the game would perform well with the quality of visuals. Wrong. Dawn of Fear is completely riddled with game-breaking bugs and glitches, specifically in the graphics department.
On more than one occasion, the game would not render a room I was entering, or freeze in between doorways. These hiccups either killed me, as I was not able to see the enemies in the room that would not render, forcing me to restart, or they would cause me to lose control of my character; producing the same result.
When rooms did render, most of the time they were too dark to see anything anyways. Poor lighting in most areas of the house caused me to take unnecessary damage from enemies, or I would lose my character and be unable to open a door or lose where I was going.
Audio
The soundtrack was good, but it could have been better. The soundtrack would evolve as I moved from room to room, changing as I progressed. There were definitely moments where I was on the edge of my seat, because of the eeriness of the music. However there were other times where the soundtrack just didn’t match the tone/setting of the room I was in, or what was going on, and that would definitely kill the vibe.
Replayability
Dawn of Fear offers little to no replayability other than the achievements that will most likely take a few playthroughs of the title to earn. The game also for sure has some speedrunning potential.
What It Could Have Done Better
Game-breaking bugs/glitches, dialogue, combat, movement, I’m sad to say the list goes on.
One specific thing that I would like to point out is the save station at the end of the game, right before the final boss battle. The save station is placed right before you take a roughly 1-2 minute walk through a cave, as you journey to the boss arena. If you were to die during this boss, (which I did once) then you would be forced to make this run through the cave again. I just want to ask, why? The run doesn’t make the game anymore spooky, or fun, it truly just makes it more frustrating, especially for those who may die to the end boss multiple times.
I can totally feel the love that Brok3nsite put into the game, and I would love to see what it could become, but as of right now they have severely missed the mark when it comes to the core mechanics.
Verdict
Dawn of Fear has the potential to be something special. It could be that callback to classic survival horror that it was advertised to be, but the game is just riddled with too many game-breaking bugs and has a large lack of polish on most all of the core mechanics to be a very enjoyable experience at all. I truly think if Brok3nsite decides to stick with the game, and put more time and effort into shaping the game further down the road, then it may be worth coming back to.
