Some of you might remember this day:
You turned on the PS1 and loaded up Resident Evil for the very first time, even though you shouldn’t have as it’s rated 15, just to get scared to death by the zombie and dogs jumpscares?
But the more you played it, the more you started to enjoy it, becoming less scared until you suddenly realised, you’re hooked on the franchise now…
If you loved the original Resident Evil games on the PS1, then this one is a gift sent from the depths of hell.
Phase Zero brings back the whole nostalgia of the original Resident Evil franchise, from the graphics and monsters, to the fixed camera angles, and the eerie and dramatic music when zombies bust out of a room.
The demo is mainly about our protagonist called Guy in a hospital with no memory of who he is (classic), or how he got there. And the action starts right away as zombified doctors and nurses are standing right over him as he wakes up.
Guy manages to escape out through a window and onto a ledge before he gets munched on. As he shimmies across the ledge, a zombie is seen being shot by what looks like either a security or police officer with a shotgun, something that will end up helping you down the line.
And like the Resident Evil games of old, you BETTER be conservative with your ammo. You might be happy to find that rare shotgun cartridge box, but it only contains one single cartridge, and that’s definitely not enough to dispatch everything in sight, so it’s best to conserve ammo as much as possible and avoid confrontations with enemies, whenever you can.
Combat is pretty much just aim and fire, I was using a controller for my playthrough, so RB was to aim, which the character does auto aim if an enemy is nearby and within range and RT is to shoot (which to be honest is a great quality-of-life upgrade compared to the old horror ps1 games).
There are some health items dotted around and they can be combined with other health items, to make healing a lot better. However just like ammo, they are also in a very limited supply, so use them only when you really need it.
My only issue with the game is something that veterans of the old Resident Evil games might not mind: the controls.
You are stuck with tank controls whilst using a controller, which means it’s D-pad only for movement, no thumb sticks. Considering some of the other more modern updates this game has to the formula, I wouldn’t have thought I would have to play with this frankly archaic movement gameplay.
And for those who have never played this way, or people like me who have grown out of it, makes the game really harder to play than it should. In addition to this, there’s also no quick turns in the game, so if an enemy manages to sneak up on you, all you can do is run away and then slowly turn around.
One thing this does though is by making it uncomfortable to play, it does add to the feeling of powerlessness. It’s clunky but ultimately it still served its purpose!
The demo itself doesn’t take long to finish and there are 1 or 2 extra bits that I could unlock after completion, to which one of them was quite interestingly funny to play as you go back through the demo. What that is, you’ll have to find out for yourself.
Overall I enjoyed the Phase Zero demo, I am very much looking forward to the full game.
I can’t wait to see what else is going to be in store for our hero, are there going to be any other survivors out there, and will they be playable as well? I sure hope so!
If you love the old Resident Evil games, you should definitely wishlist the game now, to support SPINA Studio’s debut project.
BIO
I’m from the North East UK and like to play psychological horror, horror, indie and a bit of retro games. Mother of 2 young gamers, I love all things gothic, supernatural and witchy.
Written by
Rac (Rachael/Racula)
