Nightmare of Decay is a great indie tribute to historical titles like Resident Evil and Silent Hill, simple but intriguing. For its price, it’s a must play.
The last few years have taught us that often streamers on Twitch approach independent projects before many video game enthusiasts that deserve to be noticed by the international audience : the last exemplary case was the Italian phenomenon Vampire Survivors (here is our proof of Vampire Survivors), still popular today especially in the South Korean community and updated weekly with new content. Its simplicity has shown that sometimes a developer alone is enough to create a game with the right characteristics to surprise users accustomed to following the world of triple A, and that letting the little gems escape is a mistake that you should try not to make. .
A story as lucky as that of Luca Galante could experience it in the coming days Checkmaty, an independent developer who, after his debut with the RTS Reignfall in 2018, published the first person horror Nightmare of Decay , released on May 3, 2022 on Steam to the change of € 3.99, subject to discounts. Also driven by big names on the purple platform and seen by a peak of 28,111 spectators, these days it is accumulating momentum while maintaining surprising averages shortly after launch, all while being a lone wolf project that has not benefited from any. advertising campaign. What makes him so attractive?
An elementary story
Nightmare of Decay welcomes us with open arms making us immediately immerse in the narrative flow: a news bulletin describes the twenty-three-year-old Judith Glaslow, reported to the authorities as missing after an evening of revelry. Without any clues as to where she is, only one detail emerges from the testimony of her friends and family: in the last period, the young woman appeared destabilized due to a series of nightmares and hallucinations.
Like her, a dozen other people, each of them vanished into thin air. In a short time we understand that our protagonist could be the next and, after a slice of heated pizza for dinner (which serves as a tutorial for some basic mechanics related to the interaction with game objects), the first hallucination manifests itself in the form of zombie holding the decapitated head of a woman, possibly the young Judith. The night of healthy rest that we hoped to get takes us mysteriously inside a coffin, from which, once we leave, we are quite amazed to observe with an uncertain gaze a house never seen before. Thus begins Nightmare of Decay, with a banal but functional approach. In a few seconds we are transported into the nightmare in which we take part, between sudden screams and a talking black cat that warns us of the imminent danger: no one has ever left this place alive, will we succeed?
Exploring the internal environment you will find notes that narrate the events that occurred before our arrival , introducing us first of all William – or we should say Lord William -, whose suspicious attitude and unknown activities in the basement have aroused concern in those who were together. to him in the house, including his wife Irma. Between a locked door, lit fireplaces, halls full of zombies and cultists waiting for us patiently entertaining themselves with Latinisms, we will only have to enter one room after another to unravel the plot.
Each key passage of the story will reveal itself in front of us with the right rhythm for a horror of this type and of this duration – between two hours and three hours, if played calmly -, but without surprising and without pursuing us with twists. . In all honesty, the whole story does not really capture the player who, on the contrary, in some respects will be almost enticed to end the adventure with the shortest possible time. The same Nightmare of Decay in the pause menu continually indicates the playtime , that is the complete minutes; moreover, once the final boss has been defeated and the epilogue observed, which is also not a little cliché, the final time will be shown in the center of the screen, to remind us once again that speedruns are encouraged. If we add to this the list of achievements available on Steam, the only platform where to buy Nightmare of Decay, the will of the developer to offer the public a challenge full of quotations and not exactly simple, rather than a satisfying adventure in every its compartment. The elementary story is not meant to discourage us, however, but rather to provide us with a frame just enough to enjoy the gameplay .
It doesn’t take much to convince
Like the narrative, the villa is anything but labyrinthine and, indeed, the moderate freedom in exploration finds alongside it a pleasant basic linearity that introduces us slowly – and with the right restlessness – to new weapons and different enemies, including some terrifying bosses to get the better of isn’t always as easy as escaping to a different room, and some surprises worthy of classic fantasy RPGs. In this regard, a small side note: we do not recommend Nightmare of Decay to arachnophobics .
The gloomy atmosphere is contrasted by short interludes in which our skills are put to the test, for example by means of shooting ranges where obtaining the highest possible score allows us to obtain additional resources, such as ammunition, syrups to heal ourselves or other useful objects for the continuation. between the weft threads. Or again, the puzzles to be solved are inevitable so that our protagonist is able to open other rooms and find out what he is experiencing and what happened in the villa. Let’s not talk about the almost comical extras of the black cat, our silent companion who, in some places, will provide us with some necessary help.
Further charm is guaranteed by the now traditional choice of indie developers who try their hand at developing horror experiences: graphics on the PlayStation 1 . It is difficult to fully understand why this expedient is so effective both in instilling fear of what awaits the player, and in capturing him and enticing him to continue even though it is not the cleanest or quality choice. In Nightmare of Decay the environment is particularly refined, albeit simple and in some places empty, while the faces of the characters remain unsatisfactory but all in all adequate. The sound sector is nothing exceptionalin the same way, but it still contributes to characterize the scenario without being excessively basic. When compared to the myriad of other indie games of the same genre available on Steam, it could be quite excellent.
A not indifferent degree of challenge
Learning how to dose ammunition will be crucial for our survival , as a few well-aimed shots will be enough to make our life difficult, unless you allow yourself more time to breathe while playing in “Normal” mode.
This will emerge especially in the portions of the game more teeming with cultists, the only enemies equipped with firearms (pistols and shotguns) whose aim is infallible: being a survival horror, this detail will quickly emerge as a significant problem and perhaps one of the flaws of the title itself, on which the same developer has worked post-launch with nerfs aimed at the speed of their bullets and their reactivity.You must therefore be vigilant and thrifty, kind to the trigger, but also smart at the same time to understand when and where to draw the gun or draw the blade: we will not always be forced to rely on violence, sometimes running might be enough. Beware, however, of stamina that is quick to wear out and rather slow to assist us again; to this are added slowed movements during the loading of weapons and further obstacles represented by specific skills of the enemies, capable of blocking or debilitating us. These mechanics can be quite boring for the player, yet they provide that additional degree of challenge that would otherwise have been missed.
There are few boss fights and not all of them must be completed: some are unavoidable, others can be completed to receive extra ammunition, medical kits or rare weapons such as Acqua Santa, of which there are only three flasks useful especially against the final boss, especially if you are a lover of speedruns . Each fight could be long or difficult at first glance, while some specifics will be tedious for various reasons: all boss fights will require a thoughtful use of stamina in order not to run out when strictly necessary, and this will be balanced by the slowness of the protagonist while reloading. firearms.
Without carefully considering this factor, it will take little to find us forced to return to the save point which, in a limited number of contexts, may not forgive us and force us to retrace an entire portion of the game. Two bosses in particular have a questionable combat design : in one case, the lack of space makes it almost impossible to avoid offensives; in the other, the law “one blow, one death” applies, ergo our every mistake will be fatal, accompanied by the slightly elevated range of its attacks.
Il kit di armi a nostra disposizione è però piuttosto completo: il tutto inizia con la pistola, la cui efficacia contro gli zombie è determinata da colpi critici che potrebbero salvarci con un singolo colpo, o costringerci a svuotare un caricatore intero. Dopodiché veniamo introdotti al fucile a pompa, ideale per liberarsi degli zombie con pochi colpi, e al revolver le cui munizioni sono però piuttosto rare data la sua potenza. Le uniche armi bianche sono un coltello e, nelle ultime fasi del gioco, un piede di porco con il quale potremo infliggere un colpo pesante ai nostri nemici.
Ultime ma non meno importanti sono le armi per il danno a nemici multipli: la dinamite, che ci riporta vagamente all’iconico Blood sviluppato da Monolith Productions, e la detta acqua santa.
Un chiaro tributo…rigiocabile!
Ciò che traspare sin dai primi minuti di gioco è la somiglianza di alcuni particolari narrativi e tecnici con titoli più noti e celebrati come Resident Evil e Silent Hill: dal primo zombie che incontriamo nel seminterrato della villa, in una breve cutscene che chiunque riconoscerà, a certi elementi dell’interfaccia, alcuni NPC, mostri e meccaniche provenienti da Resident Evil 4 e Amnesia: The Dark Descent (per approfondire, ecco la recensione di Amnesia The Dark Descent). Nightmare of Decay si pone fra i due videogiochi firmati Capcom e Konami, e non solo, puntando sul fattore nostalgia e sulla familiarità con altre creazioni del passato dalla caratura maggiore.
E ci riesce perfettamente, forse risultando anche eccessivo in alcuni punti: il salone d’entrata della villa è naturalmente ispirato al primo Biohazard, come anche l’uscita sul retro e altre stanze dell’edificio. Non manca, per di più, una ilare e inaspettata citazione a Monty Python e il Sacro Graal. L’esperimento indipendente di Checkmaty potrebbe apparire sempliciotto ad alcuni, eppure un sorriso sul volto rimane al pensiero della dedizione di un’unica persona
Alla conclusione della campagna verremo quindi sorpresi dall’introduzione di modalità extra imprevedibili, a partire da Dungeon Escape: essa ci porta, come da nome, in un dungeon generato proceduralmente da cui dovremo fuggire accedendo a un numero limitato di risorse tra i vari piani, acquistabili con i crediti ottenibili uccidendo i nemici o sotto forma di loot; ripulire completamente un piano ci garantisce una ricompensa extra di 400 crediti.
La mappa di un singolo piano sarà completata progressivamente, man mano che apriremo le porte delle stanze dove troveremo orde di zombie e anche qualche nemico speciale, magari dotato di buff alla velocità di movimento o altri bonus. Curiosamente, proprio in questi “minigiochi” extra verremo introdotti ad armi mai viste prima nella campagna: troveremo un machete, una gloriosa Tommy Gun e, a sorpresa, persino un RPG. La modalità Orda si propone come la più tradizionale modalità di sopravvivenza a ondate, giocabile su due mappe soltanto e che ci offrirà una quantità limitata di crediti iniziali per acquistare un loadout preliminare. Avviata la prima ondata, vedremo le creature nostre nemiche provenire da portali demoniaci facilmente riconoscibili e posizionati a una giusta distanza; potremo decidere noi come muoverci negli spazi più o meno ampi offertici. Terminato l’attacco, potremo tornare nella saferoom per acquistare altre armi o munizioni. In termini semplici, è l’alternativa più economica e semplificata della modalità Zombie vista sulla serie Call of Duty.
L’ultima modalità extra è la più lunga da giocare: il Randomizer, infatti, non è altro che la campagna ufficiale di Nightmare of Decay con nemici e oggetti selezionati e posizionati casualmente. Accessible in Normal and Hard, it winks at those who specifically appreciate the essentiality of the title and want an additional challenge, topped off by some bizarre scenario.
