Daymare: 1998

***Daymare: 1998*** is a third-person survival horror game and the first installment in the *Daymare* trilogy. Inspired by the *Resident Evil* franchise, as well as by many other horror classics, the game was made with the intention of bringing the survival horror genre back to its roots by focusing on classic survival mechanics, tough enemies, challenging puzzles and exploration.

The game takes place in August, 1998, in the fictional town of Keen Sight during the chemical outbreak that turned its residents into horrific bloodthirsty creatures. The player takes control of three characters throughout the story: special agent Liev, helicopter pilot Raven, and forest ranger Samuel.

## Official description

*Daymare: 1998* is a third-person survival horror with hardcore survival mechanics and hard to kill enemies. It requires a strategical approach to combat and puzzles and offers a multi-character point of view on the story, revealing a deep and obscure lore. The scene is set with a secret research facility, a deadly chemical weapon and a special security team to investigate this incident with the potential to become much more than just a security breach. Follow the steps of an elite soldier, a helicopter pilot and a forest ranger, as they play out their roles in an event that transforms one peaceful small town into a deadly zone and its citizens into bloodthirsty monsters. Take the creatures down first, before looking for any clues and evidence to bring more sense to the mess. Keep track of your itinerary, as resources are scarce in a situation like this! Anything can happen when your daymares become real…

Fans of the iconic cinematographic brands and classical gloomy survival horror games of the '90s will be thrilled, seeing how DAYMARE: 1998 recreates the atmosphere of the most beloved works from the end of the millennium and places a typical yet fresh story in the middle of it. The plot unfolds through the eyes of various characters, putting players in the shoes of different personalities that will guide them through their theories and doubts about the situation. Backtracking, managing ammo, collecting lore items, solving environmental puzzles and the overall difficulty will help players jump a couple decades back and get chilled to the bone in their first real daymare.

### Main features

* Multi-character POV – see the story from different angles and discover the truth
* Dreadful enemies – rendered in detail with lifelike animations and dismemberment
* Realistic HUD – check inventory, health and position on a special piece of gear
* Environmental puzzles – finding your way is not always easy, look for clues
* Classic mechanics - limited ammo and save points, backtracking, collectibles, tough enemies and more
* Modern graphics and effects – not all is classic thanks to Unreal Engine 4
* Experience the 90s – homage to the era with tons of references

## Synopsis

The tranquility and gladness of a festive summer evening is abruptly interrupted by a terrifying and unexpected event: the huge cylinders of toxic gas loads crashing to the ground, spreading deadly fumes into houses and around the streets, and infecting the inhabitants of the town in Idaho. From that moment, every single person has breathed the chemical agent vapors is a victim of an inhuman mutation into horrible creatures, wounded by an acid produced by the body itself and twisted in its tissues, now dissolved and liquefied. An ironic fate is the one that belongs to Keen Sight town, that after the as mysterious as disturbing events that have affected over decades. Well, Keen Sight is now faced with a new last waking nightmare which has turned it into a ghost town.
*So, from a hellish theater which the few survivors of the chemical agent dissemination try to escape, avoiding being torn apart by the deformed creatures that have turned those people with whom we shared the daily life. Here begins the bloody struggle for survival of the three protagonists of Daymare: 1998. Liev (the special agent H.A.D.E.S. – Hexacore Advanced Division for Extraction and Search-), Raven (the pilot of H.A.F. – Hexacore Air Force -) and Samuel (the U.S.F.S. Forest Guard agent). Their paths will intertwine with each other up to find out what lurks in the dark past of Keen Sight and, above all, who is responsible for the tragic accident that destroyed thousands of lives in a single night.*

## Characters

*Main article:* Characters

* Liev

Special Agent of H.A.D.E.S. with obsure past who follows orders without question but secretly bears a grudge against Sandman and Hexacore.

* Samuel Walker

Forest ranger who suffers from a mental condition known as "Daymare Syndrome".

* Raven

H.A.F. pilot with traumatic past who is deeply loyal to Sandman.

* Sandman

H.A.F. Major and Raven's mentor. He's on bad terms with Liev following the events of 1994.

* Cleaner

Mysterious overseer of the game's events who treats the main characters as his "pawns".

* Sarah

Samuel's wife and a supervisor at Hexacore.

## Plot

*The story begins on August 19 and ends with the dawn of August 21, 1998. The events of the game are told through five chapters by an unseen narrator referred to as "Cleaner."*

Following the distress signal from Aegis North Blue Two facility on Northfall Islands, a team of Hexacore special agents and pilots is sent to retrieve and secure the samples of Castor and Pollux, chemical and viral agents produced by Hexacore for the military use. When the special agent Liev enters the facility, he finds the place suffered a chemical outbreak, killing most of the staff and turning the rest into mindless aggressive creatures. Agent Liev proceeds with his mission, leaving no survivors behind as the protocol demands, and successfully retrieves both samples while learning from a surviving engineer that the outbreak was caused internally by one of the researchers who tried to steal the samples of the Castor gas for unknown company. After escaping the contaminated facility with the samples, Liev is picked up by the H.A.F. Major Sandman and Captain Raven. Liev gets into an argument with Sandman due to their shared history at Groom Lake in 1994 and attacks Sandman by breaking the vial of Pollux into his face, as witnessed by Raven, who gets thrown out of the helicopter in an attempt to save the Major. Liev then shoots Sandman but damages the helicopter as well, causing it to crash along with the containers of Castor, unleashing the gas on the nearby town of Keen Sight. Liev manages to escape unharmed with the remaining Pollux samples, however, he gets exposed to the gas while traversing the infected town.

Meanwhile, a forest guard Samuel Walker, watching over the Vermillion Forest located miles away from Keen Sight, is startled by the flying helicopter. He accidently loses his medicine that he needs to treat his condition known as the "Daymare Syndrome" that causes hallucinations and migraines. Sam contacts his wife Sarah who urges him to come home but he assures her he will manage without the medication. Sam falls asleep and wakes up on the afternoon of August 20 noticing his co-worker didn't arrive. Sensing something wrong must have happened, Sam hurries back home only to find Sarah had been murdered and an angered Sandman attacks him by throwing him out of the window. Sam survives his fall but realizes Sandman stole his car. After saying goodbye to Sarah, grief-struck Sam decides to pursue Sandman who is headed to Sacred Heart Hospital, where agent Liev is supposed to be picked up by Hexacore. Sam witnesses the confrontation between Liev and Sandman, where the former reveals he had never forgiven Sandman for what happened at the Groom Lake. Sam then watches to his horror how Sandman rips off Liev's arm and feeds off his body. After Sandman enters the hospital, Sam picks up Liev's gun and D.I.D. and follows Sandman. He discovers that Sandman has been captured by Dr Atherton, who locked himself in a safe room along with Sandman and rest of the surviving personnel. Atherton makes a deal with Samuel to hand him over Sandman in exchange for Samuel helping him to destroy incriminating evidence of Hexacore's experimenting on Keen Sight's residents for decades. During his journey Samuel is haunted by the hallucinations of Sarah blaming him for her death. As he reaches the old maternity wing where he was born, Samuel realizes he himself has been a part of Hexacore's experiment, known as the "Truman Project".

Meanwhile, Sandman escapes his captivity and murders Atherton and the other survivors. He manages to contact Raven, who is revealed to have survived his fall, and the two agree to meet on the lair dam where they could escape on a helicopter. Sandman is revealed to be under the effects of Pollux infection granting him incredible strength and regenerating abilities but making him crave human hormones which was reason for his violence. Raven manages to recover the anti-viral agent known as Golden Fleece that can treat Sandman's condition, however, he is ambushed by Liev, who had mutated into a grotesque creature as result of him getting exposed to both Castor and Pollux. After defeating Liev, Raven manages to cure Sandman, but both are then confronted by Samuel who demands retribution for Sandman murdering his wife. Major tries to plea with Sam, explaining that Sarah was acually his close friend and he never meant to hurt her, however, a hallucination of Sarah appears to taunt Sam, reminding him how he is nothing but the company's lab rat. Unable to make peace with this revelation, Sam points his gun on Sandman before the screen turns to black and a single gun shot is heard, leaving the fates of the three men ambigious.

During the epilogue, it is revealed Sandman was the one who tried to steal the Pollux samples and caused the Keen Sight outbreak as part of his deal with the Kuronosu company, Hexacore's rival. In exchange for helping to frame Hexacore for the Keen Sight tragedy and expose the American government, Kuronosu had promised Sandman to cure his terminally ill daughter Samantha. The only person Sandman tried to warn was Sarah, a supervisor of the Truman Project who had been monitoring Sam before, eventually, she fell in love with him. Sarah is revealed to had been murdered by Kuronosu before she could confess to Samuel, and her ID tag and the tape she left recorded for Sam exposing Hexacore were recovered as evidence. The "Cleaner" is revealed to be working for Kuronosu and the true matermind behind the Keen Sight incident. After collecting all the needed evidence, he notes that everyone who knew what was really going on in Keen Sight has been "taken care of". The Kuronosu AI then informs him that "She" (who is implied to be Samantha) is ready.

## H.A.D.E.S Dead End

See *H.A.D.E.S Dead End*

*H.A.D.E.S Dead End* is an additional playable scenario, where agent Liev has to complete several tasks throughout the infected Keen Sight.

## System requirements

*From Steam*

Minimum
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Recommended
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## Game support

This wiki does not provide game support. It is recommended to use the Steam forums if you need help.

## Sequels

According to Invader Studios co-founder Michele Giannone, *Daymare* was envisioned as a trilogy with *Daymare: 1998* being its first installment.

A prequel set four years before the events of the game, titled *Daymare: 1994 Sandcastle,* was released on August 30, 2023.

The third game is in pre-production.

## Trivia

* The game originated as a fan remake of *Resident Evil 2* before the production was shut down by Capcom due to the announcement of the official remake, which led to the the developers creating their own IP as a love letter to the iconic series. Several key figures of the *Resident Evil* franchise*,* including Kazuhiro Aoyama and Satoshi Nakai, shown their support to the project's development.
* *Daymare: 1998* became Paul Haddad's first (and last) major role in video games since the original *Resident Evil 2*, where he voiced Leon S. Kennedy.The actor passed away on April 11, 2020.

## References

1. ↑ http://thegg.net/interviews/daymare-1998-interview-with-invader-studios-resident-evil-2-reborn-daymare-1998-and-capcoms-support/
2. ↑ https://www.facebook.com/InvaderGamesIT/photos/a.1018162241570491/1018162334903815
3. ↑ https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=\_94UmsRLR6Q
4. ↑ https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/invaderstudios/daymare-1998tm-bringing-back-the-survival-horror
5. ↑ https://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=871441550
6. ↑ https://www.ign.com/articles/daymare-1994-sandcastle-announced
7. ↑ https://gamingbolt.com/daymare-1994-sandcastle-interview-enemies-horror-improvements-and-more
8. ↑ https://www.prankster101.com/articles/daymare-1994-sandcastle-interview-with-michele-giannone-creative-director-invader-studios/
9. ↑ https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yTxoY2B\_JXQ

## External links

* Official website
* Steam Store
* Invader Studios website
* Invader Studios Official Forum
* Wikipedia page