Heaven Dust 2 | Nintendo Switch Review
Developed by One Gruel Studio and published by Indienova, Heaven Dust 2 is a game that pays tribute to classic survival horror games of the past. It is available on Windows PC and Nintendo Switch and for the purposes of this review I will be talking about the Nintendo Switch version.
As a massive Resident Evil and survival horror fan, Heaven Dust 2had me intrigued right off the bat. It has been described as “a love letter to classic survival horror games” by the development team and you can immediately see it takes a lot of inspiration from the original Resident Evil games with the mention of a mansion, and the character designs of soldiers with gas masks which were very similar to that of characters from the Resident Evil series. Some more similarities include save rooms with some nice relaxing music, item boxes, combining gun powder to make different types of ammo, finding parts for upgrading your weapons and even the use of herbs for healing - all of which appear to be lifted right out of the Resident Evil playbook.
This instalment in the Heaven Dust series continues on from events in the first game. As the scene is being set at the start, I found that the on-screen text scrolled far too fast to be able to read and digest what was being said.
You will take control of the main protagonist, Steve, who has woken up from cryo sleep inside a laboratory, with a man named Alexander seemingly helping you escape by leaving letters for you to find. Contained in these letters are numerous clues and hints on how to get out of there alive. You will need to solve puzzles, find keys and fight your way through the laboratory in your bid to rescue Alexander and escape the facility. Inventory management is critical to your survival. You must carry only what is absolutely necessary whilst leaving room to pick up more items as you go.
It is very apparent that the script was not originally written in English as there is an abundance of grammar and spelling mistakes littered throughout which could be attributed to bad translations. Although this is not a massive issue, it did kind of make me feel a bit disconnected from the experience at times and I feel more care should have been taken to get this right. Despite this, I thought the story was well thought out and I enjoyed seeing everything pan out as I progressed through the game.
The controls were intuitive and easy to use, with the left stick moving you around the map. Thankfully the Resident Evil “tank controls” were left out of this one as I don’t feel they would have fit well with the camera angle at all. The aiming system was new to me as well but was also a mechanic I enjoyed. You aim by holding LZ which brings up an aiming reticle, the more time you can keep the reticle on the zombie will mean that you have a greater chance of getting a critical hit. This can prove pivotal when it comes to conserving ammunition. Pressing RZ will fire your weapon.
The Visuals in Heaven Dust 2 were wonderful. The colours were fantastic and the lines sharp. It boasts cute chibi art style graphics which I found to be very charming even though they made the horror experience less “scary”. The game uses an isometric view point which works well with the control layout and game mechanics, however it does make some of the doors and rooms difficult to spot. I spent a bit of time confused as to how to proceed when all that was stopping me was a poorly placed door being hidden by the camera angle. The audio effects and music fit in well and really makes for a well constructed game.
Heaven Dust 2is an enjoyable survival horror experience which is basically Resident Evil with chibi art style graphics. I thoroughly enjoyed my playthrough which took me around 10 hours. It felt like there was a nice nostalgia to the game with all of the Resident Evil similarities. There are also multiple endings which gives Heaven Dust 2some replayability factor.
PaultheBrave09's Rating: 4 flesh eating zombies out of 5.
For more information on Heaven Dust 2 please use the following links...
One Gruel Studio - Developer
Indienova - Publisher | Facebook | Twitter | Website
Many thanks to Indienova for the Review Key.
Heaven Dust 2 | Windows PC | Nintendo
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