The recent retro horror trend has been one of my favourites recently. I love when developers go back to the old days of the genre and take some of their most engaging elements, whilst putting modern spins on them. Last year’s Signalis was my personal favourite game of that year, bringing elements of Silent Hill and Resident Evil together for a truly unique and engaging experience. Then there are games like Propogation Paradise Hotel, which ask, “What if the original Resident Evil was a VR game?”. The horror genre as a whole is living through a golden age, and You Will Die Here Tonight is an interesting one.

For anyone who played Resident Evil 1, You Will Die Here Tonight has a pretty identical setup. You play as part of a special task force sent to a mansion to investigate some experiments. Once your squad arrives, things quickly go to hell as they are strategically ripped apart. Awakening in the main room, you uncover a sick game set up by someone trying to take out the team one by one.

Whilst being an wholly familiar concept, it’s one that works. To You Will Die Here Tonight‘s credit, it does something a little bit different with its idea. I won’t spoil it here, because the early game twist puts a remarkably refreshing spin on a storyline that would otherwise be overly familiar. It’s not a particularly good story, but the compelling introduction does a great job.

You Will Die Here Tonight wears its inspirations on its sleeve, from the story ripped out of the original Resident Evil, all the way down to the puzzle designs, limited resources, and terrifying monsters. But there’s a pretty big twist; out of all the Resident Evil games to take inspiration from, they have chosen the forgotten spin-off series known as Survivor.

The combat is essentially the survival horror equivalent of a JRPG. As soon as you enter combat you will be pulled into a first-person arena view where you can aim and shoot at your opponent, but you can’t move here. Instead, zombies and other monsters can attack you in a 360° area. Thankfully you have a bunch of weapons. The knife is typically good enough to take out single weaker threats, whilst more powerful firearms are effective at taking down multiple enemies at once, or even bosses.

It’s a distinctively unique approach to the classic survival horror genre and something we haven’t really seen since Gaiden, maybe for good reason. However, this is a surprisingly engaging form of combat. However, it isn’t always balanced, with rampant difficulty spikes after the first section that feel a bit harsh for my liking. For reasons explained in the story, You Will Die Here Tonight has some roguelike elements. You play as one of the six members of the unity at a single time. Once one character dies you will pick up. If you die six times, it’s game over and back to the start.

There are no procedural elements here, the level design and enemies are all scripted and set in place, and it works well. A wide variety of brilliantly designed locations within the mansion keep things constantly fresh and interesting, with a fair few well designed puzzles that will have you scouring the environment. Thankfully, they aren’t overly complicated.

Naturally, going back to the roots of the genre, You Will Die Here Tonight decides to mimic the look as well, with some relatively mixed results. The sound design is also a call back to the PlayStation 1 era, but unfortunately, the terrible voice acting and repetitive sounds don’t have the same charm.

You Will Die Here Tonight is a fascinating twist on the survival horror genre, taking inspiration from one of the most niche games in the Resident Evil franchise: Gaiden. It has fantastic level designs and almost no hand-holding whatsoever. However, not all these ideas work, leaving You Will Die Here Tonight with a fun, but not entirely solid, spin on the retro horror genre.

 

Graphics: 7.0 A loving callback aesthetic to old school horror. Its look is completely engaging.	Gameplay: 7.0 Resident Evil Gaiden gameplay with some unique twists.
Sound: 3.0 The intentionally bad sound doesn’t quite hit the same charm as its sources of inspiration.	Fun Factor: 7.0 You Will Die Here Tonight is a fun twist on the retro horror genre.
Final Verdict: 7.0

You Will Die Here Tonight is available now on PC.

Reviewed on PC.

A copy of You Will Die Here Tonight was provided by the publisher.