Ask someone to name a horror game and chances are good that if they know one, their response is going to be Resident Evil. As one of the most famous horror games, the Resident Evil franchise has had a significant impact both on gaming in general and on popular culture, generating comics, movies, novels, and even clothing lines. But Resident Evil has also had a significant impact on the way we think about horror games and that brings us to today’s indie selection, Heaven Dust II from two-person developer One Gruel Studio and publisher Indienova.
Heaven Dust II is a direct sequel to Heaven Dust, the first game. You play Steve, who wakes up from a cryogenic pod to find that he’s trapped in a mansion filled with, well, zombies. Bummer. Considering that Steve had to fight his way through a horde of zombies already in the first game, this is going to be a lot of work…and gunpowder. As you play through Heaven Dust II, the game’s plot unfolds primarily as a series of journal entries from various characters found around the mansion and grounds that you’re trapped in. You slowly come to find out that there’s a lot more than just a few zombies kicking about, and things are a bit more dire than you might expect. It’s not the deepest plot, but it’s definitely interesting and well-written, even if the occasional grammar mistake slipped in. Honestly, the whole game feels like a Resident Evil side story, and that includes the plot, making Heaven Dust II just that much more fun!
And fun it is! As Steve slowly arms himself and works his way through the myriad of trick staircases, blocked hallways and strange chambers that make up the facility grounds, you’ll be forced to fight various enemies that slowly become more powerful and challenging as the game goes on. The difficulty is never outrageous, even on normal, and learning to manage weapons, create ammo, and balance your equipped weapons effectively quickly becomes almost artistic in design. The entire interface takes a bit of getting used to but it works fabulously once you get the hang of it and you’ll be zipping around blowing the heads off of monsters left and right!
Speaking of which, let’s talk about the targeting system in Heaven Dust II. This is an isometric horror game and solid targeting is essential. You don’t really aim so much as draw a bead on enemies when they are facing you. Hold the bead on them and a target appears, homing in on their weak points. The more you target weak points, the less ammo you use, and you’ll need it because it’s limited! Once you get some gun modifications, you’ll be able to home in faster and mow your way through hordes of enemies that would have torn you to shreds previously. With 5 main weapons available to you in your first playthrough, there’s plenty of options for everyone, but the shotgun, pistol, and heavy pistol are generally more effective than the sub-machine gun and in true Resident Evil style, you’ve always got a knife for close-in fighting in a pinch!
On top of the well-designed combat, there’s a fairly easy-to-use crafting system in the game as well. You can make ammo from shell casings and gunpowder, and healing items from herbs. You can combine spores in machines to generate fire and electric grenades too, and some items have to be combined to be used, forcing you to think a bit here and there. While Heaven Dust II isn’t a demanding game, you do have to pay attention, as missing a crucial detail could lead to a lot of aimless wandering about!
As for wandering, you’ll be doing a lot of searching all around the complex. Not only are items and ammunition hidden everywhere, but special gun components and expansions for your inventory are too, and you’ll need every bit of it all to make it to the end of the game! There are puzzles galore too, forcing you to pay attention to signs and statuary, looking for clues that let you set moving objects into the correct order to unlock doors or find key objects to help put out a fire or power a generator.
Don’t worry, you won’t just be fighting zombies either. Heaven Dust II has a number of bosses and some of them are fairly challenging! Run in guns blazing before you figure out what to do and you’re definitely going to die more than a few times! They all have patterns that can be learned but you likely won’t beat every one on the first try, further reinforcing the excellent design and fair difficulty of Heaven Dust II.
Visually, this is an excellent game, with crisp HD graphics that border on anime but manage to have a unique style all their own. The graphic design and detail work in Heaven Dust II is exquisite, and it’s obvious a lot of love was put into the look of this game from the devs! The bosses and machinery are particularly impressive and the overall vibe is surprisingly sinister, even if it doesn’t make you nervous to play! The sound design meshes well with the visuals, adding an ominous foreboding to many of the scenes, especially when the action hits high gear, ratcheting up the tension with auditory accompaniment and more than a bit of stress!
You’re looking at a solid ten hours or so to get through your first run of Heaven Dust II and by that time you’ll know the ins and outs of the game pretty well. But don’t worry, there’s even more to come. Sticking with the excellent Resident Evil homage, the team over at One Gruel Studio have also included a series of speed run options and accomplishments that will unlock a wide range of additional weaponry and options for the dedicated player! Some of this stuff is outrageously challenging to complete, but this is definitely a completionist’s dream game!
Now, there’s one last thing to talk about, and that’s a glitch. During the game, you’ll end up in a prison facility and a woman asks you for a prison key. For this review, I failed to find the key until the very end. You can progress without it, and I made it all the way to the end section of the game before I found the key. However, by that time, the woman had disappeared. Normally, this wouldn’t matter but your interaction with her appears to generate an event where you end up with an experimental antivirus that you need to open a locked gate, creating a potential game-breaking bug. It’s possible that there’s a workaround to this but I was unable to find one and have not heard back from the devs as of the completion of this review, so be aware. Find the prison key before the tree boss. I literally simply missed a single handle, preventing me from finding it. Don’t be me.
Weird tiny procedural glitch aside, Heaven Dust II is a fantastic game, full of gunfights, science fiction, viruses, weird experiments, huge bosses and a heck of a lot of gore! And the entire time it’s absolutely addictive on every level. This is beyond your typical indie game. It’s a legitimately worthy tribute to survival horror and the Resident Evil series, and it’s honestly a must-play horror game for the discriminating gamer. For only $15, you’re getting a great game with a fun story, some solid twists, and a fair bit of replayability! There are a few cool jump scares too, so how can you go wrong? Simply put, Heaven Dust II is absolutely worth your time, even if you haven’t played the first one. One Gruel Studio is a pair of very talented devs who are going places if this game is any indication and I for one can’t wait to see what they put out next! But don’t take my word for it! Check the game out…you won’t regret it!
This review is based on a digital copy of Heaven Dust II provided by the publisher. Heaven Dust II is also available for PC on Steam. Screenshots are of actual gameplay.