You’d never know Resident Evil was so popular just looking at the videogame landscape since the first entry came out 30 years ago. All kidding aside, Capcom’s venerable horror game is one of the most influential releases ever. I have referenced it repeatedly over the years, and it seems like there’s a new game that plays like RE being released every other week. It’s the case of Flesh Made Fear.
It comes in from Tainted Pact Games, an indie studio that is focused on releasing stuff that from name alone makes perfect sense. That being said, while I can’t talk about the overall quality of their other releases, I can certainly say that Flesh Made Fear does what it aims to do quite well.
Flesh Made Fear looks and plays like the first RE. To a fault. It’s got tank controls, and while the environments aren’t pre-rendered, with some camera movement to account for the screen transitions, it’s just as confusing to move around precisely, which by design adds to the tension. You also pick up a number of items and use them in simple puzzles, and you’re incentivized to be conservative with your ammo and restorative, as the norm dictates for a survival horror game.
Your mission, as part of R.I.P – har har – an elite group of investigators, is to bring to justice a mad scientist who used to work for the government and is now wreaking havoc in the small out-in-nowhere town of Rotwood. You get to pick between two characters, and in similar fashion to Resident Evil, one can take more punishment but has a smaller inventory, while the other isn’t a Master of Unlocking, and is much nimbler.
Depending on who you pick, Flesh Made Fear slightly changes the events that take place in a playthrough, making repeat runs worth it if you want to see the entire picture and see all the endings. The story itself is as campy as all hell, with cheesy lines being thrown in at every opportunity, but thankfully it isn’t overbearing in its delivery. It’s still entertaining to pick up and listen to voice logs where clearly the people voice acting in them were having fun doing it.
While Flesh Made Fear might be the most derivative of the Resident Evil-likes that I’ve played, that’s not a bad thing at all considering that it’s decent enough at everything that it does. Thankfully the numerous enemies you’ll run into are slow enough to dodge and move past if you’re careful. When you need to engage them, the combat feels tight and responsive. There are moments where you can unfortunately get trapped and S.O.L, though, so it’s best to be judicious with your saved games.
If you’ve made it up to this point and it isn’t obvious already, Flesh Made Fear’s a game made by fans of Resident Evil. It wears it on its sleeve. They’ve put together a cheesy homage to the 1996 original and have no shame in showing their love. You can even dress the playable characters in Chris Redfield and Jill Valentine’s S.T.A.R.S uniforms by way of DLC. They also show their love for formative horror movies like Dawn and Day of the Dead through its surprisingly good, synth-heavy soundtrack.
For as close to its inspiration as it has no qualms being, Flesh Made Fear remains a fun romp especially for fans of survival horror games that are looking for something else to play after their 58th run through Spencer Mansion.
