Vaccine (2017)

I have two distinct reactions to my time with Vaccine. The first is hatred of its terrible old control system, changing camera angles and the random generating house of horror. The second reaction though is of respect and enjoyment at the increasing tension of the challenge, while getting better at unlocking the secret of the Vaccine. This is a game that you need to fail at and spend some time with in order to get the best out of it. If you can get past the issues I had at the beginning then there is a good Survival horror game in here, with a neat concept, that will make some classic gamers very happy indeed.

Vaccine is the perfect game for fans of classic survival horror games like Resident Evil. It has interesting gameplay, with a good mix of genres. It will be less interesting for those who are seeking innovation in videogames.

We could almost believe that this was liberated from Shinji Mikami's bin in 1996. [May 2017, p.79]

Starting a game off incredibly difficult and then getting easier as you go seems like backwards game design, but if you can reach that apex of gameplay and bring back a vaccine or two, subsequent runs become actually much more enjoyable, again, as long as the randomization gods are on your side.

Obviously a significant problem from the start is improving the controls. The constantly-changing camera angle and sluggish movement would make it difficult for many gamers, regardless of disability. It’d be great to have more auditory cues in the soundtrack as well, to improve accessibility for gamers with vision loss. Although it might detract from the aim of creating a tense environment—which I’d argue isn’t present anyway—a map of the house that fills in as you explore would make the game instantly much more accessible.

Minimal story, frustrating design, and a revival of all the bad things of which survival horror washed its hands years ago — these all crop up in Vaccine and combine to have the game miss its mark. Instead of a love letter to bygone scares, what we get is a tiresome endeavor for anyone but the most diehard fans for old school horror. What's worse, even such fans might be turned away by Vaccine's blatant ripping off of Capcom's renowned franchise.

Vaccine sets out to imitate the classic horror games of old, and in that regard it is successful; however, it fails in being an engaging and enjoyable experience as a whole. The roguelike elements are not a great match for the classic genre, and the reliance the player will have on luck and having to deal with clunky controls will make the game an easy one to put down. If you are itching to play an old school horror game, then you're way better off just playing the HD remake of the original Resident Evil, than having to deal with the frustration that is Vaccine.