Heaven Dust is a Wild Throwback to the First Resident Evil

The release of Resident Evil on the original PlayStation in 1996 had a profound impact on the video game industry. The title popularized the survival horror genre in a major way, leading the way for franchises such as Silent Hill, Dino Crisis, Fatal Frame, and more. The latest title inspired by Resident Evil is Heaven Dust, from developer One Gruel Studio. Coming to Steam and Nintendo Switch later this month, the upcoming title puts players in a mansion filled with puzzles to solve and zombies to avoid. As such, it should sound quite familiar to fans of the first Resident Evil, but the title looks like it might have enough differences to make it feel like its own experience!

In Heaven Dust, the game's main character awakens in a strange mansion, which houses a research facility. After discovering what could be the secret to immortality in New Guinea, the StarDust company has brought what they call "Heaven Dust" to America. The results seem a bit similar to a certain virus introduced in Capcom's popular franchise!

While there are definitely some commonalities between Heaven Dust and Resident Evil, the two games do have plenty of differences, as well. At first glance, the biggest difference between the two games is Heaven Dust's isometric perspective. While Resident Evil used a fixed perspective (which remains controversial after all these years), Heaven Dust is a bit more retro in its design approach. The game's graphics also offer a bit more of a "chibi" look, as opposed to the original Resident Evil's blocky, yet realistic approach.

The horror genre has long been known for bleaker endings, and Heaven Dust will apparently follow in that trend. The game will offer a number of different possible endings, and One Gruel Studio teases that "Maybe there is a good one."

It will be interesting to see how the classic Resident Evil gameplay approach translates to Heaven Dust's design and style. The gameplay shown off in the trailer seems to point at a slower experience, which might turn off some survival horror fans. That said, gamers won't have long to wait to find out if Heaven Dust lives up to its inspiration. The game releases February 27th.

What do you think of Heaven Dust? Do you plan on checking out the upcoming title? Let us know in the comments or share your thoughts directly on Twitter at @Marcdachamp to talk all things gaming!