Critic Reviews
Vaccine is shit, but it does say its own name in a creepy deep voice when you start it, which is the single thing it has over Resident Evil 7.
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 may be based on a good concept but it deserved a sharper execution and better controls, not to mention a more presentable audiovisual environment. Its lack of variety and overall sense of dullness mean that what could have been a fun and engaging game ends up becoming a non-performing idea that is overridden by its negative elements.
Review in Portuguese | Read full review
I loved it when I was a kid, so I ended up enjoying myself way more than probably anyone else will with Vaccine.
While Vaccine recreates the look and feel of classic survival horror games, its own additions to that formula leave a lot to be desired. Randomized games can be fun when done right and properly balanced, but Vaccine has no qualms about sometimes generating a game layout that's completely unfair and almost unwinnable, while at other times showering you with more guns and ammo than you know what to do with.If the randomizer was more balanced and perhaps the timer or the multiple playthrough requirement for the true ending were removed, Vaccine could very well be an excellent throwback to the games that started it all - as it stands, however, it's a never-ending exercise in frustration.
Vaccine isn't a title I'd recommend even to the most fervent survival horror fans. There just isn't enough variation to continue playing death after death. Stay away from this one.
Vaccine makes an admirable attempt to recapture the original survival horror style game, both looking and playing the part. Unfortunately, the advancements that developers have made in the past 20 years have made games like Vaccine obsolete.
The idea of implementing roguelike elements and endless game design in old-school survival horror has potential, but Vaccine fails to capitalise on it. Aspects where the developers could have improved on were perks that could allow a 180-degree turn, a map system, or even a combo system where it can be possible to earn back extra time like Resident Evil's The Mercenaries mode. With much more variety in level design and more enemies, Vaccine could have been an interesting guilty pleasure. In its current state, this seems more like pre-alpha build with many of the features not yet implemented.
Overall, I wouldn't recommend Vaccine on the Nintendo Switch. Sure, it's certainly a novelty to release a game in 2017 with the looks and control mechanics of something from back in 1996, but the game feels as if it would have benefited from a couple of extra months of fine tuning.
I appreciate the fact that some elements of this game are purposely set up to be true to the vision of Resident Evil, which this is obviously inspired by. I also get that there will be people who, despite the game's failings, will thoroughly enjoy it and be engaged by the action loop it offers. However, given the wildly inconsistent nature of it (even by roguelike standards), the issues with items being so critical and yet so complicated at times, and the fact that handheld mode is likely not going to be a great idea overall it's hard to recommend without a substantial number of qualifiers. As noted, I think with some balancing and changing up pieces of the formula the overall experience could improve if tweaks are made but not knowing what the plans are I can only score the game based on what was provided.
Vaccine could have been great in all honesty and I really wanted it to be. It just, unfortunately, falls some way off. Some may say it’s basically a rip-off but I see it more that the game was made for a bit of fan service for those that love the old Resident Evil games and, because of that, I can’t see it appealing to anybody else in all honesty. It is a shame that in order to see the game at its best, you need to have a bit of luck and hope that you get a good mansion layout. When I got a good layout, I actually enjoyed the experience.
While I applaud the effort considering this was made by a one man studio, I feel the game is lacking in many ways. The procedural generation is interesting, but has limited effect on the actual overall experience. If only the combat or pathfinding was a little more interesting this game could have offered genuine replay value. Unfortunately that is not the case. Unless you spend your days wishing all 3D survival horror games looked and played like they did in the 90s, but without an actual story, this game does not have much to offer in terms of entertainment value.
A true love letter to Resident Evil