Review | Flesh Made Fear

Back in 1996, Capcom released Resident Evil for the PlayStation 1. It went on to become one of the biggest franchises in the world. Even in 2026, with the recent release of Resident Evil Requiem, it still captures the hearts and minds of millions of players all over the world.

So much so that we have a tremendous amount of fantastic indies trying to replicate that feeling of claustrophobia in the tight corridors of the Spencer Mansion, the terrifying designs of boss enemies, and the cheesy dialogue that goes with it. Enter Flesh Made Fear, a successful Kickstarter campaign that proves to be one of the few successful interpretations of Resident Evil clones in 2026. Without spoiling too much of the review below, Tainted Pact and Assemble Entertainment have successfully captured everything I fell in love with from the old-school classics like Resident Evil, Dino Crisis, and even Alone in the Dark. Read on to find out my thoughts.

Things I liked!

• Music & Sound Effects | Flesh Made Fear knows its audience, and not only that, knows how important things like sound design and music are. Flesh Made Fear also uses the cheesy dialogue from back in the day. Think of Barry when he mentions things like “Jill Sandwich”, and when Chris asks Rebecca to “Play the piano”. It’s all in the delivery of the lines that makes every aspect of the package memorable. Music is incredibly well done. I get a strong sense of early ’70s zombie movies from the likes of George Romero, with their heavy use of piano and synth-wave tracks. Like I said before, they know their audience.

• Fixed Camera Angles | The use of fixed camera angles is also a welcome addition. A lot of the survival horror remakes now opt for over-the-shoulder cameras, and even some games being released today that look retro still decide to modernise their controls. While it’s not a deal-breaker to have modernised controls, I like fixed camera angles for the simple fact that not knowing what waits around the corner is always scarier than seeing something come for you. Sometimes you will enter a room, hear a sound, and not know exactly what is going on. It creates an intense emotion of fear, and thankfully the team have done a great job at recreating this.
  
  
• Retro Nostalgia | If I could sum up everything I liked about Flesh Made Fear, it is how everything works together so well. You would be mistaken for thinking this game actually did release in the mid-90s at how well it is presented. Graphics, music, sounds, controls, and the camera angles really help deliver a gut punch of nostalgia that makes me feel like a kid again. I would love to see a follow-up, or even another stab at survival horror from these guys.
  
  
• Combat | With most survival horror game’s, combat has to be good. It is no longer enough to simply aim a gun, fire, and have enemies die in front of you. The combat in Flesh Made Fear allows for a few variations of the games combat, including melee, ranged, and dodging. Melee isn’t something you usually see in survival horror, especially survival horror that is trying to mimic the likes of Resident Evil. But what makes this a godsend, is because of how rare ammo is.
  
  On my first successful playthrough, I did struggle in some sections because of the lack of ammo. I started to shift towards melee and dodging more during the mid-game build up because I was having a hard time saving ammo for the hordes that present themselves throughout the game. Needless to say, melee offers a decent amount of pushback, meaning you can then dodge and then run for your life.
  
  
• Different Playable Characters | At the start of the game you are offered a choice between the two main characters. What I liked is that it wasn’t just a visual thing that offered no difference in gameplay. Below the characters’ names it also told you specific traits. For example, the male character has less inventory space and is the equivalent of playing on normal mode. Not only this, but certain sections of the game are only accessible to him. The female lead has more inventory space and has different areas to explore. This is great because it forces you to play multiple times to fully explore the game world.
  
  There are times throughout the game where you will switch to the other character anyway, and in typical Resident Evil fashion, you will need to play both scenarios to understand how the other character ended up in certain situations to begin with.

Mixed & disliked!

• Buggy in Places | Flesh Made Fear does suffer from some bugs, and unfortunately, as much as I like the overall package, some do hurt the experience. For example, UI elements can get stuck to the screen when backing out of the menu. The game doesn’t pause one hundred percent of the time when looking at the map or inventory, and in a few instances, even though I had died, the game wouldn’t fade out and let me restart, it just carried on playing, and I was stuck with no option but to force-quit the game and reload.

• Easy Boss Fights | All boss fights in Flesh Made Fear can be dispatched by simply unloading on them or bashing them with melee attacks. All bosses feature a stagger as well, which means hit them enough and they eventually stand there completely still for 10 seconds, allowing you to deal tons of extra damage. The boss inside the radio station was especially easy because you can just run rings around him, gain distance, and then just unload. There is nothing really noteworthy about these boss sections, no need to trap them or make them vulnerable first by a special means. This is a little disappointing.
  
  
• Easy Puzzles | Puzzles are usually a cornerstone of survival horror, and while Flesh Made Fear does feature puzzles in almost every section, they are either usually too easy or become a rather annoying fetch quest. This isn’t to say that modern games don’t do this either, but I never struggled or had to guess with any of the puzzles, and each one was incredibly straightforward.

How long did I play the review before publishing? 12 hours
How long to beat the story? 7 hours
How long to Complete the game 100%? 14 hours
How many Achievements did I earn before publishing? 12
You'll love this game if you like these: Resident Evil, Alone in the Dark

Score: 85/100

Flesh Made Fear is a complete nostalgia blast for fans of survival horror. It creates a compelling package of well structured events set inside a believable world for its time. Cheesy dialogue, fixed camera angles, decent combat, multiple characters, and a lengthy campaign will satiate the most die hard fans of the genre, even if boss fights and puzzles are a little too easy.

Aaron

Gaming is in my blood.  Be it handheld games, Xbox, PC, Switch or Playstation, I am all over it.
I make my own games as part of my profession and love playing co op games with friends in my spare time. Avid dog lover and camper van enthusiast.