The DS has not been home to many 3D survival horror games. In fact the only one that immediately comes to mind is the mediocre Resident Evil port. Now several years after the hardware’s introduction, developers have mastered the DS hardware and create some truly impressive graphic engines for the tiny handheld. One of those developers is Renegade Kid. Formed earlier this year, Renegade Kid is made up of industry veterans primarily with experience unleashing the power of the Nintendo 64. This put them in familiar territory when it came time to design the 3D graphics for their first-person survival horror game, Dementium: The Ward. They signed on in May with the Gamecock publishing group, and will be bringing Demetium to the DS this holiday season. I got a chance to play an early segment of the game and was left impressed not only by the Nintendo DS’ capabilities but by Dementium itself.

Dementium starts off with the player waking up in an abandoned hospital. You don’t know who you are or why you’re there. The only things for certain are the creepiness of the hospital and that you want out as soon as possible. The entire game is presented in a first-person format, and controls aren’t very different from Metroid Prime: Hunters. You move your character with the D-pad, aim with the stylus, and fire with the left shoulder button. Inventory management and interaction with your notebook are both handled by the touch screen. The notebook is valuable because you’ll come across puzzles that will require information from other areas in the level to complete. Unless you’ve got a really good memory, you’ll want to jot stuff down. We only got to take a look at the beginning of Dementium, but the early areas definitely worked well as an unsettling atmosphere.

As you explore the hospital you’ll find items to pick up like a flashlight, wrench, and even a handgun to protect yourself with. The flashlight effect looks great, and does an impressive job of lighting up the area when turned on. Cycling through your items is done my selecting them on the touch screen, but I can’t help but wish there was a button to quickly revert to your last item. There’s nothing worse than searching a dark corridor with your flashlight only to have a zombie pop out and start beating on you while you frantically try to pull out your weapon – Doom 3 syndrome anyone? Looking down at the bottom screen during action sequences is terribly distracting, but thankfully the guys at Renegade Kid have taken some steps to keep your eyes focused on the enemy. Health status is provided entirely by audio feedback, and you’ll know if you’re about to die when your heart starts racing. Speaking of audio cues, this is one DS title that should definitely be played with headphones. Not only is it customary to use headphones on a survival horror title, the reliance on audio feedback makes your ability to hear the DS critical.

Dementium: The Ward should end up around “7ish” hours in length, not including short cinematic clips. Besides the clips, the primary storytelling mechanism in the game will be finding plot-related items. By discovering these you’ll learn more about the hospital itself and what your purpose there might be. If you’re looking for a different DS experience than anything you’ve seen before and want to be scared by a Nintendo system, keep an eye out for Dementium: The Ward coming this fall from Renegade Kid and Gamecock.