We analyze Darq, a terrifying nightmare with a masterful setting worthy of the best Tim Burton that uses very original mechanics in its playable proposal.
In the summer of 2019, a humble independent development title turned out to be one of the surprises of the year. Relative surprise, because it was already coming off a successful crowdfunding campaign, and the material that was submitted for that campaign was already aiming high. The fact that the developer behind the project, Unfold Games, is made up of a single person whose first commercial title was going to be the one that concerns us, made us be cautious with our expectations. The doubts about the project were soon cleared up, to the point that the almighty Epic, given the good looks of the project, offered the developer an exclusive contract with its digital store, an offer that he kindly declined.
Thus, in August 2019 it was released for digital download platforms in Pc Darq, a gloomy and ominous title of exploration and lateral development puzzles, in the vein of titles such as Limbo or Inside by Playdead, or Little Nightmares by Tarsier Studios. Beyond certain similarities, Darq uses several very original and personal mechanics in his proposal, one of the main ones being the possibility of playing with gravity to rotate the scenarios. The title uses these and other mechanics to place a lot of emphasis on its puzzles, these being the main protagonists of the adventure.
Along with the aforementioned puzzles, the protagonism of the title falls on a majestic, terrifying and very dark and disconcerting setting, worthy of the best nightmare of the genius Tim Burton, whose work inevitably evokes this ominous video game. The immersion of the player in this vivid nightmare was one of the main objectives of its creator, and boy did he succeed. On December 4, a complete edition of the game was launched on Playstation 4, Xbox and Nintendo Switch and the previous version of the title holders on PC was updated to this completely free of charge. In this Reviews, we will see what this version offers us, which includes the base game plus two interesting downloadable content that lengthen the sadly short duration of this magnificent nightmare game.
Nightmare or reality?
The protagonist of the title is young Lloyd. Without being explained how or why, it turns out that the boy is trapped inside a kind of terrifying vivid dreams, from which he cannot wake up. Our mission will be to accompany him in his attempt to escape from the dreamlike world where his subconscious is trapped, a grotesque and twisted world where a multitude of horrors roam at ease. The narrative of the title is sparse and leaves absolutely all interpretation in the hands of the player and their guesses based on what the game suggests.
As we already mentioned, one of the strengths of the title is its great setting, and one of the main concerns of the game’s creator is the immersion of the player in that setting. The creator carried this obsession to such an extent that in the commercial version available on PC before the update on day 4, once we started the game, it put us in a situation without going through absolutely any title screen or options, putting us in the Lloyd’s skin directly. Something very striking and unusual, and that has been changed for this recently released full version.
We want to highlight how much we liked this bet to offer a terrifying, oppressive and disconcerting setting, and how phenomenally it has been captured in the form of a video game. And we also congratulate the person behind the title for his commitment to making a video game as immersive as the one at hand. The troubled Lloyd will not be the only one who cannot escape from this gruesome nightmare world, as he will drag us with him until we reach the end of the adventure.
Play with gravity to escape.
Darq is a lateral development game with an emphasis on puzzles. The main differentiating element of its gameplay is the possibility of varying the sense of gravity, which allows us to advance through initially vertical areas. When we face certain surfaces, we can rotate the camera so that what was previously an insurmountable completely vertical surface becomes the new ground through which we advance. In fact, what is actually the main puzzle of the game consists of locating ourselves on the stage, knowing where we are and how we can advance through it. It is a complex mechanic to explain in words, but very easily understood when we are in the thick of it and it is very satisfactory. Very cleverly, the game does not stay in that original mechanic, and is introducing other twists and turns in its gameplay: perspective changes, several planes of movement within the one-dimensional advance and other elements that we are not going to reveal to you, but that keep the formula always fresh and amazing.
The search for objects on the stage will be another of the premises of the development of the adventure. We must search the scenarios well to collect them, and then use them in the relevant place. The truth is that in many cases the use of these objects is not at all clear and is somewhat arbitrary, in keeping with the puzzling universe where we move. Fortunately, we will never carry more than two or three objects at a time, so the traditional trial and error will get us out of more than one trouble. We will also have to solve a multitude of varied and very interesting logic puzzles. The difficulty in general is not excessively high, and they are very satisfactory to solve.
With a very punctual and reduced appearance, we will also see some deadly enemies in our adventure. The slightest contact with them will be fatal, since we do not have any defense capabilities. These encounters are solved with very simple stealth sections, and as we have already mentioned it happens very rarely throughout the game, and they neither hinder the pace nor are they annoying at all.
The main problem with Darq is its duration, which is around 3 hours, something more or less depending on our expertise. It is true that the game hides several collectibles that are really complex to find, and whose discovery in many cases means giving a twist to what we are doing and are very interesting to achieve. In this case the duration is increased, since as we say they are not easy to find. To alleviate this short duration, two extra downloadable content have been launched, included in the full version of consoles and available completely free of charge for those who already had Darq in their PC libraries previously.
The tower is the first of the downloadable content launched, adding a very attractive new level, where we do not have any significant news except for the new scenario, and whose duration is around 20-30 minutes. The last DLC released, The Crypt, does have much more substance and brings a very interesting new mechanics that gives a new twist to the gameplay. This expansion also raises the bar of difficulty a couple of steps, offering us the most challenging puzzles of the entire adventure, with a duration of about 45 minutes or more if we do not jam or try to discover all the collectibles of this level, a task really tough. Adding the expansions, we have a duration of 4 or 5 hours depending on our desire to complete. The main problem is not said duration itself, it is the feeling that all the interesting mechanics that the title raises have not just been exploited, leaving us wanting more despite the excellent taste in our mouths that remains after completing the title. Although they are very scarce, it is a point to honor the fact that all the texts of the title are translated into our language.
Building the dreams of terror
On an artistic level, we find a sublime video game that knows how to masterfully play its tricks to weave a masterful atmosphere and setting. We have already commented that one of the main objectives of its creator is to achieve a total immersion of the player in the proposal of the title, and what if it succeeds. Visually we are facing a dark, grotesque and twisted title, which with its opaque color palette, its use of lighting and its disconcerting and terrifying artistic direction, worthy of the best Tim Burton, manages to build a dark nightmare world that never ceases to amaze us at every step we take in it.
It is a really surprising and commendable work especially if we take into account as already mentioned that all the work is almost entirely done by a single person. We must also highlight the variety of settings and how gloomy and phenomenally set each one is. Perhaps some animation turns out to be a bit robotic, and at some point we will notice some jerk in the rate of images per second, but they are trifles that do not manage to cloud a major visual work.
The sound section is not far behind, in fact offering us a job as we have rarely seen in a video game in this section. Almost completely dispensing with the soundtrack, the sound effects do an incredible job of emphasizing the atmosphere of the game, with a huge variety of sounds and effects that will make our hair stand on end or completely disconcert us. Believe us if we tell you that if you close your eyes and get carried away by the phenomenal sound effects of the title, you will believe you are totally immersed in the nightmare of the troubled Floyd. The quality of this section is not surprising if we consider that behind it we have an industry veteran like Bjørn Jacobsen, who has worked on titles such as Hitman or Cyberpunk 2077 itself.
CONCLUSION
Darq is an excellent side-game adventure packed with original puzzles and mechanics, featuring a superb horror atmosphere worthy of Tim Burton’s best nightmare. The possibility of varying the plane of gravity, rotating the game world, enables the introduction of very interesting puzzles, being in fact locating and moving through the levels a puzzle in itself. If you like titles with Limbo, Inside or Little Nightmares, Darq is a safe bet, being aware that it focuses more on puzzles, logic and the search for objects than the aforementioned video games. Too bad that almost all sections of the project are run by a single person, which leaves us with a title that we can finish in 3 or 4 hours, and that leaves us wanting much more given how successful and varied their proposal is. Ideal in any case if you want to live a twisted and gruesome nightmare in a masterful setting, where we will use a multitude of original mechanics to solve very varied and satisfying puzzles.
THE BEST
- A superb terrifying setting worthy of Tim Burton’s best nightmare.
- It offers several very interesting mechanics in its playable proposal.
- Very satisfying and varied puzzles.
WORST
- Its duration becomes short, it leaves us wanting more and does not allow its good ideas to be exploited.
- Narrative too sparing in details.
Okay
It meets the expectations of what a good game is, has quality and does not have serious flaws, although it is missing elements that could have taken it to higher levels.
