Disclaimer: We were fortunate to gain early access to Dead of Darkness. The impressions shared in this article are based on that pre-release version.
Dead of Darkness is the latest addition to the extremely slim selection of 2D survival horror games, joining ranks with Evil Tonight, Viviette and Lone Survivor. It follows the story of Miles Windham, an ex-cop floating through life after the mysterious death of his wife and daughter. He gets a letter in the mail inviting him to a clinic on Velvet Island, which is the ominous setting for the entire game.
The game is massive, my playthrough clocked in at 23 hours. Along the journey, you will be exploring a mansion, hospital, houses, underground tunnels and a tower of traps. You know the drill: solve puzzles, dodge enemies and unlock shortcuts. The level design is pretty good, but it’s definitely a bit padded. Many rooms only have a single health item and the decorum is often just repeated sprites and descriptions you’ve seen a few times before.
The puzzles are pretty simple Resident Evil “use X item on X” style. There is a unique system in the way the game handles clues. When you encounter helpful information in a note, it gets stored as a clue in the inventory, which is a separate tab from the files. What makes it interesting is that clues are used similarly to inventory items – you can combine clues together, use them on items, or use them on the environments. The best puzzles in the game used this system.
The game rewards keen observation in other ways too, with optional upgrades and items sprinkled throughout. At the time of playing, there is definitely some roughness to the overall balancing though. On normal difficulty, the first hour is very tough (but fun), but if you play conservatively then you will run out of space in your stash box by the end of the game. This is starkly contrasted by the time spent playing as a second character, where I never had any items and just barely scraped by. Hopefully this will get balanced out better, but it was probably the biggest issue I had. ***Addendum: from what I’ve heard, other players with less experience actually had to drop the difficulty to easy just to survive, so choose your campaign based on your experience level.
The writing is graphic, and I liked how unabashedly it would describe (or imply) absolutely horrific scenarios. The voice acting is very professionally done, and the character portraits (especially the body horror ones) were a treat. The pixel artwork though feels pretty basic – it’s about at the level you can see in the trailer throughout.
Overall, the game just suffers from some pacing and balancing issues. The long playthrough time doesn’t feel justified by the amount of puzzles or set pieces, it feels bloated and towards the end it drags. If it was refined, worked in with new puzzles, unique decorum in each room, etc. then it would be a pretty satisfying experience. I would have loved way more clue system puzzles- these were great.
I had a good time though, especially in some key areas – the mansion, the House of Always, and Graham Memorial Hospital come to mind. These areas show the best the game has to offer with fun strategic combat, clever puzzles, fun weaving level design, and horrific graphic bits of lore. Having played an early build of this 2D survival horror game, I can say it’s shaping up to be an excellent experience. With some patches to refine the rough edges and streamline a few aspects, it has the potential to truly shine.
Dead of Darkness will release on the 23rd of January 2025, use this link to buy or wishlist! https://store.steampowered.com/app/2157210/Dead_of_Darkness
