![]() ![]() Body horror is omnipresent, and the wood, while vast, is an oppressive presence at once appalling and appealing. Some of Darkwood’s best and most tense moments take full use of this vision system, along with excellent sound design that lets you know when something is trying to break down the door…It’s also dripping with atmosphere. Line of sight is rendered with bright crisp colour where you can see, and murky, twisting shapes where you cannot - a memory of the place that cannot always be trusted. A stylistic low res decision allows for art to be of consistently high quality, and adds a nostalgic dreamlike haze to scenes. The art direction at Acid Wizard is top notch, and the incredibly detailed images for terrain and NPCs do an amazing job of revealing just enough about how weird this world is, without revealing too much. At least not normal food and… well, more on that later.ĭarkwood is beautiful. Food can be handy too, but you don’t really need it. Stockpile your inventory with tools for exploration and have space to bring things back. Manage your resources and trade for critical items. You’ll also need to keep your weapons in good shape to defend yourself. For the less corporeal threats, only strong light and hope will keep them at bay, so you’ll need to keep an eye out for fuel for your generator. Windows and doors can be boarded, furniture can be dragged around to plug holes, and traps can be built and placed where needed. For most threats, barricades will suffice. Darkwood’s world is fairly open, allowing you to explore wherever gnarled walls of trees don’t stop you, but each evening you must return to your hideout, bathed in the vapors of the “protective substance”, or you will not survive beyond nightfall. Your primary concern will be the fortification of your dilapidated hideout against the things that come at night. You’re trying to escape, but the creatures of the wood, the other survivors, and the titular wood itself might not make things so easy. We join our protagonist after the wood has expanded and consumed several towns and villages, the ruins of which reside in what few clearings remain. It did for me, leaving me with a gnawing curiosity that constantly led me to delve a little too deep and suffer the awful consequences - as horror should be.ĭarkwood sees you thrust into a strange overgrown forest, full of equal parts wonder and danger. It’s a slow burner, and if you let it, it will burn right to your core and settle there. The emphasis is on the survival part of survival-horror here, but the experience is laced with a rich story and characters that kept me hooked. So opens Darkwood, a top-down, atmospheric survival-horror game from Warsaw’s Acid Wizard Studio. “You are playing a challenging and unforgiving game.” ![]()
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December 2022
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