Darkwood Preview

I’m a real sucker when it comes to horror games. I simply cannot comprehend why someone might find enjoyment in getting themselves scared, repeatedly. Personally, I like to sleep at night. I like to get up from my computer chair, free of the fear of a demon jumping on my face while I go get a drink. It may befuddle some of you, then, when you learn that I chose to preview Darkwood by choice. Why did I do it? I have no idea. But, here’s to conquering my fears, and to Darkwood, a promising new game.

Darkwood’s intro consists of a few slideshow-esque images of the unnamed protagonist lamenting over his dire situation. I couldn’t pick up too much from the images, but it seems as if a plague has ravaged the civilians of the woodlands. The protagonist, presumably immune to the disease, lives among the civilians.

It seems as if the plague has mutated the people of the woodlands, turning them into crazed freaks of nature. Their hostility has led the protagonist to board his doors and windows, and even permanently lock doors in his own house.

Darkwood plays out as an open-world survival game, played from a top-down point of view. Those familiar with titles such as Alien Swarm will feel right at home playing this title. The game also offers a crafting system, which to my pleasure was actually quite necessary. Crafting torches is imperative if the player wishes to voyage deeper into the forest (God only knows why someone would want to do such a thing in the dead of night).

So far, the game offers no music, something that I actually liked. The game world was silent aside from the grass crunching beneath my character’s feet. The silence did an amazing job of building suspense, and I feel that a musical score would only damage the game’s amazingly creepy setting.

While Darkwood had a great atmosphere, I couldn’t help but feel a bit lost when it came to the game’s story. The Prologue literally has you get up from your desk and exit out of your side door. For what reason? What exactly am I looking for? Why the hell am I walking around in a forest while freaks of nature roam loose? Unless the protagonist has a deathwish, I don’t understand what would compel him to perform such actions.

As Darkwood is still in early access, I cannot bash it too much. I am sure that the story will become clearer as more of the game is finished. I am very interested in how the game unfolds, and I’ll definitely play it once it is finished.

Who knew creepy could be so fun.