Have you ever been alone in your house or apartment, late at night, and heard some sort of noise just outside? You?d likely shrug it off as some random animal, or wind rustling the leaves.
But what if it wasn?t?
What if you knew, with absolute certainty, that the noise you just heard was something malicious, clawing and scratching, trying to find a way inside? And what if you had to deal with that every, single, night?
Welcome to Darkwood! Releasing this week for console platforms, Darkwood is a 2D, top-down survival horror game that puts you smack dab in the middle of a terror filled forest, as you attempt to survive each day and night, looking for a way out.
That said, just sitting in your broken down house waiting for dawn isn?t going to cut it. Instead you?ll need to spend resources found out in the field on defense, whether boarding up windows and doors or setting traps for intruders. You have a generator hooked to the house that will eat fuel while on, but it provides enough electricity to power your limited light sources useful for either fending off threats, or to at least see them coming.
That said, being a game focused on survival, it comes with mechanics that might not always feel ?fun? to everyone. Gathering resources, crafting, and general menu management works just fine. Resources are limited, but there?s plenty around you to explore and generally scavenge. The map layout is actually pretty neat, emphasizing landmarks as a way of figuring out where you are in relation to your base. The map won?t highlight your specific position, but will fill in landmarks as you find them, leading to what feels like a more natural sense of exploration than you often see.
Still, despite my frustrations, I really dig the overall vibe that Darkwood goes for. Again, the sound design is the real champ, making great use of audio cues and sound effects to drive home the horror aspect in a way I wasn?t fully expecting. If you?re looking for an interesting take on the survival horror genre, I think you?d do well to check this one out.
Note: Crunching Koalas provided us with a Darkwood PS4 code for review purposes.
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