DARK (2013)

For your money, it’s not a completely terrible title for big fans of pure stealth titles. Just don’t expect anything amazing.

DARK is a stealth game with some nice ideas and an interesting story, but it suffers from poor IA and repetitive gameplay.

The lack of polishing is the main problem of a game with a lot of wasted potential. Clunky controls, bad A.I. and tiny production values condemn Dark to mediocrity. Only for hardcore stealth fans with a lot of patience.

There are certain moments where everything clicks, where the stars align and you’ll feel like the dark puppetmaster you should feel like the whole game, and most of these moments are because of the powers.

So while it's always nice to see an attempt to breathe new life into stealth action games, Dark retains and even amplifies many of the frustrating trappings that make the genre so off-putting for some. It's too buggy, imprecise, and narratively unengaging to be of much interest even to those in the market for this sort of thing.

It's nothing new that a decent look can't rescue an otherwise failing game. Dark isn't exactly bad, but at the same time it is never interesting. There is a couple of good moments in this, but in the end, I was kind of glad it was over.

The RPG elements and distinct visual style do present some life, but don’t go in expecting this to be a mechanically sound game.

Quotation forthcoming.

A work of sulky blandness that does itself no favors by latching onto better games and cooler vampires. [ Nov 2013, p.68]

Initially a terrible thing that becomes a relatively entertaining stealth action game, if you manage to (literally) bite your way through. Unfortunately, excellent ideas are screwed up by their problematic elaboration. [Issue#232]

There is so much potential lost in Dark. Despite it's beautiful design, this is a frustrating mess and really not worth either your time or money.

Dark is a stealth action adventure that's brimming with good ideas, but poor AI, a weak story, and repetitive gameplay drive a three-pronged stake through the heart of its entertainment value. Dark's cel-shaded settings occasionally allow the otherwise drab experience to shine, but not without a forgettable protagonist and clunky movements sinking their fangs into the fun.

Weak cutscenes, poor combats and its repetitive concept makes Dark a mediocre game. Vampires are so rich that deserve much more than this poor and frustrating one.

There are some mildly satisfying moments in Dark, but most of the time you’re stuck between boredom and frustration. [CD-Action 10/2013, p.67]

Rather than pull you into the supernatural drama it tries to author, Dark devolves into unintentional comedy, the ridiculously bad dialogue and hilarious artificial intelligence inspiring fits of laughter. This game is both insane and inane, but at least its overall stupidity gives you something to cackle at.

The best thing about DARK is that there are no hints at a sequel. At all.

Maybe I would have been better off if I had just quit. The plot never pulled me in or even resolved itself in a suitable manner. The AI never got any smarter. And Eric never felt like a kick-ass creature of the night with mastery of deadly arcane powers. Dark ends how it began: a flaccid non-event, sputtering out before any potential can be realized.

A strange thing happens when you review a game as bad as DARK. You get really, really good at it. So desperate was I to be done, to not think about it again, to not deal with the save system, that by the end I fashioned myself into a kind of DARK savant, flitting around levels with as much ease as the game would permit and a certain kind of Dark Souls-powered, no-room-for-error concentration. So far that reason, I’m sort of glad I played it. And for one other reason: so I can tell everyone else to never, ever play DARK.

A pain in the ass to play, no real AI, too distant checkpoints, ancient production values, terrible art direction... If vampires are supposed to be cool thanks to recent popular movies and TV Shows, it doesn't show in Dark.