Darkness Within: In Pursuit of Loath Nolder

The game moves at a methodical pace, which will drive some players mad.

An intriguing idea that never really gets off the ground.

Expect more yawns than shrieks in this overly fussy Lovecraft-inspired horror adventure.

Overall Darkness Within: In Pursuit of Loath Nolder is an entertaining trip through some dark places.

This isn't a novel story, but Howard Loreid's descent into Lovecraftian insanity can be entertaining if you can put up with sloppy puzzles and a slow, deliberate pacing.

Lovecraft’s work intrigues people, it immerses them and, given the right circumstances, can scare the crap out of them as well. Unfortunately most attempts to turn these ideas into gameplay fail miserably and Darkness Within is just another example of how not to do it. The game mechanics fail to create any kind of immersive experience that the graphics could easily have supported.

Unfortunately, the game's confusing plot, lack of human contact, static scenes and frustrating gameplay had simply worn thin.

Overall Darkness Within wasn’t a bad game…however it wasn’t a great game either. It’s a game with a lot of potential that felt like it just needed someone to tighten everything up across the board.

The journey, however, can be fun if the meticulous style of information parsing doesn’t turn you off.

The plot is incoherent, with the panache of a 12-year-old's erotic Harry Potter fiction and the finish of a turd laced with pipe cleaners and glass. [Feb 2008, p.89]

Darkness Within is a good detective adventure made in the spirit of H.P. Lovecraft. The storyline is intriguing and the puzzles are logical as well as challenging. The think screen interface is a nice innovation, which I’d like to see in future games, too. The biggest flaw is that sometimes it’s a little difficult to get forward due to the abundance of researchable areas and things. The game requires a lot patience and brainwork. If thinking isn’t your thing, don’t bother – Darkness Within isn’t for you. [Jan 2008]

I thought it started out really well and showed some major promise, but it feels like an unfinished game that's not worth the time or effort. It scares the heck out of you the entire time, but due to the extremely tedious gameplay during the latter half of the title and its complete lack of guidance or direction during the puzzle-solving segments, I'd say that it's not really worth the trouble.

Darkness Within oversells its Lovecraftian theme because there's just way too much reading and not enough adventuring to keep our interest up. [Mar 2008, p.81]