The Darkside Detective

 PC
User Score
8.1

Generally favorable reviews- based on 31 Ratings

User score distribution:
  1. Positive: 25 out of 31
  2. Mixed: 4 out of 31
  3. Negative: 2 out of 31

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  1. NightGeisha
    Jan 19, 2019
    8
    The Darkside Detective is one of the funniest Point & Click games from this universe and from the darkside one.
    The game as a very unique 2D and pixel art style, but despite the many differences from other Point & Click games I played in the past, they focus on the principles of any other Point & Click: logic puzzles and a nice story.
    I highlight also the awesome soundtrack, that fits    The Darkside Detective is one of the funniest Point & Click games from this universe and from the darkside one.
    The game as a very unique 2D and pixel art style, but despite the many differences from other Point & Click games I played in the past, they focus on the principles of any other Point & Click: logic puzzles and a nice story.

    I highlight also the awesome soundtrack, that fits like a globe on the mysterious environment of the game, and also the dialogues of the characters full of jokes and funny moments.

    This game is really a jewel, a awesome acquisition to any Steam collection. A big thumbs up, I hope the Season 2 will come soon.    … Expand
  2. mno
    Sep 25, 2018
    5
    Too blocky, too easy, too short and too demanding to be good. But the game offers some good music and a couple of laughs.
  3. Babutto
    Mar 9, 2021
    8
    Very simple quest for the kids or people who like pixel art.

    Pros.:
    - Easy. For people who doesn't like challenge.
    - The characters are decent.
    - Short story format.

    Cons.:
    - Easy. For people who like challenge.
    - The world could be developed better.
    - The game is too short.
  4. bancandrei
    Jan 2, 2021
    6
    It's funny, but after a few episodes not that much anymore. It also lacks anything aspiring to greatness, but I do recommend these bite-size pieces to all fans of the genre.
  5. PublicNuisance
    Jan 23, 2021
    8
    Usually when I try to enjoy point and click games I get frustrated with the nonsensical puzzles that are more about trying to combine any two items out there until you find a match rather than having it be a logical solution that can be guessed using logic and common sense. For the majority of The Darkside Detective it actually surprised me by having well thought out puzzles that IUsually when I try to enjoy point and click games I get frustrated with the nonsensical puzzles that are more about trying to combine any two items out there until you find a match rather than having it be a logical solution that can be guessed using logic and common sense. For the majority of The Darkside Detective it actually surprised me by having well thought out puzzles that I enjoyed. Combine that with a good soundtrack and fantastic humour and I can say it is quite possibly one of the best point and click games I have played. It did start to let me down as some of the later cases do exactly what I was hoping to avoid with puzzles that made little sense as well as having to go talk to people I wouldn’t have thought to before it would let me complete a task I knew I had to do. Luckily this did not ruin my overall enjoyment and wasn’t a major portion of the overall game. There isn’t much over arching story but that really wasn’t needed. The characters themselves made up for it and made each case fun. The game itself had a special charm to it. It didn’t take itself too seriously; had great dialogue and some great references to other media. The graphics themselves won’t win any awards but even the game knew to poke fun at that. It ran better on a potato of a computer than it probably should have so it’s not like it wasn’t optimized. If you can’t wow with visuals then at least run well and it did for the most part.

    I played The Darkside Detective on Linux. It never crashed on me and I didn’t notice any spelling errors. The game auto saves at various points. A manual save system would have been nice but luckily the cases aren’t long enough and the save points too far apart to cause me any issues. There is just one graphics option. Alt-Tab didn’t work. The game for the most part ran at my refresh rate of 75 FPS but could drop down to the 20’s for a few seconds at a time. This wasn’t overly bothersome given the point and click nature of the game and was expected on my system.

    Game Engine: Unity
    Save System: Auto
    Disk Space Used: 1.6GB
    Game Setting: “High Def”

    CPU Usage: 4-18 %
    RAM Usage: 1.5-2.3 GB
    Frame Rate: 21-75 FPS

    I really enjoyed my time with The Darkside Detective and will be looking for future games from Spooky Doorway. I finished the normal and bonus cases in five hours and fifty two minutes total. The cases felt like a good length each. Even if you don’t usually care for point and click games like myself I would give the demo a try. I paid $7.59 for the game and it is easily worth $30 if they had wanted to charge that. The characters; music and humour are top notch. The puzzles are a mixed bag but more good than bad.

    My Score: 8/10

    My System:

    Intel I7-4770 | 16GB DDR3-2133 CL9 | Intel HD 4600 1536MB | Mesa 20.0.8 | Samsung 850 Evo 250GB | Trisquel 9.0 | Mate 1.20.0 | Kernel 5.10.9-gnu    … Expand
  6. horst81230
    Aug 8, 2023
    9
    Humorous point and click adventure. Puzzles are mostly easy, and mostly logical. Stories ("cases") are episodic, so it's great if you don't have much time and want to play in half hour sessions. Overall the game isn't very long, but not short either for a point and click adventure. Definitely one of the good ones in this genre and recommended for fans of this type of game.

Critic Reviews

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Metascore
77

Generally favorable reviews - based on 11 Critic Reviews

Critic score distribution:
  1. Positive: 7 out of 11
  2. Mixed: 4 out of 11
  3. Negative: 0 out of 11
  1. GameGrin
    Oct 7, 2020
    100
    The Darkside Detective is an adventure game that will have you laughing as you solve the mysteries behind the paranormal events plaguing Twin Lakes. With great visuals, music and movie references this is a must play!
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  2. Adventure Gamers
    Oct 31, 2017
    80
    If you love British comedies like Blackadder and surreal mysteries like Twin Peaks, The Darkside Detective is a retro-styled supernatural adventure game you don’t want to miss.
    Read full review
  3. PC Gamer
    Oct 15, 2017
    82
    A smart but simple adventure that's exactly the right kind of spooky. It's short, but superb. More please. [Nov 2017, p.81]
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