Darkwood

Darkwood is a deeply unsettling horror game that turns night into your greatest enemy and makes players question what could be lurking in the dark. For any fans of the genre, this is an instant classic.

Terrifying, addictive and constantly engaging, Darkwood is a joy to play and begs for multiple runs no matter how scared you are.

With its many surprises, Darkwood is a title with immeasurable depth that will keep horror fans gripped until the very end. An important focus on narrative-driven gameplay kept me hooked and desperate for answers. A horrifying aesthetic with spooky soundscapes plays with our instincts and terrifies the senses. When the title boasted "a horror game without jump-scares", I initially rolled my eyes. Most titles incorporate some kind of jump-scare to get a cheap reaction out of players. Even tastefully done jump-scares feel cheap to me because I'm not actually "scared," I'm just surprised. Darkwood succeeds where many other titles fail. It's a heart-racing experience that any horror fan worth their salt should attempt to survive.

If you are looking for surprises, intense direction and tense exploration in a horror environment, this one definitely is for you.

Darkwood tells the story of escaping from a mysterious and scary forest, where darkness and fear are the powers at work, and although it suffers from shortcomings here and there, the atmosphere alone is enough to keep you engaged and take your breath away.

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.

Darkwood is a challenging and rewarding horror game that will test even the hardcore survival horror buff. The gameplay loop of finding new and better resources by day and fending off horrifying creatures by night is surprisingly addictive. It hardly ever holds your hand and encourages experimentation and exploration of its atmospheric and haunting world. There’s even an engaging narrative with branching paths with plenty of payoffs too. There’s no denying it isn’t the most accessible of games, but if you stick with it, Darkwood is a shining light in an otherwise niche genre.

Darkwood is a chilling survival horror characterized by an excellent atmosphere.

I took a run at Darkwood when it was in Early Access on PC, and found myself so beaten down by the experience that I was forced to step away. Now, in its completed form, the balancing has been fine-tuned to the point where a determined player with the patience to slowly explore a hostile world will be able to make it to the end. It’s still one of the most challenging and bleakest survival experiences I’ve ever had, but I’m happy to see that the developers have found a sweet spot between alienating difficulty and player empowerment. It’s a challenge, but a fair one — and one that I won’t be forgetting anytime soon.

Overall, Darkwood does a good job of presenting a very tense and often horrific story with just the right amount of survival elements mixed in. While I’m not sure it is strictly fun, surviving a monster-filled night certainly is a relief and feels satisfying. Difficult enough at its normal setting, there are ample opportunities for true masochists to enjoy Darkwood’s singular approach to the genre.

Darkwood is a very good survival-horror that feels like a mix of Don't Starve and This War of Mine with a very dark atmosphere. Moreover, the weakness of our character adds to the fear as death is always lurking around.

Its steep learning curve, oppressive atmosphere and often frustrating control scheme make sure Darkwood isn't an experience everyone will enjoy. However, if you are a fan of indie horror titles that have the power to chill you to the core, you may just have found what you didn't know you were looking for.

There's an intelligent execution to Darkwood. The gloomy aesthetics and effective sound design heighten your senses and place you precariously on edge. The unflinching challenge adds weight to encounters and each trip to new pastures carries great risk. There is a fantastic confidence with how Darkwood lets you dictate the pace of exploration and it's enticing me to keep coming back.

If you like ‘survival horror’, there is a lot of surviving and horror here. The performance and controls are not as good as on PC, but the core experience remains untouched, and it still is a great choice for those who want a new take on the genre.

Darkwood is gritty, difficult and scary, and these are just three of the reasons why we liked it: the crafting system is good, the atmosphere is always tense and the sound design is excellent. Don't miss it if you like survival horror games.

An impressively original horror game whose doom-laden atmosphere and relentless day/night cycle is more terrifying than any jump scare.

Darkwood is one of the most terrifying games I’ve ever played as it challenges you to explore and survive a dark and twisted world. Unravelling the mysteries of the night time horrors will consume you even before you try the permadeath mode. This comes highly recommended, but remember to wear your brown trousers.

Despite a seemingly unnecessary level of challenge, Darkwood is genuinely one of the scariest games out there, featuring some of the best sound design in the survival horror genre.

Darkwood is a fantastic exploration of the horror genre and had me checking my cupboards for monsters whenever I’d finish a late-night play session. It’s grim, unrelenting, and you can easily find your self lost among its shadowy boughs. It’s oppressive, dark, and one hell of a ride. Just don’t let the lights go out.

Creates a sense of deep and pervasive restlessness.

Darkwood‘s story is twisted and full of weird characters and unnerving moments. The ultra-tough gameplay is likely to turn quite a few people off and it can be tedious, but those that stick with Darkwood will be rewarded with a memorable survival-horror game that will linger with them long after they’ve conquered its nightmares.

Darkwood has an interesting world, a story that can go in different directions depending on your decisions, and a gameplay loop that's exciting at times and tedious at others. Its biggest weakness is how hard it can be to get to where you need to go and for that reason alone; I'm not entirely enthusiastic in recommending Darkwood. However, if you have the patience, why not give it a try?

Darkwood is on the verge of greatness. The terrifying and foreboding atmosphere it manages to create is unmatched in the genre, while the scares themselves are earned and equally alarming. The experience is somewhat held back by gameplay annoyances, but they’re not enough to sway a recommendation.