Darkwood

A New Survival Horror

As much as I love Resident Evil games, especially the classics, Darkwood better exemplifies the genre Resident Evil invented, survival horror. This is the best game I have played that melds survival mechanics with horror. The survival mechanics involve light crafting, base defense, weapon durability and repair, scavenging, limited inventory, and a brutal day-night cycle. I’m not the biggest “open-world survival” game fan, but these elements are done intuitively and never feel like artificial gatekeeping. In-game items are found, built, and repaired in a grounded, real-world manner that gives a genuine sense of scarcity and vulnerability to the player. The house you stay in feels tacked together, the shovel you hold is barely functional, the pistol you found has no magazine. All these sensations generated by the survival mechanics add to the horror element of Darkwood.

Two game mechanics I want to highlight are the base management and day-night cycle. Darkwood’s implementation of both mechanics has serious gameplay implications. In essence it combines the true terror of Dying Light’s night-time volatile encounters with a high-level version of Project Zomboid’s home fortifications. At night, dangerous monsters are more aggressive and attack in greater numbers and on top of that otherworldly events can take place adding to the chaos. The game wisely suggests staying in your hideout at night, but more than that is required. The player must prepare for nightfall by barricading windows, doors, gaps in the walls, etc… and setup traps like bear traps and explosive barrels for when worst comes to worst. This base defense really adds to the physicality of the world, the more doors you board up and furniture you haul across windows the safer you feel, initially… But when one of your defenses eventually fails your safehouse suddenly feels like a tomb. I love how in the scramble for survival doors can accidentally get slammed shut, monsters or the player can get caught behind a piece of furniture, or the worst-case scenario you step on your own bear trap. While the fortification and barricading options are not very extensive, the base management and day-night cycle mechanics achieve some of the most tense, nail-biting gameplay sequences I’ve ever played.

The Beauty of Nature

Darkwood’s presentation is another one of its strong suits. The world is gloomy, bleak, and foreboding but the necessity to survive forces the player to strike out daily into the forest. When out in the forest, it can feel oppressive but with the gloom comes a beauty that I really appreciated. The environments are rendered with such detail that one feels driven to explore every corner. In Darkwood, nature is consuming the society that once lived there, buildings are in ruin as trees burst through floorboards and mushrooms inhabit dark corners, but also the residents are being altered. The design and art for all the characters you come across in Darkwood is stunning. They are represented by beautifully grotesque pieces of art that have been given slight touches of animation putting the player at bit of unease. Overall, Darkwood is visually unlike any other piece of media I have experienced.

Very Loose Handholding

The story for the player character in Darkwood is pretty straight forward: find a way to leave the forest. The way the player progresses is through exploration of different zones, trying to find hints on what you need or where to go next. The direction given by the game is very loose, just the journal your player character occasionally jots in holds any information that can point you in a general direction. I love this loose handholding; it allows the player to get wrapped up in the survival horror and forget what the point is. Sometimes I would play a couple in-game days and then realize I had just been surviving and not making any attempt to progress the story. This is a testament to the difficulty, game mechanics, and atmosphere but these lapses also add to the horror element. When you realize you just spent a couple days barely getting by but are also in no way closer to finding your way out, it is a sobering feeling.

Verdict

★★★★

Darkwood is an innovative twist on the survival horror genre. It executes on a crisp, memorable player experience that melds the worlds oppressive atmosphere with streamlined survival mechanics achieving gameplay-worldbuilding harmony.

Bonus Elden Ring Section!

The journal mentioned above is exactly what I want in Elden Ring. It might be sacrilege to suggest such a thing, but I think it fits From Software’s design principles. I love the loose handholding of Elden Ring and the Dark Souls series, and this does not deviate far from that. The journal would just be a place for the player character to collect scattered thoughts. Not everything would necessarily be a “quest”, they would just scribble down what they saw/heard and let the player reflect on them later allowing them to decide if and when to pursue it further. In Darkwood I still got lost, meandered off the beaten path, and forgot what I had jotted down but when I wanted or needed to reflect I could pull out the journal and be reminded of key characters or events. I see little downside to this feature, only the upside of keeping players engaged in the world by being suggested towards more of the awesome, memorable content already out there.