İncelemeler

• gamedeal user

  Jun 19, 2022

  The original Darkness Within is one of those rare games that I replay every couple of years. It's what I'd label an undying classic. This sequel is nowhere near that level. It was Zoetrope's first foray into full 3D (or at least I believe it was). And it shows. It's extremely clunky and lacked the claustrophobic atmosphere you got in the first instalment. Some of the puzzles are.. ill spirited, as if they were designed not to challenge you but punish you. All of this said I still think I'd recommend it. The developers have an innate understanding of Lovecraft's work and a true passion for it. The story is solid, you just have to overlook the yank of old 3D games that simply do not age well. I do wish they would have continued with the pre-rendered panoramic scenes of the original, but hey, this game eventually led to the excellent conarium, so we have to be thankful for that.
• gamedeal user

  Aug 5, 2022

  Absolutely stunning atmosphere. Good OST and The machine part was my all-time favourite.
• Razimigo

  Oct 24, 2022

  I love the game and it's well-written storyline. It's a worthy sequel, even though the first game scared me abit more. The whole part in the basement of the old building in the woods was excellently done, including the documents that were hinting towards it all. I'm actually playing the director's cut which is abit harder than the game that I remember from few years ago. I can honestly recommend both games to those who are into point and click, Lovecraft and lots of searching for hints. It's not a game that you can play quickly.
• MyotisMac

  Jan 2, 2023

  Instantly throws away any sense of subtlety or dread from the first game in favor of showing you creepy ghouls from the first minute of the game. The voice acting seems worse, the 3D movement adds absolutely nothing to the game, and most egregiously, the collision detection is so busted that simply walking around the world results in frequent clips into the void. I gave up after only a brief attempt to play this, after I had to reload my save four times due to falling through the world while walking (or jumping) around. The jump buttonis basically an automatic game-ender, as it sent me careening through the floor three of the four times I pressed it. Absolutely unacceptable. Honestly shouldn't be allowed to be sold in this condition.
• gamedeal user

  Dec 13, 2014

  Since the only other review seems to be decrying the game for not being any different than the original release, I'm going to speak from the perspective of someone who has never played these games before. And I think they're great, this one especially. The graphics aren't that great, kind of on par with early Frictional stuff (think Penumbra) and the gameplay is great if you're an adventure fan. The puzzles can be awesome, or sometimes baffling, the voice work is not great, but fits the vibe, and the atmosphere is fantastic. Also, after having played so many bad first person horror games lately, this one was a breath of fresh air. If you liked Call of Cthulhu: Dark Corners of the Earth and are down for something a bit more lonesome, and focused on puzzles instead of action, you'll dig. If you're a graphics-snob who gets bored or frustrated easily, stay away.
• gamedeal user

  Jun 8, 2015

  I'll recommend this game because you will need it to see what happened to Howard Loreid and Loathe Nolder from Darkness Within 1. The story and atmosphere are still satisfying but... This sequel is different from the first game in that it now requires WASD to walk around. So if you appreciated the laziness of point-and-click in Darkness Within 1, you will not find it here. In fact the game itself does not include any kind of mouse-only layout. Now here comes the universally frustrating part: The Steam version of this game is different. They switched the clues and puzzle solutions around, and no one has put together a walkthrough to cover it. You will only find solutions in the Steam forums. The saddest part is that some of the solutions are illogical and you will probably NEED a walkthrough. So enjoy that little hitch. I'll try to post some clues here and in the forums. **POSSIBLE SPOILERS AHEAD** [b]Below the Old House:[/b] The "container for liquids" and the means of opening the closet are now in the underground gallery beneath the Old House. The contents of the metal box in the underground gallery: You will need them to get through the padlocked door in the underground gallery beneath the Old House. There is no key in this version. Let a few bugs sting you on purpose and listen closely as you walk near the stairs leading down into the pit in the center of the underground gallery. [b]Below the Old Mansion:[/b] Statue w/ Sacrificial Dagger beneath the Old Mansion: Take a second look after you hear the weird sound. The ring found beneath the Old Mansion: Its too dark down there to look at it properly. Go up into the Mansion's basement and look again. [b]Inside the Old Mansion:[/b] There is something to pick up in room through the door by the fridge. It is necessary for you to see all the endings. There is something in the tub. [b]The Retirement Home:[/b] Grab the thing at the foot of the stairs as you leave for the sewers. You will need it. [b]The Necropolis:[/b] The snake-head recoils each time that you get the 3 symbols correct on a disk on its head.
• gamedeal user

  Oct 14, 2015

  Having played the pretty decent first Darkness Within, I came in expecting good things from the second one. I was unfortunately disappointed. I don't mind that the graphics aren't impressive, since it's an old game and it does get the story across just fine, but the story is the biggest problem. It's full of Lovecraftian horror cliches, loose plot threads, bad story pacing and hardly makes use of the previous game's story or events at all. I get the feeling that the game really wanted to be a classic Lovecraft-style horror tale set in the 1930s, but kept forgetting it's established in 2011. The first time we see an indication of a modern day environment is when we see a box of discarded VHS tapes in the bookstore, but it ends up being the only one. Howard has misplaced his cellphone sometime between the two games, and the newest-model phone we see is a broken 60s variant. There's not one television in sight, let alone a computer. Even the few (nonfunctional) light switches we see are early 20th century. The only car we see (and actually get to use) is a 30s style fordor that belonged to Howard's grandfather - gone is the small but modern car from the first game. Every NPC talks like they stepped out of a turn-of-the-century novel, fear of "strangers" is rampant, everyone talks about curses and "rites" even though in the next breath they insist they don't actually believe any of that, oh no, but let me tell you in detail and purple prose about all these curses anyway. And who writes diary entries that come with cliffhangers for events that will take place weeks or months later!? Almost all of the referred-to NPCs from the previous game are killed off somewhere behind the stage before the game even begins. We never find out what became of Howard's police friend, Arthur. We spend a good quarter of the game making a mysterious machine work at the bottom of an abandoned building, but besides one scrawled note, we get no results or consequences from it. We don't know who the robbers' employer was, nor do we know what was in the sewer. I understand that part of horror is fear of the unknown, but that's no excuse for sloppy storytelling! This game does have superior sound design, and the full 3d environment is more comfortable to play in than the Myst-like static backgrounds, compared to the previous game. But as a whole, DW: In Pursuit of Loath Nolder is much better than this one.
• gamedeal user

  Oct 15, 2015

  Unfortunately, DW2 takes a step down in quality compared to its predecessor -- this, I suspect, is largely due to the switch away from Scratches-esque point-and-click style to a fully 3d engine. Everything just looks and feels a little wonky (and occasionally buggy). Worst of all, the world is too soft around the edges and lacking in detail compared to DW1... I just didn't feel as immersed in the environments despite the increased freedom to explore. This lack of visual subtlety seemingly leads to a similar lack of subtlely in the story and characters (e.g. in DW1, Howard is understandably shocked by every strange thing that occurs; in DW2, Howard is carrying [spoiler]a living homunculus in his pocket for most of the game and barely bats an eyelid[/spoiler]). And while the inclusion of more characters in the world was ambitious, the more prominently featured conversation system is clumsy at best and occasionally broken. DW2 does do one thing more effectively than the first outing: the flow of the game and its puzzles seemed much smoother and more intuitive... I never felt stuck simply because I had no idea what Howard was supposed to be trying to do (as sometimes happened to me in DW1). If you played and enjoyed Darkness Within 1, I can recommend Darkness Within 2 simply by virtue of the resolution it (sort of) provides to the storyline and the healthy dose of Lovecraftiness. If you haven't played or didn't enjoy DW1, however, you should consider avoiding DW2.
• gamedeal user

  Feb 12, 2016

  Excellent game - both 1 & 2. Lots of gameplay - 9 hours with 1st game and 16 with 2nd. Puzzles were interesting. Quite scary at times. Only thing I didn't like was there was lots of walking and no ability to run.
• gamedeal user

  Mar 1, 2016

  An excellent sequel to one of the best Lovecraftian adventure games ever. I highly recommend this game and its predecessor. But, to be completely fair, it's not quite as good as the story it finishes. This slight drop in quality is simply a result of it showing the player too much. Arguably, the secret to nailing a proper Lovecraftian vibe is to keep all the important things endlessly in the shadows. This game breaks that rule, and takes you right to the center of everything. Still, that's a very minor sin here, especially since the story had to go SOMEWHERE. (Eccentric side note: the game looks amazing on a 3D monitor once you turn off a few of the new graphics settings.) All in all, I highly recommend this game unless you haven't played the first one yet. But if that's the case, I just recommend the first one even harder.