Be afraid of the dark.

Darkwoodis a lot stranger than I expected.

Darkwood

But now I feel misled.

A greyscale image of a man in agony with something like a cross on his head. His skin appears to be melting. It’s a distressing image. It’s a horror game.

But because reducing Darkwood to a conversation about scares misses so much of what I think it’s about.

Darkwood is deep - surprisingly so.

You’ve played this kind of game a million times before.

Cover image for YouTube video

Find wood to barricade windows.

Find fuel to power a generator.

Keep the lights on, keep the enemies away at night.

A top down image of a game, showing a dark and creepy forest. There’s a cone of light from one character, illuminating another character on the ground. One character holds an axe. This isn’t going to end well.

Take the tutorial, for instance.

It’s not what you expect.

It all feels slightly wrong and ominous.

A top-down image of a character using a sawmill outside a house. The house is just a vague outline of walls, and most of the entire image is dark, except for a small shaft of light coming from the character. I would not like to live here.

Then a stranger arrives and you capture him.

And you begin to see what those cages were for.

And it’s grim.

A bright, sunny afternoon in a house in a cursed forest. It’s a top-down image with a cone of light - your field of vision - beaming out into a field with trees. Except, the trees look like spiders. It’s not a welcoming scene.

And then it’s brutal.

And then it’s over.

Except, actually, it’s only just beginning.

I don’t know what’s going on.

There’s so much bizarre stuff going on.

It’s a world where questions lead to more questions.

All I really know is that I am trying to get out.

It’s this aspect of the game, packed inside a simple-looking shell, that keeps pulling me back.

Coupled with threatening throbs of music and jabs of sound effects, Darkwood conjures quite the atmosphere.

So despite appearances, it is very much a story game.

You might die and return to life but the game doesn’t restart every time you do.

People know that because Darkwood is not a new game.

The controller’s speakers and rumble are used to strong effect.

It’s very effective.

Being an older game also works in Darkwood’s favour.

Most encouragingly of all, there are tens of thousands of people saying very positive things about it.

Does Darkwood manage to scare without jump scares, then?

It does much more than that.