Darkness Within: In Pursuit of Loath Nolder featured among our favourite games of 2007 – an understated venture into the world of H P Lovecraft, the American author of horror, fantasy, and science fiction, especially the subgenre known as weird fiction. As a horror adventure, the developers relied heavily on preying on the gamers psyche by creating a chilling murder investigation in In Pursuit of Loath Nolder.
But, importantly, it was really, really good. Considering Zoetrope Interactive is a small independent game development company located in Istanbul/Turkey with a staff of three, they made a huge impression with their first release within the adventure gamers community. With restricted resources the game was released as a slideshow point and click game that had a definite rawness about it but this suited the theme perfectly.
In the first instalment ( In Pursuit of Loath Nolder.), playing as Howard, there was very limited interaction with characters and a lot of document searching however I found Darkness Within 2: The Dark Lineage to be a much more balanced game in this respect. The excellent interface remains for Howard to log and combine data, thoughts and objects but is now used more for a notebook for reference data ; clues and thoughts won’t be necessary to progress in the game (within the thought process)which is a shame.
Other tweaks have been made based on feedback from the Adventure gaming community- listening to criticism from the fans was an integral part of how Zoetrope Interactive developed The Dark Lineage, there’s more interaction both character and in the environment, less uber complex puzzles and more achievements and eastereggs.
So what has changed this time round ? Well the major change revolves around the game engine which Zoetrope Interactive has developed . The game is much more complex and we now have some lovely visual effects such as hazy dreams and the bobbing of your head as you climb stairs. Movement is now controlled by the WASD keys and we have the ability to pan 360 degrees
Darkness in name and darkness in nature
As a poetic term, darkness can mean the presence of shadows, evil, or depression and the whole gaming environment feels like theres a huge cloud of unspeakable evil surrounding it .
Arkhamend is an old fashioned, legend-haunted town and the characters residing within each have their own secrets .The locations are as dark as the theme and a lot of time will be spent in cellars, sewers and underground buildings , even during daylight you find yourself reaching for the lantern or torch and boy, you’re going to need it.
The audio elements are again at the forefront which really sets the darkest of tones.The ambient sounds are realistic and effective, with creaking doors, the muffled sound of snow and crunching on loose stones underfoot and Howards audible breathing (to name but a few instances) , somehow this small Turkish studio have managed to excel in this area .
jigsaw style puzzles now included
madman walking around in a world of delusions
The plot. Be prepared for the unexpected. Whereas in In Pursuit of Loath Nolder, Howard’s investigation was very much a clandestine operation hiding in the shadows, in The Dark Lineage Howard seems a lot more open in his approach questioning other characters etc. Navigating your way throughout the game by means of mostly investigative work and puzzles, your ultimate aim is to destroy the madness affecting Howard.What begins as a quest for self preservation later becomes obvious that Howard is not alone in this darkness and the line between reality and dream becomes very blurred . Howard, almost like a split personality, has memories he cannot account for.
Prepare yourself for the descending darkness, this time it will be ultimate.
Weird fiction ? From beginning to end you are bombarded with creepy insects,other wordly beings, tortured souls, a town stuck in a timewarp, a crumbling underground city – its a case of wanting to see whats behind the next corner and what else the game will throw at you. However there are incidents that do go unanswered and sometimes you may feel the story is a bit flighty or disorganised and that there may be a bit of wierdness overload but things do begin to make sense towards the end.
This game is scary. Very Scary. Dim the lights, Turn up the volume, step into the darkness and wrestle the demons within. If you have played the recent batch of horror adventure games and think you have become somewhat acclimatised to frights, Darkness Within 2 The Dark Lineage will reignite your anxieties, sense of terror, panic, and dread.
H. P. Lovecraft :
“The oldest and strongest emotion of mankind is fear, and the oldest and strongest kind of fear is fear of the unknown.”
The amazing thing is what Zoetrope Interactive have achieved on a relatively small budget – the manner in which they can create the chills and heart stopping moments are to be admired. A full review will follow on the games release
Pre-order this game NOW from Iceberg Interactive and get it shipped for free on the release date!
