DARQ: Complete Edition [Xbox]
Developed by Unfold Games and published by feardemic, DARQ: Complete Edition tells the story of Lloyd, a young lucid dreamer who is determined to explore all of the twisted, macabre corners of his dream world. His knowledge of being in a dream allows him to bend the laws of physics and reality to walk up walls and rotate his locations to give access to new areas and alternate viewpoints.
DARQ doesn’t rely on jumpscares to fuel the intensity - simply building up an uneasy vibe through location and the occasional encounter with strange enemies that you must stealthily avoid. It’s a horror game that I can play, with no worries about having to battle enemies when all I want to do is run away and hide, though there were definitely a few moments that had my blood pressure going through the roof.
Visually done in a very monochromatic style, it has an eerie atmosphere that lends itself well to the building tension and creepy vibes. There are all manner of strange things going on in the background, from statues whose eyes follow your every move, to horrifying figures lurking in the shadows. Likewise, the orchestral music adds to this, with a soundtrack done by game director Wlad Marhulets - along with the Budapest Symphony Orchestra - that sends chills up and down your spine.
There’s something just so alluring about DARQ, that with each level you are more and more determined to get through. The puzzles offer a good level of challenge, with some being fairly straightforward, and others requiring a bit more brainpower. There’s a few Achievements available for solving puzzles under a certain number of moves, or one that requires you to complete it in under 15 seconds - and despite trying repeatedly (with no errors along the way), I just can’t seem to do it fast enough - but I’ll keep on trying!
Movement is limited to just left and right, with the ability to wall walk by pressing A to flip the room, but through the clever use of interactive objects Lloyd can twist and turn whole rooms to gain a new perspective and navigate to other areas to find pieces for each puzzle. This is a fantastic way to utilise all of the surfaces available, expanding the play-area to make it much larger than it first seems. Later in the game, a new mechanic is introduced in the form of your own decapitated, rolling head, that can be used to enter small spaces and complete puzzles, however I had a lot of problems with this due to the head getting ‘stuck’ at various points and going super slow at others. This is definitely pretty frustrating, particularly for the Extra Level, ‘The Crypt’ due to there being an Achievement for completing it in under 12 minutes, and with this happening at random - you could be right at the end and have your run ruined by it.
With seven chapters, as well as two additional ‘Extra Levels’ - DARQ: Complete Edition can be completed in around 3-4 hours, with a large portion of that being easily completed in a single sitting. Achievements appear to be a little tricky however, with Dream Journal Pages hidden in each level being off the beaten track, and due to the variety of ways you can explore through walking up and down walls, etc, these can be far more hidden than I had anticipated. I had a lot of fun with DARQ: Complete Edition, and if you want to check it out, you can get it for £15.49 on the Xbox Store.
In the end, we decided to give DARQ: Complete Edition the Collecting Asylum rating of 8/10.
Have you played DARQ yet? What did you think of it?
Let us know in the comments below!
- V x
Thank you to EvolvePR for the DARQ: Complete Edition Xbox review code!
