Darkwood

One of the greatest and most immersive horror experiences that I believe any "horror game" worth their salt should have played. Can not recommend enough.

Darkwood combines unique line-of-sight mechanics along with well-crafted grotesque horror ambience to create an incredible, unnerving gameplay experience. At least for the first few hours.

I'll start with the pros: Darkwood really nailed the dark atmosphere and unsettling world building, which was such a treat for an indie horror game fan like myself. Nearly all of its set pieces were immaculately done, with every minute laced with tension or horrific scenes. But as much as these highs were high, the gameplay experience was marred with considerably low lows.

Cons: I really wanted to love this game, but I can't say that I do. This is largely due to the fact that, with no exaggeration, about 80% of my time was spent walking back and forth from my hideout to whatever point of interest I was looting. I understand that inventory management can be an integral part to creating the feeling of scarcity and important decision making, but the amount of loot that is available to plunder far exceeds the tiny inventory space that we are allotted, even with maximum bag and hotbar upgrades. Not to mention, the vast majority of this loot actually ends up being junk that the player never uses, not to the player's knowledge, however, until much later in the game. Because resources are introduced as expendable, the player is incentivized to hoard as many supplies as they are able to store in their hideout in the case that it will be needed later, which is a complete mystery, but I know that many players are like myself and would rather prepare for the worst. And so, the game quickly becomes a walking simulator for carrying junk supplies back and forth, completely watering down the entire experience. The best parts of the game come from exploring new areas and seeing more of the world, but this is hampered when, within just a few minutes of entering a new location, your inventory is completely filled and you have to trek all the way back to your hideout and repeat the process numerous times per location. I can concede that this problem quickly becomes irrelevant if the player is able to determine early on what is junk and what isn't, but going into a game blind like this that prides itself on not holding the players' hands, players are compelled to be stingy with their resources when there is so little information to go off of. By the time I decided that I was just going to leave supplies lying around, the game has already become such a slog that I just wanted to rush to complete it.

Another gripe I had was with how little agency I felt I had during the night cycles. The first few nights were fine, when the experience was still new and I just cowered in the corner of my hideout, 2x4 with nails in hand, praying that the noises of nearby monsters would fade away. But, especially after becoming comfortable with combat and enemy attack patterns, the waiting for 5 minutes every night quickly became old and just another timesink keeping me from enjoying the better parts of the game.

In conclusion, I think Darkwood had an impressive vision for itself, and it was one that I was really excited for going into it. But it faces some very glaring issues that I can't bring myself to ignore, despite the parts of the game that were amazing. I would still recommend it to people that are avid horror game enjoyers, but only if I were able to warn them of the ways in which the game fell short.

I think i need to give it another shot, but while i was playing it my only thought was "I wish I was playing project zomboid instead".

That said, an hour isn't much to sink into a game like this, so I'll try again and likely update my review. It is still a recommend, just wait for a sale, and maybe try pz.

I have never rage quit a game as many times as I have rage quit this one. I have gotten so mad at this game, that I have repeatedly deleted save files after make choices whose consquences were so profound that they made me loose it. I have actively slammed my hands into the wood of my gaming desk as I try not to scream at 2 Am because I don't wake up the other occupants of the house in my fury as I once more lose and have only myself to blame because the truth is that yes, the controls are fair and balanced and I just died because I fumbled it.

Ten out of ten game - I will beat this game if it kills me.

''This game is incredible for not entirely relying on the fear of the unknown. Pretty much everything can be explained for why its happening but regardless of knowledge every night feels like a fight for your life. The ambience and suspense you can feel at night rarely changes, but your knowledge does increase. You go from hiding in a corner in the Dry Meadow to roaming the hall with a shotgun, a pistol, and a shovel ready to fight for your life while being on the verge of pis*ing your pants. Moral of the story: Face your fears, respect the woods, be patient, focus.''

This is basically a horror survival, I suggest that you open the wolf chest immediately to get guns. The code will be in save.data in your C: folder.

Then you just need to buy ammo from the trader, by surviving one night in meadow.

After 2 years I finally finish the game, the only reason why it took me too long to finish the game, is because of my fear. I always got jumped by all the monsters, until someone showed me how to do combat properly. Thanks Kay! I finished this game for you.

For a top down game, this was exceptional. The sound design is perfect.

Sadly I didn't have it in me to finish the game. The second chapter felt unnecessarily tacked on, exhausting to play and tedious.

The story is somewhat comparative to "The Evil Within", in that its very very vague and convoluted, so I felt aimless at times, and struggled to keep any interest in continuing the gameplay cycle, after Day 48.

For such a low price, I definitely recommend it though. Experiencing most of the first chapter is worth it.

L'atmosphère est incroyable. Très bon jeux. Visuellement, il n'a l'air de rien. Mais c'est très efficace.
Ce n'est clairement pas pour tous. C'est un jeu qui est assez difficile d'approche mais qui récompense par une histoire et un univers plein d'intrigues.

Its a good game but ive been put off from playing for abit because after my ninth night this toxic growth spawned where the trader would and i burned it thinking he wouldnt get hurt because why would you make the main trader killable then he died because of course and i decided to restart from scratch thinking it would be same but no the location of everything is randomly generated

This game is absolutely perfect—everything from the story and characters to the art style. I love it so much and play it all the time!

insanely cool game a MUST play for both horror and survival enjoyers

Darkwood is an extremely good and rewarding game. There's plenty of survival games out there but nothing quite like Darkwood, nothing that really has the same atmosphere and unique story.

greatest survival horror I have ever played. trust. just play it.

I can say that the game is indeed Dark and has a lot of Wood in it. Infact I'd say it has so much Darkness and Wood that someone can make a nearly 9 hour long video about it!

This is a really great survival horror, the atmosphere is absolutely on point and it can be really quite haunting.
Absolutely recommend this game, certainly an experience worth playing.

especially since its so cheap

Pirated it at first. The developers themselves share a torrent link with the full game for free. Now that my financial situation got better I decided to buy the game to show my support. Great game and great developers. Cheers.

A fantastic game, not too hard to 100% either. The perspective and setting are both refreshing for survival horror, and it's a tragedy this Polish studio shut down. Darkwood does that incredible thing of not actually being all that hard, but being so tense and unsettling that you constantly feel on edge, and each little victory feels so relieving.

There are missable achievements, and a minimum of two playthroughs is required, but honestly, the game isn't THAT long, especially if you know what you're doing. There isn't much hand-holding, and the clues for what to do next can be pretty vague so don't be afraid to explore/look things up.
Hint: for the first chest right near your first base, the code is 2919

Super cool and creepy game. I watched Markipiler play this and didn't realize how much has been added to this game since then and it is longer than I thought. Not a bad thing. I enjoy game play and I will play for hours with out realizing the time passed.

Overall OK but way too long for what it provides.

On one hand you have a great mood, nice vision mechanic, interesting shooting mechanics and a really fitting survival part (in the first chapter at least). First 15ish nights are really interesting and scary-fun to experience. Polish style from under the Soviet boot was a nice addition for me. Graphics, music, pace were tied nicely together here.

On the other hand the game really gets stuck after chapter one. Chapter two immediately felt like a filler. Nothing really changed in the game and all mechanics were overplayed at this point. I’ve already had enough and they served me another big dish of the same. And the game's story just doesn't draw you in enough.

The story is extremely vague and the game is not giving you any hints really. You have no idea what is going on for the whole game. The moments of choices are also really obscured. I had no idea that I had a choice here and there when I made it. Not a big problem but a sign of a bad design.

Overall I liked playing this game and I liked the mood. I might even finish it… but I doubt that. I’m in the middle of Chapter two and I’m not really interested enough to muscle through it.

As less then 9% have finished it - discout only - you will probably like it and never finish it as well.

It took me a couple tries to get going but once I did I was hooked. The game does not explain itself easily so you need to intuit some of what you do, figure the rest out by trial and error. Once you embrace the mechanics, the tension will grip you. Can you switch out weapons fast enough? Can you outrun it? Will it break your barricades? What even was that? I cannot recommend this game enough to fans of survival horror games. I am astonished to see that this studio does not have more titles for sale here. I would gladly welcome more from them.

Very hard but also rewarding, one of the best horror game I've ever played, made me shit my pants a few times

im still in the first chapter of the game and from what ive heard i know this game gets better with time, i had heard reviews and people talking about it but HOLY FUCK i was not ready for this
the tension and atmosphere it creates is amazing and i cant really compare it to anything else ive ever played, i was on the edge of my seat every second of my playthrough (and i still will be as i progress, the silent forest TERRIFIES ME tho and i am not going there without a gun) its just incredible, do yourself a favor and play this game

>"Overwhelmingly positive" reviews
>less than 9% of players have completed the first chapter

This has to stop


Let me get this out of the way, Darkwood is good. The atmosphere and art design do a lot of the heavy lifting; in fact I would say as far as atmosphere goes this is one of the all-time greatest. Few games since I first played Silent Hill 2 way back in the day have left such an impression on me as Darkwood. Thick, cloying, oppressive, somewhere between walking through a muggy forest at night and exploring a dead relative's dust-shrouded attic. I heard somewhere that one of the key uses of horror is to take the familiar and put it in an unfamiliar context. Darkwood takes that concept and runs with it. It's a choking world of decay and transformation. The backdrop of the decomposing soviet-era eastern european wilderness feels appropriately desperate and despairing.

Mechanically is where I start to notice a few cracks in the foundation. The movement is slow, some might call it sluggish, but I think it's more contemplative. Isometric games don't need to be snappy and quick, and the slow, deliberate movements lend well to the horror atmosphere. And ideally it's not required to make quick movements; combat is initially discouraged. Use stealth, traps, and caution to avoid confrontations with enemies, combat is a desperate last resort. In Chapter 1 this serves you well, except for near the end. Not to say the controls are bad, they're perfectly fine. Even on gamepad I had no trouble with the controls, and this is a great play on a steam deck (I highly recommend headphones).

The menus are a bit messy but functional. The lack of an auto-sort feature for containers doesn't seem like anything more than an irritating oversight. Progression feels lackluster, as the abilities you get are very situational. I made limited use of them and felt the drawbacks may have outweighed the benefits, barring one or two borderline mandatory abilities. Progression in general feels a bit half-baked. But all in all these mechanics all work together fairly well.

Unfortunately the game's mechanics start to frustrate the gameplay near the end of the first chapter and for most of the second chapter. Combat becomes a lot more frequent, and however much the game tries to discourage you from gun play, on normal difficulty that's what I felt driven to. Enemy encounters were no longer frightening, more just hurdles that I had to overcome as large groups of enemies were constantly blocking the path to my objectives, enemies that I couldn't outrun or out-fox. Defending during the night seemed like a waste of resources as the price of dying during the night was basically nothing other than missing out on some reputation with traders which is easily recouped in other ways. By the time you reach chapter 2 it seems that combat is borderline mandatory and defense is pointless due to the nature of some enemies and their ability to bypass defenses. By night 30 I had had my fill of the fun, tense, desperate nocturnal hold-outs and it was just easier to die and pass the night at no cost.

There's another frustrating thing that I really didn't want to be a problem but unfortunately reared its head a few too many times. It's weird to see a game's art direction and design at odds with its mechanics. The ground is so alien and strange a lot of times there's this wonderful nightmarish feeling of "what the hell am I walking on" that just feels so good early on, adding to the unease. Unfortunately later they start to populate the ground with lots of traps and hazards and due to the visual appearance of where you're walking it can be almost impossible sometimes to determine if you're walking onto a trap or just a weird looking surface like anywhere else on the map. This distinction is virtually impossible while you're fleeing for your life from horrible nightmare monsters through a poorly lit swamp.

This problem also presents itself when you're unsure if what you're trying to walk through is decoration you can walk on top of or a barrier. There's a lot of this with tree roots and debris; sometimes you can walk on top of it just fine, othertimes it's a wall that blocks you. Again, when you're trying to run from a monster and suddenly you can't move through something that looks identical to a hundred other places you have been able to move across, it feels cheap. Like the game is cheating. It takes you out of it. It reminds me of playing Rain World and running into a similar issue where a lot of attention was paid to the visual design, but when demands are put on the player under pressure it's not entirely clear what is in the foreground and background and what is actually a platform you can jump onto. Nothing kills atmosphere for me like some eye-rolling gameplay design that results in my death and feels totally out of my power. This happened enough times that it frustrated my second chapter playthrough and I was pretty eager for the game's conclusion.

This isn't to say it's a bad game at all. But don't expect a perfectly smooth experience. This was made with a small team; I feel if it had had any more cooks in the kitchen it might have spoiled how cohesive everything feels. It's more that I want to get my thoughts down so I can articulate them for myself and process the conflicted feelings I have about an otherwise spectacular game. This is a game that took a few attempts for me to play all the way through and I always kind of wondered why since I remembered it being fairly good and the atmosphere being unforgettable. It wasn't until I started experiencing some of the... challenges with game's mechanics that I was like "oh yeah now I remember why I stopped playing last time".

This is like that artsy foreign film you really like. To you it's great. But it can be hard to recommend to everyone. I stand by Darkwood, mutant warts and all, as one of the greatest indie horror titles ever, especially in this hellscape of derivative mascot horror and jumpscare streamer-bait. It's one of those games that sticks with you long after you've put it down.

Acid Wizard really made one of the greatest games of all time, realized making video games sucks, and then called it quits. Real ones, 10/10

This game is an absolute masterpiece! Darkwood is by far my favorite horror game of all time and you can tell that this game was crafted with love from it's developers. It manages to scare the life out of you without using jump scares, which imo is very impressive and difficult to pull off, especially in a top-down horror game. The story is very immersive and stresses the fact that your actions have consequences. (RIP Musician) like the game's introduction states, it won't guide you by the hand. This game is very difficult and even on my fifth playthrough, (I also bought this game on the PS4) I still died a few times. I do wish though, that you could at least retry the final dreamscene to get the radio tower ending, as I have yet to beat it. However, This game is worth every penny and I would HIGHLY recommend checking it out.

This game is amazing,

Gameplay footage or screenshots don’t do it justice
you have to play it yourself to truly experience the unsettling feeling it gives you.

Going in blind is the best way to play.
There’s no handholding; the game throws you right into the middle of everything,
and you have to figure it out on your own.
Despite this, the difficulty progresses naturally.
It gives you time to get used to the enemies and mechanics and never feels unfair.

Everything is just "raw" for lack of a better word and pulls no punches,
it’s hard to explain exactly what makes this game so good.

I highly recommend it to anyone who hasn’t played it yet.
If you’re unsure, just try it!
(you can always refund it within 2 hours)

Unique, terrifying - really intelligent game design and mechanics. Theres nothing i can say that a youtuber hasn't said better. 100% recommend i wish there were more experiences like this. For me this really set the standard.

Super immersive and tense, puts the "survival" back into survival horror. Getting used to the controls and perspective can seem daunting at first, but it's actually set up in a very simple and intuitive way, so you'll be in full control as you cower in the corner of your hovel while things bang down your door.

Darkwood (or The Shrompening, as I sometimes call it) is one of the best horror experiences currently available.

Go on, play it. You can always refund it if you don't like the gameplay. The less you know going in the better. Embrace the shromp.

The core gameplay loop is rewarding. There is a ton of environmental storytelling. The stories and characters you interact with are deeper than they first seem. Everything from the sound design to the artwork comes together to create a very immersive experience that is greater than it's parts. You are not the main character, the forest is.

I bought this back when it was not even finished. I wanted to support it's development. The reasons it took me until last year to finally play it are not related to the game itself, and I won't go into them. Why bring it up? Because I regret I didn't play it long ago.

I love Darkwood to bits, and I want more. In and of itself its a very cohesive whole, and does not necessarily need a sequel, especially since you can only discover the harrowing truth of the ending once. Still, there is a lot more potential for stories that could be told in the same setting.
What I'd really love to see is more games with similar style and gameplay, with their own worlds and terrors. Unfortunately as of writing, I have found nothing else.

This game took me a while to start, as it didn't really have anything to draw me in. I love horror games, but was skeptical of the top down game play. That being said, they made it work. The lack of vision helps give a sense of helplessness, and the sound design complements it perfectly. While you often can't see much, you are able to hear in order to make up for it. It essentially allows you to locate enemies without ever seeing them, which adds to the tension. I love/hate running into new enemies, where I have no idea how they are about to kill me.

That all being said, this might not be the game for everyone, but I definitely recommend giving it a try.

An indie survival horror with brilliantly executed themes, subtle and
unique storytelling, and simple satisfying game play that keeps you
engaged and intrigued.

Highly recommended for fans of horror genre or stylistic indie games.

A amazing top down horror survival game. Difficulty wise, the game is reliant on the horror factor to dull your skill a bit which is why it can be super hardcore. If not afraid at all will not be as hard for you, but won't be easy since alot of the mechanics are unique. Sound design and character vision both are done beautifully to instill fear. Map generation and resources are always very balanced especially with the traders. Enemies are very fun to fight and have clear counterplay. The different hideouts gives diversity to the defense at night and the last hideouts layout is very well designed. Just like the gameplay, the story doesn't hold your hand and has fun distinct paths. Anything your confused on use the wiki, but for first playthrough try not to if able besides this if you want it code to Dry Meadows Crate is 2919 was content meant for indiegogo given through email so use it without feeling bad

A unique take on survival horror mixed with some procedural generation and a cool, creepy story. Lots of things you can do differently on each playthrough. giving it good replay-ability. Give it a shot.

One of my absolute favorite games. It's been like 7 years since I've played this, but I still catch myself thinking about it from time to time. I've really never played anything quite like it - It's creepy, atmospheric, grizzly horror done to a masterful degree, so if you're looking for a good horror story to get lost in, this is it. Me being a MASSIVE fan of the horror genre (hence I enjoyed it as much as I did), I was basically in heaven the entire time.

First off, replay value is there in spades. Aside from multiple endings and countless side quests and story threads you get to pick and choose between to influence your playthrough, the very world map itself also gets shuffled between each playthrough. I'm not sure the exact extent of the shuffling, I think they just have like 2 or 3 variants for the world map(s) at the very least, but there may be some other smaller differences.

Gameplay will take getting used to. It's a topdown game where ammo is limited so you'll often have to rely on melee + dodge mechanics. The more used to it + the various enemy attack patterns you get, the far better you'll do, so just try not to get too discouraged at the start and just take things slow and safe. It also has a very novel "line of sight" mechanic. You have a Metal Gear Solid radar-esque cone that illuminates what's in front of you - and enemies that are not in that cone, won't be drawn. So even though it's top town, you still will be getting ambushed and caught off guard constantly, and the "line of sight" mechanic will even factor in to some creepy moments later on. Another mechanic is DAYLIGHT. The game operates off a day/night cycle, with the idea being you explore during the day, and then return to a safe place at night to survive the nights. Aside from finding resources + story progression, you need to make sure you collect supplies to fortify your refuge as well. And, over time, you'll need to be ready to migrate between refuges so you can start safely exploring new areas further out without running the risk of daylight ending. It definitely gets more punishing as it goes on, but if you do die, you'll respawn back at your last refuge and just need to get back to where you died to reclaim whatever you were carrying when you died.

The story is the real selling point, for me at least. You're alone in the woods, something is VERY wrong with both the woods themselves and the people living in them, and you're just trying to get home. Everything else you'll have to figure out by chatting with the locals or examining various world items. It's never really spelled out bluntly, you have to do some leg work to try and connect the dots and grasp the scope of the story here - and even then you'll probably need to dig through fan wikis to really get it lol... But it's great stuff.

Everything else, from visuals, sound/music, and the characters themselves, are all top notch and perfectly sells its pitch of a world gone horribly wrong. And despite that horror, I still had a blast just getting lost in it all. It's just a testament to how well made it is - which just makes it all the more of a shame that the dev studio responsible for this has apparently gone on indefinite hiatus, last I heard. I can only hope they're able to make games again some day, cause fresh ideas like this are really what the gaming scene definitely needs more of.

Finally, as for you lot reading this: It's an indie game made by clearly passionate people, and it's great - if you think it looks even slightly interesting, then just give it a shot. Worst case scenario you're just throwing money at some passionate small time indie devs - big whoop lol. Better than feeding some gross megapublishers for the latest cookie-cutter garbage...

While I disliked the ending, I think the game overall is good and is worth people's time to play. The art design is something I think about a lot, even well after I finished the game.

Fabulous game and strikingly accurate Polish culture piece.

Even despite this being my 4th or 5th playthrough, Darkwood still manages to instil fear and surprise me. Simply a masterful synthesis of terrifically well-executed parts - from sound design, to combat, to setting, to story (which I personally find incredibly captivating for reasons I admittedly can't put to words) - that come together to weave an unforgettably horrific experience.

My favourite Survival Horror game, one of my favourite games in general, and the number one reason to keep Poland on the map.

Few games instil such unease and dread compared to this one. Every night you survive feels like a monumental effort as you desperately search for the resources needed to stay safe inside your base and keep THEM out.

Darkwood is a terrifying masterpiece and I will never beat it because it scares the pants off of me.

Ridiculously good game. I wish there were games that captured this style or that there was DLC or something after you 100% everything including making all different decisions for all quests.

10/10 it is difficult at first but rewarding and satisfying once you get the hang of it.

Very creative game, one of the best horror games I've ever played. I love the art style and the game mechanics like plugging holes in walls of houses with furniture. If I were to change anything at all it would be to make a multiplayer mode, this game would be very fun to play with friends.

The game is really well made.

Good atmosphere, music, sound, and art design. It really gives you that overall spooky vibe that a lot of games are lacking these days. Would recommend it!

Fallout/Metro foraging + Minecraft-like night-time survival (but much harder enemies) and overly limiting crafting at times, with a bleak outlook story/quest line.

9.6/10.

Un juego genial, un ambiente muy bueno, y aunque sea un juego de terror, no hay ninguna susto. Es todo tension.
!00% recommendado.

darkwood reminds me of a very high quality flash game that had gotten a full on release on steam or a sequel and made it into a real deal type energy for good and the bad, i liked how simple the game is yet it was always pressuring you heavy with its many systems for the most part its very lowkey in its environments and what happens day to day but then will drop some of the crazy characters with some wild quest that really kept me engaged by its worldbuilding with a strong tether that its really the only reason i stuck with the game, personally my enjoyment peaked in the second part of the map you explore for its gameplay loop but then it started to drag alot in area 3 then when you get the final area the swamp the art and lore start to ramp it massively alongside its raw intrigue factor and brought in a handfull of new mobs which was greatly needed the swamp is so fucking good man but i feel like it came a little late because area 3 had just drained me and i wanted it to end already but nearly a flawless challenging game i would certainly see myself liking the game more if the gameplay loop was more to my liking or enhanced but that doesnt really mean shit. im thinking 9/10

A game about escaping the woods shouldn't go this hard.
Amazing story and insane lore.
10/10

I was brought here by a man with a British voice, his odd hair scared me. I was afraid, fearful, and alone, but in the end, this adventure truly gave me a feeling of satisfaction. I may not understand the whole of this story but I loved it. Overall, this was a great time, I'm never visiting Poland.

One of the scariest games I've played. Darkwood is a masterclass in atmosphere, maintaining a tension and feeling of desperation the whole way through.
There's no relief quite like hearing the incoming morning after the onslaught of that final night; no fear quite like seeing half a dozen chompers rushing towards you after you broke down the snout; no satisfaction quite like introducing those who wronged you to a face full of buckshot.
The first playthrough is a terrifying slow-burn full of creeping dread and uncertainty, desperately holding out against forces you can't understand. The second playthrough is a horror-action flick, facing down foes with cold steel in your hands and lead in their skulls. And the third time through? In the third playthrough, YOU are the monster.
As the game warns you upon starting, it will not hold your hand. But stay cautious, remain calm under pressure, and be resourceful with what you find, and you might not just survive in the Darkwood, but thrive in it.

One of the BEST games I've ever played! As simple as it looks, it was surprisingly intricate and deeply developed in terms of story, characters, environment and tension. The very first night, you learn to respect the woods and the darkness. You learn to arrive early, place barricades, prepare your defences and turn on that generator!
The difference between your first night and last night is significant. You are no longer afraid of the dark, the dark is afraid of you!
10/10 game. Absolute masterpiece!

One of the best horror survival game I have played in my life. I kept dreaming about if this game have co-op survival option in a big open world with his type of game play and graphic.
I am so addict to how briliant they are developing the story and gameplay, how it affect your choice and how impressive the environment is. OMG SO FUCKING GOODDDDD. I will recommend this game to even my grand child in the next 50 years
Please please please extend or coming with the next game or "stage" for Darkwood
I can wait I definately will wait but pls DONT LET THIS GAME DIE
PLEASEEEE

Scary, well paced horror, and full of terrifying visuals. This is a game with a tense atmosphere where you never feel safe. Recommend it for any fans of survival horror games.

nice gameplay loop, very nice edgelord wolfman