Darkwood

Amazing atmosphere. Probably still my favorite game, ever since the time I completed my first playthrough in like 2017.

You have to be resilient, resourceful, and careful.
It is a base defense game at night, and a world exploration game by day. In the morning, time is paused so you get to recover from the battles that night or the previous day. The world is intriguing, and thorough searching of the map rewards you with dangerous, useful and strange points of interest. Would recommend.

Darkwood is by far one of the most unique and inmersive horror games out there, i entry the game without knowing anything this and the exploration with the fear for the unkown, plus the rich atmosphere and style its truly a masterpiece experience, I dont know what Findland does to a mf but i swear they make the coolest games ever

Darkwood isn't actually that hard to complete if you play in normal difficulty, which is good. I think normal mode makes it a lot more accessible for people who just want to enjoy the game without feeling overwhelmingly stressed. My advice for new players, unless you're in the dry meadow, don't think of barricades as a way of keeping enemies out, just think of them as a way to give you information on where an enemy is and prepare for it to come into your room.

It's fun and,,,,...challenging and most importantly really spooky at night time... and believe me you are sure to have a gooood ti<....the voices have won....>me.

one of the best games ever, literally every time i think i was done with all the horror a fresh horror appears.
10/10

I never thought a 2D game could be so terrifying. Every night, cowering in your hideout, watching a chair get nudged by SOMETHING in the next room was intense to a degree few other games have achieved. Character and monster designs were disturbing and the scramble to find supplies early on always felt like a panicked rush. Unfortunately, like a lot of survival games, the late game fell victim to some bad balancing where I wound up with more high power weapons than I knew what to do with, and sometimes simply allowing yourself to get knocked out in your hideout cost less resources than it did to try and fight back. But these are minor complaints on the back of a truly disturbing and plain scary game.

It's a damn good horror game that still making me scare even after multiples replay

I loved the atmosphere of this game. it does a great job at instilling dread in the player! Every time a night in game rolled around i felt my blood pressure shoot up!

Ive finished and uninstalled this game all of a year ago and i still think about it i really hope that this concept is explored much further and i might have to fill the void by watching a few lets plays amazing scury game would eat strange mushrooms again

A surreal, gut wrenching feeling is all I can think of when I talk about Darkwood. You are immediately thrown into the hopeless world of this survival horror and your goal becomes clear: survive. Escape the forest. While the plot of this game is very simple, the intricate world of Darkwood makes your adventure a rather unique odyssey that will surely shock you. The game’s artstyle quickly stands out as a very crude and macabre lovecraftian horror that uses graphic disfiguring, deformities and grotesque monstrosities to depict the world inside the ‘dark wood’. The gameplay revolves around the day/night cycle: something you quickly learn to adapt to in order to survive. You count each day that passes, and ration your resources carefully: every trip outside of your base must be carefully planned. As you progress, you learn more about yourself and about the forest. The gameplay difficulty and loop never feels either too easy or too difficult, and the forest never feels too crowded or too empty. There’s always places to discover, loot to find and monsters to escape from…

I really love this game, but it doesn't love me.

Darkwood is one of the coolest games I've ever played, but man does it make me anxious. It speaks volumes to how well this game was crafted, that I haven't been playing it because it stresses me out so much.

This game is a master class in audio design and atmosphere. It's literally so good at what it sets out to do that I can't play it.

i have shit my pant 3 times while playing this game the furry in the woods wont stop calling me meat and a doctor Kidnaped me and stole my house key and the alcohol made me go blind all in all its a pretty good eastern Europe simulator

Great indie survival horror game with surprisingly high amount of quality content that honestly deserves to be bought even at full price.

It's undoubtedly a 10/10 experience.

Atmospheric horror game with fun game play and a story driven by your choices to a decent degree. Love that it really doesn't hold your hand and I really love the idea it presents and its story, remember trees never sleep.

Peak horror, peak story and peak gameplay. up there with Silent Hill.

If you want a game that will test your guts without the cheapness of jumpscares, this is the one for you.

Easily one of my top 3 best horror games ive ever played, you wont get jumpscares, but your butt will be clenched the whole playthrough !

The game is ''easy'' when you figure out what to do and how to survive, so dont let it intimidate you and try it out

Just finished it and its safe to say i really want to experience it for the first time again because its that good. I went into this game without knowing anything about it, i just saw the price tag on sale and said yeah ill buy it and honestly probably the best decision i ever made.
One of those games that really wants you to explore it rather than being straightforward. Navigation was kinda hard which it should be cause i got lost quite a lot and you really gotta use your brain in terms of item management and setting up defenses. Surviving the night was imo the most thrilling part of the game for me. Atmosphere is perfect for a horror game and yeah if you like hard scavenging games definitely give this one a try. PS getting caught by those bear traps while randomly wandering around is probably the most scariest thing in this game

The worst part about beating this game is, you can't experience it again.
The second worst part is, the devs went on hiatus, because of game dev taking up too much of their lives, so you probably won't ever experience something like this again.

Atmosphere is second to none.
It's a horror game, but it relies solely on it's atmosphere to make you anxious and build up fear in you. I'm a wimp generally and I didn't have trouble playing this, I just got really stiff shoulders after being tensed up all the time.
The sound design and the way your character only sees what's in front of him, is just perfect.
You'll have moments where you trudge through the forest and suddenly a twig snaps to your right, so you swing your character around, hoping to see nothing there. Or you'll check out some ruins and hear some weird noise, so you try to look through a crack in the wall, hoping you'll catch a glimpse of whatever that is you're hearing.
It's a very novel and immersive approach, making you feel restless and a bit helpless at times.

Gameplay loop is simple and fun. During the day you scavenge for resources, craft weapons and tools, and explore the forest to get the story going. At night you hide in your base like a little bitch and barricade every window and door, while not moving from your corner with your shining lamp, wondering what that noise was you just heard by the door.
Combat is straight forward but very rewarding. You dodge whatever is lunging at you, then smack their ass around a bit.
Guns exist too, but they are hard to craft + ammo is hard to come by.

Story is phenomenal. It's messed up in so many ways. You never really know what the fuck is going on exactly, not even after you beat the game. There's many subtle hints, notes, and survivors telling you their little story, that don't make sense on their own. It's like puzzle pieces you have to collect to build the big, fucked up picture of what happened to this forest.
I've played through the game twice and frankly, I'm planning to do a third playthrough in the future. Just to examine the notes and hints again with all this newfound understanding of the plot, see if I missed anything.

Solid Survival Horror game. Really excellent atmosphere. Just passing the night in your house makes you anxious for something to happen.

My personal favorite survival horror (or just horror) game ever.
It defines what the genre should be.

I watched Markiplier play this and knew that, when I got a pc I could play on, I would be playing it for myself. Already, I've discovered things that Mark didn't and just when I think I've seen it all, something surprises me. Also stepped on quite a few poisonous mushrooms (once, 3 in a row lmao) and scared myself that way because I panicked lol. This game is fun and the story is AMAZING. Highly recommend. I'm a huge fan of the top-down style and the game looks so good, the sound effects are great too. Wolfman's breathing is hideous and I love it. Truly disgusting. Awesome. Great late-night game.

Fantastic and peaceful game. Nothing bad ever happens in the middle of the woods.

I was not expecting to love this game as much as I did, but this game is just so fun (also because I was playing on normal difficulty).

Its like the movie Annihilation but instead of Florida, its Poland (same thing really).

Very interesting in a very weird, dark, dreamy, hellish kind of way. I played it without knowing anything, and I think that's probably the best way to play this kind of game. It's mainly about exploring, gathering, crafting, dying, and wondering what's going on. I liked the lore and mystery. Also liked the ending, but I still had to go look up an explanation of the story to try and figure out what just happened.

Darkwood nails the eerie atmosphere and unsettling themes — it’s a game that makes you feel paranoid and on edge the entire time. The haunting, minimalist design makes every decision feel heavy, and the story will leave you thinking long after you’ve played. One of the most unique survival horrors out there.

I'll be honest - that was hard.
The most important resource in the game is time. It took me 50 in-game days to finish it. Even then, I skipped some parts, didn't solve some quests, and big chunk of the game is not understood by me.
Is it a good game? Yes. While it lacks the usability features you may be accustomed to, it makes up for it in atmosphere and sound design.
It does not hold your hand - the in-game screen even says so. Some moments may be frustrating because of this. But I think the trade-off is worth it. After all, imagine yourself in a forest, not remembering anything. Will you be able to magically know where to get the keys, or where to go?

across the switch pc and mostly ps4, and 5 versions of this game i think i have about 150-ish hours, its by far one of, if not the best survival horror game i have ever played. 100% recommend even to non horror players. im not explaining anything, please just buy the game, you wont regret it.

É o jogo de maior terror que já joguei. Não tem sustos baratos como Outlast, mas o terror está na ambientação.

Best horror game I've ever played. Completed it two times with different story choices and endings. It's very lenghty and has A LOT of content for an indie game.

Gameplay, atmosphere, artstyle, music, sound design, environment, plot - everything is done on a highest level with love and soul. This game doesn't have jumpscares, but the horror techniques it uses are WAY more terrifying than jumpscares, even for me who doesn't get scared in most horror games. I recommend everyone to play this game, it's one of least games that are actually 10/10

By far the most depressing game i've played in some time. No friendly faces, no answers to your questions, no safety past sundown, you are going to be a miserable little pile of straw until you find a way out, though every new item, or upgrade, or scrap of progress is hard earned and feels great. Buy if you like going through hell to get the feeling of accomplishment that comes at the end.

Atmospheric horror experience. I barely see games without all these fancy graphics but with rather rich gameplay, and this is the one. Awecome game. Definitely worth replaying.

The gameplay is really neat and the horror and art direction is simply unmatched from any titles I've played before.

Solid game all in all.

This has got to be one of my favorite games of all time. It is truly unique and a great gaming experience. The ambiance combined with the game play can really be quite unnerving at times. Your choices matter and the game saves at all the right moments to prevent you from changing your mind as well as if and when you die giving this game a great element of challenge. They have made the game easier which i'm a little saddened by but it's still worth playing and given the multiple endings, slight map changes and multiple decisions you can make it's worth playing more than once. I have yet to find another game quite like it.

WOOOOOW THIS GAME IS AMAZIIIING. I really love the concept of this game. Still waiting for the prequel/sequel

A very unique experience indeed. I mean this in a positive sense. The game really doesn't hold your hand and it could probably be seen as tedious from time to time; However I believe this game to be worth it 100%. The environment, story and characters are top notch. There are some moments though that if you don't make the right decisions you'll be pretty screwed, especially near the end. SO MAKE THE RIGHT DECISION. Other than that I feel this game is something that should be experienced. As all games I play, I immerse myself in the world I'm playing in. This game pulls you in itself and it does it well. Be patient with your decisions and keep moving forward. The people who made this game put passion and soul into this and to me that is what it takes to be great. Which this is lol.

I'm gonna start this by saying I was reluctant to try this game because of the top-down perspective. I don't typically play games like this, and I was unsure whether or not it was going to be able to bring the same tension that a fpp/tpp horror game usually does.
I was wrong in every way. The top-down perspective adds to the horror in a very unique way and is complimented by the AMAZING and intricate sound design. There is no need for cheap jumpscares when the games atmosphere, story, enemies, and risk of dying (to either lose half of your gear or even possibly your whole save) will have you terrified in a corner with a lamp with 4 bear traps set around it rapidly moving your mouse around because you hear rustling outside in more than 4 directions.
One of the first bits of text you get to read when you start a new game says a lot about the game's difficulty. “You are playing a challenging and unforgiving game.” “You will not be led by the hand.” “Respect the woods. Be patient. Focus.” Every single one of those bits of advice are true and vital. This game is EXTREMELY hard even on normal difficulty. There is no text objective at the bottom of the screen with a corresponding yellow gta line to tell you where you need to go. You have to explore and find that for yourself in the most oppressive environments you can think of while worrying about what all can kill you in your general vicinity. (which is a lot)
This was for sure one of the best horror games I've ever played. The story is cryptic and not everything is explained outright, but the answers are there. I think that works really well for the game's atmosphere/rng mechanics and the world that it builds around that story, because with proper knowledge you COULD get a different outcome on a second playthrough and learn more about the story.
In conclusion, I think Darkwood was one of the most terrifying and immersive horror games I've ever seen and I don't think anything else like it could replicate what it does. It's most definitely worth the $15 price point. The game has plenty of content, huge maps with randomized locations for key events in diff runs, choices and diff paths for replay-ability. It's also just a decently long game that takes a while to complete, even if you take the easiest routes and skip out on content. If you like immersive survival horror, I would say just try it and I promise you won't be disappointed. If the intro doesn't intrigue you enough to keep playing it you can always refund the game within the 2 hour grace period.

very scary, very atmospheric, very good

This game is great. The perspective can be a bit hard to understand sometimes but for the most part it works. You really grow with this game. You start off cowering in a corner but after some time you realize you are safer outside of the house altogether.

This game is super fun. mysterious and weird story, setting, characters. Gameplay is amazing, I haven't felt legitmately scared to explore in a game ever, but this game does it. I'd recommend people to play this blind, as that's what I'm doing and figuring out things about the game myself has been way more fun than if I had already known certain tips and tricks about how to survive. For the $5 this game often goes on sale for it is insanely good value for money, and I'd reccommend anyone to buy this. Before playing it, I didn't like survival horror games, and I've always enjoyed 3D first person games a lot more than top-down, but this game does both of these things perfectly in a way that even I enjoy.

Excellent game, great story, even better horror elements. 10/10 worth it

>litterally the menace of Poland
>Full Wolfman route
>Murder every non-important NPC's
>Shovel on low durability
>Craft a nailed board to go to the pig shed (forgot to loot a chest there)
>Die to a pig (easiest "enemy" in the fucking game, like 1 hp and 1 damage NOT EVEN AGGRESIVE)
Absolute 10/10 (Also pissed myself when I got to the bridge)

This is my favorite horror game.

The element of horror is in the ambiance of the game and in the creatures and environnement.
The survival aspect is well balanced for new players, and the story branches are well crafted and intriguing.

I highly recommend, even to people who have trouble with horror games

I love how it's top-down, while not exclusively the most different idea, the way they execute it is perfect.

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.''