Darkwood

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

I had survived 3 days without much incident.

Until the 4th day.

I got stuck in the silent forest and was forced to stay at the alternative base until morning, i stayed huddled up in a room and stayed as quiet as possible.

Then the door to the room opened opened.

I was chased through the shelter, before eventually being beat to death with a staff.

The deaths in this game feel awful, they make you feel like you could've done better.

I love this game, and my ass can't play it on anything higher than normal difficulty without dying.

9/10 game
"love the game, but i can't get past the silent forest."

Love this game. It's scary until you get used to the concept of surviving the night. The new areas you go to provide new challenges and new scares. The story isn't just handed to you, you have to go and investigate but that just adds to the terror and fun of the game. All around definitely recommend!

It has such a good atmosphere and is pretty unsettling. The game is brutal. The pacing of exploration does not match your character strength, and I was dying a lot in the nights and couldn't progress because you need the resources gained during it to sell later. Without that, the trading is useless because you can barely afford anything. The quest lines are tied to hyperspecific items and dialogue choices you could get permanently locked out of and forced down an available yet unwanted side route.

It just seemed more survival-craft grindy rather than a horror experience after awhile, but if that's what you're looking for this is good.

No words can desrcibe the brilliance of this horror survival game. Although this is not the perfect horror game, it is certainly probably one of, if not the greatest one. No matter how much I've played, every time I encountered a new place, I had no idea what I'm about to witness, yet I knew perfectly well that I'm about to be horrified, without any cheap jumpscares. Peak experience, even though it can be a bit too tedious at times, running around a lot. And for unimaginable reasons running eats stamina even at places where you can't access your inventory, because that's how narratively speaking important that certain scene is, yet, prohibiting the player running more than a few seconds is active. I liked it in Elden Ring for example, how out of combat stamina is not depleted.
But yea, otherwise pure brilliance, and I can't wait for 10 years to pass and replay it with a fresh mind. I'll be needing that break from this hellish forest.

I dont have particularly much to say about the game, I think it leaes a pretty bad initial impression with its resource gathering but by the time you get to the silent woods (second area) resource management isnt a burden like it is in the first area. I didnt find the game particularly scary, it reminds me alot of Resident Evil where it doesnt have me jumping out of my chair but it does nail its atmosphere.

Overall id recommend the game, I enjoyed my time with it but I'd only advise that you purchase the game if you are willing to slog through the first 4 hours.

An incredible game that works very well at providing a eerie and creepy atmosphere as you traverse to try and survive nights, the game asks that you explore out of your comfort zone and find ways to solve problems. The game creates a strong sense of paranoia due to the sounds and different events that can occur at your hide out or otherwise outside during day. This paired with the interesting field of view mechanic makes you question and have you flicking your mouse just in case you missed something. The replayability is also incredible due to its different difficulty settings and randomly generated environments.
One of the best horror games if your looking for a game that is unique and eerie without any direct jumpscares (that I know of).
I may be new to this game but 2.6 hours in I can say without a doubt I would recommend it to anyone.
Fully worth the price!

Very good game. It has an unique type of horror style that makes you scare the shit out of yourself without any traditional jumpscares. Unlike traditional horror games this game doesn't rely on jumpscares. You dont want to play this game if you want a fast paced horror game, its pretty boring during the day imo. This isn't a game for people who like jumpscares and tense action like fnaf.

I got it as it looks like a top down horror adventure game, but on actually playing it, it's more of a bland crafting survival game that just isn't my cup of tea. The game throws you into things with no weapons or items and it's completely stupid that enemies completely disappear when you turn away from them. Horrible game design choice.

Purchasing this just to support the awesome devs who even shared their game on pirate sites so that even kids who are not financially independent can enjoy it. When I was younger I watched streamers playing this terrific game and even I'm not the one playing it I still got all the chills. This game could be hardcore, however the construction of the atmosphere and the character designs are just sick.

Devs put a pirated copy on the pirate bay. Based.

Very scary and intense. Would not recommend playing it on hardmode the first time. Once you got the combat pinned down (just spin in circles) then you're good for hard mode.

I think this is the best horror game I've ever played. If your considering getting Darkwood, but don't know, this is your sign to get it. It achieves a great, unsettling atmosphere without using jump-scares at all. I'm so glad I got this game.

10/10
Would shit my pants again

O jogo explora o terror de uma forma diferente, mais psicológico e intenso, sem se apoiar apenas nos sustos fáceis. Se você gosta de um bom desafio e uma história envolvente, é uma ótima escolha!

Had a blast with this game.
I really wish the devlopers would make a new one.
It has been some years so i guess they won't.
The setting is great for a horror survival game and it build great tension for each night encounter.

Wow, just wow. This game is a masterclass in survival horror.

Atmosphere - Without relying on jump scares there was always a constant tension in the air that had me readying my weapon at any bump in the night.
The sound design is fantastic, which is great considering this games top down perspective leaves a lot to the imagination. This is too the games benefit as if this was just another 3D unity indie game it just wouldn't feel right.

Game-play - This is a top down survival horror, where you scavenge during the day, before running back to your hideout before nightfall so you can post up your furniture and traps to hold out till morning comes. Time freezes every morning until you leave your hideout so this is the time to prepare defenses for the night, fill your generator, and sort your supplies. There is also a trader every morning who you will earn reputation with every survived night that is used as a currency to trade for supplies. There's also a stove in each hideout that you will put mushrooms, odd meats, and varies other things into to cook up and juice up on. These hallucinogens will allow you to upgrade The Protagonist and have dreams that let you see glimpses into future events.

World - There are 3 areas to explore in chapter 1, and 1 more large area for chapter 2. Each is procedurally generated, retaining key points of interest while adding a unique layout to every run. This helps make sure that each new play-through won't get stale, and each run will feel different while hitting the same major beats.

Enemies - Without spoiling much, there's a good variety of enemies to fight/flee from and they only get crazier in chapter 2. I won't be describing them as part of the fun is facing your fears and facing them head on, not knowing what horrors lurk in the dark. I'll admit there aren't many enemies, but the ones Darkwood does have do a great job at giving me the creeps while not over staying their welcome. I do recommend playing on Hard difficulty though, as I played on Normal which had minimal penalty for dying and made the tension in later areas diminish when I was more comfortable, as I only had to fear running back to my death spot to grab my dropped loot, and missing out on rep with the trader in the morning. On Hard you have a limited number of lives which can be regained through the consumption of embryos you find in the world. On The Hardest difficulty the game becomes perma-death, and is best played after you are fairly confident with the games systems. Keep in mind however that the lives system will be obsolete in chapter 2 no matter your difficulty as there is much larger jump in difficulty then and nobody wants to lose a 20 hour first play-through at the final stretch.

Verdict - I give this game a big, fat, mushroom infested thumbs up. Have fun out there, Meat!

Saw the pyro video, watched all of it, massively enjoyed it, bought the game, 100% it in 3 days.
What an awesome game dude. 10/10 love you Wolfman.

this is what horror should be, atmosphere over cheap jumpscares

great story too

Amazing game, but wish it was Co-op. Would love to play this with another person.

The nights in this game are actually so horrifying that I wish I could see more of this in other games.

Its a very hard survival game with no guide to lend a hand, if u like hardcore survival its recommended

I never could get into the game for the longest time. But, during this winter break from teaching, I finally took the courage to play the game. Best decision ever.

It's a very terrifying game until you get used to it. Then, it's a very FUN survival game. The mechanics are easy to figure out after a while. I beat the game twice and already going for a 3rd time on nightmare. I really can't believe how simple and amazing this game truely is for giving so much information and not directly telling you exactly what happened. It gives you JUST enough if you spend enough time following the paths to side quests. Truely an impressive game.

This game is incredible beginning to end and it's such an amazing example of a horror game it makes you feel scared without any cheap jump-scares and its got so much incredible side content and lore also the way your choices change your story just makes the game so much more immersive and gives it so much replay value. you have to play it.

Best horror game I've ever played, atmosphere and scariness better than any other horror game I've played, worth every penny.

When I first attempted this game, something stopped me in the prologue and it was a bit of a downer... suffering dog. When I decided to try again, I skipped the prologue entirely, yes, yes, the Dr. captures you, blah blah. I'm glad I tried playing again, because this game is phenomenal. Excellent story-telling, atmosphere, and sense of growth. Highly recommend for survival horror/action horror/base building(kind of) fans. Well worth the time and money.

I don't know how to put this, I'm not the kind of guy that gets easily scared, I personally watch random horror stories and horror monster design while taking a huge dump, why? idk, just passing time, but even so, this game absolutely scares me, I'm always over the edge because you don't have a 360 degree vision and opening inventory closes it, I'm not even sure how to get a decent weapon, I've been waking stuff with my stick in the woods

The game is harsh, contrary to the usual horror games being, here puzzle, here monster, figure it out yourself while I'm busy making unnecessary lore you can only understand through YouTube videos, the pure agony of having so much to care for distracts you from the monsters and once it's night, you know you must keep quiet and listen

Haven't progressed much, and won't progress further, I'm a massive f*cking p*ussy because this is genuinely terrifying, I can't give it a rating since I have no clue what it has, but as far as the tutorial and the first day goes, 10/10

Wake up, take care of your house, go out in to the forest, make a drastic decision with ramifications you will not understand, go home, play home invasion simulator. The world doesn't make sense to you, you're just living in it.

literally like one of my favorite games ever. world building is great, dialogue and story is really good and well explained if you look into it, and the game is just all around fun. i had been wanting to play this game for forever since i saw markiplier play it like years ago and i loved every second of it.

I wish the journey would never end. But then, all roads lead deeper into the woods, and it's inevitable to reach your destination.

Without a doubt one of the best horror games I've ever played, both the story and gameplay is incredible, the tense atmosphere of the game and storytelling provide for one of the most immersive experiences I've had in a game. The top down perspective with limited field of view, the sounds you hear while exploring the woods, and worse, while hiding out at night, really put you in the shoes of the protagonist. I would and have recommended this to all of my friends, colleagues, random person I met online 5 min ago and coworker I've spoken to maybe once in the entire time we've worked together.

I didn't want to close the game and lose 3 min of progress after my last save, its just been running in the background, I had like 2 hours when I tabbed out-

The game builds tension without ruining the feeling throughout the entire game. Even holding a shotgun I felt unsure and unsafe. Exploration and problem solving shine brightly in this gem of a game; Equally the environment and field of vision mechanic are fantastic.

I absolutely can not recommend this game enough, I went into this not a fan of top downs at all and it has certainly changed my opinion. If you're on the fence about buying this, just do it. You will not regret it. If you do, say hello to Piotrek for me :)

This is how the first half-hour of the first chapter of this game went for me. I don't think I could convincingly sell this game harder than just describing what happened.

I woke up in an abandoned house, presumably deep into the woods, still feeling uncomfortable with the controls after the initially confusing and disturbing prologue. I had nothing in my inventory and could only explore the house a bit to find some items. My character explained that he'd barricaded one of the windows but needs to find more materials in the woods to barricade the rest, and I also found a generator with a handwritten note explaining how the generator will keep the lights on at night, but ran on limited fuel. From what I understood, the night is dangerous and I needed to be near a light source in my new hideout to survive... So, just like that, I already had two goals - Find some wood and find some fuel. With no way to defend myself or any idea where I even was, I had to step into the wilderness.

So I explored and ran around for a while. The only threats were some relatively passive dogs that only attacked when I got close, and I found some different materials whose purposes I didn't fully understand yet. I was afraid to leave too far from my hideout because my map never told me my exact position; but more than that, I didn't understand when night would actually fall. I wasn't experienced enough to recognize the tells yet, so I was always too paranoid to even leave the hideout for too long and actually didn't end up exploring very far at all because of it. That, combined with my lack of any weapon to defend myself, made me play things very safe. So then night fell.

I could only barricade a few windows and felt super vulnerable, not just because my hideout was incomplete but also because I didn't understand the threat I was coming up against. The game had shown me no indications of any paranormal entities outside of the hideout at this point, so I didn't know what to expect. I waited for about five minutes until the night ambience kicked in, it turned out that I had gotten prepared *far* too early and actually wasted generator fuel because of it. Then my lights began to malfunction and I suspected it was something to do with the generator, but I was afraid to leave the hideout because I began to hear growling and footsteps outside the walls. Clearly something was out there. I tried to sleep in my bed, but apparently that wasn't an option. The game forced me to stay awake the entire night until daybreak. I kept hearing more and more footsteps while being unable to see anything outside. I mean, even if something broke in, what could I do? I had nowhere to run and nothing to defend myself with. The footsteps get louder. The door to the bedroom suddenly creaked open and I hid behind the door for a minute, only to realize that nothing was there to open it. All but one of the lamps had malfunctioned and turned off at this point, and dialogue began to appear from the other rooms in the hideout. Something was talking to me.

I began to think that this was a scripted sequence, that I'm supposed to get caught and killed here. Even without having seen a single enemy, it really felt like things were over for me. The area began to turn blood red and I heard the ambient music in the background start to slowly rise and that confirmed it for me - I didn't have a hope of surviving this night. As the music got louder and the area became redder I was anticipating a jumpscare. The screen flashed white in my eyes and then the music calmed down - And then text appeared in the center of the screen. "Day 2".

Obviously, it wasn't a scripted sequence. I'd actually survived the night, and for a moment I was happy.
But then dread started to overcome me, as I made the realization that I was once again on another timer, and that the night was doomed to repeat once more by the end of today. If I don't change anything about my situation, then the night will only get worse from here.

That's what Darkwood does to you.
It puts you in a disturbing and dreadful setting and really sells it to you through the mechanics and the atmosphere.
This is my favourite thing the game does. I highly recommend it to anyone who enjoys horror.

Прекрасная индюшка, хороший сюжет и колоритные персонажи. Игра подразумевает несколько прохождений чтобы увидеть весь конетнт.

Выживание-собирание через несколько часов становится душноватым, концовка открытая и действия в течение игры на нее не влияют (можно переиграть на другие варианты по сейву). Шмотки между главами не переносятся, так что когда вам говорят что обратно уже не вернетесь - собирайте все барахло что покажется важным далее (не гвозди и бутылки)

I never expected to say that the best horror game I've ever played was actually an indie game. Darkwood is a great mix of survival and horror elements. No fancy graphics, no jumpscares, no cheap scare tricks. So what makes Darkwood special?

Darkwood brilliantly puts a constant feeling of tension, a feeling of insecurity, discomfort. It works in many ways, such as, for example. impossibility of knowing exactly where the player is on the map, time constantly passing, limited inventory, etc. To all that, one should add an interesting story told in an even more interesting way, as well as an excellent soundtrack that fantastically builds the aforementioned atmosphere.

In the end, it should be said that the developers of Darkwood have a much better understanding of the feeling of fear in people, that is, what actually scares people. I think it is closely culturally connected with the fact that the developers are from Poland (I'm not trying to joke about prejudices about life in the Eastern bloc, but about the very differences in the understanding of life that are also noticeable in literature).

I had the chance to play it for a bit, and while it’s interesting to a certain extent, I’ve decided to step away from it for now. The game does deliver a solid atmosphere of horror and survival, which is commendable. However, its simplicity in character design and gameplay mechanics holds it back from being truly engaging in the long run.

I would rate it a 7 out of 10. While it has its strengths, such as its atmosphere or core concept, it falls short in areas that could have elevated the experience to something truly memorable.

Very atmospheric game! You feel it! Very thrilling! No doubt I recommend it! Works great on Steam Deck!

Had a friend recommend this game to me. Been enjoying it so far with the game play!

Really good job on the ambiance I was afraid even with my character full stuff.