Darkness Within 1: In Pursuit of Loath Nolder

This has been one of the most frustrating gaming experiences of my recent life! There is a great premise and some really great potential but if I were to sum up this game in one word it would be "obtuse".

While I THINK there may be a reasonably decent story running in the background of this hair-pulling experience I couldn't possibly say for sure because I'm not entirely sure what has just happened. I believe that the person we play as may have as many as THREE multiple personalities (as in named individuals in the game that are represented in one physical body) but the game never makes this clear... To risk mild, potential spoilers; I'm not sure there even IS a Loath Nolder, nor am I sure there are several other characters named, mentioned or even shown in the game.

The trick here (and it is very on brand for Lovecraftian lore) is that we spend the entire game unclear on how much of what we see is real and how much is not. Some of it may be madness, some of it may be external stimuli, some may be eldritch, there are no answers. As I say, this kind of makes sense, since this is the narrative we often see in Lovecraft. The main character is often an investigator or explorer of some kind who slowly loses their sanity as they delve ever deeper into the Eldritch horrors and progressively lose touch with reality. We often experience these stories as journals, recordings or other found footage following the death or madness of the main protagonist. I pointed out earlier today that while that's fine for a story, when you're playing a GAME you want to be exploring the story of the mad and departed, not actually be placed in their role.

On top of major storytelling issues, the game mechanics and interface are insanely confusing. This game employs something akin to the 'Mind Palace' of more recent detective games which is commendable given it's age. It does it in a hideously clumsy and confusing way though which makes the game incredibly frustrating pretty much from start to finish.

I had to resort to following a guide pretty much word for word a little way into this game as the 'underlining' mechanic is even worse than the 'brain space' and combining the two results in one of the most unfun and counterintuitive games I've ever played.

Even at the end of the game, nothing is made clear. Who are we? When are we? What is real? What the hell just happened?!

Just ugh...

It's clunky and confusing at times but damn i still really enjoy playing through it once in a while (52hrs is not from one playthrough). I just love the story and atmosphere of the game and how it gets you with it's sound- and art design. I saw people in other review talking about "long" documents you need to search through for clues and how "bad" it is because apparently reading bad, but i enjoyed these because they add a lot to the story, explain circumstances and overall add to the immersion of being a detective, but i admit being not able to take them with you is a dumb design choice.

Runs great even on modern pcs and i never encountered any bugs in 4 playthroughs so yeah if you're into these kind of games, go grab it. Imo it's worth the price or get it on sale for, what do i know, 99ct or how low it goes.

I've played this on and off for many years.....I love the oppressive feeling of impending gloom.

Decent Point&Click style adventure/detective/horror game with Lovecraft style and unique feeling. Not masterpiece but enjoyable mostly and story is nice. Underlining sometimes bugged on me two times it says nothing interesting found first time i try over 30min same thing before it works and then i try underlining other document word multiple times but it never worked and i visited same place multiply trying again many many times but never works. But those not working underline are additional plot so it didn't break the game progression luckily. Game is very hard sometimes to move forward without guides and inventory etc. has little bit bad user interface but otherwise nice adventure game, i can give this 7/10. Recommend but only IF you like this style of games.

Why i my mouse and keyboard dont work in the menu😐
Someone help ASAP
edit* i open the game in win 10 its ok if you have win11 dont buy this game

An older style point-and-click Lovecraft-inspired mystery puzzler , that can be too difficult for its own good at times. Despite this, I thoroughly enjoyed the plot, the voice acting, the visuals, and the brilliant audio and dark atmosphere.

PROS

+++ Amazing atmosphere, appropriately dark, moody and mysterious
+++ You can manually save at any time, name your saves and there are 50 different slots available
+++ Runs smoothly even on newer computers and I didn’t encounter any bugs
+++ Fast travel options for every available place
++ Really good visuals
++ Soundtrack and audio in general is very fitting
++ Professional voice acting
++ Lots of interesting achievements and secrets
++ Good game length considering the asking price
++ There are video, audio and mouse options available on the main menu screen
++ There are hints available for when you get stuck on standard and detective difficulty
+ Smooth navigation despite the old style movement mechanic. Moving around freely (like in DW2) would have been better, but still it works with no problems
+ Good variety of puzzles
+ Fairly good story that keeps your interest, without being anything groundbreaking

CONS

--- A good amount of the puzzles are overly difficult and will often require a guide (there are a couple excellent ones on Steam)
--- The underlining clue system can be quite confusing, as sometimes key words/phrases can’ be underlined unless you’ve completed a specific action, and the game doesn’t let you know when that happens
-- Combining clues is often difficult and requires a lot of brain power and luck
-- You can miss a lot of story pieces and lore if you play the game on standard difficulty
- Some achievements are missable because you need specific actions and timing in order to get them
- The visuals are too dark sometimes

VERDICT

As you can see, the game’s main shortcomings have to do with the puzzling aspect, but don’t let that discourage you, especially if you’re in it for the story and the atmosphere. I definitely recommend the game to players who love older style point-and-clicks and appreciate a good, Lovecraftian atmosphere.
Don’t hesitate to use a guide if you get stuck and you’ll see that as you progress in the game and become more accustomed to the mechanics, you will need the guide less and less. I also recommend playing this on detective difficulty and turning the underlining to “always” in the difficulty options mid-game.

An interesting game with cosmic horror aspects. Some of the puzzles didn't seem to make sense at first but I might have just been rushing through it as I sometimes do with games like this. Take your time and enjoy the atmosphere.

A classical point'n click quest in "Lovecraftian" style: enchanting and horrifying in ones.
Would you retrieve the truth behind the murder of Mr.Clark? Could you avoid the Darkness which is lurking around every corner? Is that all real or just a product of your (in)sanity? Time to found
this out.

Lovecraftian masterpiece

H.P lovecraft always has nice stories, dark n creepy.

This game i found it really difficult though to explore and no shame i used to a guide to go through it. If you play it by the book you need hours and hours of reading and taking down notes so you can just finish the game. Really cool though and definetely recomended for the detectives out there ;)

8/10

Whomever made this isn't normal

A surprisingly great late-00s point&click mystery/horror game. One of the last ones made before the Penumbra games changed the genre forever. Solid atmosphere, appropriate music and sound effects, and thought provoking puzzles make for a great all-around experience.

One problem with the game is the "Howard's Mind" mechanic, which can either make perfect sense or be completely baffling depending on the puzzle at hand.

Don't be ashamed to seek help from a walk-through in the later chapters of the game.

I'm a big fan of lovecraftian horror, but Darkness Within didn't manage to catch me. The rythm and pacing of the game are not super good, and infortunatly the very basic point and click gameplay did not age well.

One of the best horror adventure games I've played. The plot it's great and full of twists, the puzzles are challenging, and the whole investigative aspect of it having to inspect documents and all it's very well done.

It's an old game.
So it's point-and-click.
Which would not be too bad, but I feel like the way the story is told could need some improvements.
There were also some minor bugs with the marking text system and when committing to this game, be ready for it to take some time since its puzzles are not that intuitive for the modern day gamer.