Dark depicts a grim world dominated behind the scenes by savage vampires. The solemn tone is maintained until the first discussion, which lasts five minutes. Later on, it becomes hideous.
We know nothing about the main character at beginning. Eric Bane has no idea who he is, how he got to the Sanctuary nightclub, or who converted him into an undead. He does, however, have a severe problem: if he does not consume the blood of his creator or another powerful vampire soon, he will turn into a mindless murdering machine. After a brief training session with one of the club’s bloodsuckers, he heads out in quest of sufficiently powerful plasma. The story is structured into six chapters, during which we progressively learn about Erik and the world around him. The plot is rife with clichéd, apparent answers, and the individuals meet along the way are typically overdone caricatures. The dubbing is likewise of terrible quality. The actor playing the main role often steps out of character, disregarding his trademark hoarseness. The Realmforge studio’s offering is an action game focusing on stealth, yet this element was poorly integrated. Instead than focusing on the quality of the difficulties, the developers concentrated on their quantity. Following stages will require us to evade dozens of not-so-intelligent, living and undead opponents that travel along tightly specified pathways or remain stationary. When we murder other guards in front of them, our adversaries do not react, but they can plainly hear what is going on on the other side of the wall that separates us from them. The main character possesses many abilities that allow him to distract foes, destroy enemies from a distance, and jump from one location to another. As we go, we receive experience points that we may use to improve Erik’s talents, such as expanding their range and duration or decreasing the amount of noise they make. Each step we finish without drawing notice earns us a bonus that dramatically increases character development.
When confronted with an opponent, Eric Bane can kill him with a single strike, but the uncomfortable controls imply that we are barely alive before we can launch an assault. The most secure way to eliminate attackers is to approach them from behind, leaving them no time to respond. If no other opponents are nearby, we can feed on the victim, refilling the blood supply required to employ portion of the power. This isn’t the only method developers are encouraging us to be cautious. When the alarm is sounded, some guards shift their patrol routes, while ghouls who were previously oblivious to their surroundings become active and attentive. Enemies searching for us may also stumble upon previously abandoned dead, prolonging our time in concealment by several dozen minutes. Dark employs a checkpoint system in which our progress is automatically preserved. Furthermore, we can only save the game twice in each section, which is extremely inconvenient given that the save sites are not signposted in any manner. If we utilize both opportunities too soon, we must return to the level’s beginning and attempt again.
The controls and camera work are both abysmal. It is not uncommon for us to be unable to fight the opponent directly in front of us with sufficient force when a second, closer enemy lurks behind the wall. Attacks from behind are fired with a delay, which means we don’t know whether our command was received at all, and we can’t turn around to check what’s in our way when slipping through the bushes. The game’s visual appeal is lacking. The technology was mostly employed to cover the already obvious flaws in the character representations, and the regions explored provide little to look at.
Dark is a palette of wonderful ideas put together by individuals who lack the abilities to put them into action. The difficulty of the game is determined by the amount of errors and shortcuts permitted by the authors, not by the level of sophistication. The gameplay, which lasts around ten hours, is dull and, most importantly, uninteresting.