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Review
Looking at the map of this game, I thought it would be a decent length, not too unwieldy, especially given the brisk pace up to the point where the map turned up. Instead, I felt it was fairly expansive. Not because there are so many locations, but because of the amount of exploration needed to thoroughly interact with each area. I was really enjoying the puzzles, and I felt like they were just the right difficulty for me. I first became frustrated when I realized that the "examine" command wasn't revealing everything about the places and objects. Instead, you had to use "search" in some situations to know if you could interact or not. Sometimes the two were interchangeable, sometimes completely different, which means you have to try both on everything. I'm not sure if this was intentional, because it doesn't seem like it's reflected in the walkthrough. The game felt like it got harder as it went, and I started to check the hints and then the walkthrough with increasing frequency. There were places where the directions each one gives didn't match up. I did like the hint system, but sometimes the way it was worded caused me to misunderstand what I had to do. For example, (Spoiler - click to show) at one point, the hint reads that you have to look at the bottom of a statue for a way to activate an exit. I tried many, many commands before I found out that I needed to visit another location first. Using the command "look" never actually does anything. I was way over my head by the third act, struggling to know what my objective was or what area to revisit. I enjoyed the story, but even though it included horror elements and gloomy locations, I didn't really feel a sense of immersion. It felt more like an intellectual exercise than writing that creates a mood. I got the impression that a translation caused some unusual phrasings, and possibly compromised the effectiveness of some descriptions. My favorite parts were interacting with the NPCs who are able to provide some background information. There were also numerous written documents you could collect, and they all added to the story nicely. Still, I feel like I should have had more of a visceral response to this piece given the sorts of things it describes. To me, the very best games create an atmosphere or a feeling, and wanting to re-experience those sensations again is what motivates me to replay them. I was hoping "D'Arkun" would be one of those, but for me, it wasn't.
