Darkwood

Finally, a game that accurately simulates my average week here, in rural Eastern Europe.

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

refunding this game not because its bad but because im a massive fucking coward and it scares the shit outta me would recmomend 9/10

One of the best horror games in a decade. Zero jump scares, zero cheap moments, everything is ambiance and stress to the max. This game is the archetype of a micro-genre that I have dubbed FENS games (fucked-up European Nightmare Shit -- e.g. games like S.T.A.L.K.E.R, Pathologic, Fear and Hunger, etc.). If you want the kind of incredibly nihilistic nightmarish fever dream that only comes with living in post-soviet eastern europe then you're in luck here.

The game is split into two main gameplay loops: daytime exploration and plot-progression and nighttime base defense. You must return to your hideout before dark and survive incoming threats as they break into your base, Hiding is not enough, you need to be proactive and set up barriers and defenses and stay mobile within your hideout to survive. Each night will be more difficult than the last, so you can't ever default to a single strategy, it always keeps you on your toes, which is something any horror game worth its salt should do.

Day time is the main thrust of the game and where you will have to make a difficult and stressful decision each morning: do you spend your 12 hours of relative "peace" scavenging for resources to help you survive the night or do you try to progress the plot? Your time is finite and the stakes can be very high depending on where you are, what night it is, what you already have, and what difficulty you are on. It makes for some expertly crafted suspense and tense decision making. There's no "playing it safe" there's only "playing it smart", and your ability to make smart decisions with finite resources will be the key to if you succeed or fail.

The only real criticism I have of the game is the difficulty. The game warns you that you are playing a hard game and that it will not lead you by the hand. This for the most part is true, and it's a plus. This is not a game that will patronize you with obvious tutorials and foreshadow for you the ramifications of your decisions upfront. You might go the entire game without realizing X mechanic exists because you simply didn't think to try it and the game didn't tell you it exists. This is all great and encourages all sorts of experimentation and replays.--- the problem is that there is a MASSIVE gulf between Normal and Hard difficulty wherein Normal is too easy and Hard is too hard.

The biggest problem with Normal difficulty is that there is barely any consequence to death. Sure you will lose random pieces of your inventory, but it will be marked on your map and you can go back and retrieve it whenever you want. It's not like a Souls game where the inventory is permanently deleted upon the next following death if you don't retrieve it-- it's there to be retrieved for the REST OF THE GAME. This is extremely forgiving and discourages taking the threat of being caught out of your hideout during the dark-- sure the forest will kill you, but it will also have you wake up safe at your base at the beginning of the next morning and you can just retrieve your inventory and keep doing whatever you were doing before. It's very abusable as a system and an easy crutch to fall into.

Hard mode tries to rectify this by giving you finite lives. You start the game with five lives and once they're gone its game over for good. This is better but is an EXTREME jump in difficulty and consequence. My problem isn't necessarily that hard mode is too hard and normal too easy but that there isn't a mode inbetween more suitable for first time players who still want a feeling of consequence to their deaths/decisions. "Normal" difficulty is too easy, and the jump to hard is too extreme to motivate first time players to try it at the onset. Ideal would be a setting inbetween-- it would be easy enough to do, just have inventory loss upon death be permanent like in the Souls game. The only issue with that would be the devs would need to ensure that quest dependent inventory doesn't drop and disappear upon death, but that would be a very easy piece of code to write. I'm honestly shocked they didn't think to add this.

There is one more difficulty, "nightmare" an extreme option for veteran players which is essentially a permadeath mode. This version feels like the most authentic mode possible, but for obvious reasons is not advised for first time players.

All that said, I think that Hard mode gives you a better, more intended experience but I also think that its too unforgiving to new players. I would advise that if you want the most legitimate experience possible, you should try the game out for a while on normal, enough to teach you how things work and to understand the rules and limitations and expectations of the game, then start a new game on Hard mode and use that as your main save. This will give you enough time and forgiveness to learn the rules proper before having to worry about life management and potential permadeath.

Overall, Darkwood is an excellent title and well worthy of its macabre reputation. It's the kind of horror game that many of us have been longing for, one that does not patronize, infantilize, or hand-hold you. A game that respects your intelligence and punishes your rashness and in return demands respect from you. That's not a metaphor by the way, the game literally tells you up front "be patient-- respect the woods". It's the ONLY piece of advice the game is generous enough to give you and its as well worth heading as the game is worth playing.

9/10

Easily the best game I played in 2025, after the dust has settled I can without a doubt say this a top 5 of all time game for me. This is the pinnacle of survival horror, you will feel beaten, battered, and spooked to the max. The feeling of hopelessly crouching in a corner while the most unsettling rustling and screeching you've ever heard happens right outside your ramshackle shelter, only to realize the angelic choir and blistering light of the sunrise is coming to your rescue at the exact moment all seems lost, just incredible. Stunningly beautiful artstyle, immersive soundscape, Lynchian dream sequences, disgusting creature design, bleak as hell storytelling, and some of the most visceral top down melee combat outside of Hotline Miami. One of the most banger main menu themes of all time. I've said enough, easy 10/10 and a game I will be replaying for the rest of my gaming career.

One of my absolute favorite games. It's been like 7 years since I've played this, but I still catch myself thinking about it from time to time. I've really never played anything quite like it - It's creepy, atmospheric, grizzly horror done to a masterful degree, so if you're looking for a good horror story to get lost in, this is it. Me being a MASSIVE fan of the horror genre (hence I enjoyed it as much as I did), I was basically in heaven the entire time.
First off, replay value is there in spades. Aside from multiple endings and countless side quests and story threads you get to pick and choose between to influence your playthrough, the very world map itself also gets shuffled between each playthrough. I'm not sure the exact extent of the shuffling, I think they just have like 2 or 3 variants for the world map(s) at the very least, but there may be some other smaller differences.
Gameplay will take getting used to. It's a topdown game where ammo is limited so you'll often have to rely on melee + dodge mechanics. The more used to it + the various enemy attack patterns you get, the far better you'll do, so just try not to get too discouraged at the start and just take things slow and safe. It also has a very novel "line of sight" mechanic. You have a Metal Gear Solid radar-esque cone that illuminates what's in front of you - and enemies that are not in that cone, won't be drawn. So even though it's top town, you still will be getting ambushed and caught off guard constantly, and the "line of sight" mechanic will even factor in to some creepy moments later on. Another mechanic is DAYLIGHT. The game operates off a day/night cycle, with the idea being you explore during the day, and then return to a safe place at night to survive the nights. Aside from finding resources + story progression, you need to make sure you collect supplies to fortify your refuge as well. And, over time, you'll need to be ready to migrate between refuges so you can start safely exploring new areas further out without running the risk of daylight ending. It definitely gets more punishing as it goes on, but if you do die, you'll respawn back at your last refuge and just need to get back to where you died to reclaim whatever you were carrying when you died.
The story is the real selling point, for me at least. You're alone in the woods, something is VERY wrong with both the woods themselves and the people living in them, and you're just trying to get home. Everything else you'll have to figure out by chatting with the locals or examining various world items. It's never really spelled out bluntly, you have to do some leg work to try and connect the dots and grasp the scope of the story here - and even then you'll probably need to dig through fan wikis to really get it lol... But it's great stuff.
Everything else, from visuals, sound/music, and the characters themselves, are all top notch and perfectly sells its pitch of a world gone horribly wrong. And despite that horror, I still had a blast just getting lost in it all. It's just a testament to how well made it is - which just makes it all the more of a shame that the dev studio responsible for this has apparently gone on indefinite hiatus, last I heard. I can only hope they're able to make games again some day, cause fresh ideas like this are really what the gaming scene definitely needs more of.
Finally, as for you lot reading this: It's an indie game made by clearly passionate people, and it's great - if you think it looks even slightly interesting, then just give it a shot. Worst case scenario you're just throwing money at some passionate small time indie devs - big whoop lol. Better than feeding some gross megapublishers for the latest cookie-cutter garbage...

TLDR
This game is really unique.
If you like survival horror games you should play it.
If you like survival games, you should play it.
If you like permadeath, you should def play it.
If you like unique, new experiences, you should play it.
If you like having to figure things out on your own, you should play it.
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I played 55 hours on the Switch. If you're a console gamer and use a controller, get this game on a different system.
I wish more games were made like this.
There are 3 modes:
Unlimited lives
3 Lives
Permadeath
The limited lives and permadeath modes are so impactful. It's a game about planning and making decisions. If you find yourself in a tough combat situation, and you didn't prepare both your inventory and yourself mentally, if you didn't make contingency plans, things can go from great to dire real fast.
This game forces you make tough decisions. When you play Mass Effect, you can be an jerk to everyone. You're Billy Badass. There are no consequences. It's just a bunch of "Hey I like being a jerk" or "I like being the good guy" decisions.
This game is not like that. If one of the important NPCs steals your items or messes up your plans, do you go get revenge on him? Well, you have limited lives. He he seems to be very dangerous opponent. If you want revenge then you'll have to go to his lair. Are you going to risk a game over? 10 hours down the drain, in order to get revenge on this guy? Is the loot worth it? Is the risk worth it?
This game forces you to make big and little decisions like this all the time.
This is also the first game that I have ever experienced that does cosmic horror effectively. I believe it's because of the top down perspective and the use of text (much like a visual novel) to describe some horrific events that take place in the story. Not everything is explained. What is explained, you often cannot see. You end up using your imagination to picture the horrific scenes. The horror in this game is almost like the horror in a book, while also being a game all about survival.
You're attempts to survive creates a lot of tension. The other part of the horror if this game might be similar to other games that you have played. Similar to the Resident Evil 1 Remake when you play without using ink ribbons (no saving). Every small bad decision might snowball into wasting more resources, and taking more unnecessary damage. Every failure to plan might result into walking into a bad situation and getting a game over. Every little decision counts. If you lose a lot of health to a weak enemy, you have to waste the health and ammo resources that could have been saved for much tougher opponents and much more dire situations.
I should add, this game is very fair. It might not feel that way at first when you do not yet understand the game. There aren't any 1 hit kills that I know of. I don't think there are even any enemy attacks that do even 50% of your health. You are always given ample time to prepare before you go out to explore. You're given time to prepare before the horrors of the woods attack your hide out. If you die, it's always your fault.
You don't die because of slow reflexes or because of your bad aim (well, I guess if your really bad then it's possible). You die because you didn't prepare correctly, or because you took too big of a risk. You bit off more than you could chew.
Def play this game.