Darkwood

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

I couldn’t really understand the game, and I’m not able to keep progressing.
That said, this isn’t a reason to leave a negative review. It’s just not for me, that’s on me, not on the game.

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

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.

refunding this game not because its bad but because im a massive ♥♥♥♥♥♥♥ coward and it scares the ♥♥♥♥ 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 (♥♥♥♥♥♥-up European Nightmare ♥♥♥♥ -- 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

You are playing a challenging and unforgiving game.
You will not be led by the hand.
Respect the woods. Be patient. Focus.