DARQ

This game features creative puzzles, creepy horror elements, and a unique art style. It's everything I love in one package.

---{ Graphics }---
☐ You forget what reality is
☑ Beautiful
☐ Good
☐ Decent
☐ Bad
☐ Don‘t look too long at it
☐ MS-DOS

---{ Gameplay }---
☑ Very good
☐ Good
☐ It's just gameplay
☐ Mehh
☐ Watch paint dry instead
☐ Just don't

---{ Audio }---
☐ Eargasm
☐ Very good
☑ Good
☐ Not too bad
☐ Bad
☐ I'm now deaf

---{ Dialogue }---
☐ Deserves an Oscar
☐ Great
☐ Decent
☐ Underwhelming
☐ Horrible
☑ 404 Dialogue not found

---{ Audience }---
☐ Kids
☑ Teens
☑ Adults
☑ Grandma

---{ PC Requirements }---
☐ Check if you can run paint
☑ Potato
☐ Decent
☐ Fast
☐ Rich boi
☐ Ask NASA if they have a spare computer

---{ Difficulty }---
☐ Just press 'W'
☐ Easy
☑ Easy to learn / Hard to master
☐ Significant brain usage
☐ Difficult
☐ Dark Souls

---{ Grind }---
☑ Nothing to grind
☐ Only if u care about leaderboards/ranks
☐ Isn't necessary to progress
☐ Average grind level
☐ Too much grind
☐ You'll need a second life for grinding

---{ Story }---
☐ No Story
☑ Some lore
☐ Average
☐ Good
☐ Lovely
☐ It'll replace your life

---{ Game Time }---
☐ Long enough for a cup of coffee
☑ Short
☐ Average
☐ Long
☐ To infinity and beyond

---{ Price }---
☐ It's free!
☑ Worth the price
☐ If it's on sale
☐ If u have some spare money left
☐ Not recommended
☐ You could also just burn your money

---{ Bugs }---
☑ Never heard of
☐ Minor bugs
☐ Can get annoying
☐ Significant, nothing but a big terrarium for bugs
☐ Call the exterminators

---{ ? / 10 }---
☐ 1
☐ 2
☐ 3
☐ 4
☐ 5
☐ 6
☐ 7
☐ 8
☑ 9
☐ 10

This game is an absolutely incredible way to spend a few hours giving your brain a workout. Jump-scares are present, though not to a ridiculous degree, and the developer behind the game couldn't have more passion behind his project. It was a lot of fun working with Vlad to voice Lloyd, and I cannot wait to see what kind of work he has in store for us to come.

Good but strange. You sort of get thrown into the game with no idea of what's going on, and it ends the same way. I'm not sure how the nightmares are supposed to be deciphered either. It's clearly a nightmare though with an interesting atmosphere. The puzzles were a fairly good difficulty, never requiring a walkthrough. Whenever I got stuck more exploration inevitably led me to the solution
Pros:
- Creepy atmosphere without getting into jumpscares or true horror territory
- The puzzles are well done
Cons:
- Apparently there's a meaning to the dreams?
- Whatever story there's supposed to be besides 'guy stuck in nightmares' is completely lost on me
Verdict: 8/10

Played it in 2024 when browsing through my library in search for something cool, wow this was top stuff! Burtonesque horrirsh 2D adventure puzzle game with amazing sounds and visuals, relatively short but fits just right. fyi it made me search for dev teams and on the same team heard they were included in the new silent hill, so ye, all the pieces fit, recommend the og game and both dlcs (tower better than crypt)

Very cool puzzle game! great sound and visuals. Any fan of Little Nightmares, INSIDE, LIMBO would probably love this game!

Playing the game as Lloyd, a boy trapped in a lucid nightmare, is a beautifully surreal experience that blends dark, dreamlike visuals with clever, physics-defying mechanics. You’ll be walking on walls, rotating rooms, and solving gravity-based puzzles in a world that feels straight out of a twisted storybook. The atmosphere is the standout here—moody lighting, eerie sound design, and a haunting aesthetic that draws heavy comparisons to Tim Burton or classic stop-motion horror. The game keeps dialogue to a minimum, relying instead on visual storytelling and emotional tone, which some players find immersive and thought-provoking, while others wish there was a bit more narrative depth.
The puzzles are creative and satisfying, rarely frustrating, though a few stealth sections feel less inspired and can briefly disrupt the pacing. Still, they’re not deal-breakers. The overall runtime is short—around 3 to 6 hours including the two DLCs, The Tower and The Crypt—but the game feels polished from start to finish, with a smooth performance and tight level design. While some players wanted more levels or challenge, many appreciated the game's focused, atmospheric approach that never overstays its welcome.
The game doesn’t aim to scare you with jumps or gore—it’s more about quiet dread, tension, and surreal unease. If you enjoy puzzle platformers with a strong artistic vision and psychological horror elements, this is a memorable ride.