Through the Darkest of Times
Dark times mean fear and risks. The risk to be caught by patrolling National Socialists, looking for people who publicly stand against their point of view. The risk of being beaten up or even killed by the German military because we‘re opposing the regime. The risk of losing everything, including our loved ones. This is how we live. This is how we try to survive. Through the darkest of times. You are the leader of a small resistance group in 1933’s Berlin, of ordinary people, from Jews to Catholics and Communists to Patriots who simply can’t stand aside. Your goal is to deal with small blows to the regime – dropping leaflets to spread awareness about what the Nazis are really up to among the people, painting messages on walls, sabotaging, gathering information and recruiting more followers. And all of that while staying undercover – if the regime’s forces learn about your group, the life of each member is in grave danger.
Steam User 4
The good:
+ Historically accurate with great portrayal of Nazi cruelty.
+ Great visual/artstyle which emphasize haunting atmosphere.
+ Your choices matter. But as stated on game store, it'll only change circumstance small amount of people.
The bad:
- RNG dependent which makes your choice occasionally feel doesn't matter or ruin your planning.
The ugly:
* Game mechanics is unpolished and feel difficult even on story mode. While i understand accomplish something extraordinary is very difficult, i unable to accomplish much even on story mode.
* The developer missed opportunity to educate player even further either by showing in-game "booklet" which show more detail about specific piece of history or at least showing player where they could find more about historical information.
Overall, Through the Darkest of Times is engaging historical lesson/narrative. But since the game mechanics isn't good, i only can recommend this game to those who want to know a bit more about history during Nazi-time through video game medium on story mode difficulty.
Steam User 3
Simply amazing game, nice mechanics, great historical facts. Game shows how totalitarian regime crawls through to power and destroy humainity in people with propaganda and terror. Worth buying on a sale!
Steam User 2
important, well done game!
Steam User 1
Very interesting take on the theme, although it's obviously not a light game. It accurately follows some of the history, while also immersing you into a believable and detailed reconstruction of the period.
It does overstay its welcome though with way more text than the novelty of the gameplay can keep up with, and with many mini story interruptions that seem kind of pointless. The different chapters are repetitive and they also reset your progress, which is super annoying. The difficulty is extremely brutal; I wasn't able to complete a single main mission even in the "easy" mode. I get the atmosphere of hopelessness they were going for here, but it would be nice to at least have some small victory after hours of playing.
Buy on sale.
Steam User 1
If you enjoy "Choices matter" games and have a love of WWII information, this is absolutely a terrific game. I would love to play through as different character types - cowardly, ignorant, brash etc.
Steam User 1
I cant. Probably the most acurate and spine chilling game for those learning about the German WW2 civilians, and those that already know the history. I actually think school children should play it.
Steam User 1
Overview
This game is basically a combination of "Papers, Please" with "911 operator".
Like "Papers, Please" we're living in a dystopian totalitarian state. The only difference is here it's a historical reality of 1930s Germany under Nazi rule.
And like "911 operator", it's a level-based tactical game, with minimalistic graphics.
Both these games btw, I gave a negative review.
But I can't give this game a negative review.
If only for the fact that it deals with such an important topic.
A topic that is forgotten more and more as years go by...
Gameplay
But game-play wise - the game doesn't have much content.
The missions are monotone and repetitive. The variation is not very large.
And in any case, the result of the mission are of a limited variation: money, supporters, morale, "heat" reduction, items or a new character (if you have an open slot).
You have stats, missions have requirements, and a random "dice toss" decides if you succeed or fail.
Another thing detrimental to the gameplay, is the fact that you have story-related "cutscenes" between every 2 days of the game, which disrupt the flow of the tactical part of the game.
So instead of playing one game-day, setting up a long-term plan, and following-up on them the next day...
You play one game-day, then get a "cutscene" with lots of text, and choices you need to take, which are in no way related to the actions you took on the tactical part of the game, yet can affect it on the next day. And only then start the next day of the game, when you already forgotten half the things you wanted to follow up on from the previous day.
Verdict
I think it's important to come to this game with proper expectations.
If you come expecting an interesting and engaging gameplay, of a strategic resource management simulator OR a choices matter text adventure game - you will be disappointed.
Instead, this is a dystopian dictatorship games (like Beholder, Papers Please, Do not feed the monkeys, etc.) that shows the horrors of war/dictatorship (like This war of mine, Valiant Hearts, 11-11 Memories Retold, etc.), that gives a lot of backstory and world-building background of real historical events.
This is more of an important historical lesson, less a piece of digital entertainment.
P.S. If you like this theme, I suggest you watch the critically acclaimed 2023 mini-series "A small light".
Which tells the story of the people who hid Anne Frank's family in Nazi-occupied Holland.
And has a very similar look & feel, of how was it like living under the Nazi rule, while trying to resist it.