[TEST] Darq – Puzzles in the atmosphere of nightmares
DARK, the last game Terrible and Unlocked Games already available on platforms. In a dark atmosphere, help Lloyd solve puzzles to end his nightmares.
THE STORY
DARQ tells the story of Lloyd who realizes he is dreaming. Much to Lloyd’s dismay, the dream quickly turns into a nightmare, and all attempts to wake up are futile. While exploring the darkest recesses of the subconscious, Lloyd learns to survive by bending the laws of physics and manipulating the structure of dreams.
Aside from the gravity-defying puzzles, Lloyd will have to use stealth when he’s around enemies. He has no chance of winning in a direct confrontation as the creatures he faces are much stronger and faster than him. Instead, he is forced to carefully plan what he will do to avoid detection.
If you haven’t taken the time to read the on-disc comics, at first glance, the story of the game can seem quite disjointed. [SPOILER ALERT] This fiction depicts a young woman who dreams of entering the art world only by singing. Unfortunately, to get there, he leaves his son, whose physique embarrasses him. He also wears a paper bag on his head when he goes out. Fate is cruel to this woman, she loses both her father and her son in an accident. Guilt-ridden, she turns to a remedy to find answers. The latter tells her that she is waiting for the next child, that she must face the darkness in the world of nightmares to see the light of day. [FIN de SPOILER ALERT]
Once all the keys to the story are in hand thanks to the comic, each chapter of the game takes on its own meaning. If some of the transitions may seem simply scary out of context, they resemble the events that the mother is experiencing in parallel. Especially the passage on the train is the most telling chapter.
Some of them jump scares (quite rare) and the dark atmosphere gives the horror game side DARQ. However, the play has both a poetic edge and a hopeful moral.
HIGH PERFORMANCE 2.5D SIDE LOADER GAME
There is a game 2.5D : Right and left movements to start, then the ability to climb walls and switch weight. And finally, switching between several foreground and background axes. The game is easy to learn, but if we are not careful, we can quickly lose our head among the axes. The puzzles, which are progressive in difficulty, require both drilling, logic and a bit of common sense.
The game consists of 7 chapters which are more or less similar in time, about 20 minutes or more. And 2 bonus chapters are also available: the roundand cryptslightly longer and more complex in terms of puzzles. But a small problem: after starting a chapter, it is better to finish it before leaving the game, because it is not possible to save in the middle of a chapter. Pretty frustrating if you get far enough into a chapter and have to start the puzzles from scratch.
Now let’s talk about the choice of graphics and atmosphere. Even if it’s gameplay DARQ nothing to do with it, I will not find some similarities with the game Little Nightmares. The first point of view is obviously a guy with a paper bag on his head and immediately comes to mind Mono in the second part of the game. And attacking creatures Lloyd, especially the dolls in the workshop look like the mannequins that come to life in the game shown. Simple coincidences or homages, similarities are highly appreciated (Little Nightmares being a small nugget in a horror video game for me).
SHORT…
DARQ it is a very good game that mixes between dark and scary atmosphere, poetry and a touch of hope. A game that is both simple and complex, easy to master, but sometimes it will require several plays” die and try again to control all the joints. A game to be done in parallel with reading the comic strip in it DARQ, to appreciate the whole story and the parallels between the two worlds. However, the game is relatively short. If you use good logic, the game can be completed in 2-3 hours.
