Darkout (PC) Review

Take Terraria and turn out the lights and you’ll have some idea of what developer Allgraf’s fun and engaging Darkout is all about.

The collecting and crafting genre has exploded in the past few years with such titles as Minecraft, Terraria and don’t starve. It’s become obvious that people like working towards goals that actually benefit and evolve their gameplay experience. Something like Call of Duty, which only gives you a higher level and an extra gun isn’t as fascinating to gamers anymore; as a result more and more games have incorporated crafting mechanics to keep hold of the players attention.

One such example of this is Darkout, a recent indie production by Allgraf, which has not done anything too notable in the past. This is actually their first original IP and it’s shaping up to be something extraordinary. Jumping straight into the game, you see an art style reminiscent of Sci-fi games such as the recent The Swapper. It’s fairly dark and splashed with light and color, which is an impressive look. Of course it also uses a similar 2.5D view to other genre games, a  which is very well suited for this title.

As to the gameplay, it is very reminiscent of terraria with the now familiar building and destroying mechanic. The world is one block deep though, which means digging isn’t as extraneous or time consuming as it is in Minecraft. It also isn’t as specific as terraria as Darkout allows you to destroy 3 blocks at a time. This is particularly useful when going down into the ground looking for caves and items.

Like in Terraria, there are many mobs in this world which you have to be alert of, particularly floating jellyfish. Water also seems to be nonexistent, instead being replaced with acid which will kill you if you stay in it too long. Crafting is blessedly simple in Darkout, as if you have the necessary items in the inventory you can just click to craft the complete item. A sliding bar also helps you decide how many of each item to make, getting rid of the tiresome clicking to get the desired amount.

As you explore more into the alien world of Darkout, the more you can discover such things as rare items in chests and fresh recipes to make new items. You can still craft tools and your basic pack never runs out of durability, making them very useful even hours into the game. Combat is still the simple click to hit like in other games of this type and is very necessary for your survival in Darkout’s world, so you’ll be doing a decent amount of battling.

The game has an amazing tone too, which I have to mention. It’s very mysterious and tense, making use of the dark art style and lack of light. The musical score is also very mellow and gives the game an almost dreamlike experience which fits in well with the rest of the tone.

Final Thoughts

This is without a doubt something which takes a very simple concept and turns it completely on its head.

Even though most will classify it as a Terreria clone, it’s this very use of similar mechanics which allow it to be elevated to something even greater. Just as Cubeworld did to the Minecraft experience, Darkout is to the 2D crafter.  And with continuous patches and updates by the developers, this will surely remain a great experience for months and years to come.