Dark and deep is a game I’ve been looking forward to ever since I saw the first trailer for the game and learned that it was being helmed by a solo developer. The trippy imagery and bizarre tone of the title piqued my interest. As someone who plays a lot When it comes to generic first person horror games, I’m always looking for something unique within the genre.
Walter Woods, who also teaches at the Savannah College of Art and Design, is the brain behind Dark and deep. While there are clear influences from the likes of Lars von Trier, David Lynch, Gasper Noe, and Panos Cosmatos, Woods still manages to weave all of these influences together in a way that makes the final product feel like its own unique concept.
Because I play so many horror games, it’s rare that I actually feel scared while completing a game. Dark and deep has impressively managed to break through the layer of tolerance I have built up a few times, and yet is not far from a perfect horror experience.
In horror games, I much prefer to play an everyman who is overwhelmed and just trying to survive than a genetically modified macho super soldier. That’s exactly what it is Dark and deep Offers, puts you in the position of a silent protagonist who starts the game on the back of a delivery truck and is traveling to an unknown destination.
The sight before you immediately sets off alarm bells: a body bag containing a corpse and a podcast from a computer leaking conspiratorial government secrets. Just as you understand what’s happening, the van plunges off a cliff and the player falls into a strange-looking cave.
The game is not called “Dark and Deep” for no reason
The lighting adds to the eerie atmosphere. Photo credit: Walter Woods.
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This body bag looks familiar… Photo credit: Walter Woods.
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Framing the horror. Photo credit: Walter Woods.
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These red images are intense. Photo credit: Walter Woods.
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Shadows are used effectively. Photo credit: Walter Woods.
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Wandering through the depths below, you’ll find a floating frame that you can interact with. Unfortunately, this causes a white-haired woman to appear, knocking you even deeper into the cave, leaving you isolated and confused.
Dark and deep leans heavily relies on psychedelic visuals and disorienting level design to keep players on their toes. The visuals alternate between bizarre rock formations, visions of the main character’s house, and what appears to be the inner workings of his mind. The game often uses contrasting white and red lighting against a dark, black void to guide the player through this surreal world.
Puzzle solving and (to use that phrase loosely) “battles” revolve around the aforementioned picture frames you collect. These frames help you identify key points in the environment that you can interact with, and provide cryptic background information.
The game’s plot progresses by periodically finding computers scattered throughout the environment, where you listen to the podcast introduced at the beginning of the game as the game delves deeper into the paranormal. The problem with this is that it creates a seemingly unintended disconnect between these exposition dumps and the more ethereal sections in between.
Hello darkness, my old friend
The game cleverly uses shadows to reveal the threats that are pursuing you along with other elements. While this contributes to creating a sense of paranoia that the game’s creepy crawling enemies are constantly on your tail, it also obviously serves to hide some of the game’s technical flaws. The psychedelic graphics are used in a similar way, mixing deliberate visual tricks with poorly implemented elements.
The game’s combat, which I referenced earlier, can essentially be broken down to a basic tower defense challenge, where you must use your trusty body to fend off enemy creatures while also protecting a computer terminal that clears away rocks and debris blocking your path to progress. Annoyingly, the game’s somewhat awkward camera mechanics get in the way a bit during these sections.
Although I have issues with the game’s narrative and combat mechanics, by far the most frustrating aspect of Dark and deep is the platform gameplay. The combination of confusing graphics and rather uncooperative motion controls makes balancing on narrow pillars and jumping over gaps to reach ledges quite a torture.
Despite this deficiency and all other parts of the Dark and deep that aren’t quite up to par, I still respect its ambition and am glad it exists. From its strong visual identity to its unsettling atmosphere of supernatural intrigue, Walter Woods has created something here that has real potential, even if it’s a little unwieldy at times.
Dark and deep – 7/10
