Darq isn’t the most difficult puzzle game out there, but it does excel in all uniqueness categories. Its greyscale art style adds to its overwhelmingly gothic vibe while providing puzzles that are difficult enough to force you to pause yet easy enough to solve. It’s definitely something to check out, even if you won’t be challenged to the fullest extent.
The space for indie puzzle games is incredibly tight. Not only do puzzle games need to iterate continually to achieve any sort of recognition, but they need to throw in unique flair to stand out from the bunch. Enter Darq, a gothic-horror style 2.5D puzzler that manages to straddle the line of familiarity and uniqueness. From an unsettling art style to mind-bending puzzles, Darq knows exactly what it is and what it isn’t. Those expecting puzzles akin to The Witness need to look elsewhere, as Darq is more geared towards setting a mood and engrossing you into its world.
Throughout my time playing Darq, I never got the sense that its puzzles were meant to be overwhelmingly difficult. While there are certainly some confusing puzzles to solve, I never spent more than 15-20 minutes on each of the game’s six levels. This ease of access throughout the game made it so I could enjoy the ambiance the game was presenting and not the frustration many puzzle games often generate. Darq offers plenty of secret objects to be found throughout its world as well that I was unable to locate during my initial playthrough, as evident from the game’s trophy list. This, including the game’s Extra Levels included in the Complete Edition, offers replayability that is somewhat rare in puzzle games.
Darq’s mechanics are simple to its core: players can move throughout the game’s 2D levels, while also shifting the world around them to discover previously hidden rooms/corridors that are key to solving the overall puzzle. Like all good puzzle games, Darq never treats its players with contempt. Never outright telling you how to solve the puzzles, Darq does a very good job at providing context clues on how to solve them. It’s lovely puzzle design, even if the puzzles aren’t overly difficult or time-consuming. The shifting of the game world is also compelling, even if it has been done in other games before it. Opening up new corridors or finding hidden areas is always exciting; the inclusion of adventure game-style collecting of random objects throughout the world adds that extra twist to really make Darq’s puzzles engaging and fun.
Darq is a uniquely gothic puzzle game that is visually ripped from Wednesday Addams’ own art journal. Greyscale throughout and brooding, Darq dabbles very little in hope and color; it also feels as though it does have something to say without saying it. While the game’s overall message does seem to be muddied over by its visual presentation, my own interpretation of the story is that it’s about escaping an otherwise mundane life and dreaming of a world where the character has a purpose. I could still be way off about what the game is trying to say, but Darq doesn’t necessarily give the player all of the answers to the questions they are asking.
Darq isn’t the most difficult puzzle game out there, but it does excel in all uniqueness categories. Its greyscale art style adds to its overwhelmingly gothic vibe while providing puzzles that are difficult enough to force you to pause yet easy enough to solve. It’s definitely something to check out, even if you won’t be challenged to the fullest extent.
