You know the “[i]Find[/i] (number) [i]Objects in a Randomly Generated Maze while Big Scary Man Chases You[/i]” horror games you see so many of on Steam? [b]Does anyone even like them?[/b] Really, I'm kind of curious; because the genre almost feels like it's trying to rip off (or [i]is inspired[/i] by if you want to be nice) a genuinely good project (not unlike the anomaly pandemic after the success of [b]Exit 8[/b]), but the thing is that [b]I have yet to find the [i]“good”[/i] game that made the playbook marketable in the first place.[/b] Anyway, [b]Darkness Takeover![/b] It's a maze game, and it's free; like [b]Grandpa's Cheese[/b] and [b]Obama Maze[/b]! UNLIKE those classics, [i]it contains no memes[/i]; so, like, [i]I have to actually review it as a game this time.[/i]
For whatever reason, the single developer of [b]Darkness Takeover[/b] seems to hint at the game having a [i]much more sinister story than its competition[/i]; [b]with deep [i]psychological themes[/i] and [i]lore[/i] [/b]. You're a guy named Karim, [i]trapped in his own head[/i], suffering his greatest fears and trauma [b]over and over again[/b]; all while being chased by an ominous entity known as [b]the [i]Stalker Master[/i]....[/b]now, here's the thing: [spoiler]literally none of that matters.[/spoiler] All you need to know is that [b]you're thrown into a maze with nothing but a gun and a light[/b], and that [b]there's a man with a chainsaw after you.[/b] The game is actually a lot simpler than it appears; as you're really only looking for two things inside the maze (a door and a key), and [i]it's not even randomly generated.[/i] [spoiler]The maze has the same exact layout every single time.[/spoiler] Heck, the maze isn't even [b]all that big[/b]; it only takes fifteen seconds to walk from one side to the next, and [b]Chainsaw Master[/b] will often just [i]spot you [b]instantly.[/b] [/i] He is, however, [i]nowhere nearly as intimidating[/i] as you might expect; moving with the speed of your average PC video game reviewer, AND [b]being killable.[/b] Just shoot the man like five times, and he falls to the ground in a bloody heap. [spoiler](DO NOT, however, step on his corpse afterward. for whatever reason, I got a game over the moment when I walked over the body).[/spoiler] [b]What a dark and brilliant psychological dive into a compelling character. This is so deep.[/b]
When it comes to production values, there's really not a lot to say about [b]Darkness Takeover[/b]; [i]but [b]dang it![/b] [/i] I decided to review the game, so [b]I'm going to get a full paragraph out of it!![/b] The maze is pretty weird; giving us something of a construction site of mismatched textures. The floor is wood, the walls are bricks, and [i]for reasons unknown[/i] there are random mounds of dirt in the center of every room. [i]THIS is the physical manifestation of Karim's mind?[/i] [spoiler]To quote Vitruvius from the LEGO Movie: “I'm not hearing a lot of activity here...”.[/spoiler] As for Karim himself, he's a strange dude; [i]despite you never seeing him.[/i] Since you're stuck in first person, all you see are the hands and arms, [i]which are [b]strrrreeetched[/b] as far away[/i] from the torso[b] as humanly possible[/b], all while staying in a perfect straight line, [i]never moving[/i]. It looks uncomfortable to say the very least. He's somehow holding his gun in only [i]two fingers[/i], which I guess [i]I can't even say about the lantern[/i], [b]which is floating.[/b] Also, even though [i]the lantern is sporting an [b]overwhelmingly healthy flame[/b] [/i] [spoiler](thus making it look like Karim's arm is on fire)[/spoiler] [b]you can't see crap.[/b] Our good friend Chainsaw Master at least [i]looks[/i] the part; being a freaky amalgamation of [b]every single creepy chainsaw psycho cliché[/b] turned into one person. [spoiler](sounds like Karim should just lay off the horror movies).[/spoiler] I'm half convinced, though, that the Chainsaw Master model was stolen, because [i]unlike literally everything else[/i] in the game, he has [b]real animation.[/b] Sure, his “finisher” is just a black screen with [b]Game Over[/b] written in the [b]Ravie[/b] font type, but [i]at least he moves.[/i] [spoiler]I can't say the same thing for the main character.[/spoiler] Final note, I'm 80% sure the Steam page art is Al generated. In fact, I'd go even further and say that the STORY is fake too. I mean, [b]the game itself shares no resemblance to anything it said.[/b]
I had genuine fun with [b]Grandpa's Cheese[/b], I got a laugh out of [b]Obama Maze[/b], and I made a custom case for [b]Creepy Claus[/b]. [i]I can't say any of that about[/i] [b]Darkness Takeover[/b]. It's short, shallow, [i]and just [b]nonsensical[/b] [/i]. I saw the entire thing in about ten minutes, and [i]after this review,[/i] [b]I'm done with it.[/b] Bye!
