Venice After Dark

[b]In short: One of the best point and click games I have ever played.[/b] [u]Disclaimer[/u]: I know all of the developers (all 2 of them ...) very well and am good friends with them. I gave feedback on some of the marketing assets, but had no influence on the game itself at all. [h1]MY CONTEXT[/h1] My review is based on the release version, which is the first version that I've played. I have finished the game after roughly 5 1/2 hours, with heavy dialogue skipping / forwarding, which is how I always play these games after a while and once knowing the voices. I originally went into this game because I know it's a labour of love from the devs and I just had to see what they made for the past six years. I also personally always enjoyed playing point and click adventures and continued playing them very regularly until roughly the end of the Daedalic/King-Art era. Then I got a bit out of touch, with a few exceptions. [b]That being said, I'll also be honest: I had no idea whether I'd like this game or not, in terms of the setting and theme.[/b] While I like the style and what I can see and hear, neither the name, the description nor the store page really spoke to me in a way that would convince me to buy this game. It's just a very tough setting and vision/world to sell. Now that I finished the game, I am very, very happy that I gave it a try. I expected to perhaps drop out after 30 minutes, but I enjoyed every minute up until completion. [h1]PRESENTATION[/h1] Art style, sound effects, music, cinematic presentation, animations, voice acting (I play with German VOs) -- all very well done. Very early on in the game you'll realize that the game often feels more cinematic than others in the genre, which I enjoy a lot. I was surprised to find one of my favorite pieces of music playing in the elevator. I love all the small details, the emotions conveyed both with visuals and audio. What the animations lack in terms of amount of frames (everything is drawn by one guy ...), they make up by a very varied set of character-graphics in different states, expertly crafted. This stays true until the end, without any part of the game ever feeling rushed or receiving less love. [h1]DESIGN & PUZZLES[/h1] All the expected convenience features exist. Hotspot-Preview, skipping dialogue in a controllable way, tips (though I didn't need any so far), different difficulty settings, easy to access saving etc. - they even have a dialogue log book inside. One thing that was new to me is that inventory items are auto-used. This first felt odd, because it robbed me of feeling smart by trying to combine items and hotspots and solving puzzles. But I quickly realized that the upside of this is just much improved pacing and game flow. I think in 2026 this is a good thing - I don't want to feel frustrated or "wasting" my time, instead, I want to experience the story and world that are so intriguing. Also, I still had plenty of times where by "thinking ahead" I was able to do some things that could have required a tiny bit of back-tracking, so I still felt smart enough ... 😅 After chapter 1, I was surprised about the more complex and deeper puzzles, which I liked a lot - especially how they were all connected. There was a single puzzle in the whole game where I needed a tip, but that was due to me being bad at that type of challenge - and the tip worked perfectly and kept me immersed. I had no moments of frustration and I don't want to say the game was too easy, I felt smart and clever solving the puzzles and I am curious to see how others will think about the difficulty. [h1]STORY[/h1] I was surprised to be really into the plot. I was very intrigued about how things moved forward. Quite a few surprises to me. After finishing it, I can only say that I never had any "down time". The finale is expertly crafted and I couldn't stop playing, even though I wanted to be in bed 2 hours earlier. This never happened to me before in a game of this genre. [b]This is not a game for kids![/b] I assume 8-10 years could be the earliest starting range of playing it, but the topics might be more appealing to older kids - as an adult, I was very well entertained and think it's more a game for grown-ups. Some of the themes are dark and the topics are complex. Also, the dialogues often make me feel being treated seriously as an adult playing this game. There's swearing where it would naturally occur. There's weird modern stuff that I usually hear in the bus, but would never say myself, but really fits with the characters. Characters are nuanced and not generic at all, but represent how different humans are and how colorful reality actually can be. It all feels authentic and this is quite refreshing to me. Knowing the devs, I can see where they took their life-experiences and inspiration from - which is, at least to me, how you make great art. Also, there are very surprising elements in the game based around (minor spoiler) [spoiler]optical and audio illusions[/spoiler], which I did not expect at all and are expertly crafted. More than that, it is probably the first point and click game where I feel like I am actually learning super interesting stuff about the real-world. Not in a "we are now teaching you something" way at all, but in a "oh wow this really happened, it's not a fictional made-up part for the story?". Like, I honestly don't care that much for Venice (or any other city), but the "based on real events"-parts really add to the story, which was unexpected for me as well. And you are 100% free to ignore it and just enjoy the game itself, it's not an additional layer that feels glued on or sticks out from the normal game flow. [h1]TECH[/h1] No issues, it works very well. I didn't run into any bugs. [h1]VERDICT[/h1] [b]Please just give the game a try.[/b] Play the first chapter, which will approximately take around 90-120 minutes, so if you don't like it, you can still refund it. But I am confident that you'll be positively surprised and keep playing. Finishing the game was very well worth it (to me), with many point and click games often disappointing at the end or lacking the finishing touches / final polish at some point. In this case, the opposite was true. I am convinced this game will be known as a hidden gem in a few years, and I hope it will not be buried in the crowded market. If you like games like Book of Unwritten Tales, The Whispered World, Deponia, Edna bricht aus (or the classics) - give it a try. And if those games were too frustrating because of some broken puzzles or confusing design decisions, or perhaps simply you think they feel dated -- give Venice After Dark a try, I think it really excels at game flow, pacing and cinematic presentation in ways that top these games. It feels like a modern day adventure that stays true to the soul of what makes the genre great, but plays like it is from 2026. It doesn't have to hide behind any of these titles, was made by two devs in 6 years and I really don't know how they pulled it off. Also, I cried at the end, so there's that!

Noch am Anfang vom Spiel, doch wollte schon einmal eine Bewertung abgeben, von dem, was ich bis jetzt mit Aiko erlebt habe. Und muss sagen, hat bis jetzt sehr viel Spaß gemacht. Verbrachte erstmal etwa 10Minuten im Aufzug. Musste unbedingt eine Störung melden, und das mehrere Male, viele Male, kann es nur jedem empfehlen. Kurz gesagt, der Humor hat mir gut gefallen. Was aber noch besser ist, ist einfach die tolle deutsche Sprachausgabe. Alles ist vertont und mit guten Sprechern/innen besetzt. Zur Handlung selbst kann ich zwar noch wenig sagen, aber es bahnt sich eine große mysteriöses Verschwörung an, weckt auf jeden Fall Interesse weiter zu machen. Auch ein großes Thema ist, so denke ich, die KI und wie sie verwendet wird, mal sehen was da noch kommt. Was mich allerdings am Anfang vom spielen abgehalten hat war die Grafik. Die Hintergründe im Spiel dann fand ich allerdings bis jetzt gut, da sie auch einige Animationen enthalten. An den rechteckigen Kopf von Aiko der Protagonistin musste ich mich jedoch länger gewöhnen, ist natürlich Art Style und am Ende Geschmackssache und ihre Sympathische Art wischt das eigentlich schnell weg. Die Zielgruppe des Spiels ist jedenfalls, so glaube ich, ein jüngeres Publikum. Was mir an mancher Wortwahl und Ausdruck von Aiko aufgefallen ist. Selbst bin ich schon weit darüber, und finde es ist eigentlich für jeden, der solche Spiele mag geeignet. Auch die Musik ist gut. Bin auf jeden Fall gespannt wie es weitergeht. Kann es bis jetzt jedem empfehlen, der Point-&-Click Adventures mag, mit Humor und toller Sprachausgabe. Sobald ich weiter gekommen bin, werde ich eventuell die Rezension anpassen. Jetzt muss ich erstmal zurück in den Aufzug und eine Störung melden... Meine Empfehlung hat es bis jetzt!

Aiko is an IT specialist and escaped to Venice, with her AI Thea, which (or whom?) she developed and now wants to protect from an early release, though.. is that all ? We play as Aiko and even our first steps out of the hotel ends in .. something disturbing! We are attacked, saved by something even more disturbing - something or somebody more or less supernatural... Our days are rainy or sunny and filled with various tasks, conversations with nice and unnice people, we solve of course the one or other puzzle, like sabotaging a lift to go to the underground of the building - our nights though, they are almost surreal. Not more, experience it yourselves ! Don't miss it - highly recommended. BTW fully voiced in English and German !

I liked a lot the game! Good navigation, choices to play on easy way, in between and harder. I found interesting the theme, very modern, the fight among humanity and AI. I didn't like too much the ends, game has 3 of them, but make sense. Kudos to the Devs, I highly recommend it! ♥♥♥

As an Italian person who has always lived very close to Venice I couldn't miss this game, a great visual novel/point & click adventure with awesome art and excellent English voice acting. The story, characters and atmosphere are extremely well made, mixing historical background with a sci-fi plot dealing with present day issues (there are few minor inaccuracies that a Venetian/Italian person would spot, but nothing important).

Ein wunderschönes Abenteuer mit einer Interessanten Geschichte, sehr netten Rätseln. es lohnt sich mit den Charakteren zu reden um mehr über die Spielwelt heraus zu finden. Einziges Manko, manche Puzzle Segmente sind recht nervig, ansonsten kann ich Dieses Spiel für alle Abenteuer und Fans von des Point & Click - Genres sehr Empfehlen

Man merkt wieviel Liebe, Blut und Schweiß in dieses Game geflossen sind. Sehr schöne gezeichnete, spannende Geschichte mit vielen Details. Sehr zu empfehlen!

Wie viel Maschine bist du? Eine sehr skurrile Welt, mit sehr facettenreichen Charakteren. Audio-visuelle Rätsel basierend auf wissenschaftlichen Erkenntnissen, die dazu noch erklärt werden, die man so noch in keinem Spiel gesehen hat. Ein Adventure mit Inventar, Hotspot-Anzeige und Rätseln aber unter der Haube läuft weder Unity, AGS, Visionaire noch Wintermute sondern Ren'Py?! Eine ganz klare Kaufempfehlung, es wir in der Mitte etwas zäh, aber das Spiel kommt im Notfall mit einer Ingame-Hilfe da an einer Stelle die Rätsel für einen Anfänger vielleicht nicht ganz klar sind und erst nachdem man das Rätsel löst, die offensichtlichen Hinweise sieht. Es werden auch Dinge kaputt gemacht, angezündet und geklaut!

Mischung aus Point'n'Click/Visual Novell/Educational Game mit unterschiedlichen Rätseln (leider fehlen die typischen Inventar/Itemrätsel, da Gegenstände automatisch verwendet/kombiniert werden) und Mystery-Elementen, die übernatürlich wirken. Die Educational-Abschnitte waren zunächst unerwartet, aber wirken nicht fehl am Platz. Die Story ist interessant und unterhaltend, am Ende vielleicht etwas beängstigend und vor allem wyld. Der Humor ist spitze, fehlt aber etwas als die Handlung ernster wird (ein paar kleinere Pointen sind noch enthalten). Die Charaktere sind einzigartig, jeder hat bestimmte Merkmale, die besonders hervorgehoben werden (besonders klein, besonders groß, auffälliger Bart, besonders haarig, besonders normal etc.). Ich liebe vor allem den kruden Zeichenstil, der zwar irgendwo ansatzweise real ist, aber nicht wirklich versucht realistisch zu sein. Für diese Genremischung auf jeden Fall ein gelungenes Adventure und der Wiederspielwert ist durch die zahlreichen (100) Erfolge definitiv gegeben, da man gar nicht alle in einem Durchlauf schaffen kann. Im Livestream in ca 10-11h durchgespielt.

Die Sprecher, die Musik und die Soundeffekte sind hervorragend umgesetzt. Auch die Grafik überzeugt mit einem stimmigen Stil und viel Charme. Der Lehrauftrag mit den Fakten hat mich erst verwundert aber dann hatte es klick gemacht weit bevor ich am Ende angekommen bin.Trotz dieses Konzepts hat mich die Story sofort gepackt und bis zum Schluss nicht mehr losgelassen. Die Filmzitate fand ich nicht störend und ich hab immer mitgerätselt, aus welchen Filmen sie stammen, bis das achievement es mir verraten hat 🙂 Die Figuren sind durchweg sympathisch und ihre Eigenheiten machen sie besonders liebenswert. Natürlich sind sie bewusst überzeichnet, aber genau das habe ich auch erwartet. Die Rätsel waren insgesamt eher unkompliziert, dabei aber logisch aufgebaut und angenehm gestaltet.