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BARK

BARK Game Cover
65%Game Brain Score
Most mentioned positive aspects:story, humor
Most mentioned negative aspects:gameplay, replayability
73% User Score Based on 40 reviews

Platforms

PCWindows
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BARK Game Cover

About BARK

BARK is a single player open world action adventure game with horror and thriller themes. It was developed by vano and was released on September 16, 2022. It received mostly positive reviews from players.

Bark, chase, run, and hide your way to freedom in this psychological/survival, stealth, horror experience. WARNING: This game is difficult. This game focusses heavily on invoking emotion rather than excessively exploring gameplay elements. Seeing the world through the eyes of a dog is what drives this experience through its story. Be warned, however, that this game is quite challenging. This diff…

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Reviews

73%Audience ScoreBased on 40 reviews
story5 positive mentions
replayability3 negative mentions
  • Unique and powerful psychological horror experience from a dog's perspective, effectively conveying themes of animal abuse and anxiety.
  • Engaging stealth gameplay with suspenseful and challenging chases, supported by good sound design and atmospheric music.
  • Contains multiple endings and replay value, with achievements and collectibles enhancing exploration and long-term engagement.
  • The game has frustrating bugs and occasional softlocks, including enemy teleportation and issues with respawning that require frequent level restarts.
  • Stealth mechanics and AI behavior can feel unfair or inconsistent, with some players finding the difficulty punishing and the hiding system clunky.
  • The open-world neighborhood segment is large but feels empty and aimless, with confusing objectives and insufficient guidance leading to player frustration.

  • gameplay

    18 mentions Positive Neutral Negative
    17% positive mentions, 66% neutral mentions, 17% negative mentions

    The gameplay starts off engaging with easy-to-grasp mechanics and immersive stealth elements but becomes repetitive and frustrating due to poor AI, RNG-based deaths, and limited reward for progression. While the sensory mechanic adds tension, its restrictions and bugs hinder smooth play, resulting in low replay value and diminished enjoyment over time. Overall, the gameplay feels underdeveloped and uneven, detracting from an otherwise powerful narrative experience.

    • “It definitely is not an easy game by any means, but once I understood the mechanics, I had a blast.”
    • “I was very quickly grabbing hold of the mechanics as they're fairly easy to understand and follow, especially when going against the owner as you can use your sense to see where he was heading and just follow suit behind him at a safe distance until he leaves.”
    • “Mechanics feel nice, you do sometimes get immersed and feel like you are in the skin of a dog with anxiety.”
    • “I won't be going over every chapter as it's the same thing over and over with some differences here and there, as even the 'lose control' mechanic barely came into play, nor was a major threat whatsoever.”
    • “The main gameplay loop of farming points to get slight stat increases almost felt pointless, as I felt no different than I did in the first chapter, especially towards the end when you can use your sense to sprint then sprint again once you run out of your senses bar.”
    • “I barked and it instakilled me, I got the owner stuck while I was in the bathroom part, the pathing of the AI is terrible and gameplay, while fun in the beginning, got frustrating. I would try to turn off the sensing to bark but it wouldn't register my inputs, and why can you only sense when the meter is full again?”

  • story

    13 mentions Positive Neutral Negative
    38% positive mentions, 39% neutral mentions, 23% negative mentions

    The story offers a layered narrative revealed through radio broadcasts and environmental details, exploring themes like anxiety and animal abuse, and features multiple possible endings tied to in-game actions. While engaging and meaningful, some players experienced distracting bugs and unclear choice impacts, though developer responsiveness helped mitigate these issues. For fans of narrative-driven and cozy games, a clearer story mode or accessibility options could further enhance the experience.

    • “10/10 story, easily, and a conversation about animal abuse that really needs to be more present.”
    • “There is a backstory around the setup as well which you occasionally hear on the radio, adding a nice layer of depth to the story.”
    • “I've noticed some interesting story elements in the background, like the playground out back, the extra bedroom, and even the wrecked painting room.”
    • “As the chapters progressed in chapter 2, I encountered my first bug where I had to restart the entire second chapter every time I died because the respawn point bugged the enemy dog, which stays the same throughout the story.”
    • “There is a story to the game through the radios in the house, but it doesn't impact the gameplay significantly except for an event involving a shooting in the neighborhood.”
    • “I haven't really figured out what the choices are or how they alter the story and endings.”

  • replayability

    4 mentions Positive Neutral Negative
    50% positive mentions, -25% neutral mentions, 75% negative mentions

    Replayability receives mixed feedback, with some players feeling the game lacks sufficient incentive or engaging mechanics for multiple playthroughs, while others appreciate the point system and achievements that enhance replay value. Overall, the game offers modest replayability but may not maintain interest for all players.

    • “The replay value is very good for a first game; I actually enjoy the point system and how it assists in leveling up my dog's abilities.”
    • “Plenty of achievements to unlock, adding replay value.”
    • “The only issue is, the game doesn't give me enough reason for another play-through. After spending 3 hours doing the same mechanic with little reward besides some stat increases and possible other perks I haven't seen yet, I see no reason to go through it again because it doesn't hold my attention or give incentive to replay—it lacks replay value; the points are not enough.”
    • “Sidenote: if your community didn't find your third ending you keep mentioning, it's not something to be proud of. It means your game isn't replayable enough or the mechanics are so bad that players can't find everything in it. Think about this next time you try to shame someone on the reviews.”
    • “”

  • music

    3 mentions Positive Neutral Negative
    67% positive mentions, -34% neutral mentions, 67% negative mentions

    The music is generally praised, especially the end-of-level tracks, but a lack of warning cues like danger music during surprise attacks detracts from the gameplay experience.

    • “Music is very nice though.”
    • “Particularly, the end of the level music.”
    • “The end of the level music is particularly notable, but not in a good way. It detracts from the overall experience. ”
    • “The game fails to play the 'danger' music when German Shepherds are about to chase or attack, leaving me no warning or chance to flee.”

  • stability

    2 mentions Positive Neutral Negative
    0% positive mentions, 0% neutral mentions, 100% negative mentions

    The game experiences frustrating and repetitive bugs that affect object interactions, impacting overall stability. However, despite these issues, it generally functions as intended.

    • “Frustrating, repetitive, and buggy.”

  • grinding

    1 mentions Positive Neutral Negative
    0% positive mentions, 0% neutral mentions, 100% negative mentions

    Grinding for stat increases felt largely ineffective, as players noticed little difference in performance even after extensive farming, making the process feel pointless, especially late in the game where sprinting abilities dominated.

    • “The main gameplay loop of farming points to get slight stat increases almost felt pointless, as I felt no different than I did in the first chapter—especially towards the end when you can use your sense to sprint, then sprint again once you run out of your senses bar.”

  • humor

    1 mentions Positive Neutral Negative
    100% positive mentions, 0% neutral mentions, 0% negative mentions

    Users appreciate the game's humor, particularly highlighting the intentionally exaggerated and cartoonishly ugly character designs, which evoke laughter rather than intimidation.

  • emotional

    1 mentions Positive Neutral Negative
    100% positive mentions, 0% neutral mentions, 0% negative mentions

    The game effectively evokes strong emotions in players, successfully delivering an impactful and heartfelt experience.

  • atmosphere

    1 mentions Positive Neutral Negative
    100% positive mentions, 0% neutral mentions, 0% negative mentions

    The atmosphere is effectively eerie and immersive, successfully delivering the intended horror and scares.

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Play Times

6h Median play time
6h Average play time
6-6h Spent by most gamers
*Based on 1 analyzed playthroughs
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Frequently Asked Questions

BARK is a open world action adventure game with horror and thriller themes. Common tags for BARK include first-person, 3D, indie, psychological, exploration and others.

BARK is available on PC and Windows.

On average players spend around 6 hours playing BARK.

BARK was released on September 16, 2022.

BARK was developed by vano.

BARK has received mostly positive reviews from players. Most players liked BARK for its story but disliked it for its gameplay.

BARK is a single player game.

Similar games include Perception, The Dark Occult, Viviette, Darkwood, Yomawari: Night Alone and others.