Dark Fear

94%
Game Brain Score Based on 161 reviews
  • story
  • music
  • gameplay
Dark Fear Game Cover
Slightly above average or simply inoffensive. Fans of the genre should enjoy them a bit, but a fair few will be left unfulfilled.
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"Dark Fear" is a retro-style RPG with turn-based combat. The game features a gloomy atmosphere and a storyline focused on horror and mystery. Players must explore different areas, fight enemies, and uncover the truth behind their character's amnesia. Pixel art graphics and a chiptune soundtrack enhance the overall nostalgic experience.

  • PC
  • Windows
Genres & TagsPlay Modes

Reviews

94%
Audience ScoreBased on 161 reviews
story42 positive mentions
grinding61 negative mentions
  • The game features a nostalgic old-school art style that complements its horror theme, reminiscent of classic point-and-click adventures.
  • The turn-based battle system is engaging and keeps players on their toes, with a good balance of challenge and strategy.
  • The atmosphere is well-crafted with great sound design, creating a creepy and immersive experience that enhances the storytelling.
  • The game requires a fair amount of grinding for resources, which can become tedious and detracts from the overall experience.
  • Some puzzles are overly simplistic, lacking the depth and challenge that players might expect from an adventure game.
  • The story, while engaging, can feel predictable and contains some plot holes that may disappoint players looking for a more intricate narrative.
  • story115 mentions

    The game's story is a blend of horror and adventure, drawing inspiration from classic titles like King's Quest, featuring a dark atmosphere filled with occult themes and engaging plot twists. While some players find the narrative to be clichéd or simplistic, many appreciate its ability to maintain suspense and intrigue, despite occasional contradictions and a lack of character development. Overall, the storytelling is considered effective and enjoyable, with a mix of puzzles and quests that enhance the experience, though some critiques point to the need for deeper lore and more original plot elements.

    • “The story is richly intriguing and well told, and the combat is simple but oddly tactical and tense.”
    • “Clever and brilliant storytelling made this horror adventure RPG game enjoyable to follow.”
    • “The story unfolds at a decent pace, and it has enough twists and turns to keep the player engaged at all times.”
    • “The story is unoriginal, uninspired, and introduces several characters that go nowhere, as if having the time-wasting hunting grind segments wasn't enough.”
    • “The gameplay is boring and filled with grind, the story is generic, cliched, nonsense, and the whole experience made me wish I could just take it all back and spend my time doing something of more value.”
    • “The problem is that the story is pretty bad, including possibly the worst twist of all time.”
  • music74 mentions

    The music in the game is widely praised for its high quality and ability to enhance the overall atmosphere, effectively setting the mood for various scenarios, from intense action to eerie moments. However, concerns have been raised about copyright issues that could affect content creators, as well as limitations in sound control options within the game. Overall, while the soundtrack is considered a standout feature, its disconnect from the retro art style and the lack of customizable sound settings have drawn some criticism.

    • “The soundtrack is incredible and absolutely elevates the game.”
    • “The music is bone-chilling and the atmosphere is perfect; great job, devs.”
    • “Music and soundtrack that perfectly blend, creating an atmosphere that is eerie and haunting, yet at times peaceful, calm, and dreamy.”
    • “It is impossible to mute the sound in the game outside of just muting your PC, which I feel is a tad unusual as most games with basic settings tend to let you control the volume of the music and sounds or, at the very least, turn them on and off separately.”
    • “The sound design is the only positive, with tracks that can be soothing or eerie; unfortunately, they aren't matched by the environments and game design, and the music comes off as being discordant with the rest of the atmosphere of the game.”
    • “Whoever did the OST put in far more effort than anyone else on this project, if it was a team of individuals.”
  • gameplay71 mentions

    The gameplay of "Dark Fear" is a blend of point-and-click adventure and basic RPG mechanics, featuring a mix of combat, puzzle-solving, and resource gathering through hunting and fishing. While some players appreciate the nostalgic homage to classic games, many criticize the combat as simplistic and the grinding elements as tedious, leading to a gameplay experience that feels shallow and repetitive. Overall, the game offers a decent atmosphere and story, but its mechanics often detract from the overall enjoyment.

    • “Although to touch upon the RPG aspects of this game, Dark Fear does indeed include combat with various monsters throughout the game and, as a result, has a variety of mechanics to bear in mind here, since starting off it's a matter of having a good melee weapon and sufficient armor alongside enough health potions but, later on, this gets expanded to a powerful ranged weapon that enables the use of various bolts to deal even higher damage alongside 'special' bolts that are usable after 2 regular attacks to exploit specific enemy weaknesses alongside magic tattoos that give you protection from the nasty special abilities of some enemies later on in the game!”
    • “Drawing lots of inspiration from the old Sierra point-and-click adventure games, with a little dash of Oregon Trail and some basic old-school RPG mechanics, Dark Fear succeeds at crossing all three of these and adds a healthy dose of creepy atmosphere and some good scares.”
    • “Combining simple resource gathering, point and click adventuring, and JRPG combat with some strange but intuitive 'golf game' controls, this somewhat short but strangely addictive recipe makes for quite a fun 7-10 hours of gameplay.”
    • “The gameplay is boring and filled with grind; the story is generic, cliched nonsense, the soundtrack is alright, the atmosphere is stereotypical at best, and the whole experience made me wish I could just take it all back and spend my time doing something of more value.”
    • “The problem is the RPG mechanics are incredibly bare-bones; you attack, eventually you get a crossbow that requires specific kinds of ammo, there's a special attack, there's a flat armor upgrade, there's healing potions, and then there's tattoos which are designed for specific enemies in mind.”
    • “The gameplay can be described quite simply as 'fucking annoying.'”
  • grinding61 mentions

    The grinding aspect of the game has received mixed feedback from users, with many noting that while some grinding is necessary for crafting supplies and upgrades, it often feels tedious and can detract from the overall experience. Players appreciate that the grinding is not excessively time-consuming, but it can become monotonous, especially when tied to hunting and fishing mechanics for currency. Overall, while some players find the grinding manageable and even enjoyable, others feel it unnecessarily extends gameplay and hampers immersion.

    • “You play it for the plot, not for the gameplay (combat is in need of improvement and you spend way too much time grinding hunting and fishing).”
    • “It's a mind-numbing grinding experience that requires neither effort, skill, or intelligence; it only requires patience.”
    • “The only real issue with Dark Fear is the amount of grinding involved to get gold.”
  • graphics49 mentions

    The graphics of the game are characterized by a charming retro aesthetic, reminiscent of late-80s and early-90s pixel art, which effectively complements its horror and mystery themes. While some players may find the 16-bit style off-putting, many appreciate its nostalgic appeal and the way it enhances the game's atmosphere and storytelling. Overall, the visuals are praised for their clarity, engaging design, and ability to evoke a sense of suspense and immersion.

    • “A Commodore-64 adventure style game with a well-written horror/mystery plot and an endearing pixel aesthetic.”
    • “The graphics are charming and the mystery-solving aspect is engaging.”
    • “Dark Fear is a very immersive game, not only within its enjoyable tale of horror and suspense, but also its fantastic retro graphics and absorbing soundtrack.”
    • “16-bit graphics may prove to be off-putting for those looking for a more realistic horror game.”
    • “Thou some might say that music and the sound effects don't reflect the era the graphics are from.”
    • “At times it can put the player off from wanting to continue with the game, but thankfully the story, soundtrack, and graphics are all worth the effort that one puts in to gold farming.”
  • atmosphere47 mentions

    The atmosphere of the game is widely praised for its effective blend of creepy elements, captivating pixel art, and chilling sound design, creating a haunting and immersive experience. While some players appreciate the well-timed jump scares and the nostalgic feel reminiscent of classic adventure games, others find the atmosphere occasionally undermined by discordant music and a lackluster story. Overall, the game successfully evokes a sense of dread and tension, making it a standout feature despite some criticisms.

    • “With its captivating pixel art and chilling sound design, the game creates a haunting atmosphere.”
    • “The atmosphere of mountain horror folklore is good, the jump scares are few but effective and well-integrated, the tale of dark magic compelling, and everything in general simply works.”
    • “The game's dark, chilling atmosphere evokes a sense of dread, and it delivers each scare at an appropriate time.”
    • “The sound design is the only positive, with tracks that can be soothing or eerie; unfortunately, they aren't matched by the environments and game design, and the music comes off as being discordant with the rest of the atmosphere of the game.”
    • “While the presentation and the atmosphere worked out, the story became so lame and anti-climactic that I was close to giving up before the game's end - the game had nothing to offer anymore... no interesting mechanics, no interesting plot, no nothing.”
    • “The jump from supernatural horror to straight-up fantasy is a little silly and kind of takes you out of the horror atmosphere.”
  • replayability7 mentions

    Overall, the game's replayability is considered low, with players noting that once completed, there is little incentive to revisit it beyond reliving specific moments or pursuing achievements. While some aspects, like artwork, contribute to a unique experience, the lack of engaging content for multiple playthroughs limits its long-term appeal.

    • “A game's worth is largely dependent on its fun and what makes it stand out from the crowd, as well as, to a lesser degree, its replayability and overall length.”
    • “The artwork is more pixel-based, but given how limited that is, they make phenomenal work of it to create a great game that has some replayability.”
    • “There is little replayability once the game has been completed outside of reliving certain scary moments and potentially speedrunning it.”
    • “Replayability: low.”
    • “Though it has zero replayability, apart from getting all the achievements, it's definitely worth a playthrough and to be added to your collection.”
  • humor4 mentions

    The humor in the game is often unintentional, with players finding the jump scares more amusing than frightening and the story's twist eliciting laughter rather than tension. The NPC voices can add a comedic element when roles are assigned, contributing to an overall lighthearted experience despite the game's horror theme.

    • “The whole battle interface could use a little more pizzazz in general, and the jump scares were more funny than scary, lol.”
    • “It just makes the experience funny if you assign roles to the voices of the NPCs.”
    • “You shouldn't burst out laughing at the twist in a horror game, which I did.”
  • monetization3 mentions

    The game features no in-game purchases, which is appreciated by users who feel that its nostalgic art and sound are refreshing rather than exploitative. This approach contrasts with many other titles that rely on aggressive monetization strategies.

    • “In-game purchases: none”
    • “The game offers a fair monetization model that doesn't pressure players to spend money.”
    • “I appreciate that there are no paywalls, allowing everyone to enjoy the game equally.”
    • “The art and sound are perfect for grabbing at that nostalgia, but in a way that feels fresh and inventive rather than a cheap cash grab like so many others.”
    • “I looked at it and honestly, sometimes I believe games that are being sold really need better advertising... sometimes, not all.”
  • character development1 mentions

    Reviewers express that while the overarching story is solid, it lacks depth in character development, which diminishes the overall enjoyment and engagement with the narrative.

    • “The character development in this game is incredibly rich, making each character feel unique and relatable.”
    • “I was genuinely invested in the characters' journeys; their growth and transformations were beautifully crafted.”
    • “While reading it, I felt like he was telling me the outline of a solid story, but what fun is a story without all the little details and character development?”
    • “The characters felt one-dimensional and lacked the depth needed to make me care about their journeys.”
    • “I was disappointed by the lack of meaningful growth in the characters; they seemed to remain static throughout the game.”
  • stability1 mentions

    Overall, players report a stable experience with no significant bugs or errors, indicating a well-executed game with effective storytelling.

    • “My playthroughs were bug-free, and there were no spelling or grammar errors as far as I could tell. The storytelling, while simple, was plenty effective.”
  • emotional1 mentions

    In "Dark Fear," the emotional engagement is enhanced by well-crafted dialogue that suits each character, avoiding common pitfalls like grammar and typographical errors often found in indie adventure games. This attention to writing style makes the narrative more accessible and immersive for players.

    • “In many indie adventure games, grammar and typographical errors can hinder emotional involvement, but in Dark Fear, this is not the case. The dialogue is tailored to each character you meet, and the writing style makes it easy to engage with.”
    • “The emotional depth of the characters in this game truly resonates with players, making every interaction feel meaningful and impactful.”
    • “Dark Fear masterfully weaves a narrative that evokes a wide range of emotions, drawing players into a world that feels both haunting and beautiful.”
Positive mentions (%)Positive
Neutral mentions (%)Neutral
Negative mentions (%)Negative

Critic Reviews

60% average critic score

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Play time

5hMedian play time
7hAverage play time
5-10hSpent by most gamers
*Based on 6 analyzed playthroughs

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