The Dark Occult

67%
Game Brain Score Based on 317 reviews
  • atmosphere
  • gameplay
  • story
The Dark Occult Game Cover
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"The Dark Occult" is a lovecraftian-themed action-adventure game. Play as a powerful occultist who battles against hordes of nightmarish creatures in a corrupted city. Utilize an arsenal of spells and physical attacks to uncover the truth behind a mysterious cult and their eldritch powers. Can you save the city from the ancient evil that lies within?

  • PC
  • Windows
Genres & TagsPlay Modes

Reviews

67%
Audience ScoreBased on 317 reviews
atmosphere45 positive mentions
stability26 negative mentions
  • The atmosphere and graphics are impressive, creating a genuinely creepy environment.
  • The game features well-designed puzzles and a variety of monsters that enhance the horror experience.
  • Despite its flaws, many players find the game engaging and worth the time spent exploring the mansion.
  • The game suffers from numerous bugs and crashes, making it frustrating to play.
  • The lack of a map and clear objectives leads to excessive backtracking and confusion.
  • The save system is punishing, requiring players to manually save in specific rooms, which can result in losing significant progress.
  • atmosphere69 mentions

    The atmosphere of the game is widely praised for its immersive and terrifying qualities, featuring excellent graphics, sound design, and a consistently eerie ambiance that enhances the horror experience. Many players appreciate the game's ability to create tension and fear through its dark, gloomy settings and well-timed jump scares, although some express frustration with bugs and design flaws that detract from the overall experience. Overall, the game's atmosphere is considered a standout feature, making it a compelling choice for horror enthusiasts.

    • “The atmosphere is gloomy, dark, unholy, and you should be ready to die many times.”
    • “Great atmosphere, amazing sound design, cool monsters, gorgeous environment, and tension galore.”
    • “The atmosphere is gloomy, dark, unholy and you should be ready to die many times.”
    • “Since you will have access to almost the entire mansion, the game is a real nightmare in the atmosphere and without any hesitation, I would put it on the same level as Alien Isolation in a way that causes stress to the players, knowing at all times that something bad will happen.”
    • “The game does a beautiful job combining a solid story in a gothic horror atmosphere with survival horror dread, a peppering of well-timed jump scares, and engaging puzzles in a map so labyrinthian that even trying to remember where to go next can add to your overall confusion and anxiety.”
  • gameplay64 mentions

    The gameplay of the game is a mixed bag, featuring engaging mechanics like using a flashlight to fend off enemies and exploring expansive levels filled with collectibles, but it suffers from repetitive fetch quests and numerous glitches that detract from the experience. While some players appreciate the tension and atmosphere, many criticize the lack of depth, tedious item collection, and frustrating design choices that hinder enjoyment. Overall, the game offers a blend of rewarding moments and significant gameplay flaws, making it a polarizing experience for players.

    • “The gameplay, although there are minimal puzzles, focuses on exploring levels, finding objects and keys that will help you progress in the game.”
    • “It does a great job of creating a tense environment with some really cool mechanics and methods of storytelling that went against the usual horror game tropes.”
    • “The suspense is amazing, most of the jump scares are extremely well done, and overall gameplay is great.”
    • “This game could have been great but is held back by a vast array of glitches, crashes, and annoying, tedious, and unfair game mechanics.”
    • “The gameplay is what makes this game not great; it is way too repetitive and backtrack-heavy.”
    • “The conjuring house has some great potential that's sadly wasted on unimaginative gameplay mechanics, poor pacing, and lack of direction.”
  • story62 mentions

    The story of the game receives mixed reviews, with some players finding it engaging and atmospheric, particularly praising its horror elements and the chilling narrative involving demons and jump scares. However, many criticize it for being predictable, lacking depth, and overly reliant on fetch quests, which detracts from the overall experience. While the visuals and sound design are often highlighted as strong points, the narrative's execution suffers from pacing issues and technical glitches, leaving some players feeling frustrated despite a decent premise.

    • “Has a chilling story with demons and jump scares galore; even getting lost is terrifying, you never can tell what happens next.”
    • “The game does a beautiful job combining a solid story in a gothic horror atmosphere with survival horror dread, a peppering of well-timed jump scares, and engaging puzzles in a map so labyrinthian that even trying to remember where to go next can add to your overall confusion and anxiety.”
    • “It's not a game that depends on jump scares; it's a game with a story that unfolds in front of you as you find letters and clues to discover who the demon haunting the house is and why.”
    • “The story makes no sense.”
    • “In the end, you will realize the story is mediocre, not bad, not good, just usual and predictable.”
    • “The very worst feature, however, is the way the narrative itself unfolds: you find things that unlock certain areas, you've fully explored those rooms, then another plot hook is given to you.”
  • graphics57 mentions

    The graphics of the game are widely praised for their stunning detail and atmospheric design, contributing significantly to the horror experience. Many players highlight the impressive visuals and sound design, although some report performance issues and glitches that detract from the overall experience. While the graphics are often rated highly, there is a consensus that they cannot fully compensate for shortcomings in gameplay and story.

    • “The graphics and atmosphere are amazing.”
    • “The graphics for the large derelict Victorian mansion are superbly detailed with plenty of challenges.”
    • “This game has great graphics, a fantastic atmosphere and sound design, and a game mechanism that keeps you on the edge, fearing that the demon woman will appear any time chasing you.”
    • “During the game, sometimes the graphics will glitch out for a second in spots; sometimes the game blurs or shakes on purpose, but I have noticed a few instances that do not seem intentional, like clipping.”
    • “Their production value can't even redeem this horrid mess of a game, because despite having a PC more than capable of running games more graphically demanding than this, it still struggled to function even normally when on medium detail settings.”
    • “Changing the graphics settings does absolutely nothing, so it is something that you just have to put up with.”
  • stability27 mentions

    The game's stability is heavily criticized, with numerous players reporting frequent bugs, crashes, and game-breaking glitches that significantly hinder progress and enjoyment. Many users experienced specific issues, such as freezing when interacting with certain objects and inconsistent checkpoint placements, leading to frustrating gameplay. While some players found the graphics and overall gameplay enjoyable, the pervasive technical problems detract from the overall experience, making it difficult to recommend without caution.

    • “Runs great for me at 60 fps with no errors at all except for the tears, which can be solved via 'v sync - off'. I've played for over 5 hours so far!”
    • “I have played about 4 playthroughs trying to get all achievements and end up frustrated every time because of many game-breaking glitches.”
    • “I'm going to start, yet again, because I'm determined to get through this game, but unless you are willing to put up with a ton of bugs and glitches, I can't in good conscience recommend this game.”
    • “This game could have been great but is held back by a vast array of glitches, crashes, and annoying, tedious, and unfair game mechanics.”
  • music10 mentions

    The music in the game has received mixed feedback, with some players noting its resemblance to cheesy mobile horror games, while others appreciate the atmospheric soundtrack that enhances the overall experience. The ambiance is often described as fitting and well-executed, contributing positively to the game's graphics and immersive qualities. Overall, the music is seen as a strong point, particularly for an independent studio.

    • “Good graphics, atmosphere and soundtrack.”
    • “The ambiance and music is spot on.”
    • “And for an independent studio they made a good job with the graphics and soundtracks.”
    • “I suspected the game to be a little off when I recognized the intro piano song that I would hear on the cheesy Android horror hospital games.”
    • “After I had spent what felt like an eternity racing around the Victorian labyrinth searching for varied zodiac keys and poring over the frames of YouTube searching for a morsel of inspiration, the novelty of the game quickly wore off as my self-esteem dwindled and I grew tired of the pattern, playing my music in the background as I wandered.”
    • “Also, you get used to the women spawning and even notice things like the character breathing heavily for no reason and the slight change in the music theme.”
  • optimization9 mentions

    Overall, the game's optimization has received mixed feedback, with players reporting occasional performance issues and microstuttering, particularly when entering new areas. While the graphics and atmosphere are praised for their quality, many users feel that the optimization could be significantly improved to enhance the overall experience.

    • “Did not run into any performance issues so far.”
    • “There are some occasional performance issues, but otherwise this game mostly looks fantastic, from the use of lighting to set the mood, to the dangling cobwebs on the ceilings, the peeling wallpaper with its convincing texturing and the uber dark occult theme; there's a lot here to offer a horror game fan.”
    • “Performance-wise, I only experienced one glitch that prevented me from entering a room, along with what I assume is a developer oversight with the AI.”
    • “There were some smaller bugs here and there (nothing serious, always got around by reloading the last save state from a few minutes before) and the performance could have been better too.”
    • “The graphics, sound and atmosphere are top notch, with scary details in the design of the house, but the optimization is not the best.”
    • “I play the game on an old i5 3570k, 8GB DDR3 RAM, RX 570 8GB, on ultrawide resolution (2560x1080) with 60-70 frames but with enough stuttering.”
  • grinding9 mentions

    The grinding aspect of the game is widely criticized for being tedious and repetitive, with players often having to redo sections due to unfair mechanics and glitches. Many reviews highlight the excessive backtracking and slow-paced navigation through corridors, which detracts from the overall experience despite some moments of genuine tension and creativity. Overall, while the game has potential, the grinding elements significantly hinder enjoyment.

    • “This game could have been great but is held back by a vast array of glitches, crashes, and annoying, tedious, and unfair game mechanics.”
    • “Every single time I was unfairly killed, I had to redo sections of this game, which largely consisted of running through a hallway, side-stepping very slowly along an edge or through a slit in the wall, or crawling along some tedious section of the house to trigger an unskippable in-game cutscene, just to redo a 'chase' sequence and get killed by a glitch again.”
    • “The puzzles are tedious, and most of the gameplay defaults to a glorified fetch quest where you will be walking through the same corridors of the house about 10+ times in order to retrieve all the items.”
  • humor4 mentions

    The humor in the game is highlighted by its effective voice acting, particularly from the main character, which combines confusion with a touch of absurdity, leading to several laugh-out-loud moments. While the game features intimidating bosses that contrast with typical horror game aesthetics, the comedic elements, especially in the dialogue, add a unique charm to the overall experience.

    • “It actually made me laugh several times.”
    • “The main character's voice acting is quite funny as well; it’s like he’s not even afraid, just really confused with a lot of Captain Obvious quotes.”
    • “Not sure if it's worth 20 bucks, but the story is pretty interesting, and if nothing else, the voice acting is funny.”
  • emotional2 mentions

    Players report a strong emotional response to the game, particularly feelings of anger and frustration, especially towards the end of the playthrough. The repetitive nature of the gameplay contributes to a sense of emotional exhaustion, making it a notable experience for those who appreciate intense indie horror.

    • “I cannot express how much anger this game made me feel towards the end of my playthrough. As an avid indie horror fan, I have played through some stinkers, but this one takes the cake.”
    • “Prepare to die over and over, emotionally and literally, as you do the same thing you've already done five times.”
Positive mentions (%)Positive
Neutral mentions (%)Neutral
Negative mentions (%)Negative

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Play time

15hMedian play time
15hAverage play time
9-23hSpent by most gamers
*Based on 10 analyzed playthroughs

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