- Game purchased on Steam the day of release and smile to the lips
- Tested in original version
- Long live the point !
In the summer of 2017 point humorous The Darkside Detective, developed by a small Irish studio of 4 people named Spooky Doorway. The team is based in Galway on the edge of Connemara, a region more known in Hexagon for its burnt land, wind or stone moors than for its talented developers. The pitch, a detective and a policeman who teamed up to solve paranormal phenomena, was originally established during a games by artists Paul Conway and Christopher Conston. Following the success of the project, the team is expanding to make it a complete game by hosting Treasa and Dave McCabe. The duo will participate in development and writing.
The reception is dithyrambic, opening early 2021 a dimensional portal to a suite under title A Fumble in the Dark which could be translated into French as "to grope in the darkness". Since the first episode was carried on almost all the current platforms, one can legitimately expect the same of the second. Note also the presence of a French translation for Anglophobes.
The classicism of old in a modern setting
First a small disclaimer for whom would have never dared to (re)launch in a point, for all kinds of reasons valid according to the tastes and affinities of each. Water has sank under the keyboards since the games of Sierra School or LucasArts! Remember these long hours to interact vainly with the whole decor before finally realizing that we had missed a key object at the bottom right of screen 37 (yes The Dig I'm thinking of you). Indeed, it was often necessary to adopt hair-drawn reasonings to overcome the tarabiscote puzzles of the twisted outcome. A while later I tell you! The Darkside Detective offers a classic formula with a lot of intellectual charades adapted to modern comfort. In particular, we think of this pressure of a touch that allows us to display all the interactive elements of the scene, saving us an exhausting pixel Hunting which no longer really has to be today. The player can also save on the fly or instantly move characters to the adjacent table by double-clicking on the edges of the image, which is not luxury.
Are you clicking or pointing?
A Fumble in the Dark Once again put us in charge of Detective Francis McQueen. The investigator is looking for his faithful acolyte the police officer Dooley, who is missing and suspected of being trapped in a parallel dimension populated by fantastic creatures, the Darkside. The town of Twin Lakes, "34th most haunted city in the United States" according to Spooky Doorway, is once again the prey of occult events, for our greatest pleasure.
Playing a pixel art to make the nostalgics of the 8-bit era blush, the game makes us visit various environments through the 6 separate surveys of adventure. An old castle in ruins, a disturbing carnival, a normal wrestling arena in appearance: inspiration is not lacking. The investigations, all more successful than each other, are connected by a screenwriting thread that keeps us in breath along the 10 hours necessary to close the plot.
The Holy Grail of Humor
Like the first episode, the palpable atmosphere of buddy-movie paranormal 80s sauce that emerges from the game is delicious, the McQueen / Dooley duo being very hilarious. You glide stupidly and you laugh often when you play The Darkside Detective, sometimes even with shrapnel. ubiquitous humour can sometimes be absurd, sometimes baffled, using all the cabrioles of the English language to generate high-flying wordplays. Overall dialogues are subtle and offer almost a second degree of reading. The duo of investigators refers to the ball "from the tap to the tap" and leaves no respite to our zygomatics.
Indeed the Monty Python would not deny the self-derision spirit of this adventure to humor British Delivered. References to popular culture are well brought and one never feels the unpleasant feeling of being faced with a catalogue of over-digested and vomited references ad nauseam As in the first Marvel. The fourth wall is regularly mistreated (try to click on McQueen to see it!) and the most assiduous players will enjoy the myriad of scenery descriptions, again comedic as possible. Moreover, the most iconic urban legends of our Western societies are not left behind. What do you mean there's no crocodiles in the sewers in New York? At the level of the soundtrack the composer Ben Prunty left his place to Thomas O
Verdict
With its rich paranormal universe full of humor and its main protagonists attaching to the possible, A Fumble in the Dark is the worthy successor of The Darkside Detective first of the name. Regal of every moment, Spooky Doorway's point'n click aims just for as long as you cling to absurd humour and other crazy comedies in which comics rely primarily on verbs and situations. If its colorful artistic direction in low resolution can dispel some, you are strongly advised to disregard your possible prejudices and to leave its chance to the mysterious and split atmosphere of this independent production with irresistible comic charm.For
- A game that makes you feel good
- The absurd humor ubiquitous but not invasive for as long as we adhere to the style
- Artistic direction in a pixel-art in low-resolution, imaginative motor
- The mastered and successful writing
- The emphasis is on characters to make them even more endearing
- The abundance of cared environments and new situations
- Feeling of ''Darkside-verse'' starting to settle down
- The ability to 'scan' the screen to display all interactive elements
Against
- An artistic direction that can divide
- A single puzzle not clear at the beginning of the game
But the point and click is not a type of game specially developed for older ones who have very weak reflexes? ^^^
😁😂🤣
By the way, here's a great critic Guillaume. Bravo!