DARQ: Complete Edition – Review

It is actually possible to be conscious during a dream. Aware of the fact that what the person is experiencing is, in fact, not reality. This is the most general definition of lucid dreaming, which is the basis of the story to DARQ: Complete Edition. In DARQ, you play as Lloyd as he explores the darkest corners of his subconscious by controlling and manipulating his dreams.

Initially released by publisher Feardemic in August of 2019, the Complete Edition dropped over a year later in December featuring two additional DLC chapters. The game was mostly developed by one man, Wlad Marhulets, and his company Unfold Games. After receiving overwhelming support in the initial release of the base game, Marhulets decided to give back to the community by releasing two satisfying DLC chapters that not only deliver on the challenging puzzles, but serve to continue the chilling yet ambiguous story.

Sweet Dreams Are Made of These

Upon pressing the A button on the title screen, you’re put in control of a frail boy who is so pale he’s practically luminescent. You start off in a dingy bathroom with a partially boarded up wall on your left. Lloyd’s apartment isn’t big. There’s a kitchen, a bedroom and a main room. On the far right is the stairwell to the apartment building with another boarded up wall waiting for you. All you can interact with is Lloyd’s bed. Doing so will transport him into his dream, which is depicted by showing his astral self separate from his body.

The first dream you enter takes you to what looks like a dungeon. This is an introductory area. Just like with any other game, this first chapter is meant to get you used to the controls and mechanics that game follows. But that won’t mean the puzzles will be entirely obvious in their solutions. The purpose here is to find three gears to activate a machine that will open the exit to the chapter. You’ll need the gears you find along the way to obtain the following gear. Towards the end of this chapter is when you encounter the first baddies of the game. They look like female dancers in leotards with lamp shades for heads. They stand in place periodically turning their lamp-heads on and off. If you are standing in the range of their lamp light when they turn on, that baddie will shoot Lloyd for a one hit kill. Which is something you’ll find with all the subsequent baddies: one hit kills. Lloyd is not built for confrontation, so you’ll need to take advantage of the fact that you are in a lucid dream and can manipulate the world around you in more ways than just solving puzzles. When you find the three gears, the exit opens and a bridge draws to allow access. As Lloyd passes over, the lamp creatures run up the wall, stopped by said bridge. At the other side is a wall that’s partially boarded up. Climbing through the opening brings you back to Lloyd’s dingy bathroom. Chapter two is now unlocked and you can progress further in the game.

The controls to DARQ are very basic: X is your action button that will let you interact with the environment, B activates a stealthy, crouching walk for when baddies are nearby, and A is for Wall Walking. Wall Walk is how Lloyd manipulates reality in his dreams to survive and escape each one. If he comes up to a flat wall, he’ll lean against it in a particular manner. When he does, you can press A to shift the perspective of the world. That wall is now your floor, and Lloyd has access to newer areas. If you come up to a ledge with a flat surface leading down, Lloyd will automatically walk down. That same perspective shift will happen. This is a feature you’ll need to utilize to its fullest to progress through the seven chapters that make up the base game. You’ll need to see all seven environments from every angle to find the bizarre inventory of items that’ll aid you in solving the progressively harder puzzles.

A Stylized Nightmare

The best way to describe the art style of this game is Burton-esque. More late 80’s, obscure Tim Burton book of poetry style than his newer work. Everything is either gripped in shadows or covered in the grime of age. Structures are twisted and dilapidated. Lloyd’s travels will take him to a train station where the signs in the background are constantly shifting in and out of legibility. He’ll dream about a city street where he’ll need to find severed arms to pull a series of levers. Before the end of the game, you’ll help lead him through a concert hall, the interior of a train and a hospital. Each area has its own quirks and personality. The threat of danger is around every corner, amplified by Lloyd’s frailty. When you know that one wrong move around the baddies that range from imaginative to disturbing can be your last, it adds to the tension.

The stylized presentation is how the story will be told to you throughout the game as there is a complete lack of dialogue, be it spoken or text. This gives a level of mystique to DARQ that’s equally charming and chilling. Until chapter six, the hospital, the game generally follows a formula. You fall asleep, complete a series of puzzles, find a partially boarded up wall to climb through, and end up back in Lloyd’s apartment. In the case of chapter six, you know as soon as Lloyd lays down in his bed that this dream will be different. The anticipation from how it’ll end is palpable. This leads into chapter seven. A chase through a cave. It’s a trial and error run for your life as all the baddies Lloyd encountered throughout his nightmares make appearances to stop his escape. What you get at the end is sure to raise more questions than answers, but it’s par for the course for the game that isn’t straightforward with its story to have an ambiguous ending. Fortunately this is the Complete Edition. You’re provided with two additional DLC chapters that continue Lloyd’s surreal story. The Tower and The Crypt.

The DLC: The Tower

The first of the two additional chapters, and the shorter of the two. This starts you off on a small platform with a drop in front of you that you cannot walk down. You’re in a room with pipes and boilers and a button. Pressing it will bring you in and out of a hellish nightmare landscape. You’ll find these buttons up and down the Tower. Entering the nightmares allows you to climb walls that are obstructed in the dream world, or pass by walls that exist in one world but not the other. There’s a central elevator that brings you to the five levels of the Towers with the aim of finding five severed heads which will open the way to the exit. This all culminates in a jaw dropping ending that leads straight into the next chapter.

The Crypt

The second, longer, and by far harder of the two additional chapters. The ending of the previous chapter carries into this one, introducing an interesting new mechanic that adds a new layer to the exploration and puzzle solving. Your goal here is to find two skeleton keys that unlock a coffin on the upper level of the Crypt. What lies between you and that are some of the toughest puzzles in not just the two DLC chapters, but the whole game. The ending that awaits you is ambiguous, yet satisfying.

Waking from the Nightmare

In conclusion, this game absolutely should be played. Surface level, the art style and Wall Walk mechanic are enough to draw interest. It’s in the execution of these where DARQ: Complete Edition truly shows its worth. The story, both in the direction it’s taken and the manner in which it’s told, should really be experienced by anyone who doesn’t mind some genuinely challenging puzzles that take full advantage of the aforementioned mechanics in wildly creative ways. There’s only three hours worth of content, give or take. Most of the time it will take you to complete it will be figuring out the tough puzzles. Or trying to sneak past the baddies. Overall this game is highly recommended. $19.99 is not a high asking price from a well made product from a small studio that deserves the recognition.

DARQ: Complete Edition was provided for review on the Xbox One.