Game Review: Awakened Dark Space
**NO SPOILER WARNING HERE**
I tried to be as fair as I can be, but this game was buggy as hell. But I’m getting ahead of myself.
According to the Keymailer description: “Abandoned and lost places always created a certain interest in people. You and your friend Sara are one of these people, searching and exploring places from the past. Experience an atmospheric Horror Story in the Crystal Woods where the past 800 years strange phenomena occurred that have lead to an ongoing interest in this area and more and more missing people. One of these is your friend, Sara. If you dare, try to find her and discover the terrible truth about this place”. The description also features an “atmosphere, setting, narrative, side stories and no combat”. Unfortunately, I can only comment on two of these features, as my playthrough forbid me from seeing anything else. Before I get into the real critique, I do want to point out something I did enjoy, which was the details in the options menu. Yes, it took so adjusting to get to where my stream didn’t lag and I could still enjoy the game, but at least it was there. Not every indie horror game can attest to that.
Let me break it down:
Atmosphere - from the little I did experience, it was there! There were times were I felt a little unnerved, whether it was from the forest’s strange noises or my expectations being open to experience whatever was going to happen. At that point in my playthrough, it was a walking simulator with occasional interactive items with fonts that only ants can read. That’s not necessarily a bad thing, because there are tons of horror games that operate that way (looking at you Layers of Fear, Amnesia, Outlast and Visage).
Setting - even while playing on medium, the graphics were pretty clean! The forest foliage didn’t look like paper blowing in the wind and there were a couple of moments that made me jump. So kudos to them :)
Narrative - I mean, there was some narration, but even before my game broke and crashed several times, the narration was slow and tedious. I kept wondering when things would pick up from the monotone narration I was receiving. It would be a shame if it was going to speed up after the moment I couldn’t play anymore, but we’ll never know at this point…
Side Stories - what side stories? The description says the game is “driven through a strong narration which is supported through voiceover, gameplay mechanics and environment” but my game broke during the first hour of my playthrough.
No Combat - I didn’t encounter any enemies to even worry about combat, except for a handful of mannequins I saw in a not fully-rendered house that I couldn’t even enter.
Overall, the game was slow, pretty, and buggy. My overwhelming emotion throughout was confusion as I rubbed against invisible barriers and stared at missing walls and glowing deer. Unfortunately, confusion overpowered the one and a half moments of fear I experienced. I hope the game gets patched and maybe I can play it again for real this time.
Awaken: Dark Space was developed by Moonlore Game Studios, created by the solo indie developer Leon Drace from Berlin.
You can watch the ~hour long review here: https://www.twitch.tv/videos/1461160144.
