April Assassination #2 (SG Win / PoP Pick)
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The Darkside Detective is one of those games that, technically, do not do anything wrong, but that are so mid and unoriginal and unfun that I think I would be doing you, the reader, a disservice by recomending it.
Gameplay wise, this is as basic as a point and click gets. It reminds me a lot of point and click games I got on CD-ROMs bough with magazines in the mid-90s. Absolutely run of the mill. Drag an object to another object, either in the inventory or on your screen, and advance. Do that enough times and you beat the game. While I like the minigames, it's hard to justify a purchase just for them.
Graphically, this is what I call lazy pixel art, since the pixels are so big that one would be better off working with vector graphics at this point. For a 2017 game, either you go for detailed pixel art, or you abandon the pretense and work with vector graphics. Blocky pixels like this are just lazy. The screens are usually either static or have small animations that make the lazy label even more warranted.
There's music, but little to nothing SFX and no VA, so yeah, what else did you except?
I could live with all these limitations if dialogue was solid and the game was fun and well-written. But guess what, I saved the worst for last. The dialogue is literally the weakest link in this experience. Like RESTLESS SOUL, The Darkside Detective is one of these games where every interaction prompts a dialogue, and every dialogue tries to be fun. When you're bombarded with your ninth joke in the span of 60 seconds, things stop being funny and start being grating. I literally played the first two chapters normally (I considered writing "enjoyed the first two chapters", but that would be a stretch), then kind of rushed through chapters 3 and 4, and literally speedrun chapter 5 and 6 with a guide because at that point I was so sick of the dialogue that I just wanted to see credits roll, uninstall it and never look back. This is the level of bad writing we're presented here.
And sure, a lot of people could argue that no individual aspect of this game is bad enough to warrant a thumbs down, but I argue that writing is. And even if it wasn't, the other legs of this stool are wobbly enough to make the whole thing crumble.
Is this a bad game or the worst game of the year? No. But in an universe where we have Wadjet Eye P&C games, and literally thousands of other games, recommending this one feels morally wrong
I actually liked this one.
It’s cool that you gave it a chance despite being predisposed towards different graphics styles and such. :)
I had heard good things about this one, so I was surprised when it started bothering me so quickly. The humor is just too constant. It’s again one of those scenarios where less would be more. This just goes to prove people have different tastes. What I’m dreading now is that I also won the sequel on SG, so I’ll eventually have to play it
Have you played RESTLESS SOUL? The graphics and gameplay are different, but I felt it was a very similar game to Darkside Detective where every little interaction leads to a joke
I haven’t. I’ll probably look into it.
But yeah, the subjective nature of gaming is actually something I highly value. If we all had the same feeling about these experiences, it would get boring.