The Darkside Detective Reviews
Point and Click Adventures live or die by the writing and Darkside is a masterclass. A clever and lovingly-made homage to the genre.
The Darkside Detective is a rather basic game. It is, however, well made, fun and worthy of a look for adventure game fans.
I’m dying for The Darkside Detective 2 already. Now it is worth noting that The Darkside Detective is short, taking about three hours to complete all six cases, but it works so well to its benefit. This is a game that brings the player in on the joke, and lets you laugh along with them – which you will. If you’re looking for an introduction to adventure games, then The Darkside Detective is definitely it. Even those experienced in the genre will find the cases intriguing and the puzzles enough of a mind tease to find enjoyment throughout.
With a witty humor, great artistic direction, and award-worthy soundtrack, The Darkside Detective is a wonderful debut title from Spooky Doorway. While a short-lived experience due to its easy difficulty, it's a great start for this young studio, and I'm eager to see more.
In conclusion, if you’re into point and click adventure games like Thimbleweed Park, TV shows like Twin Peaks or Stranger Things, film noir and slightly whacky humour, then there’s no doubt in my mind that The Darkside Detective is perfect for you. With its mini episodic style structure, it’s a good fit for the Switch and the excellent soundtrack from Ben Prunty make it an easy recommendation. Whether it’s as funny as other games it’s trying to emulate, I’m not so sure, and maybe the gameplay is a little too simple, but it’s still enjoyable and nothing falls flat.
What it comes down to for a game like this is whether you’re a fan of the genre and what your expectations are for the length of the experience. I’d say that Darkside Detective isn’t the best adventure game on the system but it holds up well in the middle of the pack. The greater the breadth of your pop culture appreciation the more likely I’d say the jokes and references are to connect for you, and in general the game is riding on that understanding. It’s a worthwhile romp for genre fans who’d like a chance to enjoy 5 chapters with a reasonable length, have a few laughs, and not being quite as frustrated as with other games in the genre on the Switch.
The Darkside Detective is a short but worthy addition to your adventure game library, with endearing characters and references, wrapped up in an appealing art style and score.
The Darkside Detective is one of the games which made me actually laugh while playing it. The distinct sense of humour may not address to everyone, but if you like Twin Peaks, bizarre supernatural stories and pixelated art design, give The Darkside Detective a chance. The game offers more than meets the eye and a good laugh, which we all need.
The Darkside Detective was a brilliant surprise and a fantastic point and click adventure title. I loved the entertaining cases in this fantastical world with an eccentric cast of supporting characters. The whole package came together brilliantly with some vividly use of 2D pixel art and a great soundtrack.
A highly recommended game if you grew up with point-and-click adventures of yesteryear and whilst it won’t be for everyone, even if you’ve never experienced one of those types of games before you can do a lot worse than choosing this one as your first. The Darkside Detective was yet another surprising indie title on the Switch in terms of quality. A really funny and quirky adventure that I thoroughly enjoyed playing from start to finish, it just doesn’t last anywhere near as long as I wanted it to. So my advice would be to treasure it and hope this isn’t the last we see of The Darkside Detective as a series, as there is so much potential in any future sequels.
I don't think you even have to be a fan of the genre to really get to grips with The Darkside Detective. It does more or less everything very well, but it's definitely aimed at a niche audiences in terms of references and in-jokes. There could be an argument too that it doesn't quite hit the dizzy heights of Thimbleweed Park, but there's certainly nothing else on the system currently that is any closer to reaching that goal.
The Darkside Detective is a solid adventure for any fan of the paranormal. If you like point and click games and The X-Files, this is one game you should check out.
All of the components – the humour, the horror, the puzzles, and the characters – of The Darkside Detective add up to create one of the most entertaining and rewarding point and click games I've ever played.
I'd say that Darkside Detective isn't the best adventure game on the system but it holds up well in the middle of the pack. The greater the breadth of your pop culture appreciation the more likely I'd say the jokes and references are to connect for you. In general, the game is riding on that understanding. It's a worthwhile romp for genre fans who'd like a chance to enjoy five chapters with a reasonable length, have a few laughs, and not being quite as frustrated as with other games in the genre on the Switch.
The Darkside Detective was a pleasant surprise on Nintendo Switch. I was expecting a fun bite-sized point and click adventure game, but not one as funny and polished as what I got to review. I had a blast playing The Darkside Detective, and I look forward to seeing what the team does next. If you're a fan of the genre, then you definitely need to play this one!
The Darkside Detective is an adventure game that will have you laughing as you solve the mysteries behind the paranormal events plaguing Twin Lakes. With great visuals, music and movie references this is a must play!
Heartwarming nostalgia and brilliantly stupid humor, mixed with a nice soundtrack and suitable retro pixels in a way too short experience. The handful of chuckles from appreciation just isn't worth the asking price - there's just too little of a game, which is a shame since the world holds so much potential!
Recent titles like The Sexy Brutale and Rime sacrifice replay value and unnecessary padding to provide an engaging experience from end to end. The Darkside Detective, similarly, does not suffer any baggage. Writing is witty, striking a balance between goofy and dark that never seems to become threatening. Unfortunately, my time with Detective McQueen and Officer Dooley was far too short. While the tone, writing, and characterization are all stellar, puzzles are little more than filler and I closed cases as quickly as I opened them. Hopefully, the game’s episodic approach will allow for more content to be added soon, because the few hours of enjoyment you will get from The Darkside Detective make it worth investigating.
The Darkside Detective is a charming point and click adventure with a taste for the sillier aspects of horror. Expect to see references to 80s and 90s pop culture while solving cases alongside the Darkside Division's finest. It's not the sort of game likely to stump players with inane item puzzles and that's a good thing. Some changes could have been made to further streamline the experience, but it works well enough without them.
Darkside Detective is a quirky, sometimes overly so, adventure game with simple but enjoyable puzzles that's over before you know it.