PlayStation 4 Critic Reviews

Terrifying, addictive and constantly engaging, Darkwood is a joy to play and begs for multiple runs no matter how scared you are.

Darkwood is a deeply unsettling horror game that turns night into your greatest enemy and makes players question what could be lurking in the dark. For any fans of the genre, this is an instant classic.

While Darkwood is an absolute marvel in terms of its aesthetics and gameplay--as well as its disarmingly dissonant score--I experienced several bugs that caused me to lose minor progress. In one case, I was trapped behind a disassembled tractor, which forced me to quit to the main menu and restart the game in order to press onward. On top of this, one of the game's areas caused the frame rate to drop so dramatically that playing became a chore. This was easily rectified, again simply requiring a soft reboot, but these glitches are a disappointing nuisance plaguing an otherwise exceptional game.

With its many surprises, Darkwood is a title with immeasurable depth that will keep horror fans gripped until the very end. An important focus on narrative-driven gameplay kept me hooked and desperate for answers. A horrifying aesthetic with spooky soundscapes plays with our instincts and terrifies the senses. When the title boasted "a horror game without jump-scares", I initially rolled my eyes. Most titles incorporate some kind of jump-scare to get a cheap reaction out of players. Even tastefully done jump-scares feel cheap to me because I'm not actually "scared," I'm just surprised. Darkwood succeeds where many other titles fail. It's a heart-racing experience that any horror fan worth their salt should attempt to survive.

Darkwood tells the story of escaping from a mysterious and scary forest, where darkness and fear are the powers at work, and although it suffers from shortcomings here and there, the atmosphere alone is enough to keep you engaged and take your breath away.

If you are looking for surprises, intense direction and tense exploration in a horror environment, this one definitely is for you.

Despite my frustrations, I really dig the overall vibe that Darkwood goes for. Again, the sound design is the real champ, making great use of audio cues and sound effects to drive home the horror aspect in a way I wasn’t fully expecting. If you’re looking for an interesting take on the survival horror genre, I think you’d do well to check this one out.

Darkwood is a chilling survival horror characterized by an excellent atmosphere.

Darkwood is a challenging and rewarding horror game that will test even the hardcore survival horror buff. The gameplay loop of finding new and better resources by day and fending off horrifying creatures by night is surprisingly addictive. It hardly ever holds your hand and encourages experimentation and exploration of its atmospheric and haunting world. There’s even an engaging narrative with branching paths with plenty of payoffs too. There’s no denying it isn’t the most accessible of games, but if you stick with it, Darkwood is a shining light in an otherwise niche genre.

Darkwood is a fantastic exploration of the horror genre and had me checking my cupboards for monsters whenever I’d finish a late-night play session. It’s grim, unrelenting, and you can easily find your self lost among its shadowy boughs. It’s oppressive, dark, and one hell of a ride. Just don’t let the lights go out.